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Raw Materials Should Get an Economic Lift
Earlier this week, I discussed the need to watch key pricing trends for key raw materials, given their impact on companies' operating margins and their earnings prospects. While I dished on the potential impact of higher corn prices and the potential pain that it may inflict on Ingredion (INGR) and other companies that count corn as key input, the rebounding manufacturing demand around the globe spells opportunity for several materials companies.
Yesterday, I rattled off a number of data points published by HSBC and Markit Economics that pointed to an improving manufacturing economy in China, Brazil, Indonesia and other territories. Soon after, Markit published its U.S. manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index data for December, which rose to a reading of 54, marking the strongest rate of growth since May. Those data confirm that the rebound in the domestic economy is on a good footing. And as I mentioned yesterday, favorable forecasts in 2013 for both housing starts by the National Association of Home Builders and automotive sales according to market forecasting firm Polk paint a favorable picture for the months ahead....260 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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BP Comment Quick Links
|Strength of Schedule Report
November 1, 2013
Manufactured Runs
Moments of Transition, Moments of Revelation
While working on cleaning out my house recently (more about that later—but long tangents before I get to the point are a tradition around here, and I can't well abandon that at the end, can I?), I came across a book called Understanding Solid-State Electronics. I don't think I've seen it in years before now. It's a bit dated. Actually, it was a bit dated even when I was reading it as a kid—its illustration of something that fits the Universal System Organization of sense, decide, and act is a record player.
What can we learn from this, other than that the Texas Instruments Learning Center illustrators have a really weird idea of what people look like? The basic concept is that you have an input, you have some sort of action being taken upon that, and you have an output based on it.
But more importantly—it's a model. And the point is to teach us something about how electronics work. It is not, in itself, electronics. It can't play a record. But, at the same time, it allows us to transfer understanding. Because we understand how a record player works in this model, we can then use that to understand things that aren't record players.
In sabermetrics, we tend to use models a lot. PECOTA is a model, or rather a series of interconnected models. WARP is much the same—it's a set of models connected to each other to create an even larger model. I love models. And I love baseball. And I love that I get to spend a lot of time applying one to the other and vice versa.
I don't know about you—and please, feel free to tell me later!—but I grew up surrounded by models. That solid-state electronics book. My various Radio Shack breadboard kits (if you want that story, I bet there are still copies of Best of Baseball Prospectus Volume 2 available for sale). Model cars. Model rockets. Pinewood derby cars and space derby ships. Things you can take apart and put back together again and see how they work.
A lot of sabermetrics these days likes to focus on how well a model can predict things. Now, predictive models are great and good, partly because there's a lot of utility in predicting things, and there's a lot of intrinsic value in using prediction to validate a model. But there's also a lot of value in how a model can explain something.
Part of that is because explanatory models are going to be better predictive models in the long run. We can talk about overfitting, and how models based on a limited amount of data (so pretty much every model ever—some models are less limited than others, but there's always less data than there is life) can come to some pretty odd and incorrect conclusions that break down when applied to additional data. There are statistical tools that you can use to avoid such problems, but creating a model that has explanatory power in addition to predictive power is another way to avoid such problems.
But explanatory models aren't just useful in prediction. They are also useful in, well, explaining things. Explanatory models are how we learn new things about baseball, and they're how we can communicate what we've learned about baseball to a larger audience. Nobody would ever dream of creating an explanatory model without any thought for how well it predicts, but sadly the converse doesn't seem to be true. The most powerful models do both.
I'm talking a lot about models because I have some news to share with y'all. I am excited and a little sad to tell you that I've been hired by the Houston Astros as a mathematical modeler in their Decision Sciences department. Now, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, and I'll start with the most important one first: no, I will not be wearing a lab coat and goggles, as much as I might want to. I'm sorry to disappoint all of you.
So now that we've gotten that out of the way, there are a few other questions I imagine you're all asking, one of which is "What does this mean for Baseball Prospectus?" Another might be, "What does the continued brain drain mean for sabermetrics?" And another might be, "How might I get a job like that someday, if I work real hard and eat all my vegetables?" Let's talk a while about those.
This sort of goodbye has gotten rather familiar to Baseball Prospectus readers, and I want to assure all of you that this isn't because we don't like you. I've written for a lot of websites and read many more, and I can say with absolute certainty that there's no site of this size and subject matter that has a better community around it than Baseball Prospectus. The reader comments on BP articles are far and away the most intelligent, thoughtful, and interesting comments of any website of this size on the Internet. You all show up to support us at events—from the pizza feeds of old to the book signings to the ballpark events. Meeting with our readers at those events is a special joy for me, and I think for all the authors and contributors we've had over the years. You're all great, and I'm blessed to have had such an audience to work for.
I'm sure that's cold comfort. It doesn't seem to keep people from leaving. Here's the front page of BP from when I first started contributing. There are a lot of familiar names on there, and you've said goodbye to an awful lot of them (although Russell's like a bad penny, he keeps turning up). So why keep supporting BP when the writers you come to know and love keep leaving?
In particular, I suspect BP readers are starting to feel like they root for an Astros farm team of sorts, as I'll be following in the footsteps of Mike Fast and Kevin Goldstein. As luck would have it, I've spent the past year rooting for an actual Astros farm team, as the Quad Cities River Bandits became an Astros affiliate this season as part of the Great Midwest League Affiliation Shuffle. Rooting for minor league ball is different than major league ball in a lot of respects, but one that sticks on my mind is how rosters change from the start of the season to the end of the season. In major league baseball, teams will shuffle rosters to try and win—they'll cast aside players who aren't performing, and try to add new players who will perform better, for the most part. (The trade deadline is a notable exception.) In minor league ball, the biggest reward for success is a promotion. The players you fall in love with in April may not be there in August, even on a winning club. You learn to say goodbye a lot there, too.
Here's the thing, though. They weren't called the River Bandits back then (during my childhood, they were mostly known as the Angels, after their parent club), and the stadium was still called John O'Donnell Stadium (it's still the same place, though, although there's been a lot of work done on renovations and the park looks gorgeous). But that park and those teams are how I truly fell in love with baseball. I remember sitting on a red and yellow afghan blanket out by the right field fence, watching players race around the field and seeing the ball soar above them and eating bratwurst and enjoying a cool breeze off the Mississippi River and knowing life would never get much better than that.
And this past season, I remember sitting in my seats by the third-base dugout with my daughter, watching the players race around the field and seeing the ball soar above them and eating taco nachos and enjoying a cool breeze off the Mississippi River and knowing that life in fact hadn't gotten much better than that, but I was okay with that. I'm still in love with baseball, and despite how it might appear at times, baseball is still in love with me.
But if John O'Donnell Stadium is where I learned to love baseball, Baseball Prospectus is where I learned to love baseball the way I do now. I first developed an interest in baseball stats purely out of necessity; as it turns out, there's no WGN in Iraq, so I was left to follow the 2003 Cubs season (probably the defining season of the modern Cubs fan's life) through mostly box scores. Baseball's statistics have a certain narrative power to them that allows one to follow the game pretty well this way, actually, although it certainly loses something without the visuals. But along the way, I became steeped in the numbers of the game, although as yet I didn't know what to do with them.
So then the 2003 Cubs did that thing they did, and I was pretty not okay with that. And I needed some way to deal with that. So I turned back to the numbers, and along the way I was introduced to the work of Nate Silver—maybe you've heard of him. Necessity introduced me to the numbers, Nate made me understand that there was a deeper meaning to them. And you're here, and you've been here, for what I imagine have been similar reasons. You've all come to us first and foremost because somewhere, in your own way, you've come to love baseball. And now you want to understand it better, and for a lot of you I think a big part of it is because that understanding gives you a new and deeper love for the game.
Now, I haven't been the first person to leave BP, and I won't be the last. I'm not the best or the brightest of the ones who have left so far, and I doubt I'll be the best and the brightest of the ones leaving from now on. And throughout all the many changes, the people who have come and gone and (see again, Russell) come again, Baseball Prospectus has been that. And no amount of Ex scientia, astros (Latin for "from the knowledge, Astros") is going to change that.
And BP isn't alone here; the larger sabermetric community has much the same thing going on. (I remember talking to Dave Studeman when I left the Hardball Times for BP, and the notion that "there's always a bigger fish" figured prominently—just as BP was there to scoop up his most annoying writer, others out there were and are ready to scoop up people from BP). Now, I don't want to give off the impression that I consider myself a major figure in this; the sabermetric brain drain well precedes me. But I kinda forgot to talk about it much before it happened to me, and I won't have much of a chance to talk about it after this, so let's proceed.
Let's not sugarcoat things: the early days of sabermetrics was populated by the sort of publishing techniques popularized by crackpots of all stripes—the hand-cranked mimeograph machine, the occasional self-published book in the days before anyone could have a professionally typeset book published on-demand for cheap. Sabermetrics was very much an outsider thing. And yet, just this week, people like Bill James and Tom Tippett picked up yet another World Series ring for working in the front office of a major league team.
At some point, the outsiders became accepted and valued. That's exciting for a lot of us who are a part of this community. At the same time, that presents certain challenges. And I think one of the reasons teams have adopted not just sabermetrics but actual sabermetricians is the nature of this field. Because there's no formal discipline for sabermetrics, the field has become a grab-bag of backgrounds and trainings. It's truly multidisciplinary. So the focus becomes less on the particular tools one uses, and on understanding how the tools one has relates to the subject matter at hand. It's kind of the inverse of the school of thought behind things like Freakonomics, where once one has mastered the tools of econometrics, one defines the study of econometrics as "using those tools to study whatever the heck I want to."
Colleges can crank out people who know and understand the tools, but the sabermetrics community has given teams people who have demonstrated that they can use those tools to find useful insights into the game of baseball. So teams court them as part of their effort to win games. (And yes, "part of" is exactly the word for it—we aren't replacing scouts, or player development guys, or anyone else who used to be part of a front office. The idea that sabermetrics was at war with traditional front offices, rather than being adopted as part of a cohesive whole, is more a creation of the media debate than the reality within baseball. There certainly has been conflict, but there's been a lot of cooperation and collaboration along the way as well.)
But the brain drain doesn't seem to be even all-around. There have always been two sides to the sabermetric movement—some, like Bill James, could and did both, but James is an exceptional talent. There have been the hard-core number crunchers, the ones who get their hands dirty in the numbers, but there's also been what Jay Jaffe calls the "liberal arts wing," who took the findings of those number crunchers and applied them to commenting about the game itself. (Although I must confess, I am constantly amused that the person who introduced me to that phrase as a self-description is one of the better quantitative analysts I've had the pleasure to read and work with, even as he's moved on to success doing what that term describes.)
The quantitative, number-crunching folks are the ones who've largely moved on to jobs with teams, doing secret number-crunchy stuff. (You can hear the numbers and their brittle sounds as they're crushed from behind closed doors at many MLB teams now.) The liberal arts types, on the other hand, are invading the mainstream media, taking jobs at places like ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and elsewhere.
Which, I mean, success is great. But the best sabermetrics has to offer comes from both parts of the field working together. Every so often, you get the total package in one person, but the Bill James types are rare. Normally that means collaboration. The sort of bifurcated success sabermetrics has had is starting to cause the public part of sabermetrics to tilt more heavily to the liberal arts wing.
Let's go ahead and bring the first and second question together. People like to compare Baseball Prospectus to Baseball-Reference and Fangraphs. Which in a lot of ways is fair and useful, but I think it misses something important. Fangraphs and Baseball-Reference have both been important to the sabermetrics movement, but they've been firmly in the liberal arts camp. They've been important in popularizing the work of people like Sean Smith, Tom Tango, Mitchel Lichtman and others. And they've contributed to and enhanced that work. But that was work that was started elsewhere and picked up and adapted by those sites.
Baseball Prospectus, on the other hand, has been dedicated toward popularizing its own stats. A lot of people view that as a negative, and at times it hasn't served BP as well as other strategies might have. But it also means that BP views the encouragement of developing new stats as core to its mission, rather than simply popularizing work that others have done. I don't know what BP is going to do after I leave, and it would be unfair of me to commit them to things in my absence. But I know that baseball research is a part of its blood, and that makes Baseball Prospectus stand out from its peers in that respect. For that reason, I think that now more than ever Baseball Prospectus deserves your support and your encouragement.
Which brings us to our third question—how can you find yourself in a position like I'm in now, or at least, in the position I was in before now? Allow me to start with a few words of discouragement. If you're doing this primarily for a career, you should probably stop now before you end up disappointed. If the work itself counts as reward enough to keep you going, then you should consider it. Because for a long time, the work itself is the only reward this offers. There are other rewards, but they're infrequent and they never pay quite as much as similar work outside of baseball. You have to love this in order to be able to stick with it.
So, if that description fits you, how can you become a hardcore number muncher, the sort that deftly avoids Troggles… er, I mean not that sort but the sort that I am. First, start off by getting yourself a blog of some sort. Get on Wordpress, or Tumblr, or Blogspot—I don't care which. Start a blog. Now start writing on it. And then keep writing on it.
This accomplishes a few things. First off, you want to get better, right? (If you don't, again, you should start reconsidering this idea.) There are a lot of ways to get better, but one of the most important is getting feedback from other people. You're not going to get good feedback if you're keeping your work to yourself. If something isn't very good, a lot of people don't want to publish it—and it's understandable in that you want to put your best foot forward, which we'll talk about in a minute. But if you don't know why it's not very good, publish it. Someone will tell you why. Then you can take that feedback and make it better, and then you can publish that.
In a practical sense, it also shows that you're devoted, that you're self-motivated, and that you're interested. It seems counter-intuitive to think that people are willing to pay you for work that you're demonstrating that you will do for free, but if you demonstrate the ability to stick with it even without monetary compensation, they're more likely to trust your dedication to continue doing it even after they've hired you.
Get yourself some tools. You can certainly start off with something like Excel, but if you're doing this sort of work a lot, you're going to find yourself bumping up against the limits of a spreadsheet before too long. Set up an SQL database, and join the Baseball SQL Discussion group. Learn something like GNU R (BP's own Max Marchi has a book that you may be interested in). And read up on these tools not just in a baseball context, but in a general context. It'll make you better able to do analysis and come up with things you can write about. And let's be honest, being able to say outright, "Yes, I know how to use an SQL database and I can write code in R or Python" is exactly the sort of thing that is going to make you look employable to an MLB team or an organization like Baseball Prospectus at some point down the road. Tools are your friend! Tools are what differentiate you from the majority of mammals on this planet! Learn your tools! Love your tools!
Now, let's talk about the sorts of things you're writing about and how you're writing about them. You want to do two things—you want to learn things about baseball, and you want to communicate those things to someone else. A good way to do the first thing is to ask a question and then investigate what the answer is. That's the core of the scientific method—formulate a question, come up with a hypothesis, make a prediction based on that hypothesis, then test to see if that prediction holds. Not only is that a good way to do research, it is also a great way to present your research to others. Start off with your question! That does a lot of things. It clarifies in the reader's mind what the purpose of the study is. It helps the reader to relate the study you've done to the things that interest them. And it helps you and the reader have a way to see if the study you've done has accomplished something. And remember—a study that disproves your hypothesis may be just as interesting and useful as one that confirms it. When in doubt, publish.
But before you publish, you should see if someone else has written something that answers your question, or at least tries to answer it or is related to it. If they have, does that mean you shouldn't publish? No. No, it very much does not mean that. But you should cite prior works up-front as much as you can. Even if all you've done is come up with the same findings someone else has to the same question, that's often worth publishing—reproducibility is a key part of the scientific method, after all. So there's nothing wrong with reproducing what someone else has done before, so long as you're up front with it and discuss what it means. (In fact, this is a great way to learn stuff when you're getting started—find a study that you're interested in, and using your tools—love your tools! —attempt to reproduce that study.) And what you'll come to find over time is that the more prior work you've read and had experience with, the easier it is to come up with new and interesting work of your own. That means reading as much as you can get your hands on.
You also want to find as many primary sources as you possibly can. Reading Tom Tango's writing on wOBA is great. But especially when you're first getting started, reading an article about linear weights is better. Older material tends to be more accessible than newer writing, partly because there's lower orders of sophistication involved and partly because a lot of newer material was written with the assumption that the reader was familiar with the older material.
The next thing you can do is start joining conversations. Hang out at Tom Tango's blog. Get yourself a Twitter account, and start following the sort of people who talk about this stuff. Should you Tweet links to your blog? Yes, absolutely. Twitter should be an avenue of self-promotion for you. But it should also be a medium of discussion. Tweet links to other people's articles you like, or articles you don't like and explanations of why. Ask people questions. Answer other people's questions. Develop relationships with other people in this community. Those are people who can help you get better.
Because in order to be successful, you're going to need help. I've certainly had a lot. I don't know that I can ever pay back everyone who's helped me get here, but I can at least try to thank them. The problem with having a lot of help is that you have a lot more people to thank than you can manage or than your readers can endure; I apologize to anyone I don't thank as much as I ought.
But there are some people to whom I owe particular thanks. Russell Carleton recruited me out of obscurity into slightly less obscurity to write for MVN's Statistically Speaking blog, from where Dave Studeman recruited me to write for the Hardball Times. Both of them have been a great help to me even after those points, and I wouldn't be where I am without both of them taking a chance on me. Thank you, guys.
I've had the pleasure of working with a lot of great people at BP—far too many to name—but I'd like to single out a few for special thanks. Kevin Goldstein took a crank who kept sending e-mails complaining about things not being done well enough, and challenged him to try and do better and gave him an opportunity to do it. Dave Pease saw the work I was doing for BP and offered me the chance to work on their most important stats projects full-time. Gentlemen, I owe you both more than I can say, and I'm more grateful for the chances I've had than I know how to say.
A lot of editors have had to put up with me over the years. I'd like to especially thank Steven Goldman, who knew what I was capable of doing and challenged me to actually do it instead of doing what I was doing, and Ben Lindbergh, for putting up with pretty much everything I've said to him.
And there are a lot of analysts I've had a chance to read, talk with, and argue with. In particular, I'd like to thank Tango, MGL, Mike Fast, GuyM, Patriot, Peter Jensen, Dan Turkenkopf, Sean Smith and Chris Dial. Best wishes to all of you going forward.
And finally, thanks to my parents to all their help and support in starting down this path, and to Liz Roscher for all her encouragement and support to keep going down it.
I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited for where I'm heading now—I get a chance to work with smart people I've worked with before, like Mike and Kevin, and a lot of smart people I haven't had a chance to work with yet. I think the organization the Astros has built has a chance to win a World Series sooner than some people might think, and I'm excited to be able to contribute to that effort. But at the same time, I know I've had an incredible run in a very weird niche even among baseball stats writers, and I owe it all to you, my readers. You've been incredible beyond measure, allowing me to carve out a space where I could write about Chesterton's fence at length and call it baseball analysis. I've been incredibly blessed to have that chance to talk to you all about things I passionately believe in, and I thank all of you for that, and I'm going to miss you all.
But enough of all that—this isn't supposed to be a sad occasion. Instead, I'd like to send you off with a song in your hearts. And I can't think of a better song for that purpose than this:
Good luck to all of you, and may God stand between you and harm in all the empty places where you must walk.
Colin Wyers is an author of Baseball Prospectus. Follow @cwyers
36 comments have been left for this article.
BP Comment Quick Links
Congratulations, Colin, on your new position. We'll miss your contributions to BP, but you've got to pursue your dream job.
Nov 01, 2013 04:34 AM
Congrats Colin!!! You will be missed around here.
Nov 01, 2013 05:22 AM
Chad Supp
How Many Altuves between the Quad Cities and Houston?
Nov 01, 2013 06:48 AM
Somehow I think we will survive without:
Nov 01, 2013 07:06 AM
Marc Normandin
I don't think I've ever seen you comment without complaining. Which isn't a vindication of your current complaint so much as a reminder that you're a very unhappy person.
Nov 01, 2013 07:32 AM
If you'd like to contradict any of my claims about Wyers' performance, I'm all ears. Something tells me you're not going to have much to say. Meanwhile, here's a list of all my comments: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/i/33584. 100% complaining, eh?
Nov 05, 2013 21:25 PM
Congratulations Colin, and good luck.
Nov 01, 2013 07:09 AM
Russell A. Carleton
BP staff
The Astros front office is starting to resemble a StatSpeak reunion.
Nov 01, 2013 07:17 AM
Welcome to Houston, sir.
Nov 01, 2013 07:26 AM
Wow, Colin. Mega congratulations. This is terrific for you and for the Astros, though I know BPro will miss you.
Nov 01, 2013 07:29 AM
Whenever I read the words "Houston Astros", the first image that comes to mind is Bob Watson on the empty-Astrodome dugout steps, shouting "Let the kids play!"
Nov 01, 2013 07:44 AM
Yes, I know how to use an SQL database and I can write code in R. Am I hired?
Nov 01, 2013 08:46 AM
Jason Parks
BP staff
Congrats, Colin. You left your mark on this site and you will be missed. Best of luck in the private sector.
Nov 01, 2013 08:52 AM
Jay Jaffe
BP staff
Congratulations and thanks for the kind words, Colin. For as much as I've missed working with you regularly in my new capacity at SI, I'll miss reading your stuff even more. The ability to make complicated math concepts into compelling reading alongside references to Chesterton, T.S. Eliot, comic books or your own background in the military and television production has made you a joy to follow. Best of luck with the Astros.
Nov 01, 2013 09:09 AM
Shaun P.
Many congratulations, Colin! I hope that the Astros allow you to write, because for a guy from the non-liberal arts wing, man can you write. Not everyone who does numbers can explain them well, but you can, and I will miss reading your explanations.
Nov 01, 2013 09:10 AM
I'll join in the congratulations, and wish the best of luck to the Houston front office as well (now that they're no longer in the NL Central, anyway). I do wonder, though: is there any risk that their move to scoop up smart, analytically-oriented people from outside the traditional baseball mainstream may be too much of a good thing? I guess we (you) are about to do the experiment. Anyway, congrats again, and have fun!
Nov 01, 2013 09:54 AM
Brady Childs
Since you work for an MLB team now, will they left your 7 blackouts on MLB.TV?
Nov 01, 2013 12:45 PM
Brady Childs
Nov 01, 2013 13:57 PM
Congrats, Colin! I'll miss reading your work here. I hope you'll stay active on Twitter.
Nov 01, 2013 13:53 PM
Thanks for the unsolicited sermon. (Is he gone yet?)
Nov 01, 2013 17:49 PM
Can I get an "amen"?
Nov 05, 2013 21:17 PM
Imagine the conceit required to write a farewell email focusing on the "brain drain" in the organization you were leaving. And then thank your parents and colleagues for allowing you to reach the pinnacle. This isn't the Oscars. You got a relatively low-paying job that countless others have turned down due to location, lack of pay and/or poor work/life balance.
Nov 05, 2013 22:10 PM
Congratulations and good luck, Colin. You have left some big, steel-toed boots to fill here.
Nov 01, 2013 20:28 PM
I go back to a book signing with Fred Claire in Burbank or Glendale so I have seen a lot of the talent run through BP and enjoyed it all. One of the main reasons I have read BP over the years more than BA and others is the personality of the writing. There has always been more flair to the writing to go with highly predictive stats. I think the Astros have been taking the tack of many a corporation over the years that tears itself down to get back to a core business and then returns stronger than ever. Will it be successful? Time will tell, but it appears that using statistical analysis has worked pretty darn well in Boston and other places. Good luck Colin in your continued pursuit of the dream. If we can be happy in our work it becomes less work and more joy.
Nov 01, 2013 21:39 PM
Good luck. Watch out for that Houston traffic, it's hideous.
Nov 02, 2013 17:41 PM
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The new Asparagus and Egg on a Parmesan Toasted Croissant has been a big hit this spring. We thought it… Read More
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Rays' enviable rotation fueled by competition
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. -- Everybody knows David Price will be the Rays' No. 1 starter, but while educated guesses can be made about how the rotation will shake out, nothing has officially been said about the order.
One thing is for certain, according to Price: The group that follows him will be "pretty darn good, whoever they are."
"I know anybody in the league would take any of us," Price said. "We take pride in what we do. We work hard, we pull for each other. We have fun."
The competition for the fifth spot in the rotation has not yet been settled. Jake Odorizzi, Cesar Ramos and Erik Bedard are the remaining contenders for the spot, which is a pretty nice group to choose from. Price said having multiple solid contenders for a pitching slot is typical of how the Rays things.
"They've been able to kind of stockpile talent, stockpile pitchers," Price said. "We have a lot of guys coming up throughout the Minor Leagues who are waiting to take our jobs. It's a very good problem to have. It puts a little more emphasis on what we need to do, knowing that these guys coming up behind us are throwing the ball as well as they are. They're in the position they're in right now because of their work ethic."
Bill Chastain is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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'Lab Partner': Shared Space Is Big Help to Small Firms
SCIENCE: Janssen Labs Supports Biotech Startups With Facilities, Services
Monday, February 11, 2013
Lori Yang needed lab space. But just a little.
Yang, co-founder and chief scientific officer of Athens, Ga.-based biotechnology startup Glycosensors and Diagnostics LLC, works remotely from San Diego. Since the company is in its nascence, the expense of maintaining an entire lab wasn't worth it. But she needed lab access nonetheless, to get preliminary data for upcoming projects and grants.
Enter Janssen Labs, and its newly opened shared laboratory space in San Diego. It recently announced that it now offers entrepreneurs access to single bench spaces to perform early stage research before committing additional capital, allowing companies and individuals desk space in an incubatorlike environment. The lab is shared, but the scientists are nonetheless allowed locked storage space to keep their research confidential.
"That's why the Janssen Lab concept was ideal — I just needed a small amount of space for the short term," Yang said. "The infrastructure is great — they have people helping with administration and operations, and that really relieves some of the burden for me. And the shared equipment is great as well, so you don't have to invest lots of money as a small startup."
Early Results
Janssen Labs, a 32,000-square-foot life science innovation center that is part of Janssen Research & Development LLC, currently houses 18 companies in modular lab spaces and offices. The Janssen Lab model is quite new — it opened a year ago with four companies, and has since grown significantly.
"The space we initially provided were all suites you can lock, but some people said they didn't necessarily need that, but rather a smaller space, a smaller footprint," said Diego Miralles, head of Janssen West Coast Research Center.
Miralles said the building already had a large room filled with unused equipment, so it was repurposed into a new laboratory, called the Concept Lab and Open Collaboration Space. The new space can house up to 20 companies on a month-to-month basis — which will allow Janssen to double its tenancy.
The lab offers more than 70 pieces of common equipment, along with essential laboratory features like fume hoods, refrigeration, emergency power, conference rooms and high-speed Internet. Ancillary staff helps the tenants secure permits, submit purchase orders for supplies, work with the media, and avoid safety hazards. Miralles didn't disclose the price, but Yang said it was "affordable."
"It makes starting a biotech company much more like starting a tech company because you can literally do it with a credit card," Miralles said.
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The International Salon and Spa Expo Midwest (ISSE Midwest), held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont Illinois, has been postponed indefinitely starting with the 2013 event.
Although the event was projected to be viable in upcoming years and the beauty industry showed tremendous support, the Board of Directors and Executive Staff for the Professional Beauty Association (PBA), producers of ISSE Midwest, has determined that the resources used would be better allocated to PBAs other programs, including new regional networking and educational events and legislative efforts. PBA is continually working to advance our industry. Our primary goal is to meet the demands of our members. As the industrys leading trade association, we will continue exploring new opportunities, working with beauty organizations, and striving to support the growth of the industry.
Please see other PBA events HERE.


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Why did the chicken cross the road? Probably because it heard about Springfield's approval of an urban chicken ordinance [pdf], which allows chickens to be raised within the city limits.
Below are a few of the policies listed in a press release from the city:
You can also read the City of Springfield's full listing of rules related to raising urban chickens.
The big question still remains: why raise chickens? An article on GoodbyeCityLife.com talks about how chickens are not only a source of eggs, but they also aerate soil and control bug populations. Chicken manure is also a great source of fertilizer for gardens and flower beds.
UrbanChickens.org is another site that offers tips on raising chickens, egg recipes, chicken first aid along with links to other chicken-raising resources like what to feed chickens and different types of coops and shelters.
The University of Missouri Extension has several online resources for managing a small flock, including information on housing, feeding, disease control and prevention, and egg handling.
Need more information? The Library has an assortment of books available for checkout.
Raise Happy Chickens and Other Poultry
by Victoria Roberts
Keeping Chickens: Self-sufficiency
by Mike Hatcher
The Joy of Keeping Chickens: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Poultry for Fun or Profit
by Jennifer Megyesi
Homemade Living: Keeping Chickens with Ashley English
by Ashley English
Find this article at


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Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced that it has completed the purchase of 12 stores from Fast Track in Central North Carolina, including Winston-Salem. Terms of the agreement are not disclosed.
Remodeling of the units to transform them into 7-Eleven stores gets underway in late November and rebranding is expected to be complete by mid-February 2013.
These locations are in close proximity to another acquisition the company made earlier this year – 55 Sam's Marts locations in the greater Charlotte area –and compliments the 7-Eleven stores' expansion in the Tar Heel State.


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LOS ANGELES -- Antti Niemi yielded two goals within three minutes during the second period, and the result was the Los Angeles Kings ended the Sharks' playoff run, taking a 2-1 victory in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal series Tuesday.
Kings goalkeeper Jonathan Quick was better than Niemi during the series. That's far from any negative indictment against Niemi's play. Quick, who was outstanding in leading the Kings to win the 2012 Stanley Cup, had two shutouts and made some key saves in the waning moments of the third period.
Sharks coach Todd McLellan certainly has no complaints about Niemi, who had a 2.16 goals-against average during the regular season.
"We're not playing this game if Nemo doesn't play the way he did down the stretch," said McLellan, who said the Sharks might not have beaten Vancouver had Niemi not played so well. "He is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He's the team MVP for a reason." Niemi played in 43 of San Jose's 48 games this season. He has carried the bulk of the goaltending duties for the past three years, playing in at least 75 percent of the Sharks' games in each season.
The first goal Tuesday, which came when Brent Burns was in the penalty box for an interference penalty, came after Kings defenseman Slava Voynov broke his stick and mis-hit a puck from inside the blue line.
A Shark defenseman went down to block the shot, which moved slowly to Niemi's right. Justin Williams poked at it several times, managing to pop the puck over Niemi's pad and into the net to give Los Angeles a 1-0 lead with 4:11 elapsed in the second period.
Niemi wasn't able to adequately cover the oddly moving puck.
"He (Williams) poked at it several times," said Niemi. "I had my skate there, but the puck bounced off the post."
McLellan chalked up the first goal to luck.
"When you break the stick, the timing of that shot fools everybody," McLellan said.
Williams, who had two goals in the Kings' 12 playoff games before Tuesday, beat Niemi 2:57 later when he found the open space to Niemi's stick side. Anze Kopitar found Williams with a cross-ice pass, and Williams was alone with a lot of space.
"We got overextended on a shift, and they took advantage of it," McLellan said.
Despite the disappointment of the loss, Niemi said he is optimistic for the future.
"I feel bad right now, but overall I think we went forward this season," said Niemi.


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Dear god Alexis Ajinca is starting for the Pelicans? He's still in the NBA? He's on a roster? He's playing actual minutes? Did the Pelicans switch to tank mode? What is happening?
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Dear god Alexis Ajinca is starting for the Pelicans? He's still in the NBA? He's on a roster? He's playing actual minutes? Did the Pelicans switch to tank mode? What is happening?
Ash from Army of Darkness: Good...Bad...I'm the guy with the gun.
Another Grizzlies-Spurs classic. Overtime in Memphis.
How in hell was that a foul on Ed Davis? hahaha
@WhatTheFFacts: Studies show that sarcasm enhances the ability of the human mind to solve complex problems!
Tonight, all flags must burn, in place of steeples.
Autonomy must return into the hands of the people.
Lillard is shootin at the freaking ocean from a boat... Cant miss...
Pretty solid night...
Pacers win...
Portland loses...
OKC loses...
Detroit loses...
Lots of things to be happy for this evening if youre a Pacers fan
You should of watched him at Weber kid could pull from anywhere past half court. His mechanics make distance a non factor he is as pure as it gets.
Are the Blazers faltering a bit. Having lost two straight and only 5-5 in their last 10 games.
Spurs just don't seem right now as good as last season.
OKC without Westbrook clearly are not nearly the same team.
So right now the Pacers and Heat are the two best teams
Splitter going down for the Spurs is huge. He is a glue guy that they are missing. Than and Marco doesn't play a lick of defense.
Marc Stein says 8 teams are after Bynum, only one he named is Dallas
here, it's Broussard, so y'know
I'm told 8 teams are interested in signing A Bynum, most notably Heat & Clips. Playing time, contender status & $ all factors in decision.— Chris Broussard (@Chris_Broussard) January 8, 2014
Last edited by Heisenberg; 01-08-2014 at 01:01 PM.
Y! Source: NBA grants Nets a $5.25M Disabled Player Exception for Brook Lopez injury. http://t.co/47FX5YZR43— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 8, 2014
Yeah - maybe he'll tell us that it's going to be a 3 team deal with Griffin and Anthony involved.
Broussard is the epitome of a mediot.
I'd be surprised if Bynum does end up on the Heat or Clips. He's a headache that I think a contending team wouldn't want to deal with. IMO the Nets are far more likely.
If $ is a factor would he sign with a team that at most has the Taxpayer MLE?
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...
Minnesota this year is one of the biggest disappointments for me record wise. What happened there cause honestly I don't watch many teams outside ours.
Rubio needs to help them more in the scoring department?
Bynum strikes me as a complete whore....time will tell...but i cant help but get the feeling he is far more interested in getting as much as he can while he can than going and playing for a contender...just like this past summer, he is gonna try and create as much of a bidding war and then go to the highest bidder...considering alot of the teams mentioned can afford nothing more than the vet minimum....well....teams like New Jersey that can pay considerably more would seem to be much higher on his list, IMO...
Edit: I didn't realize it but I just looked it up after posting paragraph above. The T-Wolves are last in defensive FG %. Won't be more than a .500 team with that
Last edited by Unclebuck; 01-08-2014 at 02:21 PM.
JR Smith got fined $50k for his two shoe untying incidents. Seems excessive, you'd think a simple call telling him to cut that **** out woulda been enough.
Welcome to the new age.
Was a childish move but come on, 50k for that? Excessive at least.
Fair enough to me.
Doesn't the NBA have a system that allows players to get back some of the money they're fined, if they meet certain requirements?
Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right. ― Ricky Gervais.
What the hell RealGM?
Andrew Perna @Andrew_Perna 16m
No reason to believe #Pacers would pursue Andrew Bynum, but keeping him from #Heat wouldn't be a horrible move.
"Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel
"And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "


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The Macna Impact jacket is a waterproof all-season jacket featuring a Direct Laminate waterproof outer shell and removable thermal liner. Adjustable waist and arm straps ensure a custom fit. Great for touring.Learn More$462.50 $109.99


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Deer Park Country Hotel4
Weston, Honiton, EX14 3PG
Price FromView Rooms
- Excellent
- 21 guest reviews
"Exceptional at every level - would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who appreciates outstanding hospitality..."
"Excellent. A short stay but very enjoyable. The staff were very helpful and the food was out of this world...."
"A wonderful place to stay!..."
"A wonderful few days away. Can't fault the staff, very friendly...."
"We loved the hotel, the quirkiness of it all and the friendly and helpful staff. If there has to be a negative it was the wine list, lack of..."
About the hotel
Deer Park Country Hotel is set in 80 acres overlooking classic Devon countryside and the meandering River Otter. A quintessential Country House Hotel, offering a relaxed haven with individually designed guest rooms. Excellent service and exquisite food awaits you, making this a truly unique and memorable destination.
Ideal for a perfect romantic getaway, to a relaxed family break, a business trip or even a action filled holiday; the Deer Park has the ability to meet every persons needs. Stay in one of the 15 individually styled guest rooms in the main house. The Deer Park also offers a further 10 rooms in the mews, which is a stone throw away from the main house.
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Facilities Show/hide
- Main
- Hotel Non-Smoking Throughout, Disabled Facilities, 24 Hour Reception, Cots available, Wedding Licence, Tea/Coffee making facilities in each room, Hairdryer in each room, Telephone In Each Room, Limited Hours Room Service, Limited room service for hot food, Wake Up Call Available, Interconnecting rooms available, Childrens Facilities - Indoor, Childrens Facilities - Outdoor, Pets Allowed, Ground floor bedrooms
- Parking
- Car parking available onsite
- Business
- Wi-Fi Available, Meeting Facilities, Wi-Fi Available In Public Areas, Private dining services
- Dining
- Restaurant, Lounge Menu, Bar
- Leisure
- Massage, Pitch n' Putt, Mountain Bike Hire, Croquet, Fishing, Clay Pigeon Shooting, Video/DVD Library, CD Player, [Channels] Sky Sports
- In Room Entertainment
- Video/DVD Player, TV, Radio
- Accessibility
- Disabled Access Bedrooms
Can't find the facilities you're looking for?
- Call us on 0333 300 1007 and we'll help find the perfect hotel for you
- Call
Useful Info Show/hide
- From 15:00 hours
- By 11:00 hours
- Up to 12 years old
- The price shown is based on the occupancy and dates you have searched for. Prices and availability are subject to change based on the arrival date, number of nights and occupancy searched for. All prices are inclusive of all local taxes.
- Pets are allowed
Customer Reviews
Our reviews are from genuine LateRooms.com customers. We verify that the customer has stayed before leaving a review.
100% would recommend it to a friend
Customer service
Food quality
Room quality
one of the best hotels we have ever stayed in - just brilliant
Exceptional at every level - would recommend it without hesitation to anyone who appreciates outstanding hospitality...
Deer Park Country Hotel
A short stay but very enjoyable. The staff were very helpful and the food was out of this world....
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Tony's Brick Oven Pizzeria & Restaurant in Fernandino Beach was shut down for a night because inspectors found 75 roaches underneath a pizza oven.
We put a panel underneath our oven to keep water from going under there and didn't realize it was a breeding ground for them," explains Mark Keller, the manager at Tony's Brick Oven Pizzeria & Restaurant.
Keller has been in the restaurant business for 20 years and he says he's mainly embarrassed but also sorry to let his customers down.
Keller says the problem started six months ago when they hired a new pest control company.
"We thought they were doing a great job apparently they weren't, we brought in a new company and they started showing us different areas and we're, like, oh my God," says Keller.
Keller showed us the records from recent exterminations. He says they were in the process of trying to get rid of the bugs but the inspector got to them first. Records show the inspector came back the next day and the problem was taken care of and allowed the pizza place to reopen for business.
"We did the things that we needed to do but it's still a stain on our record we're better than that," said Keller. "A: it will never happen again, and B: we'll be even better than we were before."
Channel 4's Melanie Lawson always like to mention restaurants to ace their state inspections. Last week, the only restaurant inspected in Northeast Florida with zero violations during its inspection:
- Duval County: Solids & Stripes Billiards on Blanding Boulevard
Copyright 2012 by News4Jax.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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For more information, contact:
Kristina Gawrgy
For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2003
Growth of NAEYC Accreditation Shows Demand for High-Quality Preschool and Child Care
(Washington, D.C.) - In a clear sign of increasing demand for high-quality early education, the number of child care, preschool and other early childhood programs accredited by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has grown by over 45 percent in the past five years.
The NAEYC accreditation system has expanded every year since its establishment in 1985, and today there are 8,154 accredited programs, serving nearly three-quarters of a million young children and their families. In 1997 there were 5,618 early childhood programs accredited by NAEYC, and in 1992 there were 2,340.
"The growth of NAEYC accreditation shows that families, employers, policymakers and others recognize the importance of high-quality early education, and the benefits that quality programs bring to young children," said Mark Ginsberg, Ph.D., Executive Director of NAEYC. "The increase in NAEYC-accredited programs also demonstrates the commitment of early childhood educators, who are improving programs around the country."
NAEYC established accreditation to set professional standards for early childhood education, and to help families identify high-quality early childhood programs. The voluntary accreditation system is designed for programs for children from birth through age eight, including child care centers, preschools, Head Start programs, kindergartens and after-school programs.
Programs seeking NAEYC accreditation are measured against national standards of quality that go well beyond state health and safety licensing requirements. The accreditation criteria address all aspects of an early childhood education program, including teacher qualifications and development, child-to-teacher ratios, curriculum, and health and safety. A program begins the accreditation process with an extensive self-study to determine how well it meets these criteria. After the program makes necessary improvements, it is observed by independent, professional validators, and then reviewed by a national panel. Early childhood programs that demonstrate substantial compliance with the NAEYC standards are accredited for a three-year period.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children is the largest and most influential organization of early childhood educators and others dedicated to improving the quality of programs for children from birth through age eight. Founded in 1926, the organization now has more than 100,000 members, and a national network of nearly 450 local, state and regional affiliates. NAEYC and its affiliates work to improve professional practice and working conditions in early childhood education, and to build public support for high-quality early childhood programs.
Growth of NAEYC-accredited early childhood education programs, 1992-2002:
|Number of Accredited Programs
Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children has nearly 90,000 members worldwide. The association is the largest and most influential advocate for early care and education in the
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Founded in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children is the largest and most influential advocate for high-quality early care and education in the United States.


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The government official who recently left office over the housing crisis is someone who actually fought for the people instead of laying the groundwork for a cushy job awaiting him in the private sector. Neil Barofsky, the Special Inspector General for TARP resigned his post effective Wednesday, March 30. On his way out the door, he was still publicly arguing with the Treasury over the legacy of the $700 billion dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program ("TARP").
Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com called Barofsky "easily one of the most impressive and courageous political officials in Washington" for his willingness to stand up to some of the most powerful people, institutions, and special interest lobbies in Washington and Wall Street.
On March 29, before his departure from office, he wrote a piece for the New York Times titled "Where the Bailout Went Wrong." The piece, so vicious in its criticisms of the TARP program and politicians in Washington, prompted the Wall Street Journal to run excerpts from it along with their own commentary on the TARP fiasco.
Of the failed bailout Barofsky wrote:
"Two and a half years ago, Congress passed the legislation that bailed out the country's banks. The government has declared its mission accomplished, calling the program remarkably effective 'by any objective measure.' On my last day as the special inspector general of the bailout program, I regret to say that I strongly disagree . . . Almost immediately [after passage], as permitted by the broad language of the act, Treasury's plan for TARP shifted from the purchase of mortgages [that would have helped everyday homeowners] to the infusion of hundreds of billions of dollars into the nation's largest financial institutions, a shift that came with the express promise that it would restore lending."
Continue reading


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Blueberry Crumb Bars
I've made some delicious blueberry crumb bars. But to get the recipe, you're going to have to go over to Renee's blog Eat.Live.Blog. I'm doing a guest post over there today while she's away. Be sure to go check it out!
One Year Ago: Homemade Vanilla Extract and Homemade Taco Seasoning
Two Years Ago: Boston Cupcake Crawl and Banana Nut Bread Mini Muffins
2 Responses to "Blueberry Crumb Bars"
Love the tease 🙂 Thanks for the fabulous guest post today!
Mmm I love crumb bars of all sorts–tarter the fruit the better!


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Com PR Students Promote the Chicago Auto Show
February 9, 2011
For the ninth consecutive year, a group of Dr. Ron Koperski's public relations students are interning at the Chicago Auto Show. During the week of February 7, journalism major Sarah Garfinkel '11 and public relations major Dassie Rice '11 will share their perspectives on this unique experience.
Driving media attention to the Auto Show
By Sarah Garfinkel '11
Our first day at the Auto Show was not nearly as intimidating as we all thought it would be. While McCormick Place is gigantic, we only had to get lost a couple of times before figuring out where we were supposed to be.
Justine Harris '11 and Bronson Good '11 are two of seven Bradley students interning at the Chicago Auto Show this week.
We had the opportunity to tour show floor in the midst of construction. Each manufacturer has only one week to construct its display. This may seem like ample time, but it really comes down to the wire. The media previews begin tomorrow and there seems to be a lot of work left for the landscapers, designers and carpenters to complete before the press rolls in.
During our week here, each of the interns will be covering press conferences, handing out media credentials to journalists, as well as posting content to the Auto Show's website.
Typically, the Auto Show Internship is open only to public relations majors at Bradley, but this year our group includes PR majors, two advertising majors and two journalism majors. We possess a broad set of skills that is already coming in handy. Regardless of major, this internship is a fantastic opportunity we wouldn't have if not for Dr. Ron Koperski, whose strong industry connections have helped countless students get a leg up over the years.
It's going to be a long week, but by the end of it we will have gained invaluable experience in what it takes to run a major event.


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Our adoption fee covers their complete age-appropriate vetting, spay/neuter, microchip, heartworm/flea prevention, and full medical records.
Go to www.FORrescue.net and click on "Adoption" and then "Applications" to apply for the animal you are interested in adopting.
Please email us at email@example.com with any questions you might have about FOR or our adoption process.
Thank You!
Your message has been sent to Friends of Rescue - Nashville.
You'll receive a copy, too, at to help you keep track of which pets you've inquired about, and which shelters and rescues you've emailed.
NOTE: Some shelters have physical locations you can visit; some of these shelters may only have pets for a limited time, so please do not wait for a reply—just go visit the shelter! Other organizations are rescue groups run by busy volunteers who may take a while to reply. You can find information about the shelter or rescue group caring for this pet, and their adoption procedures, on the pet's details page on Adopt-a-Pet.com.


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Massett was traded for Ken Griffey Jr. He has had a roller coaster year. Started out terrible, was the best pitcher in the rotation for a stretch, and now back down. They got him thinking he could be a potential closer. I'll give him another season before I judge him.
Arthur Rhodes got cut in Tx and Also Jared Burton is throwing again. He is scheduled to pitch 2 innings next outing.
It has been a frustrating season. Losing 2 of 3 to a team 40 games under .500 upsets me but I didnt have the hand/eye cordination, speed, power, or throwing arm to play for them Season.


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Prices, promotions, styles, and availability may vary. Our local stores do not honor online pricing. Prices and availability of products and services are subject to change without notice. Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Lowe's reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted.
Build and Grow Kid's Beginner Monster Jam Grave Digger Project Kit
Item # 607951 Model # 10993571
Product Information
- As fun to play with as it is to build
- This kit includes a glow-in-the-dark Monster Jam sticker sheet
|Project Name
|Build and Grow Monster Jam Grave Digger
|Skill Level
|Recommended Age
|Assembled Length (Inches)
|Assembled Width (Inches)
|Assembled Height (Inches)
|Items Required for Assembly


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COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Artem Anisimov scored on a hard wrist shot on an overtime power play, and Sergei Bobrovsky made 18 saves to lead Columbus over Colorado, 2-1.
Vinny Prospal had the other goal for the Blue Jackets, thanks to Ryan O'Reilly, who inadvertently tapped it in while making his Avalanche season debut after a contract dispute.
P.A. Parenteau scored for Colorado, but also had the hooking call that led to the decisive power play for Columbus.
Anisimov, acquired in the deal last summer that sent Rick Nash to the New York Rangers, had the puck near the right circle. Teammate R.J. Umberger was backed up to the crease and goalie Semyon Varlamov was struggling to get a view. Anisimov played with the puck for a moment before firing a high, hard shot just inside the near goal post that barely missed Umberger at 2:26.
O'Reilly, last season's leading scorer for Colorado, had missed the first five weeks of the abbreviated season in a dispute that ended when the Avalanche matched an offer sheet he signed with Calgary.
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- Jordan Staal, Alexander Semin, and Justin Faulk scored in Carolina's win over Florida, giving the Hurricanes their second victory over the Panthers in as many nights.
Dan Ellis made 19 saves for Carolina after replacing Cam Ward with 11:04 left in the second. Ward stopped all 15 shots he faced before leaving the game with what appeared to be a leg injury.
Jonathan Huberdeau scored two goals for Florida. Scott Clemmensen stopped 21 shots for the Panthers.
DALLAS (AP) -- Derek Roy had a goal and two assists and Kari Lehtonen made 25 saves to help lead Dallas over St. Louis.
Loui Eriksson, Jaromir Jagr and Erik Cole also scored for Dallas.
For Cole, it was his first goal with Dallas in his second game with the team since he was acquired in a trade with Montreal last week.
David Perron scored for St. Louis and Brian Elliott made 23 saves for the Blues.
UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP) -- John Tavares and Frans Nielsen scored in the shootout, lifting New York Islanders over Ottawa.
Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves as the Islanders earned their third win in 12 home games this season. He also stopped Jakob Silfverberg and Daniel Alfredsson in the shootout.
The Senators have lost three in a row.
Nielsen scored to open the shootout against backup Robin Lehner. Tavares' goal came after Nabokov made his two stops.
Michael Grabner's unassisted goal late in the third period put the Islanders up 2-1. Grabner intercepted a clearing attempted by the Senators and rifled the puck past Lehner for this eighth goal of the season at 16:31.
Defenseman Patrick Wiercioch's first career goal caromed off the stick blade of Islanders defenseman Travis Hamonic and eluded Nabokov with 1:09 to go.
Brad Boyes scored a first-period goal for the Islanders, and Mika Zibanejad responded midway through the second.


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Mail: Southern statues symbolize suppession
Mail: Thanks for helping Aiden
More opinion
Fall: Good time to spray musk thistle in rosette stage
Robertson and Delsing re-elected chair, vice chair of NWB
More Ag News
Objections, misunderstandings and old-fashioned frustration spiced up a special city council meeting to adopt the 2013-14 city budget Thursday evening.
Larry Campbell moved to reduce the city's contribution to the Chamber of Commerce and Development from $100,000 a year to $50,000, and take another look at this appropriation down the road.
Campbell's motion sparked a spirited discussion (see related report on this website.) When the council finally voted, Councilman Glenn Petersen moved to amend Campbells motion and change the amount for the Chamber and Development office to $75,000 instead of Campells $50,000.
The council voted 53 to contribute $75,000 to the Chamber.
Tim Barrett, Brook Baker and Campbell voted no.
After the vote, Barrett again expressed frustrations with the budget for the coming fiscal year, like he has at previous meetings.
We have had a lot of discussion about this budget, he said. We have to get out of this spending, spending, spending and take care of what we have.
An electric rate increase, a mill levy increase this is not doing justice to the taxpayers, Barrett said. We should send this budget back to the department heads to make cuts. I do not support this budget.
Councilman Andrew Lee agreed.
We should not put this debt burden back on the property owners, Lee said. Why dont we look at other alternatives like a sales tax or other alternative revenues?
Councilman Jim Carman also agreed that the city's need to tax stems from its debts.
That is the primary cause, he said, and theres nothing we can do about the debt now.
I didnt see a lot of unnecessary expenses in most of the departments (this fiscal year) but I did see some things we could forestall, Carman said. Just an example of one would be maybe buying three new police cruisers now instead of five.
Carman said he could not support the budget.
Another place I think we could save is pay raises, he said. Cost of living, step raises, those are some places we can control this (increase) and we need to do it now. I dont mean the employees do not deserve raises but when push comes to shove, the employees wont like it, but I think theyll realize the reasons for it and will step up.
Councilman Glenn Petersen reminded his colleagues that they were bringing this all up at the 12th hour.
This is not the time for all this to come up and those with objections should have spoke up before, he said.
We had spoken up at previous meetings about not supporting the entire budget and were told by Jim Hawks and Mayor Livingston they could not until this meeting, Baker said. He said Campbell tried to speak Monday at the budget hearing, and was told by Hawks that was not the time and he had to wait until this meeting.
Barrett said the budget is too burdensome to taxpayers.
We created our own mess and the taxpayers should not have to belly up to fix the problems, Barrett said.
Councilman Martin Steinbeck, who was quiet earlier, said there should be more council involvement during the budget making process.
I am seeing some real problems and some misunderstandings, Steinbeck said. We never had opportunities to discuss problems.
Petersen said, I think we should have meetings with no public or media to ask questions, (so there would be no) risk of misinterpretations.
That drew a gasp from some in the gallery and members of the media.
Baker said that would be considered a closed session.
Im not afraid to ask the questions and I think the council should get a more updated version of the budget instead of this book we got, Baker said. We should not be expected to just accept this in bulk.
Hawks said time is an issue. The budget has to set by Oct. 5.
If this budget is not accepted, then we will have to stay in session to get what you want. It has to be sent to the state, Hawks said. Each month you approve the treasurers report, you approve the Municipal Light and Water report and those contain the information you are saying you should have.
This is a heavy hit to the taxpayers, Barrett reiterated.
For the first time in the meeting, Mayor Dwight Livingston spoke.
I would like to say, for the last several months we have invited all of you to come in and discuss your issues, Livingston said. I havent heard anyone come in and say anything about more cuts."
We have had plenty of meetings and I have invited you all to come in and discuss things, Livingston reiterated.
We all knew we were going to take a hit with the debt this year, he said. I knew that when I took this office. It goes back for 5-6 years and includes bonds that were issued before any of us were here. It comes from decisions that were made in the past. I dont even know what some of these bonds were for.
I think this is a good budget and we did the best we could, he said.
I too would like to point out that we all knew this debt was coming, Hawks added, Every bond was issued by prior councils and this one. That is why we are forced into the increases this year.
I agree, we all saw this debt coming," Hawks said, "but, we need to step back and find where we can make cuts."
Lee moved to adopt the budget and Peterson seconded. The council voted 44. Lee, Carman, Barrett and Baker voted no. That forced Livingston to cast a vote to break the tie. Livingston voted to approve, saying We have worked hard to do the right thing and I vote to pass the budget.
The council then voted on the resolution to adopt the property tax levy, which increases 14.4%. That motion passed 53 with Barrett, Baker and Lee voting no.
The council voted to suspend the three-reading rule to set the electrical rates, which will also increase. That passed 6-2. Barrett and Baker voted no.
By the end of the meeting, Barrett and Baker were visibly angry.
Next year maybe we can do this so the council is not coerced into something like this, Baker said.
Barrett declined to comment to the news media, indicating he was in no mood to talk.
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1300 E 4th St., Suite F
North Platte, NE 69101


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Challenges to evolution education occur in informal learning environments as well as the public schools, as "Muddling science at parks and museums," published in the August 2006 issue of Geotimes, reiterates:
As reported in the December 2005 Geotimes, some parks and museums have stepped up to the task to make evolution understandable, so as not to be confused with religious beliefs such as 'intelligent design,' which holds that the complexity of life is evidence that somet
In anticipation of the release of the paperback edition of Chris Mooney's The Republican War on Science, both the complete text of chapter 11 (entitled "Creation Science 2.0") and of a special update, composed especially for the paperback edition, have been posted on the book's website.
Two days after the Chronicle of Higher Education broke the story about the absence of evolutionary biology from a list of college majors eligible for a federal grant, both New Scientist and The New York Times have provided further details.
Writing in the Kansas City Star (August 21, 2006), Laura Scott urges Kansas voters to remain on guard even after the August 1, 2006, primary election.
"Like a gap in the fossil record, evolutionary biology is missing from a list of majors that the U.S. Department of Education has deemed eligible for a new federal grant program designed to reward students majoring in engineering, mathematics, science, or certain foreign languages," the Chronicle of Higher Education (August 22, 2006) reports.
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WATSONVILLE -- Scott Almand recalled being "very scared" when he and wife Lani decided to open their home to 14-year-old Lizzie.
Lizzie was living in a group home at the time, and had been in and out of foster care for a good part of her life. Almand, barely 30, worried he wouldn't be the right parent for a teen daughter from a troubled background.
Lani, who was 19 at the time, coached Lizzie's ninth-grade cheer team at Aptos High School. She, too, wondered what they were getting into. But she couldn't sleep at night, thinking about Lizzie.
"We had such a good life, and she was by herself in a group home, feeling unloved," she said.
Lani said she "always wanted to be a mom," and she doesn't think much about the slight difference in hers and Lizzie's ages.
"I'm her mom, and she's my daughter, and it works," Lani said.
It's worked so well that in October the Almands officially adopted now 17-year-old Lizzie.
They didn't stop there. Friday, the Corralitos family grew again as the Almands became parents to 21-month-old twins in Santa Cruz County Superior Court Judge Denine Guy's courtroom in Watsonville.
The three adoptions weren't the way Scott, reservations manager at Seascape Resort, envisioned his family coming together. He said a lot of thought and prayer went into the decision to adopt.
"It became clear to me that this was right, that this is what we were supposed to be doing," he said. "I thought it would happen in the natural way, but I guess God had other plans for us, and I couldn't be happier."
The Almands were among seven families that adopted a total of 11 children Friday as the court celebrated National Adoption Month.
Guy, who oversees adoption proceedings every Friday, said the county staff does a "phenomenal" job at reaching into the community and finding families willing "to open hearts and homes." Last year, 52 children were adopted through the county's Forever Families program.
Carol Crisman, program supervisor, said the county works to reunite foster children with birth families while preparing for an alternative permanent home in case it doesn't work out, a process known as concurrent planning.
It puts would-be adoptive parents in tough position, she said. They have to be willing to give their all to a child, and willing to let go if the original family is able to reunite. The focus for all concerned has to be the welfare of the child, she said.
Lani, a stay-at-home mom, said she understood that from the start.
"You're not doing it for your desires," she said. "You're doing it for them."
Still, Lani said she and Scott bonded "instantly" with Christian and Julian, who came to them as 4-week-olds, and it would have been heartbreaking to have to say goodbye.
"That's why today is so exciting," she said. "They felt like ours from the moment we got them, and now it's sort of set in stone."
Lizzie, whose longing for a younger sibling brought the twins into their lives, was happy, too.
"It's like this is the thing that makes us all one," she said.
Follow Sentinel reporter Donna Jones on Twitter at Twitter.com/DonnaJonesSCS
At a glance
WHAT: Program to move children from foster care into permanent homes through adoption
CHILDREN: All ages, but the greatest need is homes for teens and sets of siblings
PARENTS: 21 or older, in good health with the ability and interest to care for children, and licensed for foster care. Single, married, divorced, and gay individuals are encouraged to apply. North County families especially needed.
DETAILS: fostercare4kids.com or Anastasia Torres-Gill at 345-2700.


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Baylor undergrad's research seeks to improve a natural cancer-fighter
For centuries, South African natives have used parts of the African bush willow tree in natural medicines, treating everything from headaches to dysentery. More recently, an Arizona State researcher has studied its potential for fighting cancer.
It might sound presumptuous, but a Baylor undergraduate student has been hard at work building on Arizona State's work. Senior Cassie Robertson, a Baylor Business Fellow and pre-med (biology) major from North Texas, has studied the tree's natural tumor-inhibiting compounds, called combretastatins, under the advisement of Dr. Kevin Pinney, a professor of chemistry in Baylor's College of Arts & Sciences.
"The [combretastatin's] molecule inhibits tumor growth by attaching to the tumor and preventing blood from reaching it, inherently stopping cell division," explains Robertson. "Tumors need to be able to form their own blood vessels quickly in order to sustain growth, so by stopping blood flow, the tumor dies from starvation of nutrients."
With graduation impending, Robertson says she hopes another student will be able to continue her research. Robertson plans to eventually spend her career in the medical field, and says the research opportunities she's had at Baylor have been priceless.
"Although this project has been stressful at times," she says, "it is great to see all of the pieces come together and to see my hard work throughout college pay off in my senior year."
Sic 'em, Cassie!
[For more on Robertson's work and other research being conducted at Baylor, check out "Research Tracks," a blog from the Office of the Vice Provost for Research.]


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Tuesday, September 26, 2017
Worksite Health
Fiberglass Dust Inhalation
About 3 weeks ago I was sealing a leak in the roof of my new home during a rain storm which need me to enter the attic. I was in the attic about an hour and during this time disturbed the fiberglass insulation. I didn`t think anything of it but later that night I has respitory problems (sore throat, mucus, etc.). The symptoms have not gotten any better and at times worse. Should I be concerned or see my physician?
I suspect your symptoms are a coincidence. There was minimal exposure to fiberglass insulation, which has not been linked with long-term health effects. Fiberglass insulation can irritate the respiratory tract sometimes causing cough and a scratchy throat. The symptoms should subside and there is very little, if any, risk of chronic disease (like cancer). Even long-term exposures among workers do not seem to be very risky, instead mainly irritating.
J Mac Crawford, PhD, RN
Clinical Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences
College of Public Health
The Ohio State University


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Evolution Hoax
Excerpt from Mr. Adnan Oktar's live interview dated September 5th, 2011
Surat ash-Shura, 13
"He has laid down the same religion for you as He enjoined on Noah: that which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus.." The same thing, the same religion, comes to all the prophets. "I have laid down the law," and that is Islam. "What you call the idolaters to follow is very hard for them." What do I tell the unbelievers? Obey the Qur'an. What do they say? "No, we will obey superstition and fantastical inventions." So do they accept the Qur'an? No. "Allah chooses for Himself anyone He wills and guides to Himself those who turn to Him."
Allah bestows happiness on those who genuinely turn to Islam.


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A woman who was arrested for drink-driving twice in two days has been fined and disqualified.
8:44am Thursday 5th June 2014
8:44am Thursday 5th June 2014
A WOMAN who was arrested for drink-driving twice in two days has been fined and disqualified from driving.
Charlene Palmer, 33, of Saltdean Vale, Saltdean, was charged on Monday (June 2) after she was stopped and arrested in Sutton Park Road, Seaford, at 11.55am.
She was arrested again on Tuesday in Golden Jubilee Way, Eastbourne, at 2.20pm. She was charged with drink-driving a second time and remanded in custody.
She appeared at Brighton Magistrates' Court yesterday where she pleaded guilty to two counts of being in charge of a motor vehicle with excess alcohol and one count of driving without insurance.
For the drink-driving offence on June 2 she received a £110 fine with a £20 victim surcharge and had her licence endorsed.
For the charge of driving without insurance, which also relates to June 2, she received a £110 fine and was ordered to pay £85 costs. Her licence was also endorsed a second time.
For the drink-driving offence on June 3 she received a £110 fine and was disqualified from driving for 36 months.
A total of 11 motorists were charged in the first three days of Operation Dragonfly, Sussex Police's month-long campaign to tackle drink and drug-driving.
Michelle Beauvois, 47, of Brighton Road, Lancing, was arrested after she was involved in a two car crash in South Street, Lancing, at 10.50pm on June 2.
Sarah Lacey, 48, of Linden Road, Bognor Regis, was arrested at 4.55pm on June 2 after her vehicle was seen weaving in Goring Street, Worthing.
Both Ms Lacey and Ms Beauvois will appear at Worthing Magistrates' Court on September 9 charged with drink-driving.
Tarik Girgin, 29, was arrested after a man was seen driving while using a mobile phone at the wheel in Bexhill Road, St Leonards, at 6.10pm on 2 June.
Girgin, of Bromley, Greater London, will appear at Hastings Magistrates' Court on July 23 charged with drink-driving, driving without an MOT, driving without a licence and using a mobile phone while driving.
Ernestas Katinas, 25, was arrested at 9.25am on June 3 after he was stopped and breathalysed for speeding in Victoria Drive, Bognor.
Katinas, of Drift Road, Bognor, will appear at Worthing Magistrates' Court on July 1 charged with drink-driving.
Road users in Sussex can text officers on 65999 with the details of people they suspect of drink or drug driving.
If you know someone is drink or drug driving than call 999.
© Copyright 2001-2017 Newsquest Media Group


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Source. Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley. From Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6. Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1893.) Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. <http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3011.htm>.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads.


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Familial and Atypical Urothelial Cancer Registry
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study is being done to create a registry to help us learn more about urinary and other cancers. This will let us look at large groups of people who do and do not have this kind of cancer.
The investigators will look at risk factors to learn more about how these impact cancer. The investigators will also look at genetic markers. These are genes that are found in a known place. They are often associated with a particular trait. If the gene changes in some way, it may predict cancer or response to treatment. The investigators will look for markers in your saliva.
This registry will help us develop better methods of:
Preventing these cancers. Diagnosing these cancers. Treating these cancers.
|Urothelial Cancer Renal Pelvis Cancer Ureter Cancer Bladder Cancer
|Other: saliva sample and questionaire Other: saliva sample, questionaire
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Case-Control
Time Perspective: Prospective
|Official Title:
|Familial and Atypical Urothelial Cancer Registry
- Determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms in regions discovered from whole genome scans, such as 8q24 & chromosome 3, & candidate genes, include NAT2 & GSTM1, prev found to be assoc with bladder ca risk, are assoc with UC in this study population [ Time Frame: 2 years ]
- To determine whether single nucleotide polymorphisms in the genes and regions listed above are associated with outcomes after UC diagnosis in the population [ Time Frame: 2 years ]
Biospecimen Retention: Samples With DNA
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Start Date:
|May 2009
|Estimated Study Completion Date:
|May 2018
|Estimated Primary Completion Date:
|May 2018 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Patients with urothelial cancer
Other: saliva sample and questionaire
Urothelial Cancer Registry- Patients will complete a family history and urothelial cancer risk questionnaire, and will provide a buccal sample for germline DNA. If the cases have previously completed athe "the "Urothelial Baseline Questionnaire," in an MSKCC urology clinic they will not need to complete the urothelial cancer risk questionnaire.
unrelated adults accompanying patients to clinic
Other: saliva sample, questionaire
Urothelial Cancer Registry- These participants will be requested to complete the risk factor questionnaire and to provide a saliva sample for DNA extraction.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria:
Urothelial Cancer Cases
- Must be ≥ 18 years of age AND
- Must have a diagnosis of urothelial cancer AND
- Must be an English-speaker
Non-Cancer Control Group
- Must be ≥ 18 years of age AND
- Must not have cancer or a personal history of cancer, with the exception of skin cancer. AND
- Must not be a blood relative of cases AND
- Must not be a blood relative of another control AND
- Must be an English-speaker
Family Member Control Group:
In select kindreds with a high prevalence of bladder cancer and/or very early onset bladder cancer, first- and second-degree family members of probands may be contacted by the MSKCC study team and invited to complete the questionnaire and submit a saliva sample.
- Must be ≥ 18 years of age AND
- Must be a blood relative of a case participant AND
- Must be an English-speaker
Exclusion Criteria:
- Have any condition, which in the opinion of the primary MSKCC clinician or investigators precludes their ability to provide informed consent.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00902590
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD
|Contact: Helena Furberg-Barnes, PhD
|United States, New Jersey
|Memorial Sloan Kettering at Basking Ridge
|Basking Ridge, New Jersey, United States, 07920
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD
|United States, New York
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center @ Suffolk
|Commack, New York, United States, 11725
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
|New York, New York, United States, 10065
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD 646-422-4333
|Contact: Helena Furberg-Barnes, PhD 646-735-8118
|Principal Investigator: Dean Bajorin, MD
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center at Mercy Medical Center
|Rockville Centre, New York, United States, 11570
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD
|Memoral Sloan Kettering Cancer Center@Phelps
|Sleepy Hollow, New York, United States
|Contact: Dean Bajorin, MD
|Principal Investigator:
|Dean Bajorin, MD
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Additional Information:
|Responsible Party:
|Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00902590 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|May 14, 2009
|Last Updated:
|May 17, 2017
Keywords provided by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center:
renal pelvis
Renal Pelvis, Ureter, Bladder Cancer
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Urinary Bladder Neoplasms
Ureteral Neoplasms
Pelvic Neoplasms
Urologic Neoplasms
Urogenital Neoplasms
Neoplasms by Site
Urinary Bladder Diseases
Urologic Diseases
Ureteral Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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Editor's note: This market commentary is provided by the Dairy Division at FCStone/Downes-O'Neill in Chicago, Ill.
Class III futures managed just 497 trades Friday in a subdued trading session. Only three 2012 contracts, July, August and September, posted changes in settlement prices which ranged from down 6 to up 16 cents. Class III futures have been pushing higher since June 14th, with the third quarter pack gaining 53 cents, settling Friday at $17.00.
Dairy cow slaughter rate thus far this year is running 3.75 percent higher than the same period in 2011. With the summer's higher temperatures impacting milk production rates across the nation, the bullish trend looks set to continue in the near term.
The dairy market is looking well supported, some nervousness but people talking about $1.60 per pound cheese as "reasonable" and "cheap" is certainly supportive ― especially when there was a time when $1.60 cheese was the end of the world as we knew it.
It is our opinion that the May Cold Storage data released last Friday is bullish for both cheese and butter. American Cheese rose 0.1 percent from year-ago levels while inventories dropped by 1.5 percent from last month. Seasonally, a decline in American cheese holdings in the month of May has occurred only one other time in the last 10 years ― in 2007. During May 2007, American cheese inventories declined by 9.44 million pounds versus 9.48 this year.
Total Cheese inventories were essentially unchanged from last month, but fell 1.9 percent from last year, showing that once again butter/powder production has garnered excess milk basically all year so far. The decline from last month is, however, significant for the Total Cheese category as it is the only time in the last 10 years where cheese stocks have declined in total during the month of May. Market bulls will lean on this information ― and to some degree rightly so. However, while that is significant for industry perceptions of potential price upside, we expect that part ― if not all ― of the reason the futures market has risen upwards of 20 percent over the past six weeks is buried in this report.
The grain complex continues to look at the weather forecasts (amidst declining crop conditions), attempting to figure out just what the rain is going to do this week- if in fact it comes. After starting the day down, corn futures settled up anywhere between just 1 and 4 cents with the December contract settling at $5.54 heading into the weekend. Amidst serious heat, precipitation has been subpar to say the least thus far with basically nothing but trace rains over the weekend, and many traders are positioning themselves long accordingly. Beans finished up as well, with Nov beans at 4 ¼ to $13.75 ½. Look for traders to keep getting ling but keep spreads tight into the USDA inventories report next Friday.
We look for corn to open 18 to 22 higher and for beans to open 34 to 42 higher.
Daily CME spot market prices:
Block cheese: $1.625 (unchanged)
Barrel cheese $1.635 (up 0.75 cent)
Butter: $1.52 (down 2.5 cents)
Grade A NFDM: $1.2275 (unchanged)
These data and comments are provided for information purposes only and are not intended to be used for specific trading strategies. Commodity trading is risky and FCStone Group, Inc., INTL FCStone Inc., and their affiliates assume no liability for the use of any information contained herein. Although all information is believed to be reliable, we cannot guarantee its accuracy and completeness. Past financial results are not necessarily indicative of future performance. Any examples given are strictly hypothetical and no representation is being made that any person will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those examples. References to and discussions of exchange traded products are made solely on behalf of FCStone, LLC. References to and discussions of OTC products are made solely on behalf of INTL Hanley, LLC, and OTC products are only available to eligible counterparties.


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The Department of Human Resources and the Lockheed Martin Engineering Management Program are excited to announce the launch of an exclusive Leadership and Management Graduate Certificate Program for CU-Boulder employees. The goal of this certificate program is to help our current and future leaders develop and refine their leadership skills and learn new ways to measure and enhance organizational effectiveness with practical application. The content of this certificate program is applicable to all professions and does not require a technical or engineering background.
The 2012 Employee Engagement Survey results reflected that employees at all levels of the campus had a strong desire for additional development programs to help them be more successful in their current and future positions. The Department of Human Resources recognizes the importance of providing growth opportunities, including management and leadership development programs such as this one, and is excited to offer this new program to our employees.
This new 12-credit hour certificate program has been designed with CU-Boulder employees in mind. In addition to being able to use the tuition reimbursement benefit to cover tuition, employees selected to participate in this exclusive program will be allowed to attend classes during work time and the employee's department will pay for the costs of any fees and books.
Employees interested in furthering their graduate level education may apply this certificate program towards a Masters in Engineering (ME), however up to three classes (9 credits) are often applicable towards other graduate degrees (MBA, etc.) as elective credits. For those interested in participating in these classes as non-credit, non-degree seeking participants, opportunities still exist to participate in either a classroom or distance learning environment.
For additional information, please visit the Leadership and Management
Graduate Certificate. We hope you will consider taking advantage of this new and exciting program!


text: Underwire bikini top in polka dot Item F9365 Color: BLACK CHAMPAGNE DOT Size: All sizes are US sizes. 32B 32C 34A 34D 36B Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices do not include taxes. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Moderate coverage. Product Details This sculpted bikini top gives you a little lift (without any discomfort), in a classic polka-dot print we love. Polyamide/elastane. Removable shoulder straps. Lightly padded. Lined. Our swimsuits are machine washable, but we recommend hand washing as it helps keep the fabric and the shape of the suit looking newer, longer. Import. Online only. Item F9365.


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The dangers of deep fat frying and chip pan fires are being highlighted by Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service during what is National Chip Week.
Last year, more than half of all accidental fires in the home in England were linked to cooking.
Most were caused by deep fat frying with more than 3,000 people are injured in these kinds of fires each year.
Watch Manager Neil Chamberlain, from Wiltshire FRS's community safety department, said: "When you're deep frying, you're heating a large volume of oil to extremely high temperatures.
"The oil can cause terrible burns, and it can go up in flames. In fact, it's an ideal fuel for a fire and, as such, it's difficult to put out.
"Homemade chips are great, but the safest way to deep fry is to use a thermostat controlled deep fat fryer rather than a chip pan, as the thermostat stops it from overheating – or, even better, use oven chips!"
Top tips for cooking are:
• Never fill a chip pan more than a third full of oil.
• Take care when cooking with oil – it sets alight easily.
• If the oil starts to smoke, it's too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool.
• Ideally, use a thermostat controlled deep fat fryer, which can't overheat.
• Don't leave cooking unattended – a forgotten pan can lead to disaster.
• If you've consumed alcohol, don't be tempted to cook with a chip pan.
• Avoid children being in the kitchen alone when cooking on the hob.
If a pan does catch fire:
• Don't take any risks. Turn off the heat if it is safe to do so but don't try to move the pan.
• NEVER throw water over the fire – that will cause a fireball.
• Don't tackle the fire yourself – get out, stay out, call 999.
You should always have working smoke alarms fitted in your home – and they should be tested every week. The fire service also recommends that homes should have carbon monoxide alarms installed as well.
To see if you qualify for a free home fire safety check from Wiltshire FRS, call 0800 389 7849 or visit www.wiltsfire.gov.uk


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Any ideas who Coach Pagano might bring in on his staff?
Right now Clyde Christensen is still the OC. If he is let go I would not be surprised if Pagano brought in Hugh Jackson. I think they have a good relationship having worked together before. If Peyton is brought back I don't see the offense changing even if Christensen goes but I am curious to see if the offense changes if Peyton is cut.
I don't really have any ideas on who he brings in as defensive coordinator. Any ideas?
It has not been talked about much (if at all) but I am hoping the special teams improve under Pagano and co.