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Facebook Watch Lands D-Wade Docu-Series ESPN Unveils New Shows, Podcasts Set For '18 Danica Patrick Retiring As Full-Time Driver Blaney Nabs REV As Primary Sponsor For Two Races Speedway Expects Sellout For NASCAR Finale QH Earnhardt Jr. Documenting Last Race SNY Goes Heavy On UConn Hoops Saints, Pelicans Sign Deals With SeatGeek ManU Hopes To Raise Profile In U.S. With Event
Upcoming Conferences and Events
Nov 29
Dec 6-7
Apr 17-18
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May 23
SBD/Issue 154/Sponsorships, Advertising & Marketing
PepsiCo Launching Campaign To Promote New Gatorade G Series
Published April 23, 2010
|PepsiCo Launching New Ad Campaign To
Promote "G Series" During Playoffs Friday Night
PepsiCo during ESPN's NBA Playoffs coverage Friday night is "launching a new ad campaign ... meant to boost its struggling Gatorade business," according to Valerie Bauerlein of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. The campaign promoting the new lineup of "G Series" drinks for athletes "aims to demonstrate that Gatorade isn't just a sports drink that replaces nutrients sweated out during the game, but a system with three steps." Gatorade's basic message of hydration "hasn't changed much in 45 years," but PepsiCo "wants the G Series to expand the Gatorade message to broader sports performance." One ad, "Evolve," shows "grainy images of men throwing a ball into a peach basket and women in dresses playing tennis with wooden rackets." A "1960s-era montage shows a vintage Gatorade bottle and is followed by footage of great athletes and previous Gatorade spokesmen, like Michael Jordan." Another spot, "Before, During and After," features "black-and-white images of athletes warming up, playing, then winding down, interspersed with color images of the G Series products." Teens are Gatorade's "main target," but PepsiCo also "plans to reach out to adult athletes." Gatorade is launching a "separate new line next month called G Series Pro, aimed at marathon runners, personal trainers and other elite athletes," and products will be sold "in specialty stores such as GNC and Dick's Sporting Goods." PepsiCo said its G Series approach is the "biggest innovation news in its history." The company "wouldn't disclose the cost of the new campaign," but a PepsiCo spokesperson said it is the "biggest spend for a launch in our history" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 4/23).


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bauma China
Shanghai New International Expo Centre
1,892 exhibitors from 37 countries and 155,615 trade visitors from 171 countries: bauma China set new records again in 2010. But the international industry gathering is not just convincing because of its remarkable numbers across the board. The quality of its exhibitors and visitors is also impressive.
All the international key players present their machines and products at bauma China. 93 percent of all visitors here are decision-makers who are looking specifically for new solutions: CEOs, managers, investors and buyers from around the worldˇŞand of course from AsiaˇŻs major growth markets in particular.
- Previous: International Textile Machinery Exhibition
- Next: Euro Mold

subset: commoncrawl


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We at KSK pride ourselves on avoiding Stu Scottian levels of jocksniffery. But when Redskins all-pro H-back and part-time blogger Chris Cooley asked to write a guest post, AND used the phrase "bag of dicks" in said guest post, we weren't about to turn his frizzy-haired ass down. So here now, in his own words, is the actual Chris Cooley, telling you why training camp is both shitty and useless.
Training camp is about to start and is exciting for every football fan in America. Fuck Town for me. Inside scoop around Redskins Park sounds like no shortage of two-a-days. The numbers of days mentioned by Skins personnel seems to be climbing like an eBay auction in the last minute. At least I can look forward to a month of fun in the sun… …. …. (Borat) … NOT!!
Camp Q and A: Cooley, how much more exciting is it to have the fans attend practice during camp? Real answer, "It really doesn't matter, I just put on a ass load of sweaty equipment, my body feels like dog shit and now I get to smash my head into 50 other guys for 2 hours. It doesn't matter if the audience is 5,000 naked women, (link NSFW) practice is practice and it's shitty." Well, at least naked women would draw more of the player's attention to sign autographs when practice ends. "Damn it, I dropped the pen again. My hands are just so slippery, reach down and grab that for me real quick."
The one cool thing about the first month of camp is living in a dorm room. I love it when I get to leave my 2.8 million dollar house and live in a 400 square foot box, trade in the Mercedes for the bus, and curl up in my twin bed. The TV's are great too, who isn't happy when they pick up 10 total channels on a 24 inch box? Yea, I guess now people can say what a ungrateful bastard I am and how much anyone would give to play pro football, but please, whether it's a high school or NFL training camp, it's still gonna be as fun as a bag of dicks.
Camp Q and A: Cooley, How do you think the Redskins are gonna be this year? Answer I would like to give: "Well, we're practicing to lose every game by about 30, so I guess terrible." No one knows how their team is going to be until more than half way through the season. Last year is a perfect example, even into week 17 no one would have picked New York to win the Super Bowl, but weird shit happens in the NFL. In reality they were 1 or 2 plays from being one of the average teams of the year. The difference from average to great in football is so minimal.
Maybe one day I'll look back and wish I wouldn't have taken anything for granted. I'll stop and think I should have loved every minute of it. Then I'll look at my fucked up shoulders and knees and take it back.
Really, I love football, but training camp just takes the fun out of the game. It's just for me; the season couldn't come any sooner. Today's football business has become a completely year round job. I have spent the last 5 months preparing for this season, including most of May and June practicing and running plays with the team. Give me three weeks, maybe two preseason games and let me play the Super Bowl champs. I promise I'd be ready.


text:
ESSEX-UK-L ArchivesArchiver > ESSEX-UK > 2000-08 > 0965257152
From: David & Tracy <>
Subject: RE: Military Records
Date: Thu, 03 Aug 2000 10:59:12 +1200
It is the British Military / Airforce / Navy Records we are after if
possible. I have my Grandmothers Army number, but my partner was
curious about his Great Grandfather and Grandfathers Merchant Navy
Records if that is at all possible to access.
Thank you all for your help, it is appreciated.
Tracy NZ
This thread:
|RE: Military Records by David & Tracy <>


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Senior Consultant to Discuss Rebuilding Afghanistan at UVU
March 31, 2010
For Immediate Release
For more information: Leanna Escobar (801) 863-8342
University Marketing & Communications: Erin Spurgeon, (801) 863-6807
Written by: Chelsey Richardson (801) 863-8504
UVU's International Center will bring Afghanistan to the forefront in the next installation of the Global Spotlight Lecture Series on Monday, April 5. Distinguished military mentor Gene Wikle will present a lecture entitled "Afghanistan: Nation Building 101," addressing the challenges and experiences of rebuilding a war-weary nation. Wikle currently serves as a senior mentor to the Afghan National Army Air Corps and the U.S. military's Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan.
"We are delighted to welcome Gene Wikle to UVU to discuss this timely topic," said John Macfarlane, UVU political science instructor. "His expertise and experience will provide rare insight into the challenges the U.S. faces in Afghanistan."
Wikle provides consultation in leadership and management skills, facility management, logistics management, financial management and strategic planning. He frequently briefs the senior leadership of the Afghan national government, including President Hamid Karzai, the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Interior and senior ranking U.S. and Afghan military officers.
Prior to his service in Afghanistan, he served in 2004 as a senior military consultant in the office of Political – Military Affairs at the U.S. Embassy, Baghdad, Iraq. Wikle earned a master's degree in national security studies from California State University and a bachelor's degree in political science from Southern Utah University. He is a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Officer Training School.
The lecture will take place at 1 p.m. in the UVU Sorensen Student Center, room 206b. Please join us immediately after for a reception in the International Center, Woodbury Building room 147. Please visit www.uvu.edu/international for more information.


text:
In the past, the Chinese response to exploration activities conducted by the other claimants in the South China Sea has been calibrated. It rhetorically denounced them for infringing on China's territorial rights, but its actions were more restrained and differeniated. In fact, many claimants have ongoing oil and natural gas exploration and production activities close to their coastal waters in the Spratlys, but China hasn't dispatched naval vessels to disrupt them so far. (The June 9, 2010 incident in which a Chinese fishing boat damaged the survey cable of a Vietnamese research ship occurred in an area in the Spratlys far from Vietnamese shores.) By comparison, Chinese reaction to similar activities in the Paracels is much tougher. A few years ago, a Chinese patrol boat reportedly snipped the seismic survey cable of a research vessel owned by a Western firm, which had entered an agreement with Vietnam to conduct oil and gas exploration.
Everything else being equal, the probability of another naval clash between China and Vietnam in the waters around the Paracels is much higher.
But Vietnam is no pushover. It may not have much of a navy, but it has repeatedly demonstrated that it isn't afraid of China. To show Beijing that it is prepared for a fight, Hanoi has ordered six Kilo-class Russian submarines (which will enter service in a few years). Diplomatically, Vietnam has also played its card skilfully. Its ties with the United States have improved dramatically, with the two former foes holding their first joint naval exercise in the South China Sea in August last year.Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5 a month.
Whether Washington's new posture on the South China Sea and improved US-Vietnamese relations have emboldened Hanoi to confront Beijing is anybody's guess. What matters for Beijing now is how to avoid another possible clash with Vietnam in the Paracels. With Hanoi announcing a live-fire exercise in this area for June 13, the risks of an accidental conflict are real.
Of the two protagonists, China needs to seize the moral high ground first, since international opinion tends to favour the weaker party in such disputes. For a start, China should temporarily suspend its patrol activities in the disputed areas to avoid any possible accidental conflict. Beijing should also offer specific proposals to Hanoi on how to avoid similar confrontations in the future. For instance, imposing a temporary moratorium on exploration activities by both sides in the disputed waters should calm the nerves.
These ad hoc measures must be followed up by more intense diplomatic initiatives that will help forge a multilateral solution to the South China Sea disputes. The Sino-Vietnamese row may have created a crisis, but it also provides a unique opportunity for China and ASEAN to accelerate the negotiation for a stronger code of conduct. Some in China may view signing such a code of conduct as needlessly constraining Beijing's options. But for a country whose intentions and growing military capabilities have unnerved its neighbours, this may be one of the few realistic gestures to make its declaration of 'peaceful development, credible.
Minxin Pei is a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and adjunct senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace


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I have a crush.
On mochi.
Mochi are hot little crispy puffs of goodness, with chewy gooey-ness and toasty roasty-ness.
Oh, and they are vegan, dairy free, gluten free, and sugar free. And vegetarian, low-calorie, organic and all that jazz.
Word up, mochi! You are awesome!
Each 1" square is only 30 calories, and the only ingredients are organic sweet brown rice, filtered water, raisins, cinnamon, + sea salt. WORD UP!!!
Simply cut the mochi into one-inch squares and pop in a 450-degree oven for 7-8 minutes on an ungreased pan.
A toaster oven does the trick nicely!
While baking, the mochi will sploosh out of one side of each square to make a gooey-chewy yum tunnel, an annex to the crispy, hollow puff of tastiness at its center, just like in the photo. See?
Just don't bite into your mochi while it's super duper hot, because, like I did recently, you might burn the roof of your mouth.
And that chewy gooey part will not just burn you -- it will literally stick to the roof of your mouth if it's super hot, and then your burn will be extra gnarly. Like mine! (Which is finally healed, like two weeks later. Doh!)
Thank you Kate O., my old SF roomie who turned me on to macro snacks years ago! You are a lovely bird. (And a lovely bride-to-be!)
photos: TB
The food, leisure science, sustainable lifestyle, organic gardening + travel blog of SF Station's Food Editor emerita, Tracie Broom, now on the board of Slow Food Columbia and Partner at Flock and Rally: Events + Communications for a Brave New South.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Crispy Hot Mochi, a Most Crush-Worthy Snack
Posted by Tracie Broom at 4:52 PM Labels: cooking, dessert, desserts, diet, gluten free, how to, low cal, low fat, lowcal, macrobiotic, nondairy, recipe, smart carbs, snack, snacks, sugarless, technique, veg, vegan, vegetarian
3 comments:
Yum! I want those right now!ReplyDelete
mmmm this look good. i've always wondered what you're supposed to do with this stuff!ReplyDelete
what does it look like on the inside? are there different flavors?
Yes, mochi is the answer! I miss this stuff, can't get it over here...miss you as well, and feel extremely honored to have inspired a Yum Diary post! xoReplyDelete
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text:
Ham license exams - Southern Maryland
Expand Messages
- Hello,
This notice is for any Scouts (or others) in or near Southern
Maryland. The Charles County Amateur Radio Club will be offering free
amateur radio
license exams. The tests will be conducted at the Waldorf West Library,
10405 O'Donnell Place, on March 2, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. Walk in applicants are
accepted but pre registration is preferred. Pre register by clicking the
"Ham License Exams" button at k3smd.org or call 301-843-3476. Tests for all
levels of amateur radio license will be available.
Your message has been successfully submitted and would be delivered to recipients shortly.


text:
A scattered array of fifty mirror balls reflect light from three projectors, filling a room completely with small reflections, casting patterns that fill the visitor's peripheral vision. Creating a curious space that alternates between a meditative state, and an uneasy imbalance. An experiment in combining a found object with computer vision to create a profound and unusual experience.
Check out all the Circuit Playground Episodes! Our new kid's show and subscribe!
Have an amazing project to share? Join the SHOW-AND-TELL every Wednesday night at 7:30pm ET on Google+ Hangouts.
Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!
Learn resistor values with Mho's Resistance or get the best electronics calculator for engineers "Circuit Playground" – Adafruit's Apps!
Maker Business — TechShop is closed, files bankruptcy
Wearables — Get concrete solutions
Electronics — Are you grounded?
Biohacking — Learning to See with Sound
1 Comment
I wonder if that technique could be adapted to provide image projection onto the walls which would be somewhat robust against interruption from people walking through the room. This video shows patterns clearly surviving the fact that there are people in the way so that is a start.
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text:
DNAinfo.com, December 28, 2012
Bellevue Hospital's emergency room has reopened its doors to patients with non-critical and non-traumatic injuries, but still won't be fully functional until Februrary, officials said Thursday. The announcement comes nearly two months after the hospital was evacuated on October 31 when it lost power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. It has struggled to reopen fully after the storm damaged much of the hospital's basement and some of the facility's equipment.


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text:
8:00 A.M. – 2:00 P.M. – Registration Open
8:00 A.M. – 8:45 A.M. – Networking Continental Breakfast
9:00 A.M. – 10:00 A.M. – General Session
Speaker: Cynthia Kersey
Bio: Cynthia Kersey is the best-selling author of two books, "Unstoppable" and "Unstoppable Women", a speaker, entrepreneur, national columnist, team coach and Chief Humanitarian Officer of her non-profit foundation whose focus is to ensure that every child on the planet has access to the life-long gift of education. Read more about Cynthia…
10:15 A.M. – 11:15 A.M. – Concurrent Sessions
Your Acquisition Program and Today's List Strategies
Get the helpful tips and tools you need to boost your acquisition program including Long Term Value audits, matchback analysis, modeling, post-merge optimization, back-end names, optimizing your list exchanges, and developing annual list plans.
Nicola Bach, Blackbaud
Tricia Hart, Amnesty International USA
Kelly Leech, Carol Enters List Company (CELCO)
Lori O'Brien, Youth Villages
Barbara M. Sims, Carol Enters List Company (CELCO)
The Heart of Experience Management
There is a cost to customer/donor dissatisfaction! Learn how to develop a Donor Experience strategy that drives fundraising performance and donor retention. Understand what your customers want, how to improve your processes to meet these needs, measure your performance and drive program growth.
Jocelyn Chipman, FineLine
Kevin Hagan, Feed the Children
Matthew Panos, Feed the Children
Developing Personas for Strategy
Personas are a relatively new and effective technique in marketing and fundraising. Find out what a persona is, how you can build them, and why they are an important investment to help define your audience and create a great user experience online.
Dolores McDonagh, Charity Dynamics
Acquisition is the New Cultivation: The Impact of Acquisition Media on Existing Donor Behavior
In today's multi-channel environment, so-called "acquisition" channels (DRTV, SEM, display advertising) are actually helping us engage better with existing donors. Learn the impact these activities have on our understanding of acquisition metrics, donor retention and donor value through examples like Operation Smile.
Mark Rhode, Russ Reid
Lisa Scott Benson, Russ Reid
Kevin White, Russ Reid
Adrian White Slagle, Operation Smile
11:30 A.M. – 12:30 P.M. – Networking Lunch
12:45 P.M. – 1:45 P.M. – Concurrent Sessions
Stop Chasing Away Online Donors
A deep analysis of the email programs and online giving process for 153 nonprofit organizations identified 46 problem areas that are slowing donors down or stopping them completely. Find out what they are and how to avoid them. Get an assessment tool to identify and strengthen the weak areas of your online program, acquire more names and boost online revenue.
Mark Rhode, Russ Reid
Brad Davies, Dunham+Company
Tim Kachuriak, Next After
It's Not Telemarketing, It's a Telephone Town Hall
Telephone Town Halls tap into the power of a charismatic leader's voice and enable true conversations with your donors. Learn how to use this outbound, interactive forum to drive your message to members and donors, take their questions live, conduct surveys and get bountiful data to follow up on. Hear how PETA measurably increased donations with these innovative events.
Nate Drushell, InfoCision
Steve Kehrli, PETA Foundation
Marty Stone, Stones' Phones
A Case for Consistency in Creative Campaigns: TNC Ramps up Renewal Revenue while Reducing Direct Mail Production Costs
Learn how The Nature Conservancy successfully streamlined the creative process – from design through mailing – to ramp up response rates, improve revenue and reduce production costs. Find out how you can use inventory strategies, preprinted components, and shared components across campaigns to boost results and reduce costs.
Karin Kirchoff, MINDset direct
Katherine Bowen, The Nature Conservancy
Michelle Nichols, Precision Dialogue Direct
Fundraising through Storytelling: How to Leverage the Power of Your Organization's Story for Increased Revenue and Engagement
Learn how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund gained extraordinary increases in online revenue through an aggressive and meticulous strategy to identify and highlight the stories that maximize constituent engagement. Includes ways to motivate constituents to share their own stories. Understand how the web, email, social media and other platforms work together to achieve success.
Katie Wiley, Blue State Digital
Marc Abanto, Blue State Digital
Adam Arbogast, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
2:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. – Concurrent Sessions
Growing Long Term Value through Gift Optimization Strategies
This session explores the strategies and best practices for implementing modeling, package mix testing and gift optimization strategies to get larger donations and improve overall donor Long Term Value. Includes a case study from Alzheimer's Association.
Patty Ruch, Paradysz
Angelo Licursi, Paradysz
Cathy Kestler, Alzheimer's Association
Game Changing Tests That You Should Try Now!
This fast-paced, interactive session will cover many of the tests that are lifting response rates, raising average gifts, or cutting costs in ways you might never expect. Find out how the tests were executed, what the results were, and what other testing to pursue based upon these findings. Learn how to conduct a valid test, properly read results and what tests you should consider now.
Lynn Mehaffy, CFRE Lautman Maska Neill & Company
Analytics 2.0 – Taking Data to the Next Level for Exceptional Results
Modeling, Big Data, Personas, Visual Analytics – find out how industry leaders are targeting the most responsive donors and prospects to improve net revenue in their offline and digital direct marketing fundraising and membership programs.
TJ Hillinger, Avalon Consulting Group
Laura Connors, National Parks Conservation Association
Dave Jorgensen, National Wildlife Federation
Amelia Koch, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
3:15 P.M. – 4:00 P.M. – Eat, Drink, Network and Win – Closing Chocolate and Wine Reception and Prize Drawing
4:00 P.M. – 4:15 P.M. – Adjourn


text:
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Quaker Sampler start
I've been doing a fair job of stitching from my stash lately. A group I am in has begun a SAL where you choose a design that has to meet a minimum size requirement and stitch it within a specified time frame. I dug and dug and had a difficult time finding something that was close to the size requirement but not too far past it. I want to finish in the required time and thought I better stick as close as I can to the minimum requirement. Anyhow, this is what I finally decided upon. Elizabeth Roberts II is a Threads of Gold Sampler Reproduction with a quaker influence. Elizabeth I was dated 1775 but we don't know the date of this second sampler. The colors on this one are a little different. Not what I would normally choose. I am still contemplating changing out one very bright gold/yellow color. I might even start over. What you see so far is 40ct Light Examplar and DMC. I wanted to stitch with a single thread but I am not happy with the coverage even on 40ct. Perhaps it's the floss. Not sure. Maybe just a carryover from doing so much over one lately.
Posted by Senorita Stitches at 11:45 PM
2 comments:
- Siobhan said...
I really like that! I haven't seen that design before. Sometimes it's fun to depart from the regular colors you'd use... especially if you can blame it on somebody else's color choices. LOL
- shakatak66 said...
Your latest WIP is looking really pretty already - great choice of colours :D
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Reviewed: Monday 22 February, 2016 by Anonymous
First off, let me say, kudos to XR because I ordered these plugs and some other items, and got them within 3 days of placing the order, and that is insanely impressive being that we live way up north! So, my sexy Sub and I decided to purchased these plugs, some lube, and new restraints for her as our old ones were getting beat. We wanted to spice up things for Valentines Day, we had tried anal a few times, but not very successfully as I am fairly well endowed. We had never added any toys into the mix to ease into it to fulfill her DP fantasies. After a few drinks, we decided to try out the new toys, first off, the smallest plug - like most have already stated - is just about useless, its a good warm-up, but she was ready to move on within 2 minutes of using it. The medium is a good step up, and she really seemed to enjoy this one, as did I as I had her hands shackled behind her, with her face buried in a pillow as I entered her hungry hole with the plug in her rear. What an amazing sensation DP is. If you haven't tried it with you partner, do it. As good as the medium felt for her, she still wanted more though, as I am still considerably bigger than the medium, but smaller than the large. Moving on, we have not gotten the third one in all the way, as it is pretty large like 2 inches wide I believe, and the jump from the medium which is 1.40" wide to the large which is 2.0" wide, is pretty substantial. I feel the set needs 4th 1.65 plug between the medium and large as the jump from the medium to the large will be a problem for most as the large is over half an inch thicker than the medium, half an inch may not seem like much, but in the realm of anal, an inch is a mile.
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Reviewed: Wednesday 20 January, 2016 by Port City Sex Freak
The varying sizes are great for gradual stretching, and made of the firm rubbery material you'd expect. They are comfortable, but plugs with a narrower neck might stay in more easily. Some plastics seem to dissolve or discolor from exposure to lube and light, but these plugs are durable and show no signs of wear or disintegration, and I have owned them for several years. My only concern is that I seem to have a slight allergy to the material, because I experience a terrible burning sensation when it comes into contact with my mouth, pussy or anus, but I pretty much use condoms with all of my sex toys, so not a big deal (except for a-t-m).
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Was the execution of Arizona inmate Joseph Wood too cruel?
The above is not a joke. Arizona inmate Joseph Wood, who was convicted of murder and assault in the 1989 deaths of his estranged girlfriend and her father – was put to death by lethal injection Wednesday.
But instead of falling into the sleep that would have ended his lift, he gasped and struggled during the two-hours that it took him to die.
Reporters witnessing the execution were horrified at the sight of Wood gasping and struggling for an hour and 40 minutes – prompting calls by Governor Jan Brewer to examine the process.
Should it matter if the end result is going to be death anyway? If you don't believe in capitol punishment, then I'd have to assume that you believe whatever form it takes is cruel and unusual. However even staunch advocates seem to feel that the manner in which Wood died was excessive.
"It took Joseph Wood two hours to die, and he gasped and struggled to breathe for about an hour and 40 minutes. We will renew our efforts to get information about the manufacturer of drugs as well as how Arizona came up with the experimental formula of drugs it used today," attorney Dale Baich said in a statement.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer had this to say about the matter:
"One thing is certain, however, inmate Wood died in a lawful manner and by eyewitness and medical accounts he did not suffer. This is in stark comparison to the gruesome, vicious suffering that he inflicted on his two victims — and the lifetime of suffering he has caused their family," Brewer said.
One of Wood's victims relatives doesn't think he suffered:
"I don't believe he was gasping for air; I don't believe he was suffering. It sounded to me like was snoring," said Jeanne Brown, a relative of Wood's victims.
"You don't know what excruciating is. What's excruciating is seeing your dad laying there in a pool of blood, seeing you sister laying there in a pool of blood. This man deserved it. And I shouldn't really call him a man," she said.
Michael Kiefer, a reporter for the Arizona Republic, who has witnessed fix executions, had this to add:
"Usually it takes about 10 minutes, the person goes to sleep. This was not that," he told reporters afterward. "It started off looking as if it was going alright but then obviously something didn't go right. It took two hours."
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I realize that adding the element of torture to an inmate sentenced to die seems barbaric – but one only has to ask the family members of the victim(s) whether or not it matters.
In a civilized society as we purport to be, probably so!
Do you feel the Arizona inmate's death by a botched lethal injection was too cruel?


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The Florida Marlins stadium deal is running out of gas in the state Legislature, thanks in part to the good old boys at NASCAR.
One of the most lucrative sports empires in the world, NASCAR is asking the hard-working residents of Florida to contribute $75 million in sales taxes toward a new ''NASCAR Hall of Fame" in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The plan is to build a world-class facility that presumably would display acres of blown engine parts and other historic racing memorabilia, attracting hordes of stock-car fans from far and wide.
Nothing wrong with that, except that NASCAR can well afford to build its own Hall of Fame. Last year, it raked in $2.1 billion on merchandising alone.
Competing with the stock-car moguls for subsidies are the Orlando Magic, which wants $99 million for a new basketball arena; Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and other cities seeking funds to improve their spring-training parks; and of course the long-suffering Marlins, who want a second $60 million tax break to cement a financing package for a new stadium next to the Orange Bowl.
Lawmakers now must decide whether to dispense the money to all, some or none of the greedy-in-waiting. As of late last week, the odds looked lousy for the Marlins.
It didn't help that Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga told Senate President Tom Lee that he wasn't really going to kick the team out of the football stadium, if they wanted to stay.
This assertion is muddling in light of the notice sent to the Marlins last November, stating that their lease at the stadium wouldn't be renewed after the 2010 baseball season.
In any event, Huizenga's word seems to have convinced Lee that the Marlins aren't doomed to be homeless and are therefore in no urgent need of a bailout. And without Lee's support, the franchise won't get a penny.
Team owners benefit the most
Also working against the Marlins was a report by Ross Fabricant, an economist for the Senate, who reviewed 40 academic studies of publicly financed arenas and stadiums.
His conclusion: a bad deal for taxpayers. ''These kinds of activities do not yield a net economic benefit," he said.
Fabricant's report was covered as big news, but it wasn't. In almost every major city where public funds have been used to build or upgrade a pro sports facility, the promised boom and revitalization never came to pass.
Municipalities always fork out more than they get back. The much-hyped ''multiplier effect" applies strictly to the enhanced net worth of the team owners.
Just look at downtown Miami, where not one but two publicly subsidized basketball arenas have brought traffic jams but no lasting commercial prosperity to Overtown, Fla.
Far away, in Broward's western suburbs, the Panthers hockey arena stands as a monument to fiscal foolishness. Built with $184 million of public funds, the facility has in seven years made only one pathetic $364,000 payment to the county.
No wonder that a recent opinion poll showed that 80 percent of surveyed Florida voters oppose the $60 million tax rebate commonly awarded to pro sports franchises. Even seven out of 10 self-described Marlins fans said it's wrong.
The team already cashed in once, then-owner Huizenga supposedly using all the money to refit the Dolphins stadium for baseball.
Judging by the dialogue so far, the current Legislature isn't quite as gullible, or as friendly to sports tycoons, as some in the past.
Florida is already on the hook for half a billion dollars in glorified welfare to 14 pro franchises as well as other sports-related rip-offs _ including $50 million for the PGA World Hall of Fame in St. Augustine, Fla., and $15 million for the International Game Fishing Association museum in Dania Beach, Fla.
You can hardly blame the guys at NASCAR for trying to get in on the action. If taxpayers can be fleeced for stuffed bass and antique golf shoes, why not for 73 old pairs of Richard Petty's wraparound sunglasses?
Right now, NASCAR's got a better shot at scoring than the Marlins do.
The notion of a stock-car hall of fame has won favor with Sen. Jim King, the Jacksonville Republican who chairs the important Senate Commerce and Consumer Services Committee.
King and other supporters say Daytona Beach has a nifty plan to reimburse Floridians for the lost taxes. How? By selling specialty license plates.
Every time somebody buys a NASCAR tag, a few bucks would go toward paying back all those taxes that paid for the racing hall of fame instead of less glamorous needs such as schools, child protection or the eviscerated Medicaid program.
There's a bright side for baseball fans: If the Legislature is dumb enough to fall for Daytona's license-plate scheme, the Marlins might still have a chance at a stadium deal.
They should immediately promise to repay the state by selling Carlos Delgado key chains and Josh Beckett bobble-heads. By the time sales reach $60 million, nobody will remember what the money was for.
Which is the whole point of the game.
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Orchestra concert receives standing ovation | Letter
Editor, The Beacon:
Our Mukilteo Community Orchestra concert was an outstanding success thanks to you and The Beacon!
I am certain that the high attendance we enjoyed was due to The Beacon getting the word out to Mukilteo music lovers ["Orchestra concert to feature internationally renowned pianist," front page, Nov. 13].
The turn out was stunning – all chairs filled with folks standing in the back! I estimate our crowd was 400 plus. It was a standing ovation concert!
My 87-year-old dad came out from New Jersey just for this concert, and he had tears in his eyes afterward – said Alexander and the MCO had created one of the most moving musical performances he had ever heard.
We have all been inspired and encouraged by Alexander's passion in performance. Our concert was aptly titled "The Power of Passion," and MCO can now attest to the truth of this!
We have already invited Alexander Ardakov to return next November. He will perform Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1.
Best regards and many, many thanks for supporting MCO,
Terry Preshaw,
Mukilteo Community Orchestra


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RANCHO SANTA FE - Three people were injured Monday afternoon when the car they were riding in collided with a dump truck, authorities said. The accident happened about 2:48 p.m. at El Camino Del Norte near Lago Lindo Road, officials from the Rancho Santa Fe Fire Protection District said.
Fire officials said rescue workers found three people in a car with moderate-to-severe injuries following the crash. Two suffered critical injuries and had to be flown to a local trauma center, according to reports. One of the two had to be extricated from the vehicle, fire officials said. A third person who suffered less serious injuries was driven to a hospital by ambulance, fire officials said, adding that the driver of the dump truck wasn't injured.


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– – – – –
Oh, the Jude. Kid's been sick for a few days. Just a cold or a virus, one of those passing little-kid things, but it has turned captain sunshine into a real grouch. He acts fairly normal all day long until we get home and then the floodgate opens– when he gets into his safe space with us all the tired and sick and sad burst out at once in the form of inconsolable screaming. Poor dude. The only cure is more cowbell. Except not, because he will yell at you NO! NO! NOOOOOOO! GO 'WAY! flail flail flail flop. Isn't it lovely how they regress when they're sick? Mmmm! So, we're trying to get him rested up and back on track, fever and cough be damned.
We've been putting him to bed early because sick behbeh's need their rest (and he's been sleeping like crap, cough cough cough!). Last night almost a full hour before bedtime we asked him if he wanted to go to sleep and he turned right around, climbed up the stairs, walked to his room, and waited to be picked up into his crib. Well ok then. How very grown up of you.
In between all the screaming and coughing he is delightful as ever and is saying all kinds of new things. "I want yogurt." "I'm stuck! Help me!" "I gots kitty!" "Where da Dad?" So I suppose letting him watch Blues Clues once every evening isn't making him any stupider. You should see the smile he gets when they sing the mail time song, it makes 'Boo-Coo tolerable. He intermittently yells out "A 'coo! A 'coo!" That shit slays me dead. A coo!
– – – – –
People in the breastfeeding/parenting world are all up-in-arms again. Shocking, right? Sigh. This time it's about Medela and the WHO code. Medela has recently had some pump recalls as well as some pretty stiff accusations of WHO code violations in their advertising. Here's my two cents: I believe in the importance of the WHO code, I do. (more about the WHO code, if you don't know what that is) However before this kerfluffle I used a Medela pump for 14 months to provide a diet of 100% breastmilk to the Jude any time I was not with him. My pump worked great, no complaints, and allowed me to continue our breastfeeding relationship as long as I chose to.
While I have a problem with their company violating the advertising guidelines (you can't say or imply that pumping/bottles are better than breastfeeding) I'm also not going to jump on the good ship hate-a-lot with a pitchfork. It's all the rage right now to slam Medela as trash and boycott anything they make. I'm not saying that people shouldn't boycott, feel free to use your power as a consumer to voice your displeasure, but wow guys there's some fearsome anger out there right now about this. For what it's worth I'm grateful for what my pump allowed me to do. I'd like them to clean up their act. Enough said.
– – – – –
Athena Bee's wins comment of the week with, "Oh my gosh. I feel like it's the end of an era. No more posts about grumbly boobies. I feel weird inside. Hold me."
You didn't think I'd let you off that easily, did you? That Tuesday's post would really be the end? I mean, I was hoping it would be but with sickness eminent I have to admit that we've nursed a few times. Not the best timing to try this whole deal out. If that's the only thing that will make screaming toddler stop screaming, well... fuck it. Fine. And I'll try to keep him hydrated that way, since I can barely get him to drink any water.
But... ugh. I wish those few times hadn't have to have happened. I want to be done. And dude doesn't even take it seriously, he asks asks asks and then doesn't... do anything. I think he just wants to know he can still ask. Whatever. It'll take time I guess. One hour at a time.


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direct and indirect DNA testing
Genetics as it applies to evolution, molecular biology, and medical aspects.
Moderator: BioTeam
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direct and indirect DNA testing
Why is direct DNA testing more reliable than indirect DNA testing inorder to determine probabilities of carrier status [in DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy) and BMD (Becker Muscular Dystrophy)]?
"The roots of education is bitter, but the fruit is sweet" Aristotle
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text:
Psychedelic Drum Jam
On Greenville Avenue, a weekly gathering of drummers, dancers, and artisans.
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Look for the makeshift drum circle outside Across The Street bar on Greenville at SMU Blvd; every Wednesday night for the past 18 years, a wildly eclectic group of musicians and friends come together to drum, dance and sing in a conclave that producer Grayson Gosnell calls, 'weirdly spiritual, neo-pagan, yet sweet and kid friendly at the same time.'


text:
How many megametre in 1 yard?
The answer is 9.144E-7.
We assume you are converting between megametre and yard.
You can view more details on each measurement unit:
megametre or yard
The SI base unit for length is the metre.
1 metre is equal to 1.0E-6 megametre, or 1.0936132983377 yard.
Note that rounding errors may occur, so always check the results.
Use this page to learn how to convert between megameters and yards.
Type in your own numbers in the form to convert the units!
You can do the reverse unit conversion from yard to megametre, or enter any two units below:
A megametre (American spelling: megameter, symbol: Mm) is a unit of length equal to 10^6 metres (from the Greek words megas = big and metro = count/measure). Its customary equivalent is 621.37 miles.
a unit of length equal to 3 feet; defined as 91.44 centimeters; originally taken to be the average length of a stride
ConvertUnits.com provides an online conversion calculator for all types of measurement units. You can find metric conversion tables for SI units, as well as English units, currency, and other data. Type in unit symbols, abbreviations, or full names for units of length, area, mass, pressure, and other types. Examples include mm, inch, 100 kg, US fluid ounce, 6'3", 10 stone 4, cubic cm, metres squared, grams, moles, feet per second, and many more!


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Our Leadership Team
Scott Ogle
Chief Executive Officer
Scott Ogle is the chief executive officer of Sageworks and has been with the company since 2002. He oversees sales, client services and administration of the company. Under his leadership, Sageworks has grown to a world-class organization serving thousands of accounting firms and financial institutions worldwide.
Before joining Sageworks, Scott led business development for iHarvest Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based startup company that developed unique Web content management technology and was acquired by Interwoven, Inc. in 2001. Scott began his career at Merrill Lynch, where he was selected after undergraduate school to join their two-year executive leadership program. Following this program, he spent several years with Merrill Lynch's Digital Business Development division, overseeing Web properties and digital alliances for the company. Scott received his bachelor's degree with honors in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Eric Baxley
Chief Marketing Officer
Eric Baxley is the chief marketing officer of Sageworks. He leads the company's efforts in strategy, branding, demand generation and execution of marketing campaigns to drive growth.
Eric has extensive global experience in growing and marketing companies. He led Marketing for a multi billion dollar business in IBM and has also worked at GE and several startups in the U.S. and Europe. Eric received his bachelor's degree from the University of Notre Dame in Electrical and Computer Engineering and his Executive MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.
Libby Bierman
Vice President of Marketing
Libby Bierman is the vice president of marketing at Sageworks. She leads a team responsible for developing and executing national marketing campaigns, digital marketing, events, content development and market analysis.
Libby has been with the company since 2010 and has helped drive significant growth in Sageworks' financial institution division in that period. Prior to joining Sageworks, she served as a program advisor for the Institute on Business and Government Affairs at The Fund for American Studies and worked for the U.K. Parliament in research and constituent affairs. She received her B.B.A. in marketing from the University of Notre Dame, where she graduated summa cum laude.
Jay Blandford
Jay Blandford is the president of Sageworks, where he provides overall leadership in sales and client services, oversees the day-to-day execution of strategic objectives, develops and implements the company's goals and strategic direction and evaluates new market opportunities. A hallmark of his career has been dynamic growth introducing paradigm changing technologies. He blends a start-up work ethic with game changing processes to deliver predictable growth and results. He brings a wealth of experience garnered over the last 20 years scaling companies' revenue engines. Most recently, he spent 12 years as executive vice president of sales and business development at Parata Systems, a McKesson Technology Partner and the leader in pharmacy workflow and automation.
Jay earned his bachelor's degree from Marquette University, and he is completing the Executive Scholars Program in Sales & Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Jay Borkowski
Vice President of Corporate Development
Jay Borkowski is the vice president of corporate development and a principal of Sageworks, where he manages the company's investor relations, develops new-market opportunities and generates revenue through enterprise sales.
Jay combines a successful corporate career at Procter & Gamble and Boston Scientific with extensive entrepreneurial experience focused on new product and market development. Prior to joining Sageworks, Jay was co-founder and executive vice president of Industrial Microwave Systems, a venture capital backed startup that achieved a liquidity event. He received his bachelor's degree from Duke University, where he worked as a campus representative for a Fortune 500 beverage company and captained the Duke Rugby Club. Jay's continued involvement in rugby has taken him around the world as a player, coach and director of the Raleigh Rugby Club.
Sharon Hamilton
Chief Operating Officer
Sharon is the chief operating officer for Sageworks, where she manages the company's financial and operational initiatives including recruitment, finance and business operations. Sharon combines a successful corporate career at United Technologies and Yale University with years of small business management. Prior to joining Sageworks, Sharon led enterprise transformation projects, with a focus on creating customer value, building high performance teams and fostering employee engagement.
Sharon received her bachelor's degree from the University of Connecticut and her Masters of Business Administration from Fairfield University. Sharon also works as a mentor for women-owned businesses and is an active supporter of the CTChallenge and Spin Odyssey, endurance events that support Cancer survivors and research.
Emily Larkin
Chief Information Security Officer
Emily Larkin is the chief information security officer at Sageworks, where she helps manage all areas of the company in addition to setting the strategic direction of the company's security initiatives. She is responsible for managing corporate information security, business continuity, disaster recovery and technology-related audit and compliance activities.
Emily has over 20 years of experience in information technology and information security, all within the financial services industry. She has an extensive background in enterprise information security, data center management, disaster recovery/business continuity, audit and risk management. Prior to joining Sageworks in 2014, Emily spent 18 years with Infosys McCamish, where she led the IT and Information Security teams, focusing on the secure delivery of SaaS and BPO solutions. Emily graduated with honors from Hobart and William Smith Colleges and her industry certifications includes PMP, CISSP and CBCP.
Dominic Leali
Chief Technology Officer
Dominic Leali is responsible for leading the Sageworks product development team. As chief technology officer, Dominic oversees Sageworks' product development roadmap, as well as manages enhancements and maintenance of existing software applications. Under Dominic's leadership, Sageworks released many new products and technologies, including its ALLL, Bank Information and Agricultural Lending products.
Dominic graduated summa cum laude from Clemson University with a B.S. in Financial Management.
Steven Martin
Vice President of Strategy
Steven Martin is vice president at Sageworks, where he leads strategy for Sageworks Lending Solution for small business and commercial lending departments.
Before joining Sageworks, Steven led corporate strategy for the tech and life sciences bank, Square 1 Bank, and led strategy and integration for U.S. retail banking operations of Royal Bank of Canada. Steven came to banking after a career of management consulting, where he specialized in risk management and large transformational projects with large banks in North America, Asia and Australia. Steven earned an MBA from Stanford and a bachelor's degree in economics from Saint Olaf College.
Monte Mauney
Director of Human Resources
Monte Mauney is the director of human resources at Sageworks, where he oversees the talent acquisition team and all aspects of human resources strategy.
Before joining Sageworks in 2010, Monte was responsible for enterprise sales and business development in his role at a Fortune 1000 software company, and he began his professional career with a major wireless telecom company. Following that, Monte held sales management and business development roles at Koz.com (acquired by Mediaspan) and Slickedit, two software start-ups in the Research Triangle Park. While at Slickedit, he successfully negotiated and closed the company's first international OEM partnership. Monte received his bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jack Ochs
Vice President of Enterprise Solutions
Jack Ochs is vice president of enterprise solutions at Sageworks. He is responsible for the company's largest customer and partner relationships.
Jack has been with the company since 2012 and has managed both strategic partnerships and external communications for the company in that period. Prior to joining Sageworks, Jack worked in the marketing and creative services division of Glover Park Group, a DC-based communications consulting firm, and for NBC News.
Jack graduated cum laude with a B.A. from Davidson College.
Juan Sistachs
Executive Vice President of Large Financial Institutions
Juan Sistachs is the executive vice president of large financial institutions and a principal at Sageworks. In this role he works with institutions to optimize their portfolio risk management processes and their ALLL under current and future GAAP.
Before joining Sageworks, Juan served as product manager of fraud and compliance for Fiserv, a provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry. Prior to that, Juan founded and served as CEO of Backroom Enterprises, Inc. (BEI), a technology and consulting firm that provided fraud prevention solutions to the banking industry. BEI's signature product, FraudLink, is still widely used by financial institutions across the country and abroad.
Juan received his bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University. He is also a recipient of the "Who's Who in Finance and Industry" award.
Nicole Wolfgang
Vice President of Finance
Nicole Wolfgang is the vice president of finance at Sageworks, where she directs all aspects of finance and accounting for the company.
Before joining Sageworks in 2004, Nicole taught and conducted research for Duke University's Economics Department and Fuqua School of Business. She received her M.A. in Economics from Duke University and her Bachelor's degree in Economics and Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University.
Brian Hamilton
Co-founder and Head of Product Development
Brian Hamilton is the co-founder and head of product development at Sageworks. He is the original architect of an artificial intelligence technology platform used by thousands of financial institutions and accounting firms across North America, and he continues to lead product development at the company today. The original Sageworks technology converts financial statements into plain language narratives, reflecting Hamilton's professional mission — to demystify complex financial information for business owners, financial professionals, academics and the general public. Through articles, interviews, discussions and presentations, Hamilton regularly works with the media, bringing clarity and expertise to topics ranging from the health of private companies, to the financial strength of high profile initial public offerings, as well as issues burdening entrepreneurs.
Brian is also the founder of Inmates to Entrepreneurs, a community outreach organization focused on teaching ex-offenders to start low capital businesses. He holds an MBA from Duke University and a bachelor's degree from Sacred Heart University, where he graduated summa cum laude.


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Unionized newsroom and circulation workers at the Long Beach Press-Telegram have reached a deal on a 30-month contract that offers layoff protection for a year and hikes pay 2 percent.
The contract between the newspaper's parent Denver-based MediaNews Group and the Southern California Media Guild-CWA Local 9400, AFL-CIO, ends nearly two years of talks. The pact was announced Tuesday.
The local represents 47 reporters, photographers and columnists as well as those who prepare the newspaper for delivery.
The vote was unanimous, but guild spokesman and Press-Telegram staff writer Kristopher Hanson says the number of employees who voted isn't being released.
Publisher Mark Ficarra says he's pleased a deal was reached.


text: Missionary groups call for evacuation from LiberiaCHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) Two North Carolina-based missionary groups have ordered the evacuation of their non-essential personnel from Liberia after a doctor and a missionary contracted Ebola.SIM (S-I-M) USA President Bruce Johnson announced Tuesday that his group and Samaritan's Purse decided on the evacuation following an upsurge in the number of Ebola cases in Liberia. A statement from SIM says no symptoms of Ebola are present in any of the evacuees, who are being monitored continually.A Texas-trained doctor and a missionary from Charlotte have contracted the disease and remain in isolation in Liberia.Johnson says a Charlotte church will hold a prayer service Wednesday evening for SIM's Nancy Writebol and for Dr. Kent Brantly, who is with Samaritan's Purse.There is no known cure for Ebola, but Johnson says recovery is possible with proper care. Unfortunately, he says the SIM-Samaritan's Purse facility is the only treatment center for Ebola in the West African country.___Millions displaced by religious violence in 2013WASHINGTON (AP) The U.S. says millions of people were driven out of their homes because of their religious beliefs last year.Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday released the State Department's 2013 report on religious persecution around the world.It says that in conflict zones, mass displacement has become the norm. Hundreds of thousands of minority Christians have fled Syria after three years of civil war, and this month Islamic militants have forced Iraqi Christians to leave Mosul or face execution.The report also highlighted more than a million people being displaced in the Central African Republic amid an upsurge in Christian-Muslim violence.Introducing the report, Kerry also noted the continuing imprisonment of American pastor Saeed Abedini in Iran, and said the U.S. will continue to press for his release.___Ex-radio host pleads guilty in child porn probeGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) A former host at a popular Christian radio station in western Michigan has pleaded guilty in a child pornography investigation.John Balyo told a federal judge Tuesday that he photographed sex acts with a 12-year-old boy at a Kalamazoo County hotel. He pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation and possessing child pornography.Balyo says he knew it was wrong.The 35-year-old was a host at Christian radio station WCSG in Grand Rapids until his arrest in June at a Christian music festival in northern Michigan. His arrest was related to state charges of criminal sexual conduct. That case still is pending in Calhoun County.Balyo faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in federal prison, but his sentence could be longer.___Appeals court allows Sept. 11 steel cross displayNEW YORK (AP) A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit by an atheist group seeking to stop the display of a cross-shaped steel beam found among the World Trade Center's wreckage.The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judge's ruling last year that the decision to include the beam in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum did not advance religion impermissibly.American Atheists had sued the museum's operators in 2011 on constitutional grounds. The group says it is disappointed in the decision and is considering whether to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.The 17-foot-tall steel beam was found by rescue workers two days after the 2001 terror attacks destroyed the World Trade Center.___Byron Scott thanks God for new job as Lakers coachLOS ANGELES (AP) Byron Scott says returning to Los Angeles to coach his former team shows him that "God is good."The Lakers have named Scott, the team's shooting guard for 11 seasons, as their new head coach.At a news conference in Los Angeles Tuesday, Scott said throughout his career God has helped his dreams come true, whether it's been playing for the Lakers, coaching for other NBA teams and now for his home team. Scott said, "It's obviously my heavenly Father, I've been put there."The 2008 NBA Coach of the Year has a record of 416-521 as a head coach for New Jersey, New Orleans and Cleveland, reaching two NBA Finals with the Nets.Byron Scott takes over as head coach after the Lakers' 27-55 season, the second-worst in the team's history.


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"American Pie" permanently etched Don McLean's name on the pop-music map at the end of 1971. It was the kind of song that got people talking, singing, thinking. The eight-and-a-half-minute folk-rock opus became a tombstone for the end of two ages of American innocence: the vision (and fiction) of simple life in the 1950s Eisenhower years, and the unredeemed hopes of the social and political revolutions of the 1960s. And, in some ways, it was McLean's epitaph as well, since he was never able to top or even match the overwhelming success of "American Pie." The song became a cultural phenomenon, later landing McLean on the cover of Life magazine as untold listeners tried to decode the song's meaning, something McLean himself declines to offer.
Almost 30 years later, "American Pie" came back in a multimedia rush, most notably when it was recorded by Madonna for the soundtrack to The Next Best Thing. It was also nabbed for the title of the recent teen gross-out sex flick, and even served as the tune to a Weird Al Yankovic parody of Star Wars titled "The Saga Begins." It's a song loved by many, yet probably hated by a considerable number as well, with a host of my music-critic brethren verging toward the latter camp.
I certainly leaned to the latter camp well before hearing it for the umpteenth time on pop radio in 1972. Eventually, I came to have an affection for it, and now I regard it with a nostalgic amusement that has little to do with its original impact. "American Pie" came back into my orbit at the end of the 1970s, when I road-managed McLean for a year and change, and had what I thought was a fairly close friendship with the man during that time and for a few years to follow. So with McLean playing the metroplex this weekend, and all these new slices of "American Pie" on the current pop-cultural menu, it seemed an ideal time to discuss the song's newfound popularity with the man who wrote it -- and catch up with a onetime friend with whom I'd lost touch.
Don McLean
April 22
Richardson's Wildflower Music and Arts Festival
This was not to be: His "people" in Nashville turned down my interview request with that old show-business saw of "a former obligation." Now, that just might be true. But since I once offered similar euphemisms to disappointed concert promoters and interviewers on McLean's behalf, instinct tells me he probably just couldn't be bothered.
No matter. I hardly need to talk to McLean to write about him, since I've already talked to him about his music and career probably more than any other journalist, much of that a sort of ongoing, casual discussion between friends. Since I spent a fair part of 1979 and 1980 watching and hearing McLean perform his music, I have an appreciation for his gifts that is probably rare among much of the rock-crit community.
I also happen to know the little-told story behind the writing of "American Pie." And now is about as good a time as any to tell it in print. No, I'm not going to tell you who the Jester is. I heard that question enough times during my road time with McLean, and even if I knew, I wouldn't tell -- for the sheer sake of being ornery. It's not like telling this story is spilling any state secrets; much to the contrary, I think it reinforces the notion of the song's considerable mystical power.
When "American Pie" hit, McLean was grilled endlessly about its meaning. The very act of asking a songwriter to assign specific meaning to a song is often useless. One of the best things about great music, at least in the days before music videos, was that a song's meaning could be so malleable. Often, the best definition for a song is yours -- whatever it means to you because of the way it applies to your life and way of thinking.
Of course, "American Pie" was doomed to be over-analyzed, coming as it did at a time when the entire nation felt a seismic cultural shift. A thumbnail definition might be that the Kennedy era had truly ended and we were fully under the influence of the Nixon years. The idea that we'd come upon "the day the music died" was palpable. The way the song's verses spun a pop-music and -cultural allegory -- references to the King and Queen, the Jester, Jack Flash, James Dean, and the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; snippets referencing previous songs; and a first verse that was clearly (as McLean has admitted) his reaction as a teenager to the death of Buddy Holly, an early musical hero of his -- captivated the public imagination in a manner as profound as any song did in the 20th century. It was parsed on the radio, studied in schools, debated in bull sessions among friends.
One thing I learned from my time with McLean is how an amazing amount of people could tell you when and where they first heard "American Pie." I can as well, though it probably has less to do with the song than the circumstances. It was the day after my 18th birthday, and I had just bought my first legal beer at the West End Tavern on Broadway in New York City, a venerable old jazz pub across the street from Columbia University (this being a time when, in most states, being old enough to vote and die for your country meant you were legally mature enough to imbibe). I'd heard snippets of "American Pie" on the radio and had caught its pop-culture buzz. So when I spied it on the West End's jukebox, I dropped in a quarter and played it, split in two on both sides of a 45 rpm single. It wasn't too bad.
But after hearing it a few too many times on the radio, I started changing the station. I didn't dislike it as intensely as some did. I'd already developed a voracious maw for music: If a song didn't stick right away, too late; I was quickly on to the Next Big Thing. McLean's next hit, "Vincent," (aka "Starry Starry Night") was a pleasant enough number, interesting for its tribute to Vincent Van Gogh. But by the time "Dreidel" hit the airwaves, it took one or two listens before I'd be jabbing at the car radio buttons each time it came on.
McLean did later again grab my ear in my college years, when I brought home from the campus radio station an extra copy of his Homeless Brother album. It would later be rated in the Rolling Stone Record Guide (in which I also was a contributor) as "Worthless" -- one of the most unfair judgments my peers have ever passed, though indicative of the ire McLean seemed to raise in some critics. I still can't fully understand why, but my guess would be, in shorthand, that they found McLean's music irritatingly collegiate. Odd, too, as my college roommate started playing Homeless Brother regularly. But other than that, McLean was a faint blip on my rather crowded musical screen.
I came to work for McLean via road-managing another artist, the brilliant but little-known African singer-songwriter Tony Bird, who was managed by McLean's manager. (Side note: a Rolling Stone article from the late-1960s describes McLean's manager, Herb Gart, as "the worst manager in the music business," a dubious title for which the man was certainly a contender.) Road-managing McLean at the time had to be one of the easiest gigs in the business. Touring solo, it was just him and me. My job was simple: Handle the travel arrangements, carry one of his two instruments (guitar and banjo), drive the rental car, laugh at his jokes and quips (which were funny), make sure the sound was OK, come to the side of the stage and get the banjo from him after he played "Vincent" at the end of the show, collect the money, and roll the joints. It was a cakewalk.
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But what I learned during our road time was that McLean was far more musically gifted than I had thought. It is no mean feat to go out with just one instrument and mesmerize full clubs and halls. But McLean, being groomed in the folk tradition, did it masterfully, never failing to earn his encore. He had no set list and would pull out different songs from the hundreds he knew with amazing regularity. I came to appreciate the supple depth and range of his voice and admire his ability to play a rhythmic guitar in a style that made a band seem superfluous. As we shared a number of mutual interests -- like such '50s rock-music icons as Elvis, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, and Eddy Cochran, as well as the touchstones of folk and classic country, and horseback riding and cowboy movies -- we ended up spending time together not only on the road but off.
I can't recall where or when McLean finally talked to me about writing "American Pie," but I do remember the conversation well. He told me he'd had the chorus running around in his head for a while. Then, one day, he sat down, and in about half an hour, "American Pie" more or less wrote itself (remember: it was an eight-minute-plus song). "I didn't plan anything out," he explained. "I was just grabbing these things from this catch bag of cultural symbols and throwing them in there." It wasn't some master plan he mapped out to encompass the cultural tremors of the times. It was what Townes Van Zandt used to call a "sky song," because they just drop out of the sky. At those creative moments, it's kind of like God is writing the song and you happen to be lucky enough to transcribe it.
So is it any wonder that McLean has never participated in the fervent analysis of something that just more or less blurted out? There is a fairly credible line-by-line explanation of sorts on the McLean-sanctioned www.americanpie2000.com website, with a disclaimer of any approval by the song's writer. I still wish I had the deconstruction of "American Pie" that came into the management office in which some genuinely obsessed nut did a line-by-line that claimed the song was about Europe between the First and Second World Wars. Cracked me up pretty good (especially when, after linking a few lines to the Versailles Treaty or the Weimar Republic, the analyst wrote, "I don't know what this line means"). I called McLean to share the laughs with him, and he would have none of it.
McLean knows how good "American Pie" has been to him, if even for the hassles that came with it. I'm sure he's savoring how its theme was renewed for a millennial return. These days the once-dedicated solo performer is out with a band and playing Saturday night at Richardson's Wildflower Music and Arts Festival. Amid a lineup that reads a bit like the '70s-music version of Night of the Living Dead -- Kansas, Joe Walsh, ELO (sans Jeff Lynne), Isaac Hayes, and War -- McLean might just be a dark-horse treat. I've often pondered why he seems a bit like Rodney Dangerfield compared with the likes of James Taylor and Joni Mitchell and the favor they enjoyed, even to this day, because one thing I learned road-managing McLean is that there's so much more to the artist than "American Pie." And having seen hundreds, even thousands, of other singer-songwriters, I still hold his abilities as a singer and performer in high esteem. Yet here we are, nearly 30 years after "American Pie," and it has come back around like Halley's Comet, or maybe better, Holly's Comet. There are some things you just can't escape.


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A 23-year-old man has been charged in connection with a robbery at a betting shop last month.
Tobias Bruce, of Milestone Road, Carterton, was arrested on Sunday and appeared yesterday at Oxford Magistrates' Court.
The charge is in connection with a robbery at Ladbrokes in Iffley Road, Oxford, on February 20 this year.
He has also been charged with two counts of kidnapping and one count of blackmail on January 28 and possessing cannabis with intent to supply on February 14.
Bruce will appear at Oxford Crown Court for a preliminary hearing on March 10.


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Join for FREE, and start talking with other members, weighing in on community discussions, and more.
Also, by registering and logging in you'll see fewer ads and pesky welcome messages (like this one!)
one more thing, geezermom. Her first Thanksgiving she could not get out of her late Friday class before Thanksgiving in time for the last flight to Dallas. She lived in Twain, which officially closed at 6 pm. that night. She got permission to stay that night(the PA's were still there)and then she took the shuttle to the airport early Sat. I thought that was very accomodating of them! Mizzou people are really nice!
I was telling geezermom privately that we had a few snags with signing up for housing and every call to Mizzou was returned quickly and the people we spoke with were all very friendly and helpful. I was dreading dealing with the bureaucracy of a large state school, but was very impressed with the efficiency and eagerness to help us solve our problems. They were actually a pleasure to deal with and everything was resolved painlessly.
Otherwise, the kids were all top notch and she loved her time there! She is abroad now and had some scheduling issues for next semester which were handled quickly by people at Mizzou. Again, I feel they really take the best care of the kids and truly care about them.


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Training Courses
We have a long history of organising training courses for Member States, regional organisations and other UN organisations. They cover a range of topics related to the application of radionuclides in marine studies and the analysis of non-radioactive pollutants. Applications should be made up to six months in advance through Governmental offical channels.
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You do not have the right to insert into this table Training Courses.


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Cowboys fans in San Antonio have already gotten a small taste of Rob Ryan's defense, which will involve a lot of moving parts and, according to players, more excitement than an episode of "The A-Team." Okay, they haven't said that exactly--it just wouldn't really surprise us if they did.
"We're unpredictable," said nose tackle Jay Ratliff this week, per ESPN Dallas. "We're coming from different positions and I'm a nose lining up at linebacker, and that's fun."
What will add to the intrigue is the team's situation at defensive end. Marcus Spears, Kenyon Coleman and Jason Hatcher, all of whom signed new deals this offseason, are waiting to return to the practice field. Igor Olshansky, who started last year opposite of Spears, has returned as well. How exactly they will fit into Ryan's system is unknown--but, keeping with a theme, it should be interesting.
"We will put the best players out there every Sunday," new defensive line coach Brian Baker said. "I don't know what those numbers are going to be."
The team is once again high on the abilities of Spears, after the relationship between the two became seemingly tenuous over the past two seasons--which was probably less about Spears' play and more about finances and the presence of Hatcher and Stephen Bowen, the latter of which departed this offseason for Washington. Under Ryan and Baker, Spears could strengthen his footing as a bonafide run-stopper in Dallas.
"I think Spears will have a chance to elevate his game," Baker said. "He's got some wiggle."
Stay on top of the latest Dallas Cowboys news with NBCDFW.com. Follow NBC DFW Sports on Facebook or have breaking Cowboys news sent directly to your phone with Blue Star SMS alerts. Text "bluestar" to 622339 (NBCDFW) to subscribe to this free service. Read more about it here.


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Guarantee a Good Holiday with Airport Transfer in Sydney
You can find a lot of Airport Transfer in Sydney but only a few of them offers exceptional services. If you are planning to have a vacation on Sydney, you wish to employ the services of the Sydney airport transfer. The reason behind this particular is simple, hiring an airport transfer service would conserve you not just money, but also time, tension and effort. You need to ensure a good holiday by pre-booking your transport from the airport for your apartment or vice versa. Here are some other tips on how to ensure getting a good vacation. Prevent yourself from using public transportation vehicles if you want a comfortable, fast and safe visit to the airport or your apartment. It's a proven fact that pre-booking will save you up to 50 percent of your travel time. Take care of your transfer a week before deciding to leave to make sure comfy transportation. You will also discover that hiring the services of Airport Transfer Organization helps you to save you money. The way it save you cash? Many transportation company trains their employees to become effective in using other routes when sudden traffic occur. They are also familiar with various vacation spots that are inexpensive but offer great services at the same time. They are able to also give you advices which restaurant pubs you should hang out to, for a complete night life experience.
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Never underestimate the power of early booking. Booking your transportation early on will save you not only time, effort, stress, but additionally money which is very important. Ensure agood holiday by hiring the services of the Airport Transfer in Sydney.


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Hugh McColl Jr., chief executive officer of NationsBank, will bring his progressive mix of business savvy and family-oriented policies to Kansas University for the 1998 Vickers Memorial Lecture.
McColl will deliver his ``Building Community'' lecture at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Kansas University Lied Center. The event, organized by the KU business school, is free to the public.
Since the first address in 1971, the Vickers Lecture series has brought to KU speakers such as Itzhak Rabin, George Bush, Sandra Day O'Connor, Patrick Buchanan and Jerry Reinsdorf.
Charles Koch, chair and chief executive officer of Koch Industries Inc., Wichita, delivered the 1997 lecture.
McColl began his career with NationsBank in 1959 as a management trainee. By 1983 he had been elected chair, president and chief executive officer of the corporation.
A decade later, he was named Banker of the Year by The American Banker magazine. Under McColl's guidance, the Charlotte, N.C.-based company has grown more than 40-fold.
Today, NationsBank has primary consumer and commercial banking operations in 16 states and the District of Columbia. The company holds assets totaling about $310 billion and is one of the three largest banking companies in the country.
On Jan. 9, NationsBank merged with Barnett Banks Inc., the largest merger in U.S. history.
McColl is renowned for his corporate policies designed to improve community and family life.
From 1992 to 1996, NationsBank injected $13 billion into economically underserved communities through community-development loans. McColl also established an ``Education Initiative,'' which grants bank employees up to two hours of paid time each week to volunteer in local schools.
NationsBank has also been recognized for its progressive work-and-family programs. Working Mother magazine has listed it among the 10 best companies for working mothers for the past five years and among the 100 best companies for working mothers for nine consecutive years.
In 1992, the magazine named McColl its Family Champion.
NationsBank has set up a $10 million dependent-care fund to support more than 30 child- and elder-care programs for NationsBank employees in a dozen cities. It subsidizes bank employees' child-care costs up to 50 percent if an employee's income is less than $35,000.
According to McColl, programs that focus on employees' needs as heads of families make good business sense and help the bank's recruitment and retention of employees.
``Not only is he a corporate chieftain who is at the helm of an extraordinarily complex business conglomerate, he is a deeply caring person who 'walks the walk' in building the communities within the NationsBank system,'' said Tom Sarowski, dean of the KU business school.
-- Matt Gowen's phone message number is 832-7222. His e-mail address is firstname.lastname@example.com.
Copyright 2017 The Lawrence Journal-World. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. We strive to uphold our values for every story published.


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This memorandum explains the proposed use of the
delegated powers provisions in the Water Industry Bill.
Outline and scope of the Bill
The Bill provides for a new approach to charging
for water and sewerage services in England and Wales. In particular,
it proposes to prohibit disconnection of water supply to dwellings
and some other premises for the non-payment of water charges,
and the related use of limiting devices to enforce payment. It
removes a statutory bar on charging by reference to rateable value
after 1 April 2000. It requires charges for water and sewerage
in respect of dwellings to be made in accordance with charges
schemes. And it revises the regulation of companies' charges schemes
and makes provision for their customers to be entitled to be charged
in particular ways.
The Bill also provides for the establishment of a
Water Industry Commissioner for Scotland and the establishment
of Water Industry Consultative Committees in Scotland. No regulation
making powers are proposed in relation to the Scottish provisions
in the Bill.
Clauses relevant to delegated powers
Clause 3 amends section
142 of the Water Industry Act 1991 'the 1991 Act' so that charges
for water and sewerage services to dwellings, which has the meaning
as in clauses 1 and 2, must be fixed on the basis set out in water
companies' charges schemes rather than by agreement. An exception
is made for agreements entered into before this provision comes
into force. Clause 4 amends section 143 of the 1991 Act,
so that charges schemes must be approved by the Director General
of Water Services (the Director) each year. Clause 4 also allows
for the Secretary of State to give guidance to the Director on
the exercise of the Director's power to approve charges schemes,
and the Director is to have regard to that guidance. All such
guidance is required to be published.
The purpose of Clause 4 is to formalise the existing
informal consultation between water companies and the Director
over the contents of charges schemes, and to ensure that the protections
and benefits for customers which the government wishes to ensure
are capable of being delivered.
The Director's powers to approve charges schemes
under Clause 4 are subject to the important limitation that they
may not be exercised for the purpose of limiting the total revenues
of relevant undertakers from charges fixed by or in accordance
with charges schemes. The price limitation machinery which determines
the allowable return on investment for each water company is set
out in conditions made under Part I of the Water Industry Act
1991. This limitation ensures that the main price limit setting
mechanism will continue to be that provided by Part I of the 1991
It would not be possible or desirable in primary
legislation to prescribe the contents of each charges scheme.
It is necessary to have means to allow for regional variation
and variation between companies, so delegated powers of the kind
described are necessary. As noted, any guidance given by the Secretary
of State is required to be published.
Clause 5 of the Bill contains
a requirement for the provisions of any charges scheme made under
section 143 of the 1991 Act to comply with any requirements prescribed
by the Secretary of State in regulations. The regulations may
prescribe items for which a consumer is or is not to be liable
to pay a charge, make provision for the methods and principles
to be used in calculating and imposing charges, require alternative
bases of charging to be made available to consumers, and to require
special provision to be made for vulnerable groups.
Regulations under Clause 5 could be used, for example
to specify that particular tariffs or charging options should
be made available to consumers. For those requiring special provision,
the regulations are intended to set out which groups of people
are to be given special protection, and how eligibility for this
protection should be established. These groups may include those
who need special protection because of their age, health or financial
circumstances, or due to disability. The Government has announced
that the kind of vulnerable groups to which it envisages extending
protection by means of these regulations will include large families
on low incomes and those with a high water use because of medical
conditions. Regulations would allow, for example, such consumers
to be given the option of an alternative charge, based on the
average measured charge for that water company rather than their
own specific use, thus avoiding hardship from high unavoidable
uses of water which consumers might not otherwise be able to afford.
As well as prescribing those who should receive special treatment,
the regulations will outline the nature of the assistance to be
As with Clause 4, the proposed use of delegated powers
reflects the necessity to deal with a variety of circumstances
and situations in which Ministers would have a legitimate interest
in the distribution of charges between customers.
The Secretary of State's powers under Clause 5 would
be subject to the same important limitation as the powers of the
Director under Clause 4, namely that they would not be exercisable
for the purpose of limiting the total revenues of relevant undertakers
from charges fixed by or in accordance with charges schemes. It
would remain the prime responsibility of the Director to establish
the economic regulation of the water industry, in particular deciding
the price limits to which water companies should be subject.
Regulations made under Clause 5 would be subject
to negative resolution procedure, in line with the general rule
established by section 213 of the 1991 Act (see especially section
213(1)). This level of Parliamentary scrutiny is considered both
appropriate and consistent with other regulation making powers
in the 1991 Act which are also subject to the negative resolution
procedure. These include regulations concerning prescribed standards
of wholesomeness of water (see e.g. sections 69, 74), water companies'
duties as respects constancy and pressure of supply (see e.g.
section 65) and water companies' standards of performance in connection
with the supplies of water (see e.g. section 38(2)).
In the course of the Bill's passage in the House
of Commons, the Government gave undertakings to consult the regulator
(the Director General of Water Services), the industry and other
interested parties on draft regulations under Clause 5.
Clause 6 allows consumers
currently paying their water and sewerage charges on an unmeasured
basis the option of requiring their water company to charge by
reference to volume (i.e. by installing a meter). Consumers are
given the option to revert to an unmeasured charge within 12 months
if they find that a metered supply does not suit their needs.
Section 144A(5)(b) would allow further conditions to be prescribed
which would apply to this right to revert. 'Prescribed' is already
defined in section 219(1) of the 1991 Act as prescribed by regulations
made by the Secretary of State, and as has been noted, the presumption
in section 213(1) of the 1991 Act is that regulations should be
made by negative resolution procedure. The intention of regulations
made under section 144A(5)(b) would be to specify conditions which
would prevent a householder being able to revert to an unmeasured
charge. These might include, for example, filling a swimming pool
or using a garden sprinkler - which involve a high use of water
for non-essential purposes.
Clause 7 gives consumers
certain rights to remain on an unmeasured supply of water. Generally
this applies to existing unmeasured supplies to homes. Section
144B(1)(c) again allows conditions to be prescribed which could
limit the entitlement of such consumers to remain on unmeasured
supplies. It is envisaged that any regulations under section 144B(1)(c)
would address similar circumstances to those made under section
144A(5)(b), that is, such activities as filling swimming pools
or using garden sprinklers might result in a removal of consumers'
entitlement to remain on unmeasured supplies. It is considered
that the use of delegated powers in both these provisions, Clauses
6 and 7, is both necessary and appropriate, and that the negative
resolution procedure provides an appropriate level of Parliamentary
scrutiny to the proposed use of delegated powers.
Clause 14(1) and (2) of
the Bill provide for the transfer of Ministerial functions under
this Bill when enacted to be made by means of an Order in Council
under section 22 of the Government of Wales Act 1998. Any such
Order in Council would be subject to negative resolution procedure
rather than the affirmative resolution procedure provided in section
22(4)(a) of the 1998 Act. As this is a transitional period before
the National Assembly for Wales takes up its responsibilities,
it is considered that the negative resolution procedure will allow
for more convenient arrangements for the transfer of powers and
the making of any necessary Order in Council. It is suggested
that this nevertheless represents an appropriate level of Parliamentary
scrutiny, as Parliament has the opportunity during the passage
of the Bill to consider the merits of transferring functions under
the Bill.
Clause 14(2) of the Bill
would make the Bill when enacted a pre-commencement enactment
within the meaning of the Scotland Act 1998. Ministerial functions
under the Bill would transfer to Scottish Ministers when they
acquire their functions under the Scotland Act 1998.
Department of the Environment, Transport &
the Regions
Welsh Office
Scottish Office
February 1999


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Barack Obama Showing Unconcern For His Job, More For His Family
From wasteful trips to flat-out refusing to reach out to the other side, it seems Barack Obama has lost his first love with the oval office.
First, this story from the Judicial Watch press room documenting Michelle's
lavish trip to Africa oh wait, no, just the travel expenses for her trip:
Judicial Watch, the organization that investigates and fights government corruption, announced today that it has obtained mission expense records and passenger manifests from the United States Air Force related to the June 21-27, 2011, trip taken by First Lady Michelle Obama, her family and her staff to South Africa and Botswana. Judicial Watch obtained the documents pursuant to an August 19, 2011, Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch v. U.S. Air Force (No. 11-1496)). Judicial Watch is investigating the purpose and itinerary of the trip as well as a breakdown of the costs to taxpayers.On June 28, 2011, Judicial Watch filed a FOIA request seeking the mission taskings, transportation records, and passenger manifests for Michelle Obama's Africa trip. Documents were only provided after Judicial Watch filed suit.
Then, there's this video of him talking to CNN saying that the reason he's not reaching across the isle because he's too busy with his kids:
Apparently, the honeymoon is over. Let the mini-golf commence!