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Keri Becker begins her 12th year in the 2009 season as head coach at Ferris State University and has molded the Bulldog softball program into a highly-respective competitive one both at the conference, regional, and national level.
The 2008 team's success was a testament to Becker's coaching as she directed FSU to a NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Championship at Edwardsville, Ill., and a fifth-place tie showing at the 2008 NCAA-II Softball Championships National Tournament in Houston, Texas. The Bulldogs also were regular season co-champions of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) and through her efforts, Becker was tabbed as the "Michael J. Corbett" GLIAC Coach of the Year for the third time in her distinguished coaching career. Becker along with her two assistant coaches were also chosen as the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA)/NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region Coaching Staff of the Year.
As with any highly-competitive individual, Becker experienced success in a relatively short period of time at Ferris State. But, despite facing adversity the past few years, she has aspirations of attaining even more significant goals in the future.
Adversity makes the drive to succeed that much greater and Becker has experienced her share of adversity both on and off the field. She was called to active United States Army duty in late February 2003 in support of Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom and subsequently missed the entire 2003 softball campaign. On Feb. 20, 2003, Becker's travels started with refresher military training at Ft. Leonardwood, Mo., and eventually landed her at Camp As Sayliyah in Doha, Qatar. She served a six-month stint there before returning to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. to complete her tour of duty.
"Like many coaches, I've faced my share of adversity when it comes to winning," said Becker. "While this may create frustration for some, it only has driven me to work harder in finding different ways to prepare, train and inspire my players. I stress to my players the importance of keeping winning and losing in perspective and coaching is no different."
Ferris State's recent success occurred just this past season as the Bulldogs received a NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Tournament bid and was victorious in their first two post-season tourney contests. Under Becker, Ferris State experienced a high-level of success in the 2000 season when the Bulldogs posted a 33-18 overall mark and claimed the GLIAC Championship title for the first time since 1982. The previous campaign (1999), Ferris set a team single-season record with 46 victories and captured its second straight Great Lakes Regional title.
Following its first-ever regional title in 1998, Becker's team placed third at the NCAA-II Championships in Pensacola, Fla. The placing marked the highest national finish ever for a Ferris women's athletics team at the time.
In her 11 seasons at Ferris State, Becker has the distinction of being the program's all-time winningest coach with a 348-227-1 career record (.605 winning pct.) as the Bulldogs have averaged over 31 victories per season during her coaching career. Furthermore, Becker has directed Ferris State to an overall conference title (2000), three (1999, 2000, and 2005) GLIAC Tournament titles, three (1998, 1999, 2008) NCAA-II Great Lakes Regional Championship crowns and the three (1997-99) most successful seasons in the program's history. She made her first season as head coach a memorable one by being selected as the 1997 GLIAC Coach of the Year.
Prior to the 2009 season, Becker ranked 50th among the NCAA-II's active coaches in both winning percentage (.605) and victories (348).
Before her arrival to Ferris, Becker served two seasons (1995-96) as an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State University. As a student-athlete at SVSU, Becker enjoyed a stellar softball career for the Cardinals in which she received all-conference first-team honor four straight seasons and was a two-time academic all-league selection as a four-year starter.
Becker attained her 100th career win in 1999 (March 27) with a 14-5 five-inning win over Wayne State at the Wayne State Invitational and then claimed her 200th coaching victory in 2002 (April 10)?as a result of a 15-1 five-inning home league triumph versus Lake Superior State. Becker notched her 300th career coaching win on April 16, 2007 in a 10-2 conference home decision against Ashland.
The Sanford, Mich., native received a softball scholarship to SVSU after concluding a notable prep athletics career at Sanford-Meridian High School in Sanford, Mich. An all-state and four-time all-conference pick in softball, Becker played an integral role in helping the Mustangs capture the 1987 State Class B title under coach Gary Edwards. A four-year starter at SMHS, she presently holds seven school batting records, including most hits, home runs and RBI, and four pitching records, including most wins and lowest earned run average.
Becker competed in basketball three years, attaining all-conference and all-area laurels. Becker serves as a member of the National Championship Softball Committee and is chair of the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Regional Ranking Committee. She also holds membership in the National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA).
A resident of Howard City, Mich., Becker also currently serves as the Ferris State Athletics Department's Compliance Coordinator, Senior Women's Administrator, and Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) advisor. Her interests include downhill skiing, boating and playing with her beloved dogs – McKenzie, a Labrador Retreiver, and Gabby, a Husky. Prior to being called to active duty, Becker served eight years (1992-00) in the United States Army Reserve and held the rank of sergeant.

subset: commoncrawl


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Real Reviews
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- " It was very good room to enjoy of Goteborg. All was perfect "
- 17 Aug 2015 Anonymous France
- " My partner and I stayed here for 3 nights recently. Please note that this is not a hostel it is a bedroom in a guys apartment. Location was brilliant but we felt very awkward when at the accommodation and felt as though we had to creep around. There is no fridge or tea/coffee making facilities. We were also annoyed that our room was not ready at 4pm after we dropped bags off in the morning and said we would be back in the afternoon. "
- 29 Jun 2015 Madeline Australia


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Couples Therapy – Season 2, Episode 8Daily Update 1 Comment
Eric and Jessie decide to attend couples therapy together with their sex therapist. They tell each other their true feelings for each other.
Jessie holds Eric's hand and describes how his life was meaningless before meeting Eric, just filled with fucking one guy after another. Eric then tells Jessie how he didn't think he was interested in him when they first met because Jessie never made any moves on him.
After they finish Christopher explains how they are going to have sex with each other but through him. That's right, the only way to get back on the right path if for their therapist to be in between the two of them so they can focus on loving each other instead of just sex.
Enjoy this hot threesome in "Couple's Therapy" starring Eric East, Jessie Lee and Christopher Daniels.
Watch the Full Episode Now


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Click here to print the obituary below
James Edward Barnett
Ed Barnett
James Edward Barnett, 83, went to be with our Lord Saturday, February 4, 2012 at MS Baptist Medical Center, Jackson.
Visitation is 4:00-7:00 pm today at Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home in Jackson. Funeral services are 11:00am Tuesday, February 7, 2012 in the funeral home chapel. Graveside services will follow at 2:30pm in Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery in Neshoba County. The family will also receive friends one hour prior to services at the chapel.
Officiating will be Rev. James Richardson, Dr. Mark Strum, Rev. Wilbur Irwin and Rev. Robert Patton. Pallbearers are Ricky Bishop, Chris Barnett, Kevin Barnett, Malcolm Barnett, David Barnett and Ricky Luke.
Mr. Barnett was born July 4, 1928 in Winston County, a son of the late Thad and Audra Barnett, and moved to Jackson in 1950. He was employed by Knox Glass for 11 years and Jatran for 30 years, serving as a driver and route supervisor. A veteran of the U.S.
, he served in the Philippines during
. He was also a member of Faithview Baptist Church of Raymond and a mason. His hobbies included fishing, playing guitar and spending time with his beloved family.
Survivors include his wife of 61 years, Mae Price Barnett; son Woody Barnett and wife Kathy; daughter, Debbie Pippin and husband John; grandchildren, Ricky Bishop, Chris Barnett and Kevin Barnett; brother, Homer Barnett and wife Jean; sisters, Shirley Lawrence and Virginia Richardson; uncle, Emmett Barnett; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Memorials may be made to the
or other charitable organization.
Funeral Home
Baldwin-Lee Funeral Home
5235 Robinson Road
Jackson, MS 392044135
(601) 372-5623
Published in Clarion Ledger on Feb. 6, 2012


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It is tempting to look at this week's recall elections in Wisconsin — and the fact that Republicans retain control of the Badger State's upper house — through the gaze of all-politics-are-local. But when more money is spent on the recall elections than on the entire state legislative campaign last year, most of it coming from public-sector unions opposed to Gov. Scott Walker's successful effort to abolish collective bargaining, the politics are clearly national. And when the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers weigh in — including spending $400,000 on radio ads supporting Democratic opponents alone — the elections are also a referendum on the influence of teachers unions in education policy.
The results of the referendum are clear: The NEA and AFT are not nearly as influential in education policy as they once were a decade ago. And thanks to the twin forces of the school reform movement and the current economic malaise, that influence will continue to weaken.
The nation's two largest teachers unions are certainly doing their best to triangulate and beat back Parent Power movements and other school reform efforts. It hasn't always been successful — especially among the AFT, whose president, Randi Weingarten, issued another public nonapology apology in the Huffington Post after Dropout Nation revealed its anti-Parent Trigger presentation. (Of course, Weingarten couldn't mention your editor by name.) Even as the two unions are beset by a generational divide between Baby Boomers who want to preserve their privileges and reform-minded less-senior teachers, the reality is that the former are still in clear control of union activity. Their interest in keeping traditional districts under their respective thumbs, along with preserving the array of quality-blind compensation and near-lifetime privileges that has made teaching the most-comfortable public-sector profession, is why the NEA is devoting $40 million in member donations (whether or not younger members support it) on efforts to beat back reform. It is also why legislators such as New Jersey Assembly Speaker Steve Sweeney have lost NEA and AFT endorsements.
The NEA and AFT thought that they could whip up outrage against moves by governors and legislatures in Wisconsin, Ohio, New Jersey and Florida to abolish collective bargaining and begin overhauling costly teacher pay systems. For good reason. Most Americans respect individual teachers, who the two unions can rally for electioneering. The fact that governments (including school districts) are major employers, especially in rural areas, along with the struggle reformers often have in explaining the nuances of teacher pay (and moving away from over-simplification that lead to Matt Damon moments) should also help the NEA's and AFT's cause.
What the two unions continually fail to realize is that those arguments no longer work in the face of these stubborn facts.
For one, with states facing $137 billion in budget shortfalls this and the coming fiscal years, governors and legislators can no longer afford to protect school spending from the axe. Given that the cost of the nearly-free healthcare benefits and other perks of teaching have increased by 21 percent within a six-year period — and the $1.4 trillion in pension deficits and unfunded retiree healthcare costs — governors realize they must restrain future increases.
Second: While reformers haven't done a good job of fully explaining teacher compensation, they have done a fantastic job of showing that the traditional system is ineffective in rewarding good-to-great teachers or in improving student achievement. A decade of revelations about the laggard quality of teaching and curricula in traditional schools and the results in the form of 150 teens dropping out every hour, has shown taxpayers that the nation spends $600 billion on education abysmally.
Then there is the reality that the average American, working in a private sector in which layoffs and wage cutbacks are common, are none too sympathetic to teachers unions who insist that their rank-and-file should not be subjected to economic reality. Opposition from the unions to performance pay plans, ending tenure and using student test score data in teacher evaluations, also fall on deaf ears. That there are other fiscal matters that they consider to be equally important, including police and fire service and Medicaid, that have been subjected to cutbacks, makes taxpayers less willing to listen to cries against revamping teacher compensation.
Combine these realities with moves such as the AFT's failed lawsuit against New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's school reform efforts and revelations such as those last week by Dropout Nation, and suddenly, the pitch from teachers' unions is as failed as their vision for American public education.
All this said, the NEA and AFT remain formidable forces who have long ago mastered the less-electoral aspects of the political game. School reformers need to step up their game in this area as well as build ties to grassroots activists and community leaders in order to sustain momentum.
At the same time, some reform camps, namely centrist and left-leaning Democrats, need to come to terms with the reality that the teacher quality reforms they espouse involve the same weakening of teachers' union influence as the efforts by conservative counterparts to abolish collective bargaining. Trying to publicly oppose the weakening of teachers' union influence even your own agenda calls for exactly that is trying to have it both ways. And that's just not possible.
This week marked another slow decline in teachers' union influence. And more clout may be lost — to the benefit of our children — by the time the year is over.
Perhaps It's Time to Abandon the Union: Last week's Three Thoughts noted George W. Bush Center scholar Jay P. Greene's conclusion that school reformers would be better off starting their own institutions in order to successfully spur school reform, and force traditional districts and other players to abandoned failed practices. This question comes up as one reads Andy Rotherham's latest column in Time on the younger players who are trying to force the NEA and AFT to end their opposition to systemic reform.
As I did last year for Labor Watch and The American Spectator over the last year, Rotherham details how groups such as Educators4Excellence have agitated with some success for the two unions to modify their positions. NewTLA, for example, now significant influence in the AFT's Los Angeles local, while the efforts of Teach Plus in Indianapolis and elsewhere to rally younger teachers to push for reform is also wonderful to watch.
But are their efforts enough? As Adam Emerson of Redefine Ed points out, the insurgents haven't really forced the NEA and AFT to do more than slightly alter their positions and help shape a local election or two. More importantly, the activists haven't challenge the penchant for treating families as nuisances and afterthoughts that is rampant among NEA and AFT leaders (and in the agendas of the two unions). The fact that the younger teachers pushing for internal reform have not yet themselves begun dismissing the anti-Parent Power strategies of their union (or have even argued publicly for the union to support Parent Trigger laws and vouchers, even though they do embrace charter schools) means that they don't have the missing link they need to force the two unions to embrace systemic reform.
Virginia teacher and occasional Dropout Nation contributor Chad Sansing has noted that there needs to be a way for families and teachers to get together and work towards improving education. He is right. Currently, given that NEA and AFT affiliates are more-concerned with serving members and perpetuating its existence, and the concerns among poor and minority families that they are shunted aside in education decision-making, better working relationships between parents and teachers will remain a struggle. Certainly we need the insurgents to push for reform within the NEA and AFT. But reform-minded teachers may ultimately have to abandon the union model, form their own professional associations, and team up with Parent Power groups to do so.
Last week, Dropout Nation revealed the American Federation of Teachers' true feelings about Parent Trigger laws and Parent Power efforts. Since then, media out such as the Wall Street Journal and the Daily News have editorialized on the cynical efforts while Parent Power activists such as former California State Sen. Gloria Romero — who authored the nation's first Parent Trigger law and was mentioned in the presentation — demanding that AFT President Randi Weingarten "offer an immediate apology and a commitment to never let something like this happen again."
But there are other ways education traditionalists can weaken Parent Power — and this is true in Connecticut (the subject of, and test case for, the AFT's presentation) and in the rest of the country. See, last month, the state legislature passed something called Public Act 11-135, which took the terrible step of delaying the move to improve the state's mediocre high school graduation standards. As part of the law, state legislators wrote in language that exempts seven schools, called CommPACT schools, from the state's Parent Trigger law. Essentially, those schools aren't required to assemble school governance councils, the vehicles by which parents can exercise the Parent Trigger and push for the overhaul of failing schools.
By the way: Six of the seven CommPACT schools — M.D. Fox in Hartford, Barnum School and Bassick High School in Bridgeport, Hill Central Music Academy in New Haven, and Washington Elementary and West Side Middle School in Waterbury — were among the first schools that had to put school governance councils in place by November of this year; Barnum, Bassick and Hill Central should have had them in place already.
Members on the state committee charged with overseeing the implementation of the state's Parent Trigger law were kindly informed about this after the law was passed.
Now, why would the CommPACT schools be exempted from the state's Parent Trigger law? In theory, the schools are run by parents, teachers and other community members. But given that the Nutmeg State's AFT and NEA affiliates are intensely involved in the management of the CommPACT schools — with the executive director of the NEA affiliate and four other union leaders holding seats on the 13-member advisory board — the exemption isn't surprising. While each of the CommPACT schools has a board that consists of principals, teachers union officials, community members and parents, there is no capacity for families to push through an overhaul if they think any of the schools need a fix.
This is a shame because while some of the CommPACT schools such as Longfellow School in Bridgeport are having some success in improving student achievement so far (with just 22 percent of 7th graders reading Below Basic on the state's achievement test in 2009-2010 versus 46 percent of them as sixth-graders a year earlier), other schools aren't making the grade. At M.D. Fox School in Hartford, for example, 66 percent of fifth graders read Below Basic in 2009-2010, versus 57 percent of them as fourth-graders the year before. At Hill Central Music Academy in New Haven, 73 percent of fifth-graders read Below Basic in 2009-2010, versus 46 percent of them as fourth-graders the previous year.
By exempting the CommPACT schools from the state's Parent Trigger law, the state has essentially taken power away from parents that they deserve. Once again, poor and minority families get less than their due. But let's be clear: This wasn't the only failure with this bill. State legislators voted for Public Law 11-135 even though organizations such as ConnCAN had steadfastly opposed its other provisions, which included delaying the implementation of the new high school graduation standards approved last year. That the state legislature passed everything contained in the legislation — including the weakening of Parent Power — and that Gov. Dan Malloy signed it speaks plenty about the Nutmeg State's seriousness about reforming education so that all kids, including those from poor and minority households — can succeed in school and life.
Of course, Connecticut Parents Union President Gwen Samuel (who kindly provided the information to Dropout Nation) isn't exactly pleased with this legislation; expect it to be challenged next year during the state's special legislative session on education. Once again, as I note in this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, the lessons for Parent Power activists and school reformers everywhere are simple: Play the political game smartly; rally the grassroots; ask smart questions; and hold politicians accountable.
On this week's Dropout Nation Podcast, I take a look back at last week's revelation of the American Federation of Teachers' cynical strategizing against Parent Trigger laws and school reform, then explain how reformers and activists can turn that cynicism to their advantage. Becoming more-politically savvy can advance the systemic reforms our kids need to succeed in school and life.
You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle's radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle. Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network, Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader.
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As everyone thinks over revelations of the AFT's strategy to do end-runs around Parent Trigger laws and Parent Power efforts, it is a good time to remember that the opposition to a strong role for parents in education runs deep in its DNA. And the incident that would long-plague the union's reputation with black and minority parents (as well as end a previous era of muscular school reform) offers numerous lessons for Parent Power activists and school reformers alike. Read Editor RiShawn Biddle's Best of Dropout Nation piece from March, think through the lessons, listen to podcasts on building Parent Power and consider what can be done to make families the lead decision-makers in education they deserve to be.
The Ocean Hill-Brownsville teachers' union strike of 1968 is best-remembered as one of the moments when the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association became the most-dominant players in education policy. It showed that teachers unions were willing to mobilize and stop classroom instruction in order to achieve their goal of making teaching the most-lucrative public sector profession. It is also the moment that ended a muscular form of American philanthropy that began earlier in the 20th century with the construction of libraries by Andrew Carnegie; outrage over the role of the Ford Foundation in spurring the school reform effort that led to the AFT strike resulted in the first significant federal regulations over foundations.
But for those studying the history of family engagement in education, Ocean Hill-Brownsville is also a critical moment. The efforts of the AFT and the response of state and New York City school officials to the strike made clear the reality that parents were expected to be seen and not heard. And 41 years later, the lessons for school reformers — and particularly, for parent power advocates — is clear: Those who have influence in education will behave amorally in attempting to keep it (especially if they have legal standing to do so). And it will take mass mobilization, energy and strategic thinking to force parents and families into their rightful role as kings and lead decision-makers in education at every level.
When the AFT began the first of its strikes in May 1968, it was ostensibly over the removal of 13 teachers (along with six administrators) that the mostly-black parent- and community-controlled board Ocean Hill-Brownsville board deemed incompetent and unwilling to go along with the decentralization plan. Even though the teachers were still employed by the New York City Board of Education (and would be allowed to keep their jobs, albeit sitting in offices at the school system's main offices in Brooklyn), the AFT argued that the teachers were denied due process. The president of the AFT local, future national AFT president Albert Shanker, declared that he would oppose the firing any way he can.
But the strike was just the most-public step in a battle between school reformers of the time such as Ford Foundation — who wanted to give black parents an alternative to the woeful traditional public education system and the ability to be the lead decision-makers in schools — and the AFT, which wanted to ensure that their recently-won influence over school decisions remained intact. The AFT initially supported the effort to carve out Ocean Hill-Brownsville and two other decentralized school systems from the rest of the New York City school district, but then opposed the effort when Ocean Hill-Brownsville and other districts asserted that they had the management right to transfer teachers to and from the district regardless of seniority. Although Ocean Hill-Brownsville was not exactly the place where the mostly-white AFT rank-and-file teachers would want to be, the fact that the district's board would even dare to assert power just a few years after the AFT won its influence (in an earlier strike) was to the union and its leadership, just too bold to let stand. From where the union sat, its influence (and to a lesser extent, ability to protect teachers from wrongful firings) were more important than the right of parents to actually improve education for their kids by any means necessary.
So when Ocean Hill-Brownsville moved to transfer the 13 teachers most-resistant to the new regime, the AFT demanded their return (the teachers, by the way, refused to even report to work at the Board of Education's offices). When the community board and district boss Rhody McCoy, refused, the AFT began strikes and litigation to force Ocean Hill-Brownsville to bring the teachers back into their jobs.
Over the next few months, the parent power effort was ground down into ashes. New York City Mayor John Lindsey, who initially backed the creation of the districts, demanded that Ocean Hill-Brownsville reinstate the teachers; the New York City Board of Education's superintendent, Bernard Donovan, also demanded the same. By June, an independent examiner ruled in favor of the AFT and reinstated the teachers back into the district. Only the refusal by McCoy and the board refused to let the teachers back in prolonged the battle. They had the backing of the Ocean Hill-Brownsville community, who naturally (and legitimately) saw both the AFT and the New York City powers that be as being thoroughly opposed to letting black parents actually have a say in running schools. When Ocean Hill-Brownsville shut down three schools where the removed teachers had worked in order to keep them out (a move which was not smart or good for kids), parents improvised by starting their own schools in storefronts and in homes around the area.
By September, New York State's Education Department stepped in to mediate the dispute, pushing for both Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the AFT to split the proverbial baby. But neither was willing to do so. But the battle was already lost. Ocean Hill-Brownsville and the parents who backed them were opposed not only by the union and city and state officials. The Big Apple's white (and often union-friendly) residents, already annoyed by efforts to force integration of the schools their kids attended (and angered by the city's overall decline in quality-of-life), were more than willing to back the AFT (which they saw as force for merit) than black parents (with whom they often didn't socialize in settings other than work). The fact that these kids had long been denied a high-quality education as defined at the time didn't factor into the thinking of these adults (or into that of the AFT and the officials backing them).
By November, the state managed to replace the Ocean Hill-Brownsville board with a trustee and brought the teachers back onto the job. Although the AFT didn't look good to civil rights activists or black families at the time, it didn't matter because it advanced its growing influence. Besides getting the teachers back on the job, the AFT also wrung out an agreement that bound all the districts to its version of due process. The Ocean Hill-Brownsville effort fizzled into the New York City school bureaucracy and would get trapped in a cycle of incompetence and academic failure that would only begin to cease a decade ago with Mayor Michael Bloomberg's successful takeover of the system.
It's easy to just blame the AFT. But the union didn't act alone. The school decentralization concept was flawed from the get-go, largely because the central school system never really let go of its power; the teachers were still employees of the system, and the powers to transfer teachers were never really clarified in any way. The better move would have been to essentially pursue what would be now called the creation of charter schools, which would sever the bureaucracy from the operation of schools, forcing those who operate them to actually serve parents and kids. But that idea was not one that would have come to mind at the time. And given the unwillingness of all the players in education decision-making to hand real power to parents, it was a miracle that Ocean Hill-Brownsville even got a chance to exist.
More than four decades later, Ocean Hill-Brownsville still remain as relevant as ever, largely because the same battles fought then are happening now.
Even before Ocean Hill-Brownsville, teachers unions, school boards, superintendents and administrators considered parents and the groups that represented them to be little more than tools for their co-opting. As Temple University Professor William W. Cutler III noted in Parents and Schools: The 150-year struggle for control in American education, parents groups such as the United Parents Association in New York City were often enlisted as partners to further their goals and little else. Giving parents real power — especially the Virginia Walden Fords, Malkin Dares and other noisy parent power activists — was never in their plans. The fact that many of the early groups that arose to represent parents were run by middle-class women whose desire to improve the lot of poor kids were mixed in with their own disdain for their parents also played a part in this co-opting.
By the time of Ocean Hill-Brownsville, a generation of what we would now call Parent Power activists realized that they were getting the short end of the stick in education policy and practice. But at that time, there were few tools available to wage a strong fight. Thanks to the emergence of charter schools, vouchers and the efforts to hold schools and teachers accountable for performance through the modern school reform movement, Parent Power can now become a reality. So has the re-emergence of muscular philanthropy, this in the form of the efforts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walton Family Foundation. None of this is music to the ears of those currently holding court at decision-making tables.
The opposition of the AFT and NEA to the expansion of charter schools — the most-successful form of school choice, family engagement and Parent Power currently in existence — is as much about the ability of the two unions to maintain their now-dwindling influence over education decisions as it is about the fact that the schools have largely avoided thorough unionization. School vouchers are even less beloved by the unions. For their allies among education traditionalists — including suburban districts and supposed civil rights activists such as Richard D. Kahlenberg of the Century Foundation — the idea that parents should even have some modicum of influence over instruction and curriculum, much less full power, is an anathema to their limited, often wrong-headed vision of what American public education should be.
As parents in Compton, Calif., attempting to use the state's Parent Trigger law to force out the school district's control of McKinley Elementary School have also found out, the battles will not be easy. Beside the combined resources of the district and its AFT local, there is the reality that state laws and regulations governing education often act as much protection for the status quo. As seen in other school reform debates — including over the use of reverse seniority layoff rules — it doesn't matter that kids are hurt by keeping bad policies in place. This isn't to say that defenders of traditional public education practices don't care about children; you have to take people at their word and besides, I think many of them do. But the choices and the policies they support belie their convictions.
Let's be plain and clear: The efforts to deny parents power in education is absolutely shameful. After all, traditionalists often demand parents to be fully engaged in education, yet are so unwilling to let them play roles beyond staffing field trips and working with kids on homework. It is wrong from both a civil rights and systemic reform of education perspective. If education is the greatest civil rights and human rights issue of our generation, we can't improve the system without bringing parents and families on board as leading players; from a systems theory perspective, you also need parents in order to make things happen.
Most importantly, from a religious and ethical humanist perspective, denying parent power in education is purely immoral and unethical. Parents and families are charged with being the nurturers and caretakers of their children; arguing that this role doesn't extend into actual decision-making in education (even as they are bashed by status quo defenders for a lack of engagement) violates every tenet in every religious and ethical text on the planet. And considering that this denial of parent power hurts children from poor and minority families — the ones subjected to the worst public education offers — worst of all, it is means that these kids are being sentenced to poverty and prison.
As Dropout Nation declared in this Sunday's podcast, our kids get one shot every day to get the high-quality education they need to write their own stories. Their parents cannot on the sidelines waiting for so-called experts to spur reform. They must exercise power in education. And there is no basis, moral or otherwise, to deny it to them.
For parents and other grassroots school reformers, along with reformers in the Beltway and running charter schools, they have the moral right (along with the right as taxpayers) to reform American public education. But they must heed the lessons from Ocean Hill-Brownsville to be successful: They must be as masterful in understanding and shaping the legislative and rule-making processes as they are at getting signatures for petitions. They must fully educate parents about what high-quality education should look like and how to expand influence. It is as important to play the public relations game as it is to pursue what is right. And it is critical to hold politicians accountable for school reform; those who oppose reform should be voted out swiftly.
It is high time for parents to be seen, heard and felt in education. We can't wait for traditionalists to open doors. It's time to blast them open. And it is important to take the lessons of Ocean Hill-Brownsville and use them to build Parent Power.
Dropout Nation's revelations that the American Federation of Teachers aren't all that fond of the Parent Power movement and other elements of the nation's overall school reform movement has shattered Randi Weingarten's three-year-long effort at triangulating reform. For the union and its charming, cunning president, it will be more-difficult to convince the public that they welcome parents to the table of education decision-making. And the rank-and-file won't be too pleased either.
But the "Diffused Parent Trigger" affair (their misspelling, not ours) also proves lie to one of the biggest myths perpetuated by education traditionalists: That their efforts to defend even the most-atrocious of traditional public education practices is simply a homegrown grassroots affair fighting against supposedly "corporate" school reformers interested in filthy lucre. The very anti-intellectualism of this mythology — based on the failure to realize that the entrepreneurs and corporate institutions are the very reasons why America has a high standard of living, are the ones who provide the tax revenues that sustain American public education, and finance the very institutions that give education traditionalists their jobs — makes such statements rather ridiculous. More importantly, this myth fails to consider the reality that education traditionalists are themselves defenders of an institutional, or, I'll dare say, corporate, culture.
Consider this: At the national level, the AFT, along with the NEA, generate $622 million a year in dues — and this is the tip of the iceberg. When one drills down into the finances of all of their affiliates, the two unions are billion-dollar organizations with the sizeable staffs that one would find in the average corporation. Weingarten and her counterpart, Dennis Van Roekel, are just as well-paid as their counterparts in the corporate world (and not just the S&P 500 companies unions tend to focus on, but the average CEO, who makes in the $350,000 range): Weingarten earned $428,284 in 2010,while Van Roekel was paid $397,721. Their respective executive team members also make six-figures sums, with Weingarten's second-in-command, Loretta Johnson commanding $198,065 a year, while her NEA counterpart, Lilly Eskelson, gets $326,563.
Like their peers in the corporate world, the two unions devote countless hours developing strategies aimed at maximizing their core mission — serving their shareholders and customers, who, given that they are teachers, are one and the same. As with any business, they pay special attention to their controlling shareholders and most-loyal (and highest-spending) customers, Baby Boomers in the teaching corps, even though they make up a declining share of the shareholder and customer base. (Whether or not they are actually serving their customers and shareholders well is an open question; but then, most of them have no choice but to pay their dues). This includes developing marketing strategies such as touting that AFT and NEA affiliates are the only ones who can ensure that teachers are well-paid (and that school reform efforts are inferior, and in fact, dangerous to their incomes and careers), public relations activities such as endorsing (and financing half of the $100,000 budget for) last week's Save Our Schools rally, and even corporate social responsibility activities such as donating millions to organizations whose views ostensibly dovetail with their own such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
And as with any business entity or institution, teachers unions always make sure that they continue to perpetuate their existence. Which means embracing branding and marketing strategies that advance their image. In their case, they promote the public image that they welcome family engagement and that they want to partner with them in order to improve education for all kids. And, as with Corporate America, they understand the importance of lobbying, public policy and campaigning in sustaining their business. It is why the two unions have become the biggest players in American campaign politics, handing off $292 million in donations between 2000 and 2011, according to the National Institute on Money in State Politics. And why the AFT and the NEA strongly opposes any effort to allow parents to be the lead decision-makers in education; it is a threat to their interests and, in their view, the very survival of their institutions.
In short, the NEA and the AFT are corporate traditional education institutions. They are not the only one. From traditional school districts (whose superintendents are often paid as well as Weingarten and Van Roekel) to university colleges of education (a $7 billion sector whose members train nearly all of the nation's teachers), traditional public education's defenders are about as corporately-driven as peers in the private and non-profit sectors. the more-independent of traditional educationalists are still just as tied up in the corporate/institutional landscape as those who work directly for institutions. From Diane Ravitch (who collects tidy sums from her gig at New York University, book royalties and speeches before traditional educationalists) to conspiracy theorist Mike Klonsky (who runs the small schools effort out of the University of Illinois, Chicago), and Kevin Welner (whose National Education Policy Center has counted on NEA support, and who also serves on the board of the union's foundation arm), the idea that these folks are just mom-and-pop advocates is just plain hilarious.
What isn't so funny is their opposition to reforming American public education so that all children can write their own stories. Their sclerotic unwillingness to abandon practices and mythologies that are failures is a detriment to our kids. And the tactics they engage in to sustain it (even as they talk a good game) pretty much casts them as cynical ciphers supporting a failed amoral vision that condemns 1.2 million children a year to poverty, prison and despair. While I believe that they care for the lives of children, their beliefs and dogmas do not match with their tactics and actions. And this is especially infuriating when it comes to how they treat poor and minority parents and their children, who deserve better than condescension, dismissal and disdain.
Anything wrong with being corporate or institutional? Certainly not. Unless one is independently wealthy, everyone — including entrepreneurs, middle-managers, and advocates– depends on customers, clients and employers for their sustenance. But it is funny that education traditionalists don't realize the hypocrisy inherent in their anti-corporate rhetoric — and, even after this week's revelations, that they continue to be dismissive of Parent Power activists. Especially when they call themselves parent advocates. School reformers should consistently call out education traditionalists for the blatant mismatch between their message and what they actually support.
As you read more about the battles over Parent Power, feel free to listen to this Dropout Nation Podcast from last May on why we need to bring families to their rightful places as kings and lead decision-makers in education. Now, more than ever, the disdain shown towards parents — including those from poor and minority communities — must end in order to end the nation's education and dropout crises.
You can listen to the Podcast at RiShawn Biddle's radio page or download directly to your iPod, Zune, MP3 player, smartphone, Nook Color or Kindle. Also, subscribe to the podcast series. It is also available on iTunes, Blubrry, the Education Podcast Network, Zune Marketplace and PodBean. Also download to your phone with BlackBerry podcast software and Google Reader. Also, listen to this week's Dropout Nation Podcast on the five questions every parent should ask.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download


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Australia features more than 60 designated wine regions, totalling approximately 160,000 hectares. Australia's wine regions are mainly in the southern, cooler parts of the country, with vineyards located in South Australia, New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia. The wine regions produce different wine varieties and styles that take advantage of the particular terroir such as: climatic differences, topography and soil types. The major varieties are predominantly Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Semillon, Pinot Noir, Riesling, and Sauvignon Blanc. Wines are often labelled with the name of their grape variety, which must constitute at least 85 percent of the wine.
We Recommend
d'Arenberg, The Broken Fishplate 2009
Region: Adelaide hills
This wine is fresh and generous on the palate, well balanced and quite long. Very charming bauquet of flowers and fruits.
Lindemans bin 95, Sauvignon Blanc
Tropical flavors with a crisp, dry finish. Is excellent with your favourite canapes or seafood.
Region: South Eastern Australia
Style: crisp, elegant, fresh
Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Sauvignon Blanc
Food Match: seafood
Peter Lehmann Clancy's
Everything is thrown into the blend for this wine ; shiraz, both cabernets and merlot. the result is a wine with a vivid, dense mulberry colour and a hugely aromatic and port-like nose with cinnamon and rich berry fruit.
Region: Southern Australia
Style: Carbernet sauvignon
Vintage: 2008
Grape Variety: Shiraz, Carbernet sauvignon and Merlot
Food Match: roast chicken, spaghetti bolognaise
Wolf blass red label
This wine has an attractive bouquet of fresh red fruits, spice and mint with balanced oak flavors. Soft, fruity and full of flavor, it is best enjoyed young and fresh and is an ideal partner to hearty red meat dishes.
Region: South Eastern Australia
Style: Full bodied
Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon
Food Match: Hearty red meat dishes
Yellow Tail, Merlot
Aromas: Ripe Plums and Mulberries. Flavors: Sweet Plums with a touch of spice
Region: South Eastern Australia
Style: Medium bodied
Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Merlot
Food Match: pasta, fish, poultry, mild cheese
d'Arenberg, The Broken Fishplate
The palate has woderfull weight and texture with crisp citrus nuances of mandarin, blood orange, tangerine and aimquat. The lovely fruit characters are the feature of the palate with secondary notes of snow pea and bean in the background.
Region: Adelaide hills
Style: Crisp, fresh
Vintage: 2009
Grape Variety: Sauvignon blanc
Food Match: seafood
Penfolds Koonunga Hill Chardonnay
Attractive honeydew melon, white peach and lemon and lime citrus aromas complaement a frsh and lively Chardonnay palate. The influence of oak provides an added dimension of complexity to this in=mpressive, balanced wine.
Region: South Australia
Style: Dry
Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Chardonnay
Food Match: country style chicken, vegetable pie
Mcguigan Black Label, Pinot Grigio
Region: South Australia
Style: Pinot Grigio
Vintage: 2010
Grape Variety: Pinot Grigio
Food Match: seafood, fish, white meat dishes


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Flip through the pages at your own speed, zoom in, zoom out, search, drap, email to a friend, print or download the brochure. we will be adding to this range so make sure you bookmark this page.


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Items in Cart:
True hand forged Damascus steel - Buffalo horn handle
Damascus steel blades are created by forge welding multiple layers of various steels into a solid block called a billet.
The billet is then folded and re-welded many times to create multiple layers and patterns.
When acid is applied to the blade, it attacks the layers of hard and soft steels differently, highlighting the attractive layered patterns in the steel.
The combination of layered hard and soft steels creates blade flexibility, hardness and durability and produces invisible serrations on the cutting edge that aid in cutting.
The blade of this custom knife has been hand forged from 1095 and 15N20 high carbon steels and the cutting edge heat treated to attain a hardness of 58-60 on the Rockwell scale.
A beautiful twist pattern is the result of many hours of forging, twisting and re-layering, resulting in over 250 true layers.
The handle is constructed from buffalo horn, with brass pins.
Accurate hand file work is visible throughout the length of the spine.
The cutting edge of the blade has been sharpened to a razor's edge.
Knife Specifications
Being hand made, this item may have slight inconsistencies regarded as flaws by some, but regarded as unique characteristics by others.
All images are of the actual item. Please view them carefully to verify details.
We offer a 7 day money back guarantee on this item, no other guarantees or warrantees are given or implied.
I'll be happy to answer any questions as best and as quickly as possible!


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Lemon Tuna Avocado Snack
Halved avocados make a nutritious snack or light meal. Their mild flavor is complemented here by tuna and lemon juice.
- Yield: Makes 2 halves
Source: Martha Stewart Baby, Special Issue 2000
- 1 ripe avocado
- Zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 six-ounce solid albacore tuna, in spring water
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Fresh basil leaves, for garnish (optional)
Halve avocado lengthwise, and remove the pit. Scoop out 2 tablespoons avocado flesh from each half, and leave the shells with the remaining flesh intact.
Mash the 4 tablespoons avocado with lemon juice and olive oil until smooth. Toss with tuna, sunflower seeds, half the lemon zest, and salt and pepper to taste. Fill halves with tuna mixture, and garnish with remaining lemon zest and basil, if desired. Serve immediately with a spoon.


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If you've ever worked at a newspaper, you know what the number means.
It's the notation print reporters put at the end of their stories, signifying there's nothing else. The End.
Yes, after seven years and 1,329 posts, it's time to wrap things up here. I knew that keeping things going would be tough when I got a book deal for my novels, and I know I said I'd continue to post, but there were things I didn't anticipate.
I didn't realize book critics would want to interview me (there's a switch). I didn't realize I'd be invited to be a guest blogger. And then there was that social networking thing that I'm clueless about.
And, oh yeah, my contract says I have to write more novels.
But, fear not, the blog will not go away. I couldn't simply hit "delete" and wipe out what has become a sarcastic library of information about the television news business.
I also realize the time is right. In the past year I noticed I was repeating myself with posts. I'd start one and then stop, wondering if I'd covered the topic before. A quick search told me I had. This was happening more often, and I was running out of new things to talk about. You can only tell people "don't call a news director" so many times.
Anyway, I'll leave everything up so you guys can wander around. Between the blog and my Street Smarts books, you should be able to find the information you need. The email address, email@example.com, will also remain active if you have questions.
I'm still doing my network field producing and my mentoring business isn't going away, if you want to be a client. I still enjoy helping young journalists a great deal.
If you want to keep up with what I'm doing, you can drop by my author blog:
The Channeling Author
It's been fun, and the nice notes I've received over the years were greatly appreciated. I hope in some small way I've helped people make their careers go a little smoother.
And if you take one thing away from this blog, take the golden rule:
"It is never the wrong time to do the right thing."


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RCR2660 & RCR2672 Series Rotary Cutters
Available Models
Land Pride's medium-duty RCR26 Series Rotary Cutters are ideal for cutting on gently sloping or slightly contoured rights-of-way, pastures, set aside acres, and row crop fields. Both units feature a single laminated trailing wheel and 4-plate slip clutch protection. The RCR26 Series clears grass, weeds, and light brush up to 3" in diameter and has a cutting height range of 2" to 12". These units come with a standard 3/16" heavy-duty stump jumper and replaceable skid shoes. The stump jumper on the RCR2660 is 24" diameter and the RCR2672 features a 30" round pan. Rubber deflectors or chain guards options are available.
Features and Benefits
|Surpassed rugged industry standards
|All Land Pride Cutters have been designed and tested and meet rigorous voluntary testing procedures specified by ANSI.
|5 Year gearbox warranty
|Shows Land Pride's confidence in gearbox integrity.
|130 HP gearbox
|A rugged heavy built gearbox capable of handling heavy cutting applications.
|Cat. 4 driveline with 4 plate slip-clutch
|Excellent gearbox protection with the slip-clutch slipping when encountering obstruction in the blade path. Standard slip-clutch offers convenience over shear-bolts.
|Cat. l or ll 3-point hitch
|Allows use on a wider variety of tractors.
|Lower clevis type 3-point hitch
|Allows for ease of hook-up to tractor. Also adds additional strength allowing for an even pull from the tractor's lower arms, vs. pulling on a single pin design.
|Heavy 10 gauge deck construction
|Can withstand more abuse than lighter gauge decks.
|1/4" Side panels for overall reinforcement
|Also protects sides from debris being thrown against them from the blades.
|Fully welded deck
|Robotically welded. Adds additional strength and reduces rust.
|Extended front tapered deck
|Contains and discharges material better.
|Round back design
|Allows for more efficient handling and dispersing of material.
|9" Deck Height
|Allows cutter to handle heavy cutting conditions.
|2" to 12" Cutting height
|Provides for a wide range of cutting conditions.
|High cutting capacity
|Can cut brushy areas with saplings up to 3".
|Full length skids with replaceable shoes
|Full length skids protect side plate structure, replaceable shoes for convenience.
|1/2" x 4" Heat-treated free swinging blades
|Free swinging protects from obstructions. Heat-treated offers longer life.
|Splined blade bar
|Allows for tight positive fit of stump jumper and blade bar to gearbox output shaft.
|3/16" Round stump jumper
|Standard stump jumper aids in sliding over obstructions, which helps protect gearbox output shaft.
|High blade tip speed
|60" =12,384 fpm and 72" = 14,861 fpm
|3" Dia. cutting capacity
|Can aid in clearing brush.
|Rugged laminated tailwheel
|Can't go flat. Choice of single or dual combination.
|Chain or rubber shield option
|Located on front and rear. Reduces flying debris.
Download Features and Benefits
Download features and benefits of this product here: 312-783f.pdf
Download Specifications
Download the Product Specifications here: 312-783s.pdf
Operator's Manual
Download a PDF of the Operator's Manual here: 312-783m.pdf
Parts Manual
Download the Parts Manual here: 312-783p.pdf
Download Accessory Manuals
The following accessory manuals are available for download:
Overall Unit and Driveline: One year Parts and Labor
Gearbox: S/N 329841+: Five years Parts and Labor
Gearbox: S/N 329840-: One year Parts and Labor
Blades, Tires, and Driveline Friction Discs: Considered wear items
See complete Warranty Statement below.
Download Complete Warranty
Download the full Product Warranty here: 312-783w.pdf
Frequently Asked Questions About This Product
Why is by tailwheel/gauge wheel not pivoting properly?
Why do I keep breaking my tail wheel yoke?
Why did the shear bolt break on my driveline?
Why are my cutter blades locking up?
Where should I set the front of the cutter in relation to the rear?
When I start the cutter up it shakes and vibrates. How do I prevent this?
What is causing my cutter to vibrate?
What do I need to do if my cutting height is off or my deck is lower at the front than at the back?
What do I do if I break the shear bolt when I start the tractor?
What could be causing my cutter to vibrate?
What caused the tailwheel support to fail?
What caused the driveline to bend or twist?
What are check chains?
The u-joint has come apart. Why?
My driveline will not slide or telescope?
How do I remove the blades on my cutter?
How do I drain the oil in the gearbox?
Product Literature
Download product literature here: lit_rcr26.pdf


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25th Economic Forum
Krynica-Zdrój, Poland 8-10 September 2015,
Towards a Resilient Europe. Strategies for the Future
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization guarantees security in Europe – said President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, at the opening of the Economic Forum in Krynica.
NATO, as the main pillar of the European security in the military sense, is still expected to continue its role – convinced the president of Poland during the debate opening the Economic Forum in Krynica. According to Andrzej Duda, Europe can certainly build its own army in parallel, but only within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
- NATO has proved to be effective as a global alliance, which helped to maintain global peace for a long time, even at the times of the greatest challenges – stressed the president. That is why the development of the organization and accession of new member states should be coupled with extension of its heavy infrastructure to the new territories – he continued.
During the discussion with the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović and President of Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov about challenges facing Europe, the Polish president stressed that Poland received funding to support unification of national infrastructure with the European one and expressed his view that NATO should be based on the same principle.
- NATO should develop its infrastructure in new member states after their accession. The alliance cannot afford any gaps in its security system because they become immediately exposed to risks. A shift in NATO's infrastructure towards the eastern flank will be a signal that NATO is not a rigid structure, but a living organization reacting to current events – continued Duda.
Return to the roots
According to Duda, Europe is strong in the sense of the European Union, but helpless towards the encountered problems, such as: demography, the Eurozone crisis, immigration wave from Africa and Middle East and the war in Ukraine.
- The Ukrainian conflict should be ended with a durable peace instead of freezing the current status quo, and that means a return of previous borders of Ukraine. The Minsk Protocol brought certain positive effects by reducing the war considerably, but not ending it.
Duda said that he distinguished three main pillars underlying the good future of Europe. The first one is the necessity to maintain unity, the second security not only in military sense, but also in terms of energy for example. The third pillar is freedom also in the sense of democracy. In his view, the European institutions operate in such a way that societies do not have a sense of any influence on their operations.
- I think that we should return to the roots. The European Union should be the union of sovereign national states, the union where we respect our interests – said the president.
The president convinced that more intense actions were required expressing readiness of Poland to join them. – We can take such actions diplomatically in cooperation with our partners, obviously depending on the will of Ukraine. A Pole is the ambassador of the EU in Kiev, we could become involved as the state – he said.
A fast reaction is necessary
According to the Croatian president, Europe experiences a crisis of vision, identity and leadership.
- It undermines the pillars mentioned by president Andrzej Duda. However, I hope that we can and even have to overcome this crisis – she pointed.
In her opinion, Europe should react more rapidly to all types of risk. Speaking about Ukraine, she said that the integrity of this country could have been strengthened earlier. Lack of immediate European unity in this matter acted as a bad omen.
- Currently, we have to do with a another critical situation. The wave of immigrants flooding across Europe is a huge challenge for Europe. We should focus though on elimination of the initial reasons of that situation: war, poverty and destabilization in the Middle East – continued Grabar-Kitarović. – In the opposite case, the foundations of Europe, such as taken down borders, will be undermined – she convinced.
President of Macedonia, Gjorge Ivanov pointed that Macedonia was left with the problem of flooding immigrants on its own.
- The European institutions operate perfectly when we live in peace. Yet, in critical situations they are unable to take fast decisions and the crisis intensifies leading to even greater consequences – said Ivanov. The Middle East as the main source of refugees coming to Europe is strongly tied with the Caucasus and Balkan countries. It seems that politicians are unable to resolve this Bermuda Triangle – added the president of Macedonia.
As he pointed, Macedonia has vast experience in peaceful coexistence with the Islamic societies and could share its experience with the European Union in terms of building the society based on mutual respect.
Euro referendum
Andrzej Duda said that further integration of Europe must take place with respect of sovereignty of individual countries. He emphasized that Poland's decision to introduce Euro should be preceded by a referendum.
- It should be a conscious decision, with full information for the Polish society – about the effects, the fact that the steering institution will be ECB and not NBP, and the effects of swapping the currency – according to the president.
For the tenth time, RWE Poland was a partner of the Economic Forum in Krynica. This year the group of political and business leaders discussed first of all how to ensure economic growth and security in the Old Continent in the face of increasing global economic competition and geopolitical conflicts. The plenary session "How to build strong Europe? Strategies for the future", opening the 25th EF, was attended by: Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, Kolinda Grabar–Kitarović, President of the Republic of Croatia and Gorge Ivanov, President of the Republic of Macedonia. Filip Thon, President of the Board of Directors of RWE Poland was invited to the discussion as the only representative of the business world.


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Nokia Is Shopping For A New Number
You would think Nokia Corp. CEO Jorma Ollila could loll a few extra minutes in his sauna. His Finnish telecom giant has triumphed beyond analysts' wildest expectations, racing past Motorola Inc. and Ericsson by nearly every measure in the cellular phone business. Last year, Nokia's revenues, powered by booming U.S. sales, grew 51%, to $15.7 billion, with profits up 67%, to $2.1 billion. Its stock price has doubled in the past year. And to crown Ollila's rise, his board in Helsinki just named him chairman, strengthening his grip on the company.
Yet Nokia has a weakness, one Ollila is hurrying to address. While a powerhouse in handsets, Nokia risks becoming an also-ran in the telecom systems business, which represents a third of Nokia's sales. The trouble is that Nokia, like many of its European competitors, is a featherweight in Internet technology. This is a fast-growing field dominated by North American titans Cisco Systems, Lucent Technologies, and Nortel. If Nokia can't match their offerings, it could cede its position, allowing others to build the nerve centers for mobile networks in the coming century. "Poor old Nokia," says Malcolm Collins, managing director of Nortel Networks in Europe. "They've left their future up to companies like ours."
That said, the 48-year-old Ollila is going shopping. His board O.K.'d a plan to issue some $9 billion of new stock, and Ollila now says he plans to use a sizable chunk of that for an acquisition or two. "Watch this space," he says. Ollila vows that Nokia will resist the me-too strategy that has Europeans and Americans alike gulping up U.S. companies that create the largely wired world of Internet plumbing. Instead, even in infrastructure, Nokia officials say they will carve out a wireless niche. "Going head to head in Cisco's market is not the way to do it," Ollila says.
And what will he buy? His likely path will be to build up Nokia's software portfolio in mobile systems. This way, conceivably, Nokia could sidestep the core Internet market--and much of the fixed-line world--and instead build high-tech add-ons that add zip to Ollila's dream: the mobile Internet. For this technology, analysts and competitors expect Ollila to trawl widely, from the labs of titans such as IBM to the tiniest software startups the world over.
Even at today's inflated prices, it doesn't take big money to pick up these kinds of niche technologies. Indeed, in the last 18 months, Ollila bought four small American companies, specializing in E-commerce, Internet routers, and Internet telephony. He got all of them for less than $500 million.
SHELF SPACE. The more expensive purchases, say people close to the company, may involve broadening the range of machines on Nokia's shelves. Ollila could perhaps gobble up the Palm Pilot business of 3Com Corp., or its leading competitor, British computer maker Psion PLC. But there are also plenty of bite-sized options, including startups that make new types of Internet devices. Two-year-old Qubit Technology, of Lakewood, Colo., for example, makes a portable Internet browser the size of a magazine. "Something like Qubit would give Nokia a chance to branch beyond what they're doing with phones," says Thomas B. Rhinelander, an analyst at Forrester Research Inc., a consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass.
Already, Nokia's busy turning the mobile phone into a new generation of Internet device. In the last two months, the company unveiled three zippy new models. One, the 7110, includes a tiny Web browser that can receive news bulletins from CNN, as well as weather, sports scores, and airline schedules. Competitors, of course, are rushing similar phones to market. The payoff is a cell-phone market projected by Dataquest Inc. to grow from today's 300 million subscribers to 1 billion by 2005--perhaps 30% of them using Internet phones.
As of now, few companies if any are better positioned than Nokia to dominate the wireless world. The Nokia name, routinely mistaken for a Japanese off-brand as recently as two years ago, is now magical. Throughout Europe, displays of sleek cell phones draw crowds of gawkers to the windows of Nokia's boutiques. But Ollila's goal is to extend Nokia's dominance far beyond handsets to the entire mobile Internet. That's what has him shopping.


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samhill wrote:Gotta watch that zoning crap, we were going to base our small in home business at my S-in-Ls house in McKeesport, Pa. a distressed area, had to put a legal notice in several papers to do things legal. The day after the notice we got a letter from the city saying what all we owe & are going to have to pay, mind you we haven`t done a dimes worth of business yet, taxes, inspection fees even had to pay for # of parking spaces. So we moved our business address up here where we live & they welcome any new business they can get the only tax we will have is an earned income which would be the same anyhow.
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STARmeterSEE RANK
Up 40,001 this week
Gretchen Carlson (I)
Gretchen Carlson was born on June 21, 1966 in Anoka, Minnesota, USA as Gretchen Elizabeth Carlson. She is an actress, known for The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson (2013), Fox and Friends (1998) and The 2011 Miss America Pageant (2011). She has been married to Casey Richard Close since October 4, 1997. They have two children. See full bio »
Born:in Anoka, Minnesota, USA
More at IMDbPro » Contact Info: View publicist


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SYDNEY – An Australian man charged in a bomb plot planned to use devices larger than those used in the Boston Marathon blast, reports said Saturday. The 42-year-old, who was seeking revenge against a doctor, was arrested at Sydney Airport on Thursday and charged with manufacturing an explosive device with intent to injure in connection with the plot, uncovered in April, a police statement said in a statement. He appeared before a magistrate in Sydney on Friday and was refused bail. Prosecutors told the court he had assembled two shrapnel-packed butane gas bombs to detonate in one of the city's hospitals and in the offices of his eye surgeon, reports said.
Boston-scale plot foiled in Sydney


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Includes Heated Front Bucket Seats (DISC) (Includes 6-way adjustable driver's seat, height adjustment for both driver & passenger, front passenger seatback pocket and adjustable front head restraints), LED Daytime Running Lights, Blind Spot Detection w/Rear Cross-Traffic Alert (Replaces blind spot mirror), Leather Wrapped Steering Wheel, Leather-Wrapped Shift Knob, Dual Automatic Temperature Control w/Auto Defogger, Proximity Key w/Push Button Start (Includes immobilizer & hand-free smart trunk), Illuminated Vanity Mirrors w/Sunvisor Extensions, Driver's One-Touch Auto Up Window, Sliding Center Armrest
*The advertised price does not include sales tax, vehicle registration
fees, finance charges, documentation charges, and any other fees required by law.
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However, there can be lag time between the sale of a vehicle and the update of the
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will vary depending on how you drive and maintain your vehicle.
Before purchasing this vehicle, it is your responsibility to address any and all
differences between information on this website and the actual vehicle specifications
and/or any warranties offered prior to the sale of this vehicle. Vehicle data on
this website is compiled from publicly available sources believed by the publisher
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Henry is both physically and emotionally(he was abused) healthy, sad the same can't be said for you when it comes to emotionally healthy.Must be peanut butter Henry time. I just hope that poor dog is allowed a dental damn. No dog deserves cold sores.
Since: Apr 13
#106 Apr 19, 2013
#107 Apr 19, 2013
I just noticed this. You truly are an uppity bitch. "My family where a PHD is the norm". Think your family is better than someone elses. Screw you. I am damn proud of my blue collar family. With out us your whole supposedly ivy league life falls apart. We deliver your goods,grow your food,fix your cars,build your houses,etc. You overeducated jerkoffs just sit back and discuss what is wrong with everyone who makes the world work. You elitist piece of Park ave yuppie garbage. Your kind of people can't do any kind of tangible work your survival skills are none that's why you uppities call and pay us to do it.Go to hell snob and stop telling people they are dumb when they see through you and don't buy into your sheltered way of thinking.
Since: Apr 13
#108 Apr 19, 2013
Rant away ignorant one. A PHD is the norm for the kids. My father and mother worked hard to make sure ALL of their children had an education and more opportunities than they had! My Dad was a mechanic!Did very well but wanted better for his kids! Most parents do, sorry yours didn't! I don't need to call YOU PEOPLE, I know how to do many of those things myself. I'm not a snob, but you and the rest of the undereducated sure do are thin skinned when your idiocy is called out! The only garbage here is YOU and the rest of the racist mob, you identify with. I just hope if you have kids, you encourage them to be more, than the angry underachiever you turned out to be.
Steel City Steelers
Since: Jun 12
Location hidden
#109 Apr 19, 2013
You're a real piece of work. Pathetic. You angry fool. You're a laughing stock here. The best part is that you don't even see it. Too funny.
#110 Apr 19, 2013
If I am an under achiever than your parents are to. People like you think so highly of yourselves because you live within city limits, but you live in nice white Park Ave. when you travel to less affluent areas you roll up your windows and lock your doors and avoid eye contact just like the people you call racist from the suburbs. The only difference is you are worse because they show and admit their prejudices where you deny them and pretend to not be under the guise of "I live in the city". You are a snob and each time you try to defend yourself you bury yourself deeper. My parents most certainly wanted better for their children and for you to judge them makes me want to reconsider my morals on conduct towards certain women. I made a choice to stay hard working and productive. I highly value knowledge but also know self education is possible and intelligence cannot be bought. I never wanted to be suit and tie I wanted to be successful as the type I respect. You still can't grow a pair and tell your area of expertise so I still believe you studied a bullcrap made for tuition subject. You have put down me, my parents,and your own parents by your last statement and it took an uneducated blue collar "hillbilly" to show you about yourself. The only credit I give you is taking good care of a dog most people would turn their backs on and all crass jokes aside I do applaud you for that. Other than that I see you are a self-righteous jackass on par with any one else. You call me a failure because I did not spend years and money towards a degree in profession I did not want. I like getting my hands dirty and I like when other people benefit directly from the work I provide them. You sit in your little bubble in a corner in the city with your cash and put yourself above both suburbanites and inner city folk just like every other chia latte drinking yuppie thinking voting democrat and a Coexist bumper sticker makes not prejudice. I have called you out on the comment about your family and then you pussyfoot back with "well uh not my whole family just me and my kids". Just admit you are just as offensive and narrow minded as the people you think your better than and maybe a little sympathy for mistake in words will come your way. Till then go to hell
#111 Apr 19, 2013
Judge it all you want you cluster B c#$%.
Since: Apr 13
#112 Apr 19, 2013
Rant on! You know nothing about me or my parents. Mom, has a Masters. Dad, actually got his degree at 70 after he retired. Your anger speaks volumes. WHY are you so angry? Work on your comprehension skills. I said the kids, as in my parents kids, my brothers and sisters! The people I look down on, are your friends here that can't wait to attack any person of color who lives in the city,but turn a blind eye to those of us doing the right things, or white folks in the burbs who commit crimes. Why the double standard? From the first day I posted, they attacked. One started a thread about me, they deserve to be looked down for their racist and juvenile behavior. Honestly, you seem like you might be a decent person, just stop being so angry.
Since: Apr 13
#113 Apr 19, 2013
And there's that irrational anger you have for some reason. How sad.
#114 Apr 19, 2013
Nice wording Miss Ivy League. "Same can't be said for you when it comes to emotionally healthy". Try the proper phrasing of " when it comes to being emotionally healthy" or better yet " when it comes to your emotional health". More lessons from an underachieving hillbilly. Proper use of an adverb.
#115 Apr 19, 2013
Black white it don't matter on here everyone is race baiting and reacting to the racism of the other. Neither one is worse than the other and neither wants to end it so screw it I side differently on each thread I post on depending on what was originally said. They all encourage each other and I rather expose both. That's why I remain anonymous. Anger speaks volumes huh? Maybe a lot of it comes from being sent to a private school my whole life and being labeled PWT and dumb hillbilly family by the over privileged brats my whole life. I still see some of those people and get the same comments through the work I do.
Steel City Steelers
Since: Jun 12
Location hidden
#117 Apr 20, 2013
THIS coming from YOU? You hypocrite! Since you first started posting you have been calling people names! Whenever you get put in your place or bested you resort to labeling and name calling. No one gives a crap how educated you or your family is. You're a narcissist. Educated people can be the rudest low lifes aroud, and you dear are a prime example of such. You have constantly been talking down to people as if your degree gives you the right to do so. You pompous p.o.s. You are an embarrassment to all educated black folks. You have been angry on here from day one. Spouting bullcrap about posters that you just "met". Presuming things that in all actuality you know nothing about. Making false assumptions about other people's education levels. I have a grand idea...shut your mouth for a while. The garbage that spews from it reeks of ignorance regardless of how educated you claim to be. You are arrogant and vane. I would much rather rub elbows with street smart people on here than with you any day of the week. You sure have given away a lot of personal information in a very short period of time. My advice to you would be to clam up before you piss off the wrong person on here. Your naivety is your own worst enemy.
#118 Apr 20, 2013
All I can say is that you got hammered by FTW, who presented his points cogently, and mopped the floor with you. Your responses were weak, in some cases pointless and ultimately lacked substance.
Your Ivy education and training either miserably failed you -- or -- your are adding fictitious credentials to bolster your prestige, and add credence to your hollow insults - making you a liar.
I vote for liar.
Steel City Steelers
Since: Jun 12
Location hidden
#119 Apr 20, 2013
I second that.
Since: Nov 11
Location hidden
#120 Apr 20, 2013
Nothing worse than an Uppity liar with a phony PHD.
Lets see how many "Agree" check marks your post gets today.
#121 Apr 20, 2013
She will make sure that clueless trumps any agree judgements, because she is vindictive, as well as dull-normal and boring.
Since: Mar 11
Location hidden
#122 Apr 20, 2013
You must of made her/him upset because she/he hasn't "attacked" back yet,might be doing the "chicken neck" dance and can't type at the same time. If you go back and notice who was banned at the same time when she/he started posting you will know who it is.He/she is using the same names (Zippy-Skippy) that I used to call him/her while "it" was using "it's" other name. Good hunting.Keep up the good work-lol. Just saying.
#123 Apr 20, 2013
We have to stay vigilant. If not, they all become uppity.
Since: Nov 11
Location hidden
#124 Apr 20, 2013
It's a she. She said so. A high falootin black, Park Ave area, Ivy Educated, planning a trip to Europe and as of last night has a PHD.
Won't be long and she will be a Socialite on Obama's A list.
Till then I guess it's grape drank and horderves with the rest of the crew.On Park Ave of course.
#126 Apr 20, 2013
I think it is grape drink and weed. She seems to hallucinate when she writes.
Uppity has her own attention getting thread going. You know, the usual crap... woe is me, you're all ignorant, PWT etc.
Since: Mar 11
Location hidden
#127 Apr 20, 2013
NAW,I think it is the hate for anything white that gets them "stoned". They know that playing the "card" doesn't mean anything anymore because it has been so over played over the years so now they have to "stir the pot" on the web to get their "high".Just saying.
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Category Archives: Chuck Your Kids' Crap Series
How to Chuck Your Kids' Crap {Step 4}
This is a series on chucking the crap your kids have and hold on to — for better or worse. Click here for more.
Step 4: Save the Special Stuff
You know your kid better than anyone. You know that your kid needs that nasty old Mickey doll to go to sleep, or refuses to sit still unless they are holding a vending machine bouncy ball.
Here's how it works:
This one (should be) pretty self explanatory. For heaven's sake, save your sanity and don't dump what they use on a regular basis. When in doubt, remove it ("hide it") for a couple of days. If they consistently ask for it, they're not ready to part with it. Battles of will are fought and lost (by the mom) every day.
I sincerely hope you've enjoyed this series on chucking the crap your kids bring into your home. Whether it was once well-loved, or loved with the passion only a child can feel for all of 5 minutes, some times we just gotta take our home back!
How to Chuck Your Kids' Crap {Step 3}
This is a series on chucking the crap your kids have and hold on to — for better or worse. Click here for more.
Step 3: Send it to "Storage"
Ready for a more serious purge? It's time to break out the laundry basket… and it helps to have a good poker face, too.
Here's how it works:
If I'm cleaning with the "help" of my kids and know I need to get rid of some stuff, start by organizing. Items they are currently attached to can be organized (try little bins with these fun labels).
What to do with the stuff you are ready to toss? Put stuff they've lost interest in into a basket. Don't put it in a trash bag, unless you really want problems. If they ask, just calmly say you're moving some toys into storage for awhile, or taking this (broken) toy to be repaired. I was shocked that my kids didn't react to hearing their toys were headed out the door. But after all, you are just sending it to go to "storage," or to "be fixed," or even "to Grandma's." It's coming back, right? No need to panic.
More often than not they will be so excited to re-find their favorite toys among all the piles, that they won't even notice the basket. They will be rolling around their newly clean room, or climbing under the bed that you took the effort to vacuum under, so a few toys in the basket won't even be on their minds. I will warn you about this step:
you must take it out of the house ASAP.
The novelty of a clean, organized, toy-labeled room will wear off. If you're me, you may have left the basket conspicuously in the living room. And sooner rather than later they will start noticing their "favorite" doll (the one that hasn't been touched in weeks) or the broken remote control to a remote control vehicle you no longer even have. Their priority of getting those toys out of the basket will become a life and death issue for them.
Don't be me. Get the stuff out. Now! Do it!
Go! Go! Go!
How to Chuck Your Kids' Crap {Step 2}
This is a series on chucking the crap your kids have and hold on to — for better or worse. Click here for more.
Step 2: Hide the Evidence
Whether they are gone at a friend's house or have gone to Grandma's for the weekend, they cannot know you tossed their treasures. This is absolutely imperative. Hide it under other garbage in the trash can or take it out to the bins outside… But whatever you do, hide the evidence!
Here's how it works:
Once you've taken out their
treasures trash, leave no reminders behind. Children are out of sight out of mind thinkers, and if they can't see that you threw out their dead plant in a plastic cup from spring last year, they won't know it. They won't ask. My kids have never asked about a specific item I've gotten rid of because it never occured to them that it was gone. If you're getting rid of their rock/gravel collection, you better get rid of every.last.rock or there will be
H-E-Double Hockey Sticks to pay when they get home!
How to Chuck Your Kids' Crap {Step 1}
This is a series on chucking the crap your kids have and hold on to — for better or worse. Click here for more.
Step 1: Send them to Grandma's House
Or send them to school. Or over to a friend's house. Try swapping with a mommy friend: you clean today, I'll clean tomorrow. Whatever you have to do to get them out of the house, do it.
Here's how it works:
The first time (and last time… hmm) my kids went to Grandma's house, I ran through the house before I went to pick them up. I tossed old candy, mylar balloons that never die, McDonald's toys, and "special drawings" that are, in reality, just scribbles. I know it, you know it, they don't know it, and are you really about to tell them? Probably not. Best not to hurt their feelings.
Once they are gone, get off Pinterest/Twitter/Facebook/your time waster of choice, and move it. You likely have a limited time to work. Toss all the crap that they don't actually care about, unless they see it in the garbage.
How to Chuck Your Kids' Crap {A Series}
It starts slowly, innocuously. A baby shower for your first precious angel, due any day, perhaps.
A small toy, gifted.
A rattle.
It's all so innocent.
A year later, another party for your sweet angel.
A board book.
A toy which purpose seems to be to make noise.
A walking toy.
Fast forward several more years.
Your child begs for little toys at the Target Dollar Spot.
It's only a dollar, you know.
You get the newest learning gadget for their birthday.
Because this is your precious, sweet angel.
Then comes the hoarding.
Valentine's cards from kids they don't know.
Stuffed animals that come with their own web pages.
Those dollar toys that have somehow, over the last year, multiplied by one hundred.
And suddenly it dawns on you…
you are drowning in their crap.
It's time, my fellow mothers. It is time to
chuck. their. crap.
{I'm going to tell you how.}
Join me for a 4 part series on chucking the crap in your own home. Check out the new post each day!


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RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) A state judge has ruled that North Carolina's 201-year-old law barring unmarried couples from living together is unconstitutional.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued last year to overturn the rarely enforced law on behalf of a former sheriff's dispatcher who says she had to quit her job because she wouldn't marry her live-in boyfriend.
Deborah Hobbs, 41, says her boss, Sheriff Carson Smith of Pender County, near Wilmington, told her to get married, move out or find another job after he found out she and her boyfriend had been living together for three years. The couple did not want to get married, so Hobbs quit in 2004.
State Superior Court Judge Benjamin Alford issued the ruling late Wednesday, saying the law violated Hobbs' constitutional right to liberty. He cited the 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case titled Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down a Texas sodomy law.
"The Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas stands for the proposition that the government has no business regulating relationships between two consenting adults in the privacy of their own home," Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU of North Carolina, said in a statement.
She added that "the idea that the government would criminalize people's choice to live together out of wedlock in this day and age defies logic and common sense."
The suit names Smith, the state and Attorney General Roy Cooper as defendants.
Cooper had argued that Hobbs couldn't challenge the law because she wasn't charged with a crime. The ACLU had asked the judge to allow Hobbs to pursue her case because a threat to enforce the law prompted her to quit her job.
A Cooper spokeswoman said Thursday that lawyers had not decided whether to appeal the ruling.
"I'm absolutely thrilled," Hobbs said Thursday, adding that she hasn't thought about applying for another job with the sheriff's office. "I'm very happy for myself and for everyone else this law has affected."
Rudinger said her office found that since 1997 there have been about 36 criminal cases in North Carolina stemming from the law. State officials have said the number of people actually convicted under the statute — formally known as the fornication and adultery statute — is not clear.
The law also has been used to deny compensation to crime victims, child custody, health benefits, probation, and parole, she said.
The law states, in part: "If any man and woman, not being married to each other, shall lewdly and lasciviously associate, bed and cohabit together, they shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor."
About 144,000 unmarried couples live together in North Carolina, according to the 2000 census.
The ACLU says North Carolina is one of seven states with laws that prohibit cohabitation, and there appears to be no other challenges to those laws in Virginia, West Virginia, Florida, Michigan, Mississippi and North Dakota.
The ruling in North Carolina could change that, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond in Virginia.
"I'm certain that people will try to challenge those as being obsolete or whatever," he said.
Tobias said he also expects the North Carolina ruling to be appealed.
"I think they'll probably fight this one to the end."
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
When the Detroit Red Wings played (and lost to) the San Jose Sharks in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs, Hockeytown was appalled. How could a team from Michigan, a winter wonderland where there's ice and snow all the way into the month of April, be beaten by a team from California, a place where some people live their whole lives without seeing a single fluffy white flake?
"They don't even have real ice there. The kind on sidewalks in the winter, you know?" One Red Wings fan grumbled.
"What kind of hockey team is from Califorrrrrrniaaaaaa?" Another whined.
Little do they know, hockey is starting a revolution in the Golden State.
A look at the list of home states from this year's draft reveals that eight expected draft picks called California home, as opposed to last year's three. Emerson Etem, who went 29th overall to the Anaheim Ducks and Beau Bennett, a first-round pick for the Penguins, are proof that California hockey players are no joke. "California is producing some really high-end players," a Los Angeles-based agent said of this recent trend.
But why now?
Rewind to 1977, when Chris Chelios first started calling Southern California home. He spent the greater part of his formative athletic years there, working out and training until he was good enough to get drafted, play for University of Wisconsin, and eventually play in the NHL. He never played for a California team, but has remained close to the state ever since.
And then there's Wayne Gretzky, and the trade in 1988 that brought him to the Los Angeles Kings, brought the Kings to the Stanley Cup Finals, and, essentially, brought hockey to California. During his tenure with the Kings, ticket sales rose, Californians became hockey fans, and other hockey franchises made their home in California (the Ducks and the Sharks both started up during Gretzky's time with Los Angeles).
Luc Robitaille has a similar story, going to the Kings in 1986, helping take them to the playoffs, breaking franchise goal records, and retiring to standing ovations in two different California arenas.
Nowadays, Robitaille and Gretzky are finished playing professional hockey entirely, but neither of them have severed their ties with their state. Robitaille is in charge of Business Operations with the Kings. Gretzky is frequently cited as the man who brought hockey to California and serves as the face of the sport, with his time as a King being discussed most prominently. Chelios has a home in California and trains during the offseason with T.R. Goodman at ProCamp Sports, a facility in Venice Beach (something ESPN finds pretty fascinating). They've all found a way to stay connected to the state that got them their starts.
Even after the Chelios-Gretzky-Robitaille eras, the hockey revolution in California is still young, but players wishing to be a part of it early have some amazing pioneers to look up to—and live up to. And that is what has started an entirely new breed of legend: the born, raised, trained, and now professional California hockey player named Emerson Etem.
After falling from the Top Ten to the 29th pick overall in the draft on Friday, there was no doubt he was a little nervous, sitting there waiting for his name to be called. He was just meant for a California team, because his selection by the Ducks was met with a huge roar from the crowd. Hometown boy goes to hometown club. "I'm so excited," he said in an interview for Ducks TV, "I can't wait to give back to California Hockey." How many eighteen year old boys do you know who care a bit about "giving back?" He said that being a California player and joining a California team was a great opportunity for "growing the game of hockey in California."
He may not completely realize it yet, but he has a leg-up on the legends he looked up to for so long. Where Chelios grew up in California but left to play hockey and Gretzky and Robitaille ended up in California by chance, Etem is 100 percent California and will now be playing there, which turns him into an even more powerful spokesperson for hockey in his home state. Years from now, after what will hopefully be successful (and long) career with Anaheim, in one of those "giving back to California Hockey"-type speeches we all know he's going to make, he can say, "look, kids. You can grow up in California, train hard in California, then actually play in California."
So save your breath if you're planning on whining about "hockey teams from Califorrrrrnniaaaaaaa," again. Because they're only going to get better, especially if Emerson Etem has anything to say about it.
-Devon Barrett
Read more from me on my blog, Embellishment!


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International Journal of Differential Equations
Volume 2010 (2010), Article ID 764738, 8 pages
He's Variational Iteration Method for Solving Fractional Riccati Differential Equation
Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, University of Mazandaran, P.O. Box 47416-95447, Babolsar, Iran
Received 10 August 2009; Accepted 28 January 2010
Academic Editor: Shaher M. Momani
Copyright © 2010 H. Jafari and H. Tajadodi. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
We will consider He's variational iteration method for solving fractional Riccati differential equation. This method is based on the use of Lagrange multipliers for identification of optimal value of a parameter in a functional. This technique provides a sequence of functions which converges to the exact solution of the problem. The present method performs extremely well in terms of efficiency and simplicity.