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HIV infection is a condition caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The condition gradually destroys the immune system, which makes it harder for the body to fight infections.
This article provides a general overview. For more detailed information, see:
Human immunodeficiency virus infection
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) can be spread by the following:
Rare ways the virus may be spread include:
Blood banks and orang donor programs screen donors, blood, and tissues thoroughly to prevent the risk of infection. HIV is NOT transmitted to a person who DONATES blood or organs. People who donate organs are never in direct contact with people who receive them. Likewise, a person who donates blood is never in contact with the person receiving it. In all these procedures, sterile needles and instruments are used.
HIV infection is NOT spread by:
People at highest risk for getting HIV include:
See also: AIDS
People who become infected with HIV may not have any symptoms for up to 10 years, but they can still pass the infection to others. After you come in contact with the virus, it can take up to 3 months for a blood test to show that you have HIV.
Symptoms related to HIV are usually due to a different infection in the body. Some symptoms related to HIV infection include:
Note: Many people have no symptoms when they are diagnosed with HIV.
A complete blood count (
A lower-than-normal CD4 cell count may be a sign that the virus is damaging your immune system.
Doctors usually recommend medicine for patients who are committed to taking all their medications and have a CD4 count below 500 cells/mm3 (which is a sign that of a weakened immune system). Some people, including pregnant women and people with kidney or neurological problems related to HIV, may need treatment regardless of their CD4 count.
It is extremely important for people with HIV to take all doses of their medications, otherwise the virus may become resistant to the drugs. Therapy always involves a combination of antiviral drugs. Pregnant women with HIV infection are treated to reduce the chance of transmitting HIV to their babies.
People with HIV infection need to become educated about the disease and treatment so that they can be active participants in making decisions with their health care provider.
See: AIDS - support group
HIV is a chronic medical condition that can be treated, but not yet cured. There are effective ways to prevent complications and delay, but not always prevent, progression to AIDS.
Almost all people infected with HIV will develop AIDS if not treated. However, there is a small group of people who develop AIDS very slowly, or never at all. These patients are called long-term nonprogressors.
Call your health care provider if you have had a possible or actual exposure to AIDS or HIV infection.
Quinn TC. Epidemiology of human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Saunders Elsevier; 2011:chap 392.
Sterling TR, Chaisson RE. General clinical manifestations of human immunodeficiency virus infection (including the acute retroviral syndrome and oral, cutaenous, renal, ocular, metabolic, and cardiac diseases. In: Mandell GL, Bennett JE, Dolin R, eds. Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone; 2009:chap 121.
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By His Own Rules
H. L. Mencken, a cigar always in hand, was the most influential commentator of his time.
On December 31, 1898, August Mencken, successful owner of August Mencken & Bro., a thriving cigar factory in Baltimore, suddenly collapsed in his living room with a kidney infection. As his eldest son ran into the cold and blustery night to fetch a doctor, the boy suddenly realized the full import of his father's illness. Struggling through snowdrifts, he kept repeating to himself: "If my father dies, I'll be free at last."
The boy was Henry Louis Mencken. If his father had not died, he might not have become what Alistair Cooke has called "the most volcanic newspaperman this country has ever known." His father's death, Mencken later said, was perhaps the "luck-iest" thing that ever happened to him. The three-and-a-half years he spent working at his father's cigar factory were so unhappy, he never mentioned them in his memoirs. If he had remained there any longer, it would have been, he confided to poet Edgar Lee Masters, "probably to my permanent damage."
Instead, his rise was meteoric. By 1903, at age 23, he was city editor of the Baltimore Morning Herald. By 1905, he was managing editor, and the following year, editor in chief, the youngest in the United States to hold that position at a major paper. After the Herald folded in 1906, Mencken signed on with the Baltimore Sun, an association that continued for the next 40 years, until his debilitating stroke in 1948.
Whether readers either found him "a public nuisance" or agreed with Walter Lippmann that he was "the most powerful personal influence on this whole generation of American people," invariably, the phrase of the day was: "What do you think of Mencken?" As editor of Smart Set and later American Mercury, he helped the careers of Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser and F. Scott Fitzgerald. He regularly promoted the works of African-American and Southern authors and was hailed as an instigator of the Harlem and Southern literary renaissance. Among his books are works of literary criticism, theology, political theory, ethics and his monumental study, The American Language.
Considering the breadth of Mencken's interests, it is futile to attempt to classify him at all. But when the occasion arose, he considered himself a journalist. With an ear for verbal delicacies, he was able to dispose of something or somebody in a single phrase: Washington, D.C. was "a hundred thousand miserable botches of ninth-rate clerks." Store-bought bread was "the tasteless, gassy sponge that all Americans now eat." Sparkling wines were similarly dismissed: "Americans like such rubbish because, after a few glasses, they begin to imagine they are making whoopee in a bordello." President Warren G. Harding's prose style reminded him of "stale bean soup, of college yells, of dogs barking idiotically though endless nights."
Pounding out copy with two fingers on his typewriter, his ever-present cigar at a rakish angle, crowds huddled and craned their necks to watch him on assignment at political conventions (events, he noted, "not without their charms to connoisseurs of the obscene"). He stood out among journalists, wrote one colleague, because "honesty and courage are what made him great." Not only did he battle Prohibition, fraud, segregation and lynching, he also fiercely defended freedom of speech and the civil liberties of every American. This not only included the right to order Pilsner at a restaurant, but extended to Mencken's belief that a man should have the freedom to smoke a cigar wherever and whenever he pleased.
Mencken began smoking cigars at 16 at the suggestion of his father, who reasoned that the boy was going to spend the rest of his life in the tobacco business and might as well learn how. Mencken rolled his own cigars with the best Havana leaf from his father's factory. ("My father, of course, assumed I was using far less expensive material.") The cleanest, mildest and best-made five-cent cigar, according to Mencken, were "Uncle Willies," produced by the Schafer-Pfaf Co. of Baltimore (now T.E. Brooks Co. of Red Lion, Pennsylvania). There were always several bunched in his coat pocket for ready use: "Most of the advertised brands selling at eight cents are like garbage beside it."
Once a month, Mencken ordered 300, in bunches of 50, without bands, to be sent directly to his home at 1524 Hollins Street in Baltimore. Although Mencken was rarely photographed without a stogie in hand, he smoked fewer cigars than one expects. "Chewed most of them," recalled his brother. Hay fever--an annual onslaught that made him feel "as depressed as a Christian"--made it virtually impossible for him to smoke cigars during September, when his bleary eyes and snuffling nose were at their worst.
At one point, when doctors at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins Hospital ordered him to give up the weed, the absence of tobacco reduced Mencken to complete mental incompetence. "It is quite impossible to do any writing on chewing gum," he moaned, and went back to the cigars--and to the writing that made him, according to The New York Times, "the most powerful man in America."
During his early years as a columnist, when a group of women complained that cigar smoking should be prohibited on Baltimore streetcars, Mencken (who habitually joined a diverse group of congenial smokers at the rear of the car) retorted to their outcry by writing: "Women, in general, are not nearly so delicate as romance makes them. A woman who can stand half an hour of the Lexington fish market is well able to face a few blasts of tobacco smoke," adding, "not one in 10,000 can tell the difference between good tobacco and bad." (It should be added that it was the principle at issue: when a suffragette lit up a cigarette on a train and was arrested, Mencken promptly took up the cause, championing her right to smoke.)
Despite some feminine aversion to his cigar, "America's foremost bachelor" was picked in a national poll as being one of the "most fascinating men in the United States." Although he was the patron saint of single men, he enjoyed the company of women and remained popular among them. He was celebrated for such statements as: "Bachelors know more about women than married men; if not, they'd be married, too." "A man may be a fool and not know it--but not if he's married."
But at 50, he succumbed to the charms of Southern writer Sara Powell Haardt, 18 years his junior, and married in 1930 as newspaper headlines gloated: Mighty Mencken Falls. If Sara minded pungent clouds of cigar smoke in their elegant apartment, she did not say. What she recorded instead were somewhat worshipful notes, headed "Henry: Oct. 12. Talked about cigar making. Curved his hand to show how cigar was made." Somehow one cannot imagine her booting him out the door to smoke his cigar on Cathedral Street.
Cigar-making was a skill that had been passed through two generations of the Mencken family. By the time Mencken's father, August, had reached his own teens, he had been trained at the business by his father in the old-fashioned manner: at the bench, learning the manual art of selecting the leaf fillers, trimming the binder, smoothing on the wrapper and pressing the finished edges of a cigar into shape.
In 1875, when August was 21 and his brother Harry was 18, the two boldly launched themselves as August Mencken & Bro. Their total cash capital was $35; Harry ran the sales and August the factory and office. They were successful from the start. The South, recovering from the Civil War, had no cigar factories of its own and few wholesalers. Baltimore became rich in supplying that region with cigars and held the monopoly for years.
Ever-resourceful, August made profitable connections: he received a contract to supply cigars to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad dining cars, then a novelty. During the late 1880s, August and his brother, who were fond of baseball, named a cigar after the famous pitcher Matt Kilroy of the Baltimore Orioles, then the boy wonder of baseball, and hired Sam Trott, the veteran catcher, to sell it. (Indeed, until his death in 1925, Trott remained in the cigar business.)
By the mid-1880s, August Mencken & Bro. was rated at more than $100,000 first credit. The popular cigars from the factory were "La Cubana," "Havana Rose," "El Cabinet" and "Daisy," which, along with "La Mencken Paneta," were considered "repeaters" in the field. Most of the ci-gars had some domestic tobacco, but a great deal consisted of superior Havana leaf and were rolled in high-quality Sumatra wrappers.
August Mencken was a shrewd tobacco buyer and competent manager of men. He could tell exactly which varieties of tobacco had gone into a cigar by smoking it. He bought his own tobacco in the field--in Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida and Cuba. Most of his cigar makers were German. He would not permit any women or machines in his factory, the latter then gaining prominence in the mid-1880s. He greatly enjoyed bargaining; his struggles with Sumatra-wrapper salesmen lasted for days. He was a hard trader, but he paid cash for everything and never borrowed money. He advised his own team of salesmen to obtain as much information as they could on their customers and to reject an order if a customer's financial standing did not justify shipping.
"All mankind, in his sight, was divided into two great races," recalled H. L. Mencken. "Those who paid their bills and those who didn't. The former were virtuous, despite any evidence that could be adduced to the contrary; the latter were unanimously and incurably scoundrels." August Mencken liked to live well, but not extravagantly, and when he died at 45, he left a home in Baltimore, a country place and a comfortable sum of money to his widow and children.
He was, in his son's eyes, a man of "illimitable puissance and resourcefulness. There was never an instant in my childhood when I doubted my father's capacity to resolve any difficulty, or beat off any danger." A large, sturdy man of medium height, August began each day with a substantial hooker of rye whiskey (he said it was the best medicine for "toning up" his stomach), before devouring a huge breakfast of eggs, fish or meat, with pancakes or waffles, washed down with gallons of coffee. Though he was easily stricken with bouts of pneumonia, he more easily shook them off.
To his small, thin son, the exploits of August Mencken must have seemed heroic. At the height of his prosperity, when the workingmen of August Mencken & Bro. went out on strike with the Knights of Labor, August retaliated by operating a closed shop, paying union wages, but refusing to deal with any of the delegates and later formulating a scheme that he believed finished the union in Baltimore during his lifetime.
The panic of 1893, which crippled the South, came close to ruining the firm, and a fire in December of that year threatened to annihilate it. The fire began at nightfall as August was closing shop. Suddenly the wall of the adjoining building crashed into the room, a mountain of flame poured in and, as August made his exit, the ceiling dropped to the floor with a tremendous roar, leaving the place where he had stood a moment before littered with brick and timber.
Outside, clattering in frenzied circles over cobblestones, terrified horses and mules ran from a burning stable. In a half hour, the four-story factory of August Mencken & Bro. had become a roaring furnace as more than $25,000 of tobacco leaf, cigars and wooden cases went up in smoke. Twelve other buildings suffered similar losses--at a total value of $360,000. Undaunted, August was already supervising construction of a new warehouse a few days later; the following week, he was sailing for Cuba to replenish his stock of tobacco leaf. In another year or so, the business was thriving.
August's routine at the factory was methodical. After breakfast he put on his hat and went to work. On a normal morning, the cigars were arranged in long rows awaiting his inspection. "If he found a bad one," his son later wrote, "he would take the sick cigar upstairs, holding it at arm's length as if it had smallpox" and bawl out the offending cigar maker. The cigar would then be dropped in a drawer that supplied complimentary smokes to visitors.
August spent the rest of the morning figuring and calculating row upon row of tiny numbers that told what it cost the firm to produce 1,000 of the 20 or more brands on its list. Job complete, the notebooks were put in a drawer at his desk, and that was the last anyone--even the bookkeeper--ever saw of them, save for perhaps a polite glance from his brother. Before 1 p.m., August went to lunch, usually at home, then fell asleep in a lounge in the dining room. After 30 minutes of loud snoring, he awoke with a start, looked about him wildly and raced back to the office in great haste. Once there, he calmly spent the afternoon reading Tobacco Leaf or The Sporting Times (for baseball news). At 5:30 p.m., he went home.
On Fridays, August visited the branch of his business located at the corner of Seventh and G Streets, N.W., in Washington, D.C. When H. L. Mencken was a small boy, he began to accompany his father on these trips. Like other cities of the 1880s, Washington was a mecca of cigar smokers. It was not an uncommon sight to see congressmen puffing cigars during sessions, peering through wreaths of smoke to catch the eyes of members behind them. Nor was it uncommon to see ladies in the galleries becoming faint because of the smoke.
After working on the accounts with the Washington manager, Frank Cross, father and son would make the rounds of the restaurants and the cool, marble-floored saloons on Pennsylvania Avenue, owned by customers of the firm. While August socialized, young Henry would sit at the brass rails, munching pretzels and sipping sarsaparilla, alternatively patted on the head by a passing Supreme Court justice, or watching, wide-eyed and curious, how the owners of saloons were more solicitous to senators than to congressmen. When he later inquired why, he was told congressmen were too numerous in Washington to be of any note.
August was, his son reflected, "a curious mixture of snob and Philistine." He had an aversion to clubs and associations, yet belonged to the Freemasons and marched in Shriners' parades, and wore a massive, Masonic watch-charm. As part owner of the Washington Baseball Club, he entertained the ballplayers and magnates at his home on Sundays to the delight of the neighborhood children, who crowded at the back gate to see the show. In religion, he was an agnostic, yet he had all four of his children baptized and sent to Sunday school (if only to get some sleep).
August trained his son for the cigar business from an early age. There was the tutor in mathematics and another to learn Spanish--a useful language to know when bartering for tobacco leaf in Cuba. (A German tutor who spoke Spanish was hired, but when August's Cuban friends told him that his son was acquiring a German accent, the tutor was promptly fired.)
In 1896, three months short of his sixteenth birthday, Henry Louis Mencken graduated from the Baltimore Polytechnique with the highest marks ever achieved by any pupil in the history of the school. Impressed, August made suggestions regarding college, but they were, as his son sensed, halfhearted. It didn't matter whether Henry wanted to go to college or planned, with a school chum, to become a journalist. The decision had already been made: he was to work at the family cigar factory and be groomed to succeed his father.
At first, the tobacco business was not disagreeable to the young boy: indeed, he found it romantic to sniff the heady smells, to handle the long, pointy leaves that had come from mysterious lands. Then, too, there was the magic of blending the tobacco into cigars. That first summer he ran errands and helped as janitor, but soon he was at the bench rolling cigars.
Drawing upon his love of chemistry, he tried to invent a method in which cheaper Pennsylvania leaf could be moistened with scuppernong wine and given the aroma of a genuine Havana. He tried to design a machine that would paste up containers to cheroots and even tried growing his own tobacco in the garden at home. (Result: tasteless.)
But when H. L. Mencken was promoted from the factory floor to the office, he became "intensely unhappy at once." He started as an office boy and assistant bookkeeper. After he broke the screw press, he was ordered to sell tobacco and cigars to grocery stores. It is not difficult to understand why it would be a depressing experience for him. There were salesmen in the factory who managed to sell up to $1,000 worth of cigars in four weeks, but in his first six months, Mencken squeezed out only $171 in business: during the entire month of August he made only one sale for the grand total of $3.50. "In the end," he wrote, "it became apparent, even to my father, that I was hopeless as a salesman."
He was banished back to the office, where the mystifying tasks of running a business made him feel as if he knew next to nothing. When he went to the bank to make deposits, he made mistakes; when he made out the bills, he made worse ones. Moreover, he was still required to sell cigars. The winner of the Alumnae Medal and class honorary speaker of the Polytechnique must have felt like a dismal failure, especially when he compared the fate of his best friend with his own. There was Arthur Hawks, happily free to greet each new day with the exciting prospect of another adventure as a reporter for the Baltimore Herald, while Mencken himself could only look forward to endless tedium, from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., miserably seated within the confines of a factory less than a mile from his house.
His evenings, however, were his own. Mencken spent his time reading the classics as well as books on journalism. He entered a correspondence course with the Associated Newspaper School of Journalism in New York, writing on his application of his hopes to "begin as a reporter and after that trust to hard work and luck for something better." Over time, he approached his father and told him of his journalistic ambitions. But this only led to an explosion or to a distressed response; it was plain August hoped his son would change his mind. Instead, the boy contemplated suicide, wallowing in melancholy, "the green sickness of youth."
The days dragged on, then months, then years. Rides to and from their country home during the summer were "devoted to lectures on the mysteries of tobacco and credit, the accursed nature of workingmen, the laziness of drummers, questions of freight, relations with the Internal Revenue, etc." For the entire ride, which lasted an hour, August was the assiduous businessman.
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text: The convenience of shots and the widespread availability in c-stores have spurred the category's success. By: Joe Bush, Contributing Editor. Energy shots remain the hottest product in the energy beverage sector. The emergence of the shot market was so fast that the products seemingly came out of nowhere, at a time when the typically strong


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Mixed Up MasqueradersLogic Grid puzzles come with a handy interactive grid that will help you solve the puzzle based on the given clues.
Abbey is hosting a masquerade party for her birthday, which falls on Halloween. Half way through the night, Abbey and her three best friends decided to play a trick on their boyfriends by switching costumes! Talk about taking masquerading to a whole new level!
Can you figure out who switched with whom?
(Posed/... = Posed as...)
Match each girl with her original costume.
1. George's girlfriend couldn't fit into the costume of the girl who pretended to be Beth.
2. Harold's girlfriend, who switched into Cristy's costume, didn't originally go as a belly dancer.
3.Beth didn't pretend to be the girl who pretended to be Donna.
4. The girls who "masqueraded" as Beth and Donna are Freddy's girlfriend and the girl that the friend who originally went to the party as a ghost pretended to be.
5. The girl who went to the party as a super hero changed into the kitty costume.
6. The girl that Freddy's girlfriend posed as didn't arrive at the party as a kitty.
7. Abbey's boyfriend is Eugene.
AnswerAbbey's original costume was a belly dancer to match Eugene's sheik costume, she posed as Donna.
Beth's original costume was a superhero to match Harold's super villain costume, she posed as Cristy.
Cristy's original costume was a kitty to match Freddy's puppy costume, she posed as Beth.
Donna's original costume was a ghost to match George's zombie costume, she posed as Abbey.
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The Cardinals completed the 2012 season with a 9-4 overall record and a 6-2 Mid-American Conference mark plus competed in the Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburg. The nine wins tied for the third most in Ball State history, while the six MAC wins marked the second most for the Cardinals since the 1996 campaign.
Wenning and Freeman earned the John Magnabosco Award, which goes to the team's Most Valuable Players.
Wenning, a junior quarterback, took the offensive honor, while Freeman, a senior linebacker, claimed the honor on the defensive side of the ball.
The Magnabosco Award is named in honor of Ball State's head football coach from 1935-52. Magnabosco is the winningest football coach in Ball State history with 68 victories.
Wenning completed 301-of-460 passes for 3,095 yards with 24 touchdowns and only 10 interceptions. He completed 65.4 percent of his passes in 12 games, while averaging 257.9 yards per contest. His 3,095 passing yards ranks as the third best in Ball State history, while his 2,786 in 2011 is the fourth best in school history.
His 301 completed passes set the school standard, breaking his previous mark of 287 in 2011, while the 460 pass attempts is the second best single season mark in Ball State history. Wenning started 12 games for the Cardinals, missing only one game with an injury. He has started 34 games in his career.
Wenning threw for a career high 445 yards with five touchdowns at Kent State in 2012. The passing yards tied for the second highest single-game total in Ball State history, while the five touchdowns tied the Ball State school record. He set school records with 71 pass attempts (third most in MAC history) and 42 completions vs. Northern Illinois, while throwing for 434 yards vs. the Huskies.
Wenning was named to the All-MAC Second Team.
Freeman led Ball State's defense with 129 total tackles, while adding 2.5 tackles for loss, two pass breakups, one forced fumble and two quarterback hurries. He completed his collegiate career as the NCAA leader among current players for total tackles in a career with 465.
He averaged 9.5 tackles per game in his career. Freeman started all 13 games in 2012 and 46-of-49 in his four seasons. Freeman led the Cardinals in tackles in seven games in 2012, and tied for team high honors in two more games. He ranked 22nd in the nation in tackles per game with 9.92 a contest.
Freeman was a 2011 and 2012 selection to the All-MAC Second Team.KeVonn Mabon, a true freshman wide receiver, was named the recipient of the John Hodge Award as Ball State's Most Valuable Freshman.
The Hodge Award is given in memory of the 1974 Cardinal Varsity Club Chairman who died in 1977. The CVC is an organization of benefactors to Ball State's intercollegiate athletics program.
Mabon registered 23 catches for 335 yards with two touchdowns in his 12 games. He averaged a team high 14.6 yards per catch plus managed 27.9 receiving yards per game.
Mabon caught a career high four catches for 45 yards at Toledo, and had a career long 44-yard catch vs. Northern Illinois. He had two catches for a career best 60 receiving yards vs. Northern Illinois. Mabon's touchdown catch in the back of the endzone at Army was featured as one of ESPN's Top 10 Plays of the Day.Steven Schott and Jamill Smith were named co-recipients of the Bill Reynolds Special Teams Award.
The award is named in memory of Reynolds, who spent 31 years as a volunteer in the Ball State athletics department with an emphasis on the football program prior to his death in the summer of 2000.
Schott, a 2012 All-MAC First-Team choice, made 25-of-32 field goals and 50-of-51 extra points as a senior. His 25 field goals made tied for the second best mark in the NCAA in 2012, and tied for the Ball State single-season record.
Schott kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to give Ball State a 41-39 victory at Indiana – the second game winning kick of his career in the final minute of play. His 50 extra points made is the second best single-season mark in Ball State history.
Schott completed his career with 41 field goals made, the fifth best mark in Ball State's record books, and 93 extra points made, which ties for the fourth best in a Ball State career.
Schott was a 2012 All-MAC First-Team selection and was one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to the nation's top collegiate placekicker.
Smith started 12 games and was Ball State's top punt and kick return specialist in addition to ranking second on the team with 69 receptions, 706 receiving yards and six touchdown catches. He tallied 11 punt returns for 152 yards and a 13.8 average plus managed 33 kick returns for 844 yards and a 25.6 average.
Smith ranked 26th in the country in kickoff returns plus tied for 29th in the nation with 135.15 all-purpose yards per contest. Smith was named to the All-MAC First Team as a wide receiver and the All-MAC Third Team as a punt and kick return specialist.
This marks the second straight season Smith has been a co-recipient of the Bill Reynolds Special Teams Award.Scott Kovanda, a senior punter with a 3.884 grade-point average on Ball State's 4.0 scale as a finance major, was named the recipient of the Gene Booker Academic Award.
The Academic Award has been given annually since 1978 and was named in honor of Gene Booker for the first time in 2011. Booker was a member of Ball State's 1949 football team, which is the only unbeaten and untied team in the school's 87 years of football.
Kovanda, one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award which goes to the nation's most outstanding collegiate punter, tallied 47 punts for 1,892 yards and a 40.3 average in 2012. He helped Ball State rank third in the nation in punt return yardage defense, allowing only six returns on the season for an average of 1.0 yards.
Kovanda forced opponents to start inside their own 20-yard line 27 times, and had six punts of 50 or more yards. In his career, he punted 229 times for 9.381 yards and a 41.0 average. He completes his Ball State career ranked fourth all-time in punt yards and punts and third in punt average.Cameron Lowry, a senior offensive lineman, received the Mark Hays Inspiration Award, which is given to the person who demonstrates the greatest ability to motivate and inspire his teammates.
The award is given in the memory of the late son of Kermit and Mary Ellen Hays, who are longtime fans and supporters of Ball State's athletics program.Austin Holtz was awarded the Paul Schudel Strength and Conditioning Award, which is given to honor Ball State's football coach from 1985-94 who led the Cardinals to the 1989 and 1993 MAC Championships.
He guided Ball State to its first ever NCAA Division IA bowl games with appearances in the 1989 California Raisin Bowl and the 1993 Las Vegas Bowl. Schudel completed his career with 60 wins, which was second in Ball State history, and ranked fifth in the Mid-American Conference with 47 victories.
Holtz and Lowry anchored an offensive line that blocked for Wenning's record setting season plus paved the way for Jahwan Edwards to rush for 1,410 yards and 14 touchdowns in 2012.
Lowry earned All-MAC Third Team honors after starting 11 games in 2012 and 31 in his career. Holtz was an All-MAC First-Team selection after starting all 13 games in 2012 and 33 in his career.The Bill Meitzler Scout Team Players of the Year were Jeremiah Harvey and Brandon Kish.
This award is given in honor of the former Cardinal Varsity Club Board member and longtime fan and supporter of Ball State football.
Harvey was a freshman defensive tackle for the Cardinals in 2012, while Kish was a junior safety for the Cardinals.Armand Dehaney and Kelly Page were named co-recipients of the Dave McClain Leadership Award.
The McClain Award is given in memory of the deceased Dave McClain, who was Ball State's head football coach from 1971-77 and guided the Cardinals to a 46-25-3 overall record. He guided the Cardinals into the Mid-American Conference and NCAA Division I football. McClain led Ball State to the 1976 MAC Championship in only the Cardinals second season in the conference. McClain's final three Ball State teams posted a combined 26-7 overall mark and a 13-4 MAC mark.
Dehaney started four games and played the first five in 2012 before missing the remainder of the season with a shoulder injury. He started six games in 2011 and tallied a career high 13 tackles at Northern Illinois.
Dehaney played in all 24 games in his first two seasons.
Page, who started nine games in his career, saw his first snaps from scrimmage in 2012 after coming in for relief for an injured Wenning. He completed 5-of-7 passes with two touchdowns and rushed for one touchdown to help the Cardinals to a 52-27 win over Ohio.
He started the following week at Miami University and completed 11-of-21 passes for 137 yards in the victory.Fourteen senior members of the team were awarded Ray Louthen Senior Participation Awards, in honor of Ball State's head football coach from 1962-67 and the school's athletics director from 1970-81.
Justin Cruz, Andre Dawson, Dwayne Donigan, Harold Hogue, Donavan Jarrett, Dan Manick, Tony Martin, Brooks Medaris, Aaron Mershman, Brandon Newman, Kitt O'Brien, Jason Pinkston, Jared Scaringe and Chris Sparrow received the Louthen Awards.


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Jozy Altidore netted his 29th and 30th goals of the 2012-13 season against SC Heerenveen on Friday..
Altidore bookended a 4-0 AZ Alkmaar win with goals in the 29th and 65th minutes, and also assisted a Johann Berg Gudmundsson goal in the 62nd minute. The other goal, assisted by Gudmundsson, was scored by Roy Beerens in the 32nd minute.
The goals give Altidore 23 league goals on the season, and a landmark 30 in all competitions, yet another elevation of the record Altidore made his own earlier this year as the best-scoring American in a European top league.
It's the former Red Bull man's fifth goal in his last three matches. Altidore scored a hat trick in a 6-0 win over Utrecht earlier this season.


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February 5, 2013
Arbitration Showdown
Mock Hearing: Jason Hammel
It's salary arbitration season in Major League Baseball, and here at Baseball Prospectus we're holding mock hearings, arguing for or against the actual team/player filing figures before a three-person panel of certified arbitrators. We've selected 10 of this winter's most intriguing, highest-dollar cases to cover in depth over the first two weeks of February (regardless of whether the players' real-life cases remain unsettled). After each side's opening argument and rebuttal/summation below, we'll give you a chance to vote on what you think the result should be before seeing the panel's decision. For more on the arbitration process, read the series intro by Atlanta Braves Assistant GM John Coppolella, listen to his appearance on Episode 35 of Up and In, or check out the BP Basics introduction to arbitration.
In Part Two of this 10-part series, we'll tackle Baltimore Orioles right-hander Jason Hammel, who is seeking $8.25 million and has been offered only $5.70 million by his employer. He and the Orioles have yet to reach a settlement. (*Update* Hammel and the Orioles avoided arbitration and settled for $6.75 million after this piece was published.)
The complete procedure for salary arbitration is available in the Basic Agreement.
The Case
Jason Hammel's 2012 season was the culmination of a lifetime of hard work. Although it was not without its travails, 2012 was the breakout season scouts and coaches had long foreseen for the big right-hander. He posted career-best numbers in nearly every major rate category: win-loss record, ERA, park- and league-adjusted ERA, WHIP, hits per nine innings, strikeouts per nine innings, and several others.
The trade from the Colorado Rockies to Baltimore certainly helped Jason's numbers: There's no doubt that moving from the extreme offensive environment of Coors Field in Denver to sea level in Baltimore had an impact—an impact that is sustainable and permanent. One should view his previous career statistics with this in mind.
But the change in home park is only part of the story. Jason added a sinker to his repertoire in 2012, throwing it 31 percent of the time after not throwing it at all in 2011. As a result, he posted a career-best ground-ball rate: 54 percent. His previous-best ground-ball clip came with the Rays in 2008, when 47 percent of balls put in play against him were grounders. Higher ground-ball rates tend to result in fewer home runs allowed, so the addition of a sinker to Jason's arsenal has made him an even-more-formidable and effective pitcher.
And he did all of this in the American League East, typically regarded as the toughest division in baseball. In 2012, the AL East included the teams with the two highest payrolls in all of baseball: the Yankees and Red Sox. The Yankees were also second in all of baseball in runs scored with 804, while the Red Sox tied for eighth place with 734 runs scored. Given the quality of the competition Jason was facing, his achievements look even more impressive. The opposing hitters he faced had the third-highest collective OPS (On-base percentage plus Slugging Percentage) of any AL pitcher who threw at least 100 innings last season:
Jason did struggle with injuries in 2012. However, as of this time, Jason's surgically repaired knee is 100 percent, and he has been cleared to play. When healthy, Jason's performance in 2012 represented a major step forward. While he was not an All-Star in 2012, he certainly pitched like one. In late June, before the All-Star Game rosters were announced, Orioles manager Buck Showalter was asked whether he thought Hammel should make the American League All-Star team.
"I think he should be a strong consideration," Showalter said. "I get to see him pitch every fifth day. I can't imagine a guy having a much better year than he's having." [emphasis added]
Showalter reiterated his faith in Hammel when he handed him the ball in Game One of the American League Division Series against the aforementioned formidable Yankees club. In Game Five, when the Orioles were facing elimination, Showalter again tapped Hammel as his starting pitcher.
When the season was on the line, the Orioles depended on Jason Hammel. Jason wants to repay the faith the Orioles showed by leading them to the postseason again in 2013. He expects to get the ball on Opening Day, and he hopes to be compensated accordingly, as the Orioles' staff ace. For that reason, we request that he be paid $8.25 million for the upcoming season.
Because of Jason's injury, finding full-season comparables can be difficult. However, these two players are the closest all-around matches we found. Jose Contreras posted an ERA a full point higher than Hammel's while notching one less win in the same number of appearances and nearly the same number of innings pitched. He was paid $10 million.
Scott Baker made three more appearances than Hammel but posted the same win-loss record with a slightly better ERA (3.14 vs. Jason's 3.43). He was awarded $6.5M. The average of these two salaries? $8.25 million, the amount we are requesting for Jason. —Ian Miller
Jason Hammel was a solid contributor to the Baltimore Orioles in 2012, his first season with the organization, though his playing time was limited by a knee injury that made him unavailable for a total of 83 games, more than half of the Orioles' schedule. Hammel experienced soreness in May that led to arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his right knee on July 16. He returned from the injury in September, but recurring problems with the knee took him off the field again in his second game back in action. The Orioles were encouraged by Hammel's performance when he was on the field, yet the combination of injury risk and an inconsistent performance record leads to some uncertainty when considering his contributions for the 2013 season.
Jason Hammel's History of Performance and Compensation
Constructing a list of comparable players for Hammel is a challenge, as it is rare to find a contemporary example of a pitcher who achieved a similar spike in performance during his fifth year of service, in a season that was likewise hampered by injury. Despite these barriers, the presence of players with similar characteristics will allow the Orioles to demonstrate that his appropriate compensation is closer to the $5.7 million that the Club has offered than the $8.25 million total that has been filed by the Player.Hammel's 2012 season was his first campaign with an ERA under 4.30 or a WHIP below 1.38, though his diminished innings total is a problem for a pitcher who has never managed more than 180 innings in a season. Hammel has never been named to an All-Star team, nor has he finished in the running for any major awards. His walk and strikeout rates have been inconsistent throughout his career, and those two elements cloud his future reliability.
The table outlines the statistics from each pitcher's fifth season of major-league service, with the platform year indicated in parentheses. The values in the Salary column reflect compensation for the following season, such that Todd Wellemeyer's 2009 salary was $4.05 million, following his statistical performance from 2008. Wellemeyer and Brandon McCarthy pitched more innings than Hammel in their respective platform seasons, with comparable results, yet those totals represented career highs for both of the $4 million pitchers.
The pitchers who fall into the range of Baltimore's $5.7 million offer to Jason Hammel are typically those with similarly volatile performance records. Left-handers Jonathan Sanchez and Francisco Liriano shouldered comparable workloads to Hammel in their respective fifth years of service, and though Sanchez and Liriano fared poorly in their abbreviated seasons, each lefty had posted far superior numbers in previous years. The statistical ratios of Joe Saunders in his platform season were more similar to those of Hammel, though Saunders' reliability earned him a higher salary, as his 212 innings pitched marked the fourth consecutive season in which he had thrown more than 180 innings.
Aaron Harang experienced a similar spike in performance during his platform season of 2007, though he also established himself as a workhorse with more than 230 innings pitched, a total that surpasses Hammel's highest mark by more than 50 innings. According to the all-encompassing Wins Above Replacement (WARP) statistic from Baseball Prospectus, Harang's platform season was worth 4.4 WARP, compared to 2.7 WARP for Hammel (which was a career high), and Harang had also cleared the bar with 3.3 WARP the previous season.
The best comparison to Jason Hammel's platform season was likely Scott Baker's performance of 2011. Like Hammel, Baker experienced a breakout in his fifth year of major-league service, posting the best ERA, WHIP, and strikeout rates of his career during a season that was cut short by injury. He had delivered one previous season of excellent performance and carried a more consistent stat line than Hammel overall, and Baker's career numbers to date were far superior to those of Hammel in every meaningful category aside from compensation.
Hammel has the potential to reach another level, but his present-day profile presents too much risk with an unreliable track record, thus failing to justify the contract of a $7 million player. The Orioles consider Hammel to be a key piece of the ballclub, and the proposed offer of $5.7 million is commensurate with his standing among his cohort of professional pitchers. —Doug Thorburn
While we appreciate the Orioles' position with respect to Jason's salary, their case fails to account for two major factors: Hammel's history with the Colorado Rockies, and the prospect of his playing a full 2013 season, unhampered by injury.
The Collective Bargaining Agreement makes allowances for teams who control the rights to players who sustain injuries. The teams are not compelled to tender contracts to those players, but they may tender them if they believe the players will overcome their injuries and contribute to their clubs. The Orioles weighed the risk and chose to tender a contract to Jason. For that reason, we assume they believe, as we do, that he is ready to contribute in 2013.
Between 2009 and 2011, Jason pitched 514 1/3 innings with the Rockies, and roughly half of those innings were pitched at home, at altitude. From 2009-2011, Coors Field ranked first overall in Park Factor for runs scored, which isolates the offensive impact of the ballpark. As the table below shows, Coors boosted total offense by anywhere from 25 to 40 percent in the three years Jason pitched there. (A value of 1.000 would represent a "neutral" park that doesn't inflate performance in any of these offensive categories.)
Jason's statistics between 2009 and 2011 were adversely affected by Coors Field's multiplicative effect on offense. It's not Jason's 2012 performance that is the outlier; it's his former home park. Now that he's pitching half his innings at Camden Yards—and has no scheduled starts at Coors Field—we expect the improvement to be sustainable and permanent.
Coors also had effects that go beyond the obvious offensive categories. Take Innings Pitched, for example: Because of the extreme offensive environment of Coors, Rockies starters typically throw fewer innings than their counterparts on other teams. Between 1993 and 2010, Rockies starters combined for only 14 200-inning seasons, the second-lowest mark in the National League. The average for all NL teams over that span was 22 such seasons. In three full seasons with Colorado, Jason pitched more than 170 innings, averaging 175 innings per season. That he didn't pitch more was not a result of health problems—he missed only 18 days due to injury in those three seasons combined—but the difficulties of pitching at Coors. With a clean bill of health and a "fairer" home park, now that he has recovered from knee surgery, Jason should have no trouble exceeding his previous 175-inning benchmark.
If he hits that mark while maintaining his 2012 ERA and win-loss percentage, that would put him in the company of players like Chad Billingsley, who threw 188 innings in 2012 with a worse ERA and win-loss record than Hammel and was awarded $9 million. There's also Jeremy Bonderman in 2008, who would be an even-closer comp at 174 1/3 innings, but with an 11-9 record and an ERA over 5.00. He received $8.5M. —Ian Miller
It is our contention that Jason Hammel's playing time in his platform season is a key determinant of his compensation, as it reflects not only the Player's risk of injury, but also the relative impact of his 2012 performance. If Hammel had pitched a full season, then the Orioles would feel more confident in the sustainability of his statistical gains moving forward, but the limited sample size combined with the possible recurrence of injury must enter the equation when determining the appropriate level of compensation.
The athlete's representatives presented three tables of comparable players, differentiated by various statistical measures that have also been covered in our report. The first table underscores the critical role of playing time in this case: of the 11 pitchers presented with similar ERA's, 10 pitched at least 50 more innings than Mr. Hammel in their platform seasons. The one exception was Erik Bedard, a pitcher who was one year removed from a top-five finish in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award.
Hammel's injury limited his opportunities to add to his won-loss record, a factor that is reflected in the second chart of the Player's case. When compared to pitchers with similar records, the commensurate salary comes out to $5.3 million, which is $400,000 less than our offer to Mr. Hammel. The list of pitchers in the second chart also includes Jose Contreras, a player who falls under peculiar circumstances that preclude him from a just comparison to Jason Hammel. Contreras was an international free agent from Cuba, and he entered the open market, where all 30 major-league organizations were permitted to bid for his services. Contreras was a legend in Cuba whose $10 million salary was negotiated under very unique conditions that had a ripple effect on his future earnings.
Both sides came to a similar conclusion, in that Scott Baker presents the most apt comparison to Jason Hammel. We have established that Baker was the superior pitcher, with regard to career statistics as well as performance during the platform season, and Mr. Hammel's 2013 salary should fall reasonably short of the $6.5 million that Baker earned one year ago. —Doug Thorburn
Before scrolling down to read the three-person panel's decision, record your own decision here:
Burt Fendelman is an attorney with more than 45 years of experience, initially in corporate finance and securities laws working as inside counsel for several major securities brokerage firms. He has performed as an arbitrator for FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority), the American Arbitration Association, and currently as an arbitrator and mediator for the New York County Lawyers Association in fee dispute-related matters. He is presently a self-described "work in progress", working with clients in areas related to art and antiques. He attended Washington University in St. Louis and NYU Graduate School of Tax Law, and he now lives in Manhattan.
Doris Lindbergh is a retired lawyer who is an arbitrator with FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) and its predecessor forums, the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and the New York Stock Exchange. She also arbitrates for the National Futures Association (NFA). She attended Washington University School of Law and has a Master of Arts from Fordham University. Her employment history includes stints at Wall Street investment banks and, most recently, the MTA New York City Transit Authority, but her most challenging assignment was raising a future Editor-in-Chief of Baseball Prospectus.
David Marcus is a retired lawyer and serves as an arbitrator with the Financial Advisory Regulatory Authority (FINRA). He lives in Metuchen, New Jersey. He attended Columbia College and Yale Law School, after which he served as an enforcement attorney with the SEC. His subsequent career includes working for the New York Stock Exchange heading its regulatory division, and working for several broker-dealers as a regulatory attorney or General Counsel.
3-0 in favor of the Club
The Sabermetric Perspective/Additional Commentary
After Jason Hammel held the Nationals to one unearned run over eight innings late last June, striking out 10 without walking a better, Washington shortstop Ian Desmond—the lone Nat to get two hits—said, "If you don't know already, Hammel is a pretty unbelievable pitcher. He's an ace, probably one of the better pitchers we've seen this year. He's got three quality pitches and a 96-mph sinker."
Desmond was right. Hammel was dominant that day, throwing 23 sinkers in 96 pitches, the hardest of which was clocked at 96.2 miles per hour.
The previous July, less than a year before Desmond's rave review, Hammel (then with the Rockies) had beaten the Nationals, holding Desmond to one hit. But that time, there was little post-game praise. That time, it took Hammel 95 pitches to get through only 6 1/3, allowing two runs, walking two, and striking out only three. And that time, he maxed out at 94.6 mph. If anything, the reaction was relief: in his previous seven starts, Hammel had posted an ERA over 6.00, and he'd gotten so desperate that he'd switched to high stirrups and added an over-the-top windup to his delivery for that Nationals start.
Hammel had no eight-inning starts in 2011. He didn't have any eight-strikeout starts, either. And he threw no sinkers, according to Brooks Baseball. No one was describing him as an ace, because he wasn't one.
As Ian asserted in his pro-Player case, Hammel wasn't the same pitcher last season. Performance-wise, he was an ace. There was nothing fluky about his 2012 stat line except for the fact that he hadn't had one like it before. His FIP was lower than his ERA, and his FRA—which, remember, is on the Runs Allowed scale—was lower than his ERA or FIP had been in any previous season. Prorate his WARP—which even as it was, placed in the top 10 among AL pitchers—to 200 innings pitched, and only Justin Verlander would have had a higher one (barely, and in almost 40 more innings).
The real problem is that Hammel has never managed to get to 200 innings without prorating. It would be one thing if the only strike against him were his pre-2012, pre-sinker, subpar performance. But as Doug (evidently) convincingly argued above, Hammel—be it because of his ballpark, his performance, or his health—hasn't demonstrated durability, either. Those two strikes together put Hammel in a hole his rock star/baseball writer representative couldn't overcome.
In a chat at BP last October, Jason Parks laid out a definition of "ace" that conflicts with Desmond's but conforms to that of the industry as a whole:
Whatever your definition of "ace," it's clear that the recency and brevity of Hammel's heightened performance separate him from most other starters who've earned that label. Some research by Doug that didn't make it into the Club's case above produced the following list of starting pitchers who were eligible for their final year of arbitration from 2007-2012 and, like Hammel, had maxed out at under 180 innings pitched in a season to that point in their careers (not counting Justin Duchscherer, who'd spent most of his seasons in the bullpen):
Pitchers who haven't shown the ability to handle a heavy workload generally haven't cashed in via the arbitration system. No starter over those several seasons without a 180-inning season on his resume managed to get much closer than $2 million away from Hammel's request.
That table offers examples of both the best- and worst-case futures for Hammel. Vogelsong and Dickey, both of whom enjoyed unprecedented success in their final platform years, solidified that success and broke the 180-inning barrier the following season. Others—Chris Young, Brandon McCarthy, and Dustin McGowan—have been their same old selves, suffering serious injuries in their combined five seasons since and failing to top 115 innings in any of them. If Hammel can't stay healthy, he'll have to resign himself to living on sub-$10 million salaries, somehow. But if he approximates his 2012 rate stats over the whole 2013 season, he'll get his payday next winter, when he hits free agency. And in that case, a defeat in fake arbitration won't weigh heavily on his mind. —Ben Lindbergh
Thanks to Dan Evans, Colin Wyers, Hudson Belinsky, Jonah Birenbaum, and Andrew Koo for research assistance.
Ian Miller is an author of Baseball Prospectus.
14 comments have been left for this article.
BP Comment Quick Links
Jason Hammel's agent is reading this and is displeased.
Feb 05, 2013 07:57 AM
Ian Miller
BP staff
I did my level best in arguing Jason's case, but ultimately I feel like his side overreached. The $8.25M figure they requested was too much based on what amounts to half a season of ace-like production.
Feb 05, 2013 09:04 AM
Doug Thorburn
BP staff
Agreed, his $8.25 million comps are tough to justify. If Hammel's side had filed $1 million lower, at $7.25 million, then it would have changed the whole debate with a midpoint of $6.475 million. If that was the case, then the Scott Baker comp plays an even bigger role in the final outcome.
Feb 05, 2013 12:05 PM
Hudson Belinsky
BP staff
You had a pretty tough case, Ian. I think your argument about the Orioles assuming Hammel would be healthy by tendering him a contract is a strong one, but I think you have a tough time arguing for such a high number with the relatively low innings total throughout his ST.
Feb 05, 2013 09:18 AM
Jason Wojciechowski
BP staff
I'm a big fan of Arbitrator Fendelman writing a separate concurrence. Separate concurrences are the best.
Feb 05, 2013 09:19 AM
Shaun P.
As a lawyer, there is nothing quite so satisfying as reading BP and finding something that speaks to my day job. Its almost enough for me to justify reading these things during the work day.
Feb 05, 2013 11:42 AM
Shaun P.
I also wait, as patiently as I can, for the dissent that is inevitably going to occur in one of these cases. A well written dissent is the Hiroki Kuroda to the separate concurrence's CC Sabathia - not quite as awesome, but still pretty damn good, and on some days, better.
Feb 05, 2013 11:46 AM
You can scratch the Max Scherzer hearing from the docket. Mad Max belied his nickname and signed for a very (IMHO) reasonable figure.
Feb 05, 2013 09:23 AM
Ben Lindbergh
BP staff
Nope, still doing Scherzer. We picked 10 of the most interesting cases to do regardless of whether the real-life cases were settled (too much research required to switch on short notice, among other reasons). Headley had already settled by the time the first case appeared.
Feb 05, 2013 09:25 AM
Are arbitrators allowed to use data not presented by either club or player? Reading the player case about Coors field, I kept expecting to see Hammel's road splits (which would presumably be favorable to him [and are in 2009 and 2011, but not 2010).
Feb 05, 2013 10:21 AM
The terrible facial hair did Jason in before anyone ever got to his stats. Just sayin'...
Feb 06, 2013 09:02 AM
I think the player's case was stretched too thin. I'd have limited the argument to a much smaller handful of (favorable) comparables. For instance, the Win-Loss comparables should have never been presented if the average salary came out on the team's side. I'd try W-L% instead, if at all. The comp to Jose Contreras seemed pretty useful but was diluted by the rest.
Feb 06, 2013 16:27 PM
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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
Recently I joined a discussion in which local school superintendents, school board representatives, local business owners, and other citizens discussed the challenge of innovative instructional designs for their local schools. As one book title tells the story, there has been So Much Reform, So Little Change (Payne, 2008). And, frankly, some of the most significant change that has occurred has not been an improvement for students.
Local realities
Like the design of Wrights iconic homes, the design of local schools should fit the environment and reflect the values of the owners. In fact, like a Wright home, the local school should be an integral part of the local community. Every vital community knows that.
The discussion I joined was not on funding, taxes, school buildings, or national standardized tests. The entire discussion was on how a school district or group of neighboring districts could increase its focus on the needs for success of each student. Local realities, local sensibilities, local resources, local engagement, and the support of every segment of the local community are important factors in building schools that focus on students. Education is ultimately local. The best education is local and personal. The fear is that we are quickly moving to a national and impersonal system that emphasizes test scores of schools or districts, rather than the personal growth of individual students.
Natural landscape
As I looked around the room of business men and women, parent and community organizations, politicians, local college professors, superintendents, and school board members all exploring the design of a new approach to schooling, I thought of the beautiful structures that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. Many of his designs were based on the belief that homes should appear to be part of the natural landscape rising from the local setting, instead of being transplanted from somewhere else. It is the way more of us should view our schools.
This was a meeting that was about instruction and learning. What was refreshing was the intense interest of these members of a broad community coming together to find a refocus for their individual schools. Unfortunately, the national chase for competitive test scores has often pushed aside important aspects of a broad education.
When I was in school, there was usually some class hotshot who would always ask Will this stuff be on the test? Apparently, these same people now set state and national policy. One of the great strengths of the American school has always been its local roots its connection to the interests and care of the community and its interest in the individual success of every student. Talk with your local teachers and principals about the pressure to narrow the curriculum to only those subjects that are on state or national tests. Most American schools are still local and personal. Ask your local school board members to keep it that way. It matters for our students.
Craig R. Christiansen, Executive Director, Nebraska State Education Association. Founded in August 1867, the union has 28,000 members stastewide.
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Ten things backpackers don't know
There's a sense of pride that hardcore backpackers seem to have, like after a few years on the road they've got this whole travel thing worked out. And maybe some of them have.
But it's been my feeling for a while that the crusty types doing their permanent dorm hopping might be missing out on a few things. Things like these ...
Food is travel
For those on a strict budget food is often one of the first luxuries to get the punt - the old cliché of instant noodles and pasta with sauce every night rings true.
But for me that's such a waste. Food really is travel - the local cuisine is a massive part of the experience. Eating noodles in Paris instead of steak frites is like staring at a tree instead of seeing the Mona Lisa. It's cheaper, but ...
Two weeks is enough
It happens so often. "So, how long are travelling for?" "Oh, only two weeks." "Two weeks! What can you see in two weeks?" You can see a lot in two weeks, and for people who have real jobs, that's often all the time they can afford.
The hardcores might scoff at your pathetic attempt at seeing the world, but you really can have some amazing experiences in 14 days.
Nice accommodation is ... nice.
The scungy, cheap dorm rooms might be a great way of extending your trip on a tight budget, but if people can afford to stay somewhere nice, why not do it?
Sure, you miss the social aspect of hostel living, but you gain privacy and a shower that doesn't require thongs. Travel doesn't have to be a competition for the cheapest room.
Checklists are boring
It's fine to have a plan, but the bucket-listers charging around the world marking off their must-do's seem to be missing the big picture.
The greatest things about travelling are not always the giant monuments and the famous buildings, but the people you meet along the way. It's worth taking your eyes off the prize for a few seconds and just enjoying yourself.
Tours are not that bad
I admit it - I went on a Contiki tour in South-East Asia last year to see it for myself, and you know what? It wasn't that bad. For people who've only got two weeks off work and who don't want to plan out an itinerary themselves, it's ideal.
And then there are companies like Intrepid, which offers a more engaged style of touring with local guides. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but don't knock those who like it.
Nothing you do is original
There's a guy called Ibby Okinyi who recently set his Australian passport on fire and is now walking from Norway to Spain without a red cent to his name, living off dumpster food, wild fruit and the kindness of strangers.
Now that's original. But it also sounds hard. Everyone else on their gap yahs and their mini-breaks and their South American backpacker adventures is doing something fairly similar to what every other traveller has done before them.
That doesn't lessen the joy of the experience in the slightest - but don't act like you're the first.
The obvious options aren't always the cheapest
Hostels are usually the least expensive way to travel, but not always. There are some bargains on websites like AirBnb if you've got a few people to stay with.
And while trains and buses might seem the obvious way to get around, in places like the US and Western Europe, flying can sometimes be far cheaper.
Locals are interesting. But so are other backpackers.
I don't get the sneering attitude from some people about travellers who "just sit around talking to other backpackers". Have you actually spent time with other backpackers? They can be fascinating.
Yeah, you're there to experience another country's culture, but there's nothing wrong with going to Laos and making friends with some Swedes. Or travelling Africa and becoming buddies with a Yank. It's all part of the experience.
Easy countries are fun
I know: it's nowhere near as awesome to tell everyone on Facebook that you're going to the USA instead of, say, Kyrgyzstan. But the USA is amazing. Same with the UK, or Germany, or Italy. Just because they're popular with the Trafalgar crowd and are easy to get around, doesn't mean these places aren't worth visiting.
It's not a competition
Travel is not a competition, so don't treat it that way. There are no winners and losers. No one is doing it better than anyone else. There is no right way and no wrong way.
The only way to travel is the way you feel most comfortable. So don't look down on anyone because they want to spend a day in a pub watching the Super Bowl instead of visiting museums.
Do whatever you want to do - and that means taking all of my opinions with a grain of salt.
What do you think hardcore backpackers are missing out on?
- Sydney Morning Herald


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And now more Christmas cheer from Bob Maginnis, the Family Research Council's Senior Fellow for National Security:
"I've heard from commanders who are saying, 'Well, we may not be able to tolerate that sort of [assertion] about homosexuality.' What about the service member who is not a chaplain, but a Christian service member who has an understandable religious-based belief that what these people do is an abomination and that they should not embrace that lifestyle — especially if they're told to live with someone like that?" the Pentagon advisor wonders. "Will they be listened to?"
But he laments that the military has refused to recommend segregating the homosexuals from heterosexual service members out of concern of antagonizing the homosexuals. So he decides America is now no better than Sodom and Gomorrah, the biblical cities mentioned in Genesis that are synonymous with impenitent sin that brought God's wrath upon them.
Maginnis: U.S. no better than Sodom and Gomorrah [One News Now]
Honestly, it's not even these folks repeated hostility towards gay people that's so shocking. We, the proud crowd that gets marked for exportation and/or criminalization, are more than used to that sort of thing. Why should the holidays put an end to it?
What is new and different in the DADT conversation is the way groups like FRC keep indicting heterosexual soldiers, making it sound as if our military is crawling with straight men and women whose violent tendencies towards other sexual orientations are hinging on a thin closet door. We of course all deserve better than what FRC offers up as discourse. But on this: It's really the millions of perfectly adjusted men and women who serve our country with a brave heart and a peaceful mind who should resent the way the "values" crowd keeps presenting our armed forces as the world's largest "Smear The Queer" team.
*NOTE: The audio version of this OneNewsNow report takes the segregation suggestion one step further, with the above line instead reading: "the military has refused to recommend segregating the homosexuals from [normal] service members." Listen to that cheerful carol here.


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About S3QL
S3QL is a file system that stores all its data online. It supports Amazon S3 as well as arbitrary SFTP servers and effectively provides you with a hard disk of infinite capacity that can be accessed from any computer with internet access.
S3QL is providing a standard, full featured UNIX file system that is conceptually indistinguishable from any local file system. Furthermore, S3QL has additional features like compression, encryption, data de-duplication, snapshotting and dynamic file system size. This makes S3QL especially suitable for online backup and archival.
S3QL is designed to favor simplicity and elegance over performance and feature-creep. Care has been taken to make the source code as readable and serviceable as possible. Solid error detection and error handling have been included from the very first line, and S3QL comes with extensive automated test cases for all its components.
Transparency. Conceptually, S3QL is indistinguishable from a local file system. For example, it supports hardlinks, symlinks, full unix permissions, extended attributes and file sizes up to 2 TB.
Dynamic Size. The size of an S3QL file system grows and shrinks dynamically as required.
Compression. Before storage, all data may compressed with the LZMA, BZIP2 or LZ algorithm.
Encryption. After compression (but before upload), all data can AES encrypted with a 256 bit key. An additional SHA256 HMAC checksum is used to protect the data against manipulation.
Data De-duplication. If several files have identical contents, the redundant data will be stored only once. This works across all files stored in the file system, and also if only some parts of the files are identical while other parts differ.
Copy-on-Write/Snapshotting. S3QL can replicate entire directory trees without using any additional storage space. Only if one of the copies is modified, the part of the data that has been modified will take up additional storage space. This can be used to create intelligent snapshots that preserve the state of a directory at different points in time using a minimum amount of space.
High Performance independent of network latency. All operations that do not write or read file contents (like creating directories or moving, renaming, and changing permissions of files and directories) are very fast because they are carried out without any network transactions.
S3QL achieves this by saving the entire file and directory structure in a database. This database is locally cached and the remote copy updated asynchronously.
Support for low bandwidth connections. S3QL splits file contents into smaller blocks and caches blocks locally. This minimizes both the number of network transactions required for reading and writing data, and the amount of data that has to be transferred when only parts of a file are read or written.
Development Status
S3QL is in beta stage. This means that:
There are still plenty of bugs in the code and you should be ready to deal with them. Please report problems on the mailing list or the issue tracker, usually they are resolved in less than a day.
Nevertheless, you can be reasonably confident that the bugs (although inconvenient) will not endanger your stored data.
The author is using this version of S3QL as his main backup system on several computers and stores about 300 GB of data. Daily incremental backups have a volume of about 200 MB.
Byte-by-byte comparisons of the backup against the original data are done every once in a while and so far have shown no discrepancies.
If you intend to use S3QL as an archive file system (i.e. the data will only be stored in S3QL and nowhere else) it is recommended that you still maintain secondary copies until S3QL reaches production stage.
Future versions of S3QL will be backwards compatible.


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WE'VE had two close games with Oxford United already this season and I'm expecting Saturday to be the same.
It's a match both teams need to win and personally I've felt we've had the edge over them we've been played this season so hopefully we can this time too.
Oxford are a strong side though and, with the players they have, I keep on expecting them to go on a good run of results to get up in to the top seven.
But that hasn't happened yet and we don't want it to start at the weekend either as we'll be looking to build on our win at Chesterfield.
In truth, it wasn't a particularly pretty or good performance and we didn't have a lot of the ball but we dug in well to get a great three points.
The clean sheet was a real positive and so was Gavin Tomlin getting back on the score-sheet so hopefully we've turned a corner now.
Touch wood, our luck has changed and we can now remain right in the race for promotion.
However, for me personally it was another frustrating week as matches against Waltham Abbey and Watford I was supposed to play in were both called off.
It's tough for the likes of Elliot Benyon, Freddy Eastwood, John Spicer, Alex Woodyard and myself because we haven't had a lot of football.
But we all work hard in training to remain fit enough to play and hopefully we can get a game in soon because we definitely need one.
I'm obviously happy being back involved with the first team again after my knee injury and I'm rooming with Sean Clohessy on away trips.
I get on really well with Sean but I'd forgotten just how much he needs to be looked after.
I have to remind him to put his teeth in, show him how to answer his phone and last week was the possibly the best yet as I had to put him back to bed when he was sleep-walking!
MICKEY Spillane and Seedy Njie are possibly two of the worst singers I've ever heard but that made for great entertainment at our team meal the Friday before the Chesterfield game.
Seedy got up and did a song by 50 Cent who I'm told is a rap artist but Seedy sounded like he was reading out a text message!
Mickey started with I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles and that resulted in him having several bread rolls and pieces of chicken chucked in his direction until he swapped to sing Stand By Me.
Obviously, for any youngsters reading that's not something you should ever do in a restaurant but I'm sure the lads were just cleaning up their plates really!
WE'VE welcomed Caolan Lavery to the football club this week and, as he's a young Irish lad living in Sheffield, I'm looking forward to some of the stories I'm sure he'll have to tell.
We've also seen David Martin leave to join Luton Town and I'd like to wish him all the best there.
I don't think he ever really showed what he's all about during his time with us and I hope things go well for him at Luton.
Him leaving also raises the IQ of the squad back up to a more respectable level but we do still have Marc Laird.
His latest classic saw him head back to the dentist and sit in the waiting room for an hour before finally walking up to reception and asking what was taking so long.
It was then that Marc discovered he had actually turned up for his appointment a week early!


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Former major league catcher Mike Piazza details his ongoing estrangement from the Los Angeles Dodgers organization in his new book, Long Shot.
According to some excerpts in the Los Angeles Times, Piazza goes into detail about his break with the organization that drafted him and his dislike of legendary Dodgers announcer Vin Scully.
More specific, Piazza blames Scully for turning Dodgers fans against him before his trade to the Marlins in 1998.
"The way the whole contract drama looked to them—many of whom were taking their cue from Scully—was that, by setting a deadline and insisting on so much money, I was demonstrating a conspicuous lack of loyalty to the ballclub," Piazza wrote in the book. "I understood that."
Scully denied those allegations when reached for comment by the Los Angeles Times.
"As God is my judge, I don't get involved in these things," Scully told the newspaper. "I can't imagine I would ever put my toe in the water as far as a player and his negotiations. I have no idea where he is coming from. I really have no idea. I can't imagine saying something about a player and his contract. I just don't do that, ever. I'm really flabbergasted by that reference."
The video in question was obtained by KTLA in Los Angeles:
The Los Angeles Times notes that Piazza hasn't stepped foot in Dodger Stadium since his playing career ended after the 2007 season.
"He doesn't want to come back because he thinks the fans will boo," former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda told the newspaper.
Other topics addressed in Piazza's new book: PED denials, the gay rumors and the feud with Roger Clemens.
Fantasy insight
— Who benefits from shorter fences in San Diego and Seattle?


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Very Nice
By Lyn
from Spokane
Purchase Reason
Was happy to see that the red in this print shows up pretty well. It's not a prominent color in this picture, but there is enough that I can use a red mat to bring it out to match the decor in my kitchen.
Bottom Line Yes, I would recommend this to a friend
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By abc123
from New York, NY
This print fits in perfectly in my room. It arrived quickly and was of good quality. I would recommend!
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- Description
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- Delivery
- Occasions
Honor a beloved spirit with a grand display of bold yellow blossoms. Majestically tall and bright, the bouquet will add a touch of sunshine to any memorial service.
A classic vase holds mix of fresh yellow flowers such as roses, gladioli, chrysanthemums with green accents such as soft leatherleaf fern. The fresh and fragrant bouquet is a beautiful way to extend your heart during times of sympathy.
Gift Includes:
- Yellow Roses (50 cm).
- Yellow Gladioli.
- Yellow Button Spray Chrysanthemums.
- Yellow Daisy Spray Chrysanthemums.
- Assorted Lush Greenery and more.
- A free gift card with personal message.
- Arrives in a classic urn-style vase.
- Hand delivered to your desired location by experienced florists.
- A funeral banner may be added to this gift based on availability. Please contact customer service for more information.
Measures approximately 26" x 37".
During checkout, please be sure to indicate your preferred occasion when you choose a gift card. Exact flowers and vase may vary depending upon location and availability.
Same day delivery is available if you place your order by 2pm in your recipient's time zone, M-F and by 1pm on Saturday. To see if Sunday delivery is available in your area please contact customer service.Gift #13193
Sunny Memories Bouquet is a hand delivered gift. These gifts are delivered by one of our local design centers located throughout the United States and Canada.
Typically, standard deliveries are made between 9:00 AM and 6:00 PM, with business deliveries before 5:00 PM. Hours may be extended during holidays. Please note in some locations we may need an additional 24 hours for the delivery of exotic flowers, wine and fruit baskets.
Same day delivery is available for most gifts when ordered before the cutoff time. The cutoff time for Sunny Memories Bouquet is in the recipient's time zone.
Sunny Memories Bouquet has been purchased most frequently by our customers for the following occasions:
Average Rating:(1 reviews) write a review
FriendLovely arrangementOctober 24, 2013
The gladiolas were white which offset the yellow very nicely. Yellow means friendship and this was for our friend.


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Results 6 to 10 of 19
September 11th, 2013 04:15 PM #6~*~**~*Larissa~*~**~*
Amaryllis * Holiday * Cordelia * Waverly * Seraphina * Calliope * Olympia * Zephyrine * Genevieve * Marguerite
Phineas * Caspian * Orlando * Florian * Sullivan * Laszlo * Thaddeus * Virgil * Ozias * Ambrose
September 11th, 2013 04:24 PM #8Senior Member
- Join Date
- Mar 2012
- Location
- Des Moines, IA
- Posts
- 396
my opinions on your list...
Poppy (what would nn be?) This is a nickname isn't it?!? I'm not sure that there is another short form.
Bea (love this, but is it too much of a nn to be used as her full name. I like Beatrix, but it doesn't sound very feminine to me) I love this as a nn, if was our choice when we were thinking of Bianca. I also like Beatrix, but was thinking Trixie would have been a fun nn.
Emery (too popular? different enough?) It's not popular at all here. And it's a different way to get Em, or Emme.
Isla Starting to trend... my co worker's Baby Isla is about 9 months old. I love this name.
When it comes to the surname feel that your boys have... you can match that, or take a completely different direction. As boys, theirs match, but as the only girl - you have a lot more freedom.
I hope that you find a name that you love!!!Mom to:
Weston Christopher, July 2008
Keegan Nathaniel, Dec. 2013
Sebastian Miller, Dec. 2013
Current loves:
~ Emerson (Emme) ~ Caroline ~ Matilda (Tillie) ~ Elizabeth (Libby) ~ Rosalind (Lindy) ~
~ Asher ~ Griffin ~ Archer ~ Holden ~ Harrison ~ Elliot ~
September 11th, 2013 04:50 PM #10
Poppy - I think this is downright adorable. I love Poppy. It's on my own list as a middle. I suppose you could use Pip as a nn, or something along those lines. Or--and this would solve your problem completely--use something like Josephine or Penelope as a full name, and use Poppy as a nn.
Bea - I find it ironic that you don't find Beatrix feminine, but Emery you do. There's always Beatrice, or Ruby, or Bianca, or something along those lines. Or really, any "B" name could yield the nn Bea.
Emery - I like Em- names. Really, I do. Emmeline, Emilia, Emma, Emily, even Esmee/Esmeralda "Emmy". But Emery I find much too masculine, as well as Emerson. I don't see the appeal of Emery at all.
Isla - lovely, but if you want something a bit less common, I wouldn't go with Isla. It's jumped nearly 800 points in less than half a decade, and it doesn't show signs of slowing down. I think it's truly beautiful, and I'd love to meet an Isla, but if you want something a bit less common, I'd go for Elsa or something along those lines.
What about:
Iris (or Ivy, although Ivy is growing in popularity, as well)
Good luck!Ashley | namenerd | Christian | storyteller
princesinhas e príncipes:
Isabelle Aurora Grace ▪ Adele Sofia Eloise ▪ Everett Joshua Charles ▪ Casper Nathaniel Eden
thinking about today:
Violet Fiala Elisabeth ▪ Daniel Torin Elijah ▪ Evangeline Dagny Hope ▪ Hugo Emerson Jack
Claire Everly ▪ Jack Jasper ▪ Delphina Lily "Della" ▪ Thomas Brynjar ▪ Hazel Isabella
Sebastian Malachi ▪ Katherine Aurora ▪ Grayson Amory ▪ Grace Amélie ▪ Reuben Sebastian
September 11th, 2013 05:51 PM #12Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jan 2012
- Posts
- 1,209
September 11th, 2013 06:14 PM #14Senior Member
- Join Date
- Jun 2013
- Posts
- 5,194


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The Crossroads...
Somewhere, far too long ago to remember, I realized that a �practical� Windows-based car PC platform with all the bells and whistles may perhaps be an unreasonable goal. Now that my seemingly powerful-enough hardware is becoming more and more unreliable (and outdated), I find myself smack dab in the middle of crossroads pertaining to the future of my automotive infotainment platform. On one hand, I�ve got years and thousands of hours invested into attempting to create the perfect Windows automotive ecosystem. The other hand sees a more efficient platform brewing in Android, with updates and supporters that are seemingly blurring the lines between �on the go� and �in the car� applications.
Old (Not So?) Faithful
Perhaps I should have prefaced this blog with the fact that I am not a user of the �common� Windows car PC. My current Zotac/Intel dual-core car PC features include the following capabilities:
- GPS Hardware with live tracking
- Tire Pressure Monitoring
- SpaceNavigator Control
- Parking Sensor Interface
- Rear Backup Camera
- Fusion Brain with a host of various Sensors
- XM/HD Radio
- Custom Bluetooth Phone Hardware
- Bluetooth ODX MX
- USB Array Microphone for hands-free communications
- A total of 21 USB devices, spread over 3 self-powered USB hubs
All this hardware and more is being delicately managed by my choice of front end software. For the most part, the system as a whole works. But there are times where resume for system sleep doesn�t occur so smoothly, HD Radio fails to initialize, or the system draws so much voltage at rest that it completely drains an auxiliary power cell.
The New Kid On The Block
Now, based on the details of the Windows system, one might surmise that the run of the mill android tablet install might come short of fulfilling my demands. Raspberry Pi seemed initially intriguing, but falls short on true horsepower. In short, I need an Android board that can haul the load without compromise, all while sipping power. Enter the ODROID-X2, a 1.7ghz quad-core Android development board, complete with 2ghz RAM and a 64GB eMMC module. Essentially, this is the same Exynos4412 chip that powers the international variant of the Samsung Galaxy S3. It�s safe to say this device should meet my demands at a mere 5 volts and be powered by a Mini-Box DC/DC Power Converter.
So the challenge as I so dramatically impose on myself, is to build a complete and total Android-based car PC platform to replace my current system and all of its capabilities. Join me as I get to know the development board, power up the system for bench testing, attempt the in-vehicle installation, and configure all necessary software along the way. Ultimately, the project may finally solve my longing desire to reliability integrate all of my madness into a modern automobile. Success or failure, every few days comes a new adventure. Check back next time for a new hardware component overview.


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This mod, Italian two-tone omega necklace is finished with a beautiful box lock designed for reversible omegas, you may click on the second image to view the lock. Its reversible design provides versatility--one side shines in 14K yellow gold, the other glows in 14K white gold. From the Rancangelo Collection. The Rancangelo Collection uses a technologically advanced process that makes for a more luminescent product.
Accepting Returns
If for any reason you aren't satisfied, you can return any non-engraved item in its original condition for a refund or exchange. If you have any questions about our return procedure, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Returning Your Order
To return a jewelry item to Sarraf Jewelry Inc., follow our three step process:
Sarraf Inc.
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Sarraf Inc.
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Once your return is received, it will be reviewed by our Quality Assurance department. You will receive credit back to the same credit card which was charged to or exchange within seven business days.
Any improperly packaged, or non-insured packages will be returned to sender. Items that show signs of wear or have been resized (by a jeweler other than Sarraf Jewelry Inc.), engraved, altered, special ordered items or damaged in any way cannot be accepted for return.
* Sarraf Jewelry Inc. will not be
responsible for loss or damage of return shipments.


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|16121 N 78th Street
Ste 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
United States
|Full Time
|Marketing Specialist
|marketing marketing automation infusionsoft hubspot online marketing search marketing pr public relations customer service
|Web Site:
|16121 N 78th Street
Ste 101
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
United States
|Nexus 21 is a dynamic, people-centric company located in Scottsdale, AZ. We make and sell hidden technology systems (remote controlled mechanisms that are used to hide or store things like television screens, computer monitors, kitchen appliances, and all kinds of valuables - pretty cool). Our company started small and has grown at 25 percent or better every year. Now we are dominant force in our industry, possessing top ranking organic online search presence, and we have achieved top name brand status in this segment. The products we make have been shown on multiple television programs, used in large hotels like Caesar's Palace, and have been trusted by homeowners and well-known companies all over the world. Now we are gearing up to make a new leap forward, growing our business even faster, by expanding our reach into larger new markets with some innovative new products. Nexus has great products and a terrific clientele, but it's our people and our way of doing business that really sets us apart even further. All of our team members are motivated, success-minded people who are also really fun to hang out with. We have gained the trust of many clients and resellers because we treat people the same way we hope they will treat us - with honesty, respect and a genuine passion for creating mutual value. We also have created an open-plan workplace that is designed to encourage collaboration. The atmosphere in our offices is energetic, supportive and challenging, and we like to have fun while we work. We also have our own bar/lounge built in, and we host a company-wide happy hour every Friday afternoon. Check out the "about us" video on our website and you will be able to get an idea of what it's like here.
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Focus Remains on the Fiscal Cliff
The market managed to build on yesterday's sharp intraday reversal, but not without nervousness about the fiscal cliff. Breadth was healthy, leadership came from big-cap technology names and there was strength in small-caps. But the focus remains on the fiscal-cliff negotiations, and the market keeps reacting to every new development or comment.
The reality is that there isn't going to be much progress on a solution for a while, but the market dislikes uncertainty so it seizes on minor news events. Unfortunately, it looks like this is going to continue for a while. The market anticipates that a deal will be done, and will probably continue to price it in with occasional hiccups along the way. We may even end up with a sell-the-news event down the road....57 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
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Stylish combination of grey gloss panels with classic oak finish
Rauch Elegant Grey & Oak 2 + 4 Drawer Chest of Drawers
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