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1.1 The Regional Assembly only became the
Regional Planning Body for the South East region of England in
April 2001. It quickly identified that affordable housing was
a priority issue for the region. Since that time, Assembly officers
and Assembly partners have been establishing monitoring systems,
undertaking research and identifying the actions the Assembly
and others need to take to move obstacles to an increased supply
of affordable housing in the region. A special Affordable Housing
Sub-Group of the Assembly's Housing Advisory Group, chaired by
the Director of one of the region's major Registered Social Landlords,
has been established in order to provide the focus and momentum
for this work.
1.2 The Sub-Group is currently preparing
a report to the Regional Assembly's next Planning Committee on
12 June, which will identify the key obstacles to improving supply
and recommend specific actions by the Assembly and others. To
test some of the ideas in this report and garner wider support,
the Affordable Housing Sub-Group has also arranged two conferences
on Affordable Housing within the region, which will take place
in the last week of May. The conferences will be focused on tools
of delivery for affordable housing.
1.3 In order to improve the information
base about affordable housing in the region, which had previously
been poor, the Assembly has also instituted new surveys of supply
and more effective monitoring arrangements. It has also encouraged
the Regional Development Agency to take forward initiatives to
provide more affordable housing on its own sites, and to initiate
an innovative new scheme to assist the provision of affordable
housing on small sites, the Brownfield Land Assembly Trust (BLAT).
The Assembly is also joining the Development Agency in commissioning
research to identify more precisely the impact on businesses in
the South East of a continuing shortage of affordable housing.
1.4 Affordable housing is, of course, an
issue which affects other regions, and particularly the South
East region's neighbours, quite severely. We have therefore joined
with London and the East of England region to share knowledge
and responses to these problems. Affordable housing is the subject
of regular debates at the Inter-Regional Forum of elected members
of the three regions. The three regions are shortly to meet Lord
Falconer to discuss the affordable housing crisis and to press
the case for additional Government resources and other measures
to help improve supply.
1.5 In responding to the specific questions
raised by the Urban Affairs Sub-Committee, the Assembly has concentrated
on those matters where it feels it can best contribute to the
Sub-Committee's analysis from its own knowledge and understanding.
2.1 The Government's definition of affordable
housing is set out in Circular 6/98. This states that:
2.2 Such a definition poses two problems.
Firstly, it leaves ambiguous whether this includes market housing,
and, if so, the type of market housing which can be included within
the affordable supply contribution. How is "available"
to be defined and monitored, and at what point in the development
process can it be clearly identified and recorded? Secondly, and
as a consequence of this ambiguity, it makes effective monitoring
2.3 Recent correspondence (October 2001)
with our Government Office (GOSE) has been helpful in clarifying
the position, at least in the context of regional monitoring.
The letter has been widely circulated (and is an Appendix to this
submission). The significant points it makes are that "low-cost
market housing is an element of affordable housing delivered at
an agreed discount below full market value and in response to
an identified need" and, that "this does not imply that
the provision of smaller dwellings by the private sector can be
claimed to be low-cost market housing merely because they are
cheaper than larger dwellings".
2.4 This being the case the Assembly's officers
are using the following definition:
2.5 We believe that this is simpler and
clearer than the official definition. Certainly, there is an urgent
need to iron out ambiguities in the "official" definition
as soon as possible.
3.1 On even a fleeting analysis, it is clear
that the South East region has substantial need for affordable
housing, running across the region. This need was recognised in
the latest Regional Planning Guidance for the South East (RPG9),
approved in March 2001. Affordable housing was specifically referred
to in the Guidance as an important issue and a "provisional"
affordable housing indicator for the whole of the South East was
put forward in the Guidance. The growth of employment in the region,
coupled with high house prices, means the need for more affordable
housing has been growing more acute, on our analysis, over the
last few years. This need runs right across the region, but is
particularly acute on the western side, where house prices are
highest and job growth is strongest. We comment further on the
scale of the estimated shortfall and its implications later in
the submission.
4.1 Monitoring the supply of new affordable
housing is difficult. In part this is due to problems with the
definition. However, it also reflects the complexities surrounding
the funding of affordable housing and the negotiation of schemes
through the development process.
4.2 The Assembly is monitoring on the basis
of two sources of information. One is the Housing Corporation
data on completions funded through the Approved Development Programme
(ADP) or through Local Authorities' Social Housing Grant (LASHG).
This shows that completions were 5,800 in 1999-2000, 5,600 in
2000-01 and 6,900 in 2001-02. The Starter Homes initiative will
boost this in the current financial year, but completions are
not expected to exceed 8,000. This data is not ideal: it includes
refurbishment and obviously excludes any units provided without
either of these subsidies. The Regional Assembly is therefore
now collecting its own information based on local authority planning
records. Preliminary findings suggest a lower level of provision
than previously thought: around 15 per cent of total completions
in 1999-2000, ie only around 4,000 per annum.
4.3 It is alarming to compare these figures
with recent DTLR data on Right-to-Buy Sales: in 1999-2000, 6,000
dwellings were sold in the South East region, and in 2000-01 a
further 4,300. In other words, present supply is at best keeping
up with the erosion of stock for "Right to Buy". On
the basis of our latest survey, it may not even be doing that.
4.4 Although some affordable housing is
provided without recourse to public funds the majority is provided
through Social Housing Grant (SHG) to Registered Social Landlords
(RSLs), either through ADP or LASHG.
4.5 In relation to the identified need for
affordable housing in the South East, the level of available funding
is low. The average HC ADP allocation results in only a limited
number of properties for most local authorities and the ability
of local authorities to supplement this to any substantial effect
through use of LASHG is largely dependent upon them being debt-free.
There is a constant struggle to provide sufficient resources for
the development opportunities that occur on Section 106 sites.
4.6 In the South East the total amount of
SHG was approximately £230 million in 2001-02. This is set
to rise to some £250 million in 2002/2003 and £290 million
in 2003-04 primarily due to increases in the ADP and assuming
a constant £140 million LASHG programme (as per 2001-02).
Whilst these sums are an increase on funding from the years immediately
preceding, they are still lower than the levels of funding available
in the early to mid-1990s. In addition, there is a question mark
against the long-term sustainability of such a large LASHG programme
in the South East in the future. The programme in the South East
is significant due primarily to the large amount of LSVT activity
that has occurred in the last 10 years or so. However, the amount
of LASHG available from the receipts of such transfers is not
4.7 As well as the ADP and LASHG programmes,
the South East has benefited from the Starter Homes Initiative
(SHI) to the tune of £65.6 million over the three year period
to 2003-04. This is to provide housing to key, identified public
sector employees and is expected to provide 2,550 homes over this
three year period. At present there are no indications as to what
will happen post-2003-04 but it is assumed that this is a one-off
4.8 Despite the increase in SHG funding
in the South East up to 2003-04 this will not translate into a
corresponding increase in the number of affordable homes to be
provided. This is due to the increasing costs of land, property
and works in the South East in combination with the increase in
grant rates for RSL development of affordable housing. The latter
is to enable RSLs to meet the Government's requirements in terms
of rent restructuring. It is therefore unlikely that additional
units will arise from the increased ADP in 2002-03, with only
a small increase in 2003-04. An assumed constant £140 million
LASHG will result in fewer units being provided which is likely
to negate any increase in units provided through the ADP.
5.1 We have commented on the results of
our provisional monitoring in respect of affordable housing supply
in the previous section. That survey confirms that the contribution
of planning gain to the current provision of affordable housing
supply is certainly not adequate to meet the scale of demand in
the South East region. The present system is clumsy and too slow.
The Assembly therefore supported, in its comments on the Planning
Green Paper, the Minister's proposals for a new tariff system
of planning gain, which could provide more support for affordable
housing. We did so, however, on the basis that the new system
should be kept as simple as possible, to avoid confusion among
both developers and the public, and to ensure that the problems
of the existing system were not replicated. It also seems likely
that the new system will take some time to bring into play, and
to build momentum.
5.2 In the interim, the best possible use
should be made of the existing system, and the Assembly is encouraging
local planning authorities in the region to adopt clear and streamlined
negotiation procedures, together with a clear set of targets and
approximate percentages of affordable housing contribution, in
their Development Plans. The authorities are being further encouraged
to ensure that those targets and percentages are robustly pursued
in development negotiations.
5.3 Nevertheless, even with a more effective
system of planning gain, that alone will not provide for sufficient
resources to meet the affordable housing problem in the region.
In part, this is because of the scale of the potential shortfall,
and because provision through the present planning gain system
is uneven and uncertain. More especially, however, it is because,
even when Section 106 agreements have been reached, RSLs still
need a degree of financial support to actually provide the necessary
accommodation and manage and maintain it. This aspect of the funding
problem is inadequately understood, but is of crucial importance
if overall supply is to be improved. Additional resources therefore
need to be channelled to the Housing Corporation and RSLs, in
order to ensure that effective housing provision is actually achieved
as a result of all planning obligation/new tariff site agreements.
Additional public funds are therefore a necessary part of the
affordable housing solution, not an alternative to the planning
gain system.
6.1 In regions such as the South East, for
which affordable housing provision is an issue of such clear regional
significance, the answer to this question must be in the affirmative.
This need has indeed already been partly recognised in the current
Regional Planning Guidance (RPG9). This refers on pages 50-52
to the importance of affordable housing provision and puts forward
a "provisional" indicator of affordable housing need
of some 18,000-19,000 homes a year in the whole ROSE area. No
equivalent figure for the present South East region is put forward
in RPG, but we estimate that its equivalence for our region is
11,500-12,000 dwellings per annum.
6.2 The tentative nature of this "target",
and the fact that it relates to the former ROSE area, rather than
the current region, are unhelpful. We have, nevertheless, already
found the statements in RPG very useful in supporting our work
on affordable housing. Perhaps most valuably, they have provided
a response to those who (still) sometimes argue that affordable
housing provision should not be an issue for regional engagement.
6.3 We consider that targets are needed
at the regional level for four principle reasons. Firstly, they
provide a benchmark of the scale of provision, in the same way
as the overall housing provision target for the region. This framework
provides the context for resource allocations by Government, reflected
at the regional level by the Government Office and the Housing
Corporation, which assists provision. It also fulfils the same
function of providing a framework for Development Plan allocations
by local authorities.
6.4 Secondly, it reinforces the importance
of the issue and the commitment required of local authorities
and other players, to actively pursue the issue of provision.
Despite the evident need for more affordable housing in the region,
we are still finding current examples where local authorities
are making scant reference to this topic in their draft Development
Plans. Using the policy references to target in RPG9, we have
been able to press them to do more.
6.5 Thirdly, the presence of the target
helps active and creative local authorities in their negotiations
with developers and other providers. They can point to Regional
Guidance as a requirement and therefore a reinforcement.
6.6 The regional target provides a potential
basis for targets at a sub-regional level. The scale and nature
of affordable housing need do vary across the region. Some parts
of the region have particularly acute affordable housing needs.
It is helpful, therefore, for the regional target to be broken
down to focus on these priority sub-regions, giving further guidance
and support to targeted effort and the case for further financial
resources. Although this sub-regional dimension has not yet been
adequately developed in the South East, it is a dimension we wish
to pursue, once the Government has decided how to proceed with
the Planning Green Paper proposals. We believe better sub-regional
guidance would help heighten priorities and assist affordable
housing provision, but it cannot happen if we do not have a regional
target to work from.
6.7 We therefore do need regional targets,
and we need them to be less provisional than in the current Regional
Planning Guidance for the South East.
7.1 On the basis of current performance
and the analysis referred to earlier in this submission, it is
clear that that the "provisional" target for affordable
housing in the South East region will not be met. At best, we
are currently achieving little more than half that target, and
our latest survey returns suggest even this may be an exaggeration.
7.2 As previously indicated, the target
on which we are currently working in the South East region is,
itself, somewhat provisional, and is a derivation from a larger
figure covering the whole of the remainder of the South East (ROSE).
A more precise target is needed and needs to be justified by further
study. The Assembly has already begun to undertake surveys and
other work which will lead to this end, working with the Government
Office, RSLs and local authorities through its Affordable Housing
7.3 Even allowing for adjustments in the
eventual target, however, a substantial increase in the rate of
supply is likely to be necessary. Although the planning gain system
and other factors could contribute to such an increase, in our
view the principal requirement is a substantial increase in the
public resources made available for affordable housing provision.
8.1 An inadequate supply of affordable housing
has both social and economic costs. In social terms, the Regional
Planning Guidance for the South East and the region's new Social
Inclusion Statement, shortly to be published, both place a strong
emphasis on improved affordable housing provision to meet social
needs. Registered Social Landlords and Housing Associations in
the region regularly draw attention to the social costs of inadequate
provision, as does RAISE, the regional voluntary sector grouping.
Previous research has shown that inadequate housing with resulting
overcrowding and other tensions, exacerbates the problems of health,
transport and sometimes crime problems.
8.2 Of equal concern are the economic consequences.
A lack of affordable housing means that employers face recruitment
difficulties and are obliged to draw their labour force from further
afield. This leads to increased costs and inefficiencies for them.
For their workforce, there are also social and economic costs,
with many workers being obliged to commute substantial distances
to work, with the resultant direct and indirect costs to their
lifestyle, and increased pressures on an already-congested transport
8.3 These problems are often cited and individual
examples quoted, but the Assembly believes that the evidence to
date has been too anecdotal. It has therefore asked the Regional
Development Agency, SEEDA, to undertake joint research so as to
establish more precisely the cost to business and the economy
resulting from the shortfall in the provision of affordable housing
in the region. This research is expected to be available in the
9.1 The Regional Assembly is acutely aware
of the problem of affordable housing in the South East region
and the need for further action to improve the provision of such
accommodation. It has only recently taken on the role of Regional
Planning Body, but has focused on this issue as a priority topic
for action. It is working with the Government Office, the Development
Agency, local authorities and RSLs to identify the key obstacles
to change, and to promote action and remedy. It will be considering
further reports on this topic over the next two months, and we
intend to be in a position to advise the Committee further on
the precise issues and actions which the Assembly believes should
be taken.


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In the Spring 2011 newsletter Phil Warburton introduced the E1 Community Church:
Where are you based?
We are in London's East End. E1 Community Church is defined by the local post code, which covers the south west of the Borough of Tower Hamlets.
How and why did you begin?
We began church life as an Urban Expression church planting team. Our concern was to plant an expression of church relevant to the local area. We began as a small team on a steep learning curve. Some years later E1CC grew from a merger of three UE church plants.
We remain a small church that struggles in many ways with the seeming chaos of life and messiness of church but there is also a lot of joy along the way and much hope for the future.
What are your main values and priorities?
We have five key distinctives. We are a Jesus-centred church. Worshipping and following Jesus together in our daily lives is key.
We are a church at the edge, seeking to be a church of people who have too little rather than have too much and of those who often feel marginalized by society and sometimes by the church.
We are a local church made up of people who live in the local neighbourhood. Our worship, discipleship and decision-making aim to be relevant to the area in which we live.
We are a multi-voiced church. Our worship, preaching and decision-making again aim to be multi-voiced in order to discover together what God might be saying to us.
We are a church fighting for peace among ourselves and in E1, London and further afield.
What are your main activities?
We enjoy weekly worship gatherings. We work hard to create space for multi-voiced worship. You will rarely hear a sermon but I hope plenty of what God is saying. Once a month we have celebrations which are all-age, messy church, café-style, with a meal to finish!!
We are running a winter homeless night shelter in partnership with 12 other churches in Tower Hamlets. We are also partners in Foodbank. We are dipping our toes into TELCO, which is part of London Citizens. We also own a monthly community project called Helping Hands, often involving, prayer, simple gardening and house maintenance.
We partner with a small local charity called the Geoff Ashcroft Community that was born out of the vision of one of our founding churches. This is about being a safe place for isolated people to find community. It's a place for people of all faiths and none. It celebrates how faith can be part of our road to wellbeing and recovery.
We have a church partnership scheme, which asks for a higher level of commitment to the church community. This includes having a mentor and agreeing to work through conflicts that may arise.
In what ways do you draw on the Anabaptist tradition?
I hope you will see the Anabaptist tradition writ large in our five distinctives and in some of our activities.
Recently we have found a new way to live the tradition. I have often been asked by members of the church if we can give them money, food or furniture. Previously the church leaders have decided the church can help and sorted it. We now believe that gave the leaders of the church too much power in the process and divorced the whole act of giving from our worship.
So as a church we have chosen a few members to become a 'Meeting Need Group' (a rubbish name but does what is says on the tin!). They bring any requests for assistance to one of our worship meetings explaining what is needed and how much, but keeping the beneficiary's name confidential. We pray, thanking God for his provision and asking him to provide. In our context we used not to take up offerings in our worship meetings – until now, when we make these specific requests. We do not pass a tin around because we expect the money to make its way to the tin. It's early days and the whole thing scares me – but it seems good to us.
What are your hopes for the ANC?
I would like to see how we can challenge each other to find ways of making our values flesh in the Christian communities and neighbourhoods in which we live and work. What does a local Anabaptist congregation/community look like? Looking to North America may help a little, but they may need our help on this one as much as we need theirs.
A new and exciting initiative that members of the ANC may be able to help us with is 'Mission House E123'. A group of four small churches in Tower Hamlets with a track record of working together are hoping to secure some investment (only £100,000 – so far) to buy two houses to plant small missionary communities in order to engage in local mission with existing churches.
We are looking for individuals or churches to release capital to this project over the coming 12 months. We are also looking for people to
come and live in these houses and work at what community life and mission looks like in Tower Hamlets when we seriously engage with the Anabaptist tradition. Anyone interested?

subset: commoncrawl


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Solid Quality Picture
Crutchfield Customer Review (What's this?)
This purchase was made for use in meetings, and it has been a great buy. I was impressed with the picture quality, and the internal speaker works well enough to fill a medium sized conference room. Would be great if it had multiple HDMI inputs, and the ability to remotely switch between the inputs. I suppose that would raise the price if this feature was added. Overall, I would make the purchase again.


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My first ever tea review from a 52 tea's blend. I have been waiting to try this for a while and now is the perfect time for me as I have time to savour it.
While raw this tea looks like little pieces of mixed herbs but in a dark brown colour and it smells like a malty hot chocolate drink.
Steeped this is dark brown in colour and smells of a spicy malt drink, not particularly chocolate based. The chocolate does not come out very much through the taste either but the pepper truly is fiery (in a nice way) and it gives this tea a lovely element. I am thinking that perhaps a sugar in this tea may help to bring out the chocolate taste a little more or at least balance the flavours.
If you have had original mate then it tastes very much the same as that (dark and malty) but with an added spicy kick which is most noticeable in the after taste.
In honesty it's not my sort of thing, I was hoping it would be a tad more chocolatey but I suppose it's just more of a personal thing. It was nice to try for that something different cup of tea but I think next time a bit of sweetener or some kind will help.
EDIT: I got half way down the cup and thought I had might as well try it with a sweetener (one of the calorie free tablet kinds) and the sweetness is not the thing that I can taste first. It's now sweet and sour tea which I think is much nicer than without it, the pepper also has more flavour now than just spiciness. I think this will be perfect for the winter holidays. :)


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Recently I auditioned for and booked a play in a short-play festival. I'm 100 percent straight, with no intention of ever changing, and it's a gay-and-lesbian-themed play festival. I knew this from the start, and it personally doesn't bother me at all—it's a terrific play, and it's a great networking opportunity as well. I'm one of only two straight actors involved, but we're all respectful and getting along wonderfully.
However, I'm extremely concerned (almost terrified) about how my "traditional" family, friends, and potential bosses or directors would react if they were to Google my name and find it associated with a gay-and-lesbian event. I am neither an advocate nor a condemner of homosexuality, and I have unwavering respect for anyone of either orientation, but is there any way to gracefully talk to my director or producer about not including me in photos or press releases come promo time?
—Mama's Str8boy
Gainesville, Fla.
Dear Str8boy:
Patrick Stewart, when asked about his role as an openly gay man in the 1995 film "Jeffrey," marveled at the number of interviewers questioning whether he thought the role might hurt his career. He observed that while he'd played murderers, tyrants, bullies, and thieves, no one had ever asked him whether he thought those parts might cause him to be mistaken for any of those things. It was only the character in "Jeffrey" that worried journalists. Odd, isn't it?
I understand your situation, and don't worry, I'm not going to give you a lecture about acceptance or tolerance. Clearly you're not the one with the problem. I know that you have no judgment about homosexuality and are entirely comfortable in the role and with your castmates. I also understand your concerns and would never dismiss them. But I would make a case for letting go of your near terror and processing this puzzle by assessing two things: likelihoods and worst-case scenarios.
Let's put a few things in perspective. First, it's unlikely that people are spending their spare time Googling you. Sorry, but it's true. If they do, and if they know you're an actor, it's unlikely this one role would shock them. I'm sure they'll come across other instances when you've played someone different from yourself. In the unlikely event that a potential boss happens upon this and really has a thing about it, I suppose he or she might hire someone else. But really, how likely is that? Worst-case scenario: You're not hired. You'll live.
As for directors who might be considering you for roles and discover that you've played gay, please let me assure you how unlikely that is to be a problem. Even if they were so dim as to assume that the characters you play reveal who you are, I can't imagine that any self-respecting theater professional would care whether you're gay or straight. It's theater, for Pete's sake! Without our gay colleagues, theater as we know it wouldn't exist. If anything, it's sometimes a plus if people assume you're gay. So your feared scenario is neither likely nor problematic.
As for friends and family, I'm sure they know you well enough to know your sexual orientation, since that's such a basic part of who you are. If you think they'll be weird about you playing a gay character, then by all means don't tell them. But if they happen to find out, I want you to consider letting their discomfort be their problem. If they give you a hard time, throw it back at them with: "So you think the parts I play are me? Interesting." Or "Wow, this is really an issue for you, isn't it?" If you just stand firm in your pride about your work, then it falls to them to get over it. Whatever you do, don't take the bait by defending your self-identity. I've spent way too many minutes of my life debating with those who, having just met me, decided their assessment of my sexuality was more accurate than my own. That's a crazy conversation to take on. In the end, it's always just that people are uncomfortable because you don't fit their stereotypes—in your case, the stereotype that heterosexuals would be inept and uncomfortable playing homosexuals. You're confusing them.
Personally, I love confusing people. It makes them think, and sometimes it demonstrates what we do. One of the best stage experiences I've ever had (and one of the most challenging) was playing a past-his-prime former drag queen from Cuba in a heartbreaking drama called "The Boys of Mariel." I imagine that strangers who saw it probably thought I was not only gay but Cuban as well—at least, that's my hope. And I found I enjoyed the fact that people made those assumptions. It meant I was doing my job. And I felt sort of brave. I never went out of my way to correct the erroneous assumptions. When the playwrights found out I was neither gay nor Cuban, one of them said, "Well, you sure could have fooled us." "That's sort of the whole idea," I reminded them.
When I was on tour with "Les Misérables," I often spoke to school groups around the country. The little kids were the best! The question most often asked by little boys was, "What if you had to act like a girl?" To them, this was the most horrible imaginable fate an actor could suffer. I just smiled and said, "I've done it! It was fun," then waited for the inevitable comical chorus of "eeew"s. Still, by demonstrating how proud I was to be an actor, playing all kinds of crazy parts, my point was made. You know how good you feel about this project. Let people deal with their own crap. It can be kind of fun watching them process.
I don't mean to suggest that your concerns are unfounded. I just think your situation is far less risky than you've imagined.
So, no, you shouldn't ask the producers to leave you out of photos and press releases. It's really not fair to them to make that request. They have to be able to promote the piece in whatever way best serves that goal. "If you were this concerned about it," they may say, "you shouldn't have taken the job." Frankly, they'd be right. Besides, I don't think you'd feel good about yourself if you hid your participation. It's not like you're doing porn. It's a theater piece, and you're an actor. Be proud, be brave, do your thing, and if anyone is shocked or confused, enjoy it!
Questions for The Working Actor? Send an email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Thank you!


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As Europe's troubles deepen and pose more of a threat to the vital interests of the U.S., Americans are recycling their tried and tested critiques of the European Union: It is too statist and bureaucratic. Its instincts are too protectionist. Its decision-making bodies are too slow and secretive. EU foreign policy is too naive, too feckless about defense and security. The problem with Europe, in a word, is that it is too European.
But the EU isn't in trouble today because its leaders are "too European." The EU is in trouble because its leadership isn't European enough. It is time for the continent to return to the tradition of realist politics that gave rise to its modern union in the first place.
It is easy today to forget just how hardheaded the original architects of Europe's postwar drive for integration actually were. Charles de Gaulle of France, Konrad Adenauer of West Germany and Alcide De Gasperi of Italy were conservative nationalists whose vision for Europe reflected the bitter experiences of two world wars and a failed peace.
In its origins, European unity was an unsentimental exercise in geopolitics. Germany and Italy saw it as a way to reintegrate into the world after the disaster of fascism. France saw a coalition with a defeated and partitioned Germany as a way to cement its power in Europe and to strengthen its global reach. All these governments saw European unity as a way to keep the Old World as independent as possible from both Moscow and Washington. "Europe will be your revenge," Adenauer told de Gaulle after the humiliation of the Suez crisis in 1956, when the U.S. forced France and Britain to back down from a joint campaign with Israel against Egypt.
These leaders did not think that submerging their national histories and identities in a cosmopolitan, post-national Europe was either possible or desirable. They supported Europe because it seemed to be the best way forward for the peoples they led. For its part, the U.S. backed the project because a united Western Europe offered the best hope to stop communism in the short term and to prevent the recurrence of major European wars farther down the road. Read more…


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BEST PLAY-BY-PLAY TEAM Eric Nadel and Vince Cotroneo, Texas Rangers, KRLD-AM (1080)
We've never met anyone who loved the game of baseball more than Eric Nadel, which is quite a thing to say given that Nadel has spent the last 20 years of his life watching every single Texas Rangers game. Don't they give out Congressional Medals of Honor for such acts of heroism?
It seems like only yesterday we were young children with our Realistic transistors tucked beneath our pillows during late summer nights, listening as Nadel and his old friend (and ours) Mark Holtz called a West Coast game featuring the Oakland Athletics and Don Zimmer's lowly Rangers squad. It didn't seem like summer without the voices of Nadel and Holtz in our earphones; it could have been 100 degrees, but without those two guys on our radios, it might as well have been football season with snow on the ground. Now, a year after Holtz's death from leukemia, Nadel carries on without his partner; so do we.
Before a spring-training game in Port Charlotte, Florida, Nadel stood on the roof of the press box at Charlotte County Stadium and said he could never explain how much he misses his old friend and mentor. He looked out across the ballpark, the wind to his front and the alligator swamp to his back, and said only that "I think of Mark every day during baseball season, and most other days too." But Nadel's new partner is no lump of coal to Holtz's perfect gem: In Holtz's place is the affable Vince Cotroneo, who spent the last seven years calling Houston Astros games--and surely he misses that right about now, with Randy Johnson setting the armpit of Texas on fire with shutout after sublime shutout. Cotroneo and Nadel have spent this season guiding us with patience, intelligence, and humor through some of the best and worst ball the Texas Rangers have ever played. Never in the history of the sport has a team with such high expectations performed to such low levels, and the boys in the booth make little effort to disguise their own frustrations with the Rangers--or their delight when something goes right.
One day, Nadel will be looked upon as one of the all-time broadcast-booth greats; Cotroneo, for his part, sounds delighted to sit next to him, learn from him, and pretend he's not filling a legend's seat far too big for him or, really, anybody. An honorable mention goes to Dallas Stars play-by-play man Ralph Strangis and his partner, color analyst Daryl Reaugh. Strangis has the hardest job in all of sports media--trying to explain to the listener what the viewer has trouble following. He'd win this award if listening to hockey on the radio wasn't so damned dull and annoying; it's not his fault.
Dale Hansen, WFAA-Channel 8
KXAS-Channel 5 advertises Brian Jensen as "The Sports Guy," when he's really just a Dale Hansen starter kit. He must shop at Hansen's garage sales--where else you gonna find a sports coat in that shade of blinding blue? And Scott Murray, well, we like him well enough, except for his rather annoying habit of pronouncing athletes' names wrong; take a deep breath, Scott, and say it with us: No-VIT-sky. Take Max Morgan (please). Or Babe Laufenberg--and just what is the deal with local stations hiring ex-Cowboys to read the TelePrompter? Oh, well--better that than a playbook. (There are more homers on local TV than in the Mark McGwire-Sammy Sosa race.) And Mike Doocy is literally the definition of a talking head. No offense, Mike, we still think you're good-looking, but you just don't fit on our 27-inch TV.
We like Dale--no, we absolutely adore Dale, love him like he was kin--because he's a royal pain in the ass, because he's so cynical he makes us feel good about our lives, and because he realizes this is just sports we're talkin' about, fellas, so lighten up and have a shot. He's the one local desk jockey who could never be accused of being a home-town cheerleader, and if he too often slants the other way, well, that's just a welcome relief from the rah-rah-sis-boom-blah that clings to the other sports desks like so much Cameron Diaz hair gel. Dale's a cranky genius, prone to go off like a time bomb and force Tracy and Chip to clean up his mess. More often than not, they look at him like he's an idiot--or just drunk. Which he is, on himself and on this game we like to call sports anchoring.
Dale Hansen
Best SPORTS MOMENT OF 1998
Dallas Mavericks 104, Chicago Bulls 97
It happened as though in a dream, a barely remembered engram long since faded. Even now, reading about it in an old notebook kept while watching it unfold before our very own eyes, it seems as though the moment never occurred. We recollect it almost as though we watched it out of the corner of our eyes, unsure whether we saw what we thought we saw. No--must have been smoke, a ghost, a trick of the light.
But wait, there it is, in the notebook and the stat sheets and the newspaper clips written in disappearing ink that begin to fade. Says it right there. Dallas beats Michael Jordan. Lowly Mavs humiliate mighty Bulls. A dynasty is shamed. Yes, en route to winning their 542nd consecutive world title, the Chicago Bulls came to Reunion Arena and got beat by Michael Finley and Cedric Ceballos on a March night that seems so long ago now, so many yesterdays and defeats and owner lockouts behind us.
It begins to come back to us, the Finley revenge baskets and the Ceballos three-pointer with 3.9 seconds left on the clock that nailed shut the Bulls' coffin. We recall how, on that night, Jordan played more like a shadow than a superstar, connecting on only 10 of 24 shots taken. We recall Dennis Rodman's return to his hometown and the sideline temper tantrum when he refused to put his shoes back on. We recall a crowd that cheered as though these were the good old days of 1988 and not the awful present; we recall the flash bulbs and the cheers and the Reunion Rowdies clearing their throats for one more "Shout" before the season came to a crumbling close.
We recall, still in a haze, the moments after the game, when the locker-room locusts crowded around Jordan and wanted to know how the Bulls could lose to Dallas. We recall his sharp suit, his sly smile, his short answers--This doesn't matter, said the look on his face. But most of all, we recall Rodman's answer to some buffoon's question about how it feels to lose to the Mavericks. "Does it hurt?" asked the TV talking head. "No," Rodman answered, the giant grin cutting his face in half. "It hurts when you go out for a couple of drinks and a girl won't have sex with you. That hurts."
Yes it does, my brother. Losing to the Mavericks? Well, that's a pain barely felt...and so quickly forgotten.
Stars playoffs
Um...The Texas Rangers?
At the time of this writing, the Rangers are still in the hunt for the AL West title, trailing the Anaheim Angels by...one game...no, two...no, one...no, two...no, now they're two ahead of Anaheim...no, now they're not. Watching the Rangers this season has been like riding a Six Flags roller-coaster nonstop since April. Just when you think you've thrown up for the last time, here comes another dip at a thousand miles per hour, usually when John Burkett has the ball.
The boys in Arlington seem at once desperate to win and eager to lose this division, which is more mediocre than a Celine Dion song. Odds are 5-to-1 them Little League champs could take either team in the West in a best-of-five series, if only because they have better pitching. At the beginning of the season, second baseman Mark McLemore sat at his locker and insisted the Rangers are not victims of their own history. "Nobody on this team has been here for 27 years," he said. "This team's history means nothing to everybody in this locker room. We're here to win it. It doesn't matter what happened before."
Six months later looks like 10 years earlier, as Texas has failed to run away with a division so pitiful, Sally Struthers laughs at it. Even with Aaron Sele and Rick Helling pitching lights-out, even with Juan Gonzalez driving in more runners than a chauffeur, even with Will Clark born again behind the plate, even with John Wetteland recording save after ulcer-inducing save, Texas stumbles damned near every time it runs out of the dugout. They've given up nearly 80 unearned runs this season (come back, Benji Gil, all is forgiven), gone 17-17 in games decided by one run, and couldn't get a winning streak going during the final month of the season against sub-.500 teams.
Nothing against Johnny Oates (fire him), but the skipper (please) can't seem to motivate his boys to play pro ball in an amateur division (not kidding). Maybe Tom Hicks needs to reconsider his investment before he plugs this leak with a wad of wasted millions. And to think, Kevin Elster was gonna save this team. Where's he now? Probably out in Los Angeles, shooting a pilot for a mid-season replacement.
One afternoon this spring, we were sitting on the steps of the Cotton Bowl, listening to the sound of our own heart beat--that's how quiet Fair Park is in the middle of the afternoon 11 months out of the year. Then, suddenly, about 25 Rollerbladers--or in-line-skaters, to be politically correct--sped by us at breakneck speeds, turning the Esplanade into the Detroit Grand Prix of Rollerblading. In a moment, the ghost town better known as Fair Park was alive with the tiny rumble of skates grooving along the cement paths--the whrrrrrr-whrrrrrr of it all.
Frank Luksa, The Dallas Morning News
When Randy Galloway moved to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, he ruined Mondays for us. Used to be, we could flip on Galloway's WBAP-AM (820) radio show the day after a Cowboys loss and listen to the Cuervo King get down with his football-writing buddies from The Dallas Morning News. Not that we've anything against columnist Jim "Revo" Reeves (a durned likable and smart feller) or beat writer Kevin Lyons, but they just ain't Frank Luksa and Rick Gosselin (a man The Ticket's talking heads correctly refer to as "The Mad Scientist" of the NFL). We used to love how Luksa didn't let Galloway get away with nothin'; Frank's wit and wisdom cut through Randy's good-ol'-boy bull-shootin' like it was so much static.
Those days are gone now. Galloway, lured away by promises of freedom and hundreds of thousands of dollars, has abandoned Luksa to Sports Day Executive Editor Dave Smith and all them pea-brains at the Morning News, who insist on burying Luksa's sports-page poetry inside the section while playing up "newcomer" Tim Cowlishaw as though his "insights" were brand-new. Look, Dave, we're tired of those godawful Cowlishaw radio spots and billboards; why don't you give that money to Frank and call it even?
Any man who pens columns like Luksa's July 3 farewell to the engimatic greatness that was Tony Tolbert ("I thought it sad that anyone would play this long and well for the Cowboys and leave on such a muted note. That's why I wrote a column about Tolbert, whoever he was.") should be celebrated, not cast aside for a fresh face who peddles stale ideas. Not that it makes one damned bit of difference: Luksa's Tolbert column didn't even get played on the front page of Sports Day. We had to dig for it, as though it were gold. Of course, it was.
Randy Galloway
The NBA lockout
Word is the owners' lockout could end sometime in the middle of October, when arbitrator John Feerick rules on the owners' contention that players with guaranteed contracts shouldn't be paid during the lockout. If Feerick rules in the players' favor, it's likely the owners will call off their lockout and welcome back their property with open arms.
Please, say it ain't so. We're looking forward to a winter without the Mavericks, a year off from the misery and shame this so-called basketball team brings to our beloved city. Let Don Nelson stay in Hawaii, drinking beer and working on his tan; the man plain wears us out anyway. Like, who in the hell does that guy think he is, telling Junior Perot he's the coach till he feels like it, then his baby boy's taking over whether he likes it or not? That guy's got Spaldings for balls, and we kinda respect that.
Let Kurt Thomas rest that ankle another season; he can get injured in 1999. Let Shawn Bradley add about 100 pounds to that super-freaky frame of his, though it really don't mean much when a guy that tall (7-foot-6) can't shoot, dribble, rebound, block, or pass. (Mr. Bol, your table is ready.) And just let the rest of us be.
Frankly, the thought of having to watch the worst team of the 1990s play one more game this year turns our stomachs. We'd be happy if the Mavericks were sold to a German investor and moved to Berlin, where new Mav Dirk Nowitzki can play without having to wave bye-bye to his mommy and daddy. Sprechen ze suck?
Troy Aikman, quarterback
On a team so often judged by its worst players of late--does David LaFleur actually get paid to play like that?--it's a chore to single out its best individual. Not that Jerry's team doesn't still feature a few superstars on its roster, one or two guys who might well make it into the Hall of Fame should the nominating committee choose to overlook some players' tastes in pharmaceuticals and girlfriends.
Just look at Emmitt Smith, who, two games into the young season, had already racked up 217 yards and one touchdown; he's on pace to best his numbers from last season by...what?...week eight. Or newcomer Ernie Mills, the former Carolina Panthers wide receiver who was averaging 20 yards per reception going into Monday night's game against New York and already has two TDs on the season--two more than Michael Irvin, a man who gives and gives to the community, because the court ordered him to. Hell, he keeps playing this way, and kicker Richie Cunningham might well get our vote for best Dallas Cowboy. After the Cardinals and Broncos game, the guy was four-for-four on field goals--including a 54-yarder that tied a Cowboys record nobody much talks about. Of course, the last guy Jerry Jones wants to see on the field this season is Cunningham, unless he's kicking an extra point. Richie played so much last season, he kept telling Troy Aikman to call him "Sir."
But there's little doubt it's Aikman who steers this team away from the iceberg this season, depending upon whether his collarbone heals properly and quickly and Jason Garrett can hang in there long enough for there even to be a season to rescue. Not that we have anything against Garrett--sure, he won his last start, in 1994, and we love any guy who can speak eloquently on the merits of Bob Dylan. But this is Aikman's team. It wasn't his fault last year was such a bust: It's not as if he had anyone but Michael Irvin to throw to, given that Anthony Miller couldn't catch a ball if the ball had hands. Teams covered Michael Irvin like Marty Griffin last season, leaving Aikman to throw to Miller, Eric Bjornson (whose last name is apparently Swedish for "underachieving"), and LaFleur, who's such a non-entity, we're always surprised refs don't flag the Cowboys for having too few men on the field whenever he's in the game.
Troy's the third-most reliable quarterback in the history of the game. He has three Super Bowl rings. And he's always the first guy to talk to the media and the last guy to leave during such interview sessions, making him one of the most patient men this side of Gandhi, especially when he has to endure questions from the likes of Channel 4's Geraud Moncure. This team doesn't even make it to Valley Ranch without Aikman, much less the playoffs.
Troy Aikman
The deportation of Barry Switzer
Cowboy fans were downright mad after last season, and we had to blame someone for our team's on-field woes. Just how ticked we were became evident with how ferociously we bid farewell to Barry Switzer. If you think he just got fired by Jerry Jones, you weren't listening to talk radio. It was the whole mob of us kicking his lazy butt back across the Red River. Jones had no choice, lest he, too, wanted to be lynched. We, the fans, exiled that potty-mouthed, gun-toting, Sunday-ruining gigolo to Oklahoma, Super Bowl ring and all. Chan's our man now. Switzer, B. is history. Yeah, boy, we told him off good.
Texas Rangers
We'll fess up. During the appropriate season you regularly find us perusing all the city's major sporting team sites--dallasstars.com, texasrangers.com, and dallascowboys.com. (No, we don't spend much time at dallasmavericks.com. We don't have any desire to spend any real time with them; why would we want to waste precious virtual time?) All are good, offering up plenty of reports, stats, photos, sound clips, and videos. The Cowboys site even has a Cheer Report so you can stalk--er--keep tabs on your favorite pom-poms. What's not to like about that? But, truthfully, there's only one site that we really get jiggy with, only one that we truly interact with--texasrangers.com. While the Cowboys site uses a nifty new QuickTime trick to virtually show you the view from different sections of Texas Stadium, texasrangers.com can literally take you out to the ballgame (and the QuickTime virtual trick is promised soon). We've often hopped online, decided we wanted to go to a game that night, entered how many seats we need, and either let the site show us the best seats available or picked out the seats ourselves. A simple secure credit card transaction later, and we had tickets waiting for us at the gate. Try that with a Cowboys game and you'll wind up wading through Ticketmaster's pain-in-the-ass site for a month of Sundays and still need to cuss someone out on the phone before it's all said and done.
We'd pick Lone Star Park, if only because it's the only sports venue in town where we can pick up a little extra scratch (and not much--this season, we gave new meaning to the word handicapping). But we still have to give it up for the Ballpark, even if it's the home of the Texas Rangers; never has such a beautiful monument to the game of baseball been wasted on such undeserving recipients. Don't get us wrong: As lifelong Dallasites, we love the Texas Rangers and have suffered through every humiliating season as though each come-and-gone player was our own flesh and blood. But the old Arlington Stadium is good enough for a team that has appeared in the playoffs once in 27 years; a minor-league team should play in a minor-league park. Forget the game, though (Why not? The Rangers do all the time), and consider the surrounding charms of the Ballpark: The Legends of the Game Baseball Museum and Learning Center is a delightful, informative step into the past (not to mention a catcher's shoes--one interactive exhibit lets you "catch" a Nolan Ryan fastball). We can spend hours in there looking at old jerseys and photos and other pieces of memorabilia lovingly collected by the museum's curators. Better to glance upon a piece of the past than to sit and watch the present out on the Ballpark's glorious diamond; there just ain't no way to be kind about a so-called first-place team that ends the home portion of the regular season by committing four errors.
The bowling alleys here aren't necessarily the best in town, though the renovations that took place three years ago did turn a run-down institution into a 10-pin palace for us regular schmoes. (Actually, for sheer decadence, we prefer the handful of lanes buried in the back of Dave and Buster's on Walnut Hill and Central. It's like being in a movie star's mansion, munching on tater skins and guzzling beer while sitting in plush leather seats.) But bowling at the Bronco Bowl is only part of the charm (that is what it's called, right?), and it ain't like there's that much difference between bowling alleys when you get down to it. Anyone who says different works for Don Carter's. At the Bronco Bowl, you've also got pool tables galore, a decent video arcade, a sports-themed restaurant, a bar that ain't so bad--and when all is said and done, there's always the concert hall in the back, where the rock is usually solid.
2600 Fort Worth Avenue, (214) 943-1777
6343 E. Northwest Highway, (214) 363-9418; Walnut Hill & Stemmons Freeway, (214) 358-1382
Everybody's got their favorite pool hall--frankly, we're partial to dark holes along Gaston Avenue, places that haven't seen sunlight and fresh air since cigarettes got filters. Some people will tell ya Clicks is the best; others, Speed's; a few more, Dave and Buster's, where the felt is as smooth as glass, the balls are as shiny as polished marble, and the sticks are as straight as George Clooney. Pool players are as picky about their shooting galleries as they are their cues. Bad music on the jukebox, terrible amateurs on the table next to you (taking an hour to play a single game), and weak-ass drinks can ruin a night out for the casual ball striker and the pro hustler. (That's why we never go to Royal Rack anymore: Love the cool vibe, mon, but it's more about ambiance than sport.) Main St. Billiards has the disadvantage of being in Deep Ellum--and in a location more cursed than any sacred burial ground upon which tract homes have been built--but every time we've been in there, the place is half-empty, the beer's ridiculously cheap, and the jukebox isn't so bad to throw off our game (even if we had one).
2642 Main St., (214) 742-7665
We remember the good old days when Oshman's seemed like a decadent experience. After all, our mom and dad always took us to Doak Walker's when we needed some new cleats and bats and goggles, and Oshman's pretty much overwhelmed our young athletic senses. Nowadays, you can get used golf balls at Tom Thumb, pitching machines at Target, and anything else you need at myriad sporting-goods superstores around town. The Jumbo Sports is pretty much what it advertises: It's big, it's got supplies for pretty much every sport you need and in every size imaginable, and the price is what you might imagine when a store buys balls in bulk. Still, we miss the mom-and-pop days. So do Mom and Pop.
11100 North Central Expressway, (214) 750-7484
Sure, you can find some gear cheaper at Target--you can get a little bit of everything cheaper at Target. But when the only thing between you and multiple concussions from a sudden hailstorm in the Guadalupe Mountains is a thin layer of rip-stop nylon, do you really want to cheap out on that tent? We think not. If your idea of camping involves lawn chairs, miniature televisions, and staying in sight of your car, feel free to shop the discount stores till you drop. But for the more adventurous, REI offers decent prices on an array of high-quality boots, stoves, packs, sleeping bags, tents, and canoe and kayaking equipment. They even stock those fancy powdered mixes and camp ovens that allegedly let you cook a pizza while listening to the coyotes wail. REI offers a full range of climbing gear and rock-climbing competitions on a 28-foot practice wall in the store. Being pear-shaped, spindly-armed news folk, we've yet to try out the wall ourselves, but watching others do so can make for some fine entertainment while we shop. Now where are those pizzas?
4515 LBJ Freeway, (972) 490-5989
A bit obvious, you say? Well, of course it is. That's why White Rock perennially is the favorite jogging spot for Observer readers and the, um, two members of our staff who jog. The nine miles of trails circling the lake offer plenty to distract you from your aching feet, tortured knees, and wheezing chest, and we're not just talking ducks here. The closest thing we have to New York City's Central Park features a cross-section of Dallas' population for your entertainment: Spandexed skaters, parents and children fishing, moneyed yachtsmen sailing, and plenty of guys just hanging out, sharing the music from their car stereos with you. It's a rolling symphony of Tejano, C&W, metal, and rap. Thanks guys! It can get a bit crowded, but the trail is paved and generally smooth and level, some of the water fountains work, and occasionally what passes for a cool breeze in Dallas blows off the lake. Best of all, the many fine drinking establishments of Lakewood and Greenville Avenue are just a short drive away. Go ahead, you've earned it. Besides, it's a medical fact that hops and barley provide the body with important electrolytes. Really.
There are no fancy weight machines, no StairMasters upon which you can jiggle your flabby thighs; you want a steam, a massage, a facial, or a beauty salon on the premises, go to Signature Athletic Club or the Landry Center or one of them fancy gyms--or health clubs, as you call them. We prefer this Oak Cliff punching-bag paradise run by a veritable boxing legend, former welterweight world champion Curtis Cokes, who trains his fighters here and, for a fee, allows the regular folk a chance to sweat in his shadow. Cokes is a gentleman, a fight scholar, a bona fide hero, and still in shape so many decades after wearing the belt; he will make a man out of you, even if you're a girl. Plus, we recommend this place because it's where Michael Irvin works out--when he's taking a break from his community service. But don't bug the man.
111 E. Saner Avenue, (214) 941-5744
24-Hour Fitness
Various locations
Marlon St. Julien
He came out of nowhere, winning the very first race at Lone Star Park's inaugural meet in 1997. Then, without the benefit of first-rate mounts or long-standing relationships with top trainers, jockey Marlon St. Julien rode hard and placed a strong second in last year's jockey standings to Cajun rider Ronald Ardoin. Race followers wondered if the previously unknown 25-year-old rider from Lafayette, Louisiana, could sustain this surprising success.
This year St. Julien obliterated all doubts--not only about his talents, but about the ability of an African-American race rider to make inroads into a sport, thoroughbred racing, that has seen no prominent black jockeys in nearly a century. St. Julien ran away with the jocks' title at Lone Star--winning 78 races and $1.7 million in purse money during the spring meet. This time around, St. Julien got some of the best mounts, bagged his first $200,000 stakes race, and gained enough of a national profile that he was able to make a successful shift to a new riding circuit--in Chicago.
Those who detected St. Julien's talents back when he was riding cheap claimers at Louisiana's back-water Evangeline Downs know he's no novelty act. The polite, incredibly hard-working kid they call "Saint" is headed for the big leagues.
Mike Modano, center
We'd give this award to Brett Hull, but he hasn't suited up yet in the hometown black-and-green. Come see us in December, when we've figured out whether he's really the second coming of his old man or just another overrated hockey player--as though we could even tell the difference. We also thought about bestowing this honor upon Joe Nieuwendyk, who played in 73 games last season, led the team with goals (39) and assists (30)--and, hence, points, no duh--and whose playoff-ending knee injury against the San Jose Sharks in the first round could well have cost the Stars a shot at the Stanley Cup. When he went down, it felt as though he took the Stars with him, no matter how hard the boys tried. (Then again, the Detroit Red Wings were unstoppable Motor City madmen in the Finals, so perhaps it was just inevitable.)
Hell, Sergei Zubov and Pat Verbeek and even Jamie Langenbrunner could lay claim to this accolade. When you play for Ken Hitchcock, everyone's a star every other game. But we must give credit where it's due, to Mike Modano, who rebounded last year from a couple of just-above-mediocre seasons and proved he's more than just another pretty face by playing offense and defense. The man finally gave as good as he got, at least after head coach Ken Hitchcock had a little sit-down with the boy and explained what's what. Three years ago, Modano seriously considered retiring from the game and going into the golf business. He had grown weary of all the talk about how he was nothing more than a goal-scoring machine, how he cared more about his points than about his pals on the ice--perhaps because he agreed with the naysayers. He readily admitted during an interview early last season that he would become frustrated when he couldn't score, and that he wasn't even content with an assist; he had loftier ambitions.
Last season, at least before he went down with an injury, Modano had 38 assists in a mere 52 games; he also put the puck in the goal 21 times. In years past, such a point total would have been disappointing, even debilitating. But now, he's content to let Nieuwendyk or Zubov or even Verbeek rack up the points while he goes after opposing teams' star players. The boy's not afraid of anything anymore, especially of himself.
Mike Modano
Ken Hitchcock, Dallas Stars
In time, Ken Hitchcock will win a Stanley Cup. Preferably, it will come with the Dallas Stars. Then again, perhaps not--there is no job in this world more unstable than that of a pro hockey team's head coach. Just ask Scotty Bowman, the legend whose name is engraved on eight Stanley Cups--with three different teams. In three years, Hitchcock has turned a lost, nothing team into Presidents' Trophy owners, leading his team to the very best record in the National Hockey League last season. Never mind that the Stars were knocked out in the Western Conference Finals; no one goes into Hockey Town and comes out alive, not even the Dallas Stars.
In a sports town such as Dallas, where Chan Gailey is hailed as a revolutionary genius without even four games under his belt (and a game plan that sounds more like sandlot ball: Everybody go deep!), Hitchcock should be downright revered. Why? Because he believes in the concept of team before all else, because he has sacrificed and suffered so much to turn the Dallas Stars around in such an astonishingly short amount of time.
Not so long ago, the man wasn't even considered suitable head-coaching material--executives around the NHL thought he was too heavy for players to take seriously--despite his remarkable record in the minors. But since taking over the Stars midway through the 1995-1996 season, he has proven that patience, respect, discretion, and savvy can indeed turn a group of disparate men into a single, cohesive group.
To spend any time around Hitchcock is to admire and even adore him. Off the ice, he is a thoughtful, diligent man who would rather sit and talk about ideology and motivation than players and game plan. He's the very opposite of a man like Mavericks head coach-general manager Don Nelson, who literally explodes whenever asked why instead of how. Perhaps that is because Hitchcock fancies himself something of a philosopher, while Nelson is more of a gut-instinct kind of guy, someone who throws a mess against the wall and hopes Shawn Bradley sticks. Hitchcock's every action serves a purpose; he's probably the only guy in the world who thinks before he takes each breath. His players often say they could probably win without him. But deep down, it's doubtful they believe it--just ask Mike Modano, who was born again under Hitchcock's careful guidance.
"I'm hard on people who don't work," The Man Called Hitch said earlier this year. "I don't go away. I don't quit on them. I work with them, but I push, and I push those players to get up to the level that's needed for the team." The team. That's Hitchcock's favorite phrase. And that's why, one of these days, his team will win him the coveted cup from which Scotty Bowman keeps drinking.
Ken Hitchcock
Will Clark, First base
Yes, yes, yes. Juan Gonzalez is having a career year, knocking in an average of one RBI every game. And as we wrote just two weeks ago, if the Rangers actually do make it to post-season play, it will be up to Gonzalez to put this team on his back and carry the boys into October. And yes, we know Pudge Rodriguez has a batting average even Mark McGwire would love to own; for a catcher, he sure knows how to hit. And yes, Rusty Greer's having a hellfire second half, proving once more that any talk of trading him in August was so much empty speculation (although we drool over the idea of having Roger Clemens heading this mediocre pitching rotation). And yes, yes, we know all about the how-the-hell-did-that-happen seasons Aaron Sele and Rick Helling are having. If you would have said at the beginning of the season that those boys were going to post 18-plus wins this season (as pitching coach Dick Bosman insisted), we could have called you crazy (OK, so we did).
But look, for a moment, at Will Clark's numbers as of September 22: a .306 batting average, 100 runs batted in (and he bats fifth in the lineup, which means he gets Gonzalez's leftovers), 23 home runs, 38 doubles, and a relatively injury-free season till last week. Don't think for a second Clark's playing this well because he's in the final year of his five-year contract. He's too much of a professional for that, one of those rare so-called "clubhouse leaders" who deserves such a moniker. His two singles last week against Baltimore--with a broken toe, no less--offer substantial proof of that.
What makes Clark's accomplishments that much more astonishing is that he plays in a town where he's as despised as he is beloved, who gets booed as often as Juan gets cheered. It's possible he won't be back next year--he will likely want a career-closing deal for too much money and too many years--but who would you replace him with? Lee Stevens? Rafael Palmeiro? Mike Simms?
How about Will Clark?
Pudge Rodriguez
Tie: Dunham and Miller and The Hardline, KTCK-AM (1310)
Warning: This item is loaded with Ticket jargon. Proceed with caution.
Craig "Donovan" Miller and George "The Homer" Dunham handle up on the morning drive (from 5:30 to 10 a.m.), while Greg "The Hammer" Williams and Mike "The Wolf" Rhyner steer you home with the afternoon presentation (3 to 7 p.m.), and they make nice enough bookends in this wasteland we call local radio. Better Dunham and Miller's shtick-'em-up than that spare Kidd Kraddick's Wonder Bread idiocies. And, to be honest, every now and then, we'll tune our radio to The Hardline Regurgitated (the hourlong rerun from 7-8 p.m.) to avoid those yahoos that first-time-long-time Randy Galloway to death.
Actually, we're quite fond of both Dunham and Miller and The Hardline, except when Dunham--the voice of Texas Stadium--insists the Cowboys are better than, oh, 5-11; never trust a guy who likes The Fixx and sounds like Norm Hitzges even when he's not doing an impression. (Just kidding, Magical Mystical One--we swear. Yeaaaaaaah.)
Both duos spout plenty of hot sports opinions, even when they ain't talking sports (which they do more than they're given credit for), and we especially love listening to fanboy Miller talk to George "The Iceman" Gervin (m'man) or hearing a growling Rhyner defend his Rangers-are-finished predictions to Rusty Greer. The one constant on both shows is Gordon Keith, whose Fake Juan Gonzalez and Fake Johnny Oates and Fake Randy Galloway (among so many other characters) are so dead-on and brilliant he makes us P1 in our pants. Speaking of which, Bruce Gilbert: Keith deserves his own daily show, and not just that Saturday-morning bone Ticket management throws his way. We like Keith's The Rant (mostly because it's a clip-and-paste show featuring his best bits of the previous week), but let's see what the boy can do five days a week. (How about "The Andy Panda Show?") It's got to be better than being whipped to death by the likes of Rocco "wheels off" Pendola and newcomer Bob Sturm, who's better than the ousted Max Miller...but so's Max Morgan. Watch out, bruthas--we see a failed-bit warning ahead.
The Hardline
Michael Finley, forward
This is almost as big a no-brainer as the Dallas Mavericks themselves. As we've said all along, if Michael Finley--acquired in that Jason Kidd-to-Phoenix trade in 1996--played for a real basketball team, he'd be a superstar by now. As it is, he's stuck playing for Dallas' CBA franchise, a team so terrible the Los Angeles Clippers get excited when they see the Mavs on their schedule, even though the Mavs did beat Chicago, Indiana, and Seattle (twice) last season. And managed to finish 42 games back in the Midwest Division in the process--impressive.
Hell, it might not be so far off to say coach-general manager Don Nelson is the best player on the Mavs' bench--and he hasn't suited up since, what, the Ford administration? Last season, and it pains us to reflect back upon that debacle, Finley led the team in scoring (21.9 points per game), assists (4.9), and steals (1.6). Then again, he was also the only professional basketball player on the floor wearing green and white. Not to knock Erick Strickland--bless him, he tries hard--or Samaki Walker, who might be good, someday, or A.C. Green, who was rewarded this year for showing up to work 978 straight days--with, like, several off-seasons in between.
But without Finley, this pitiful excuse for a basketball team doesn't even win 20 games--four fewer than it won the year before, when Don Nelson blew up the Mavericks as if it was a federal building and told then-coach Jim Cleamons to clean up the mess. The best Dallas Maverick--what a totally worthless title.
Michael Finley
Tom Hicks, Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers
Perhaps Chancellor Media Corporation's chairman wins this one by default. After all, the only Best-of-Dallas award Jerry Jones is likely to win this year is Best Ability to Cover Up What Really Happened to Everett McIver After Michael Irvin Stabbed Him In The Neck With A Scissors During Training Camp. And he sure ain't getting the nod for Best Hairpiece anytime soon, though he might well get Best Public Relations Move by putting Ticket morning man George Dunham on the payroll as the voice of Texas Stadium's public-address system. (Jerry hits a homer!) We like Jerry well enough, maybe because he talked to us during training camp, which is more than we can say for Mavs owner Ross Perot Jr., who ducks us in the Reunion Arena hallways as though we haven't bathed in months.
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Hicks might well be a greedy (sorry--very smart and kind) son of a gun who's taking over the world a hundred radio stations at a time, and we sure don't appreciate the fact that he's determined to turn Dallas radio into rock and roll's graveyard with a bunch of oldies stations.
Still, here's a guy who signed Ed Belfour when he needed a goalie, reupped Mike Modano for relatively bargain-basement prices, then let Stars general manager Bob Gainey go out and make the biggest off-season signing in Dallas sports history by inking St. Louis Blues superstar (and son of a legend) Brett Hull. Hicks wants to win, no matter the price, which is evident in the skyrocketing Stars payroll--despite the fact that the team will keep losing money until it moves into the new arena, or so team management keeps insisting.
Now, the Rangers' situation is a whole different ball of twine: Hicks knows he needs to sign a Randy Johnson--he said that very thing during an interview with the Observer this spring--but that ain't gonna happen, and Todd Stottlemyre ain't no Randy Johnson (or Randy Jackson, for that matter). So he's stuck with a middling team fighting for its playoff life in a division that's barely breathing. And his timing couldn't be worse, with attendance falling well off last year's three million mark. Oh, well. He's going to own every single human being sooner or later, and surely there's one among us who can pitch worth a damn.
Dallas Burn and Major League Soccer
Soccer may be the most popular team sport in America, but try telling that to all the empty seats at the Cotton Bowl when Dallas' entry in the Major League Soccer league, the Burn, takes the field. The founders of the MLS forgot something important: Just like you shouldn't go shopping when you're hungry, you shouldn't start a professional soccer league when American interest in the game has been artificially boosted by hosting the World Cup. If it lasts two more years, we'll be surprised.


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In our previous post Gaming Digg or is anybody actually looking at the posts? we have shown evidence how Digg is currently spammed and asked users to read articles before voting for them. (our article was removed in minutes while being heavily digged by users)
Since then a few things have happened:
1. Digg support more or less completely refused to look into the issues here. They even asked us if we are confused and only pointed us to their online help section.
2. MuLife.com has put up an article discussing the topic on a broader scale. (The article is also covered in the Blog Herald). It includes references to our story.
3. When you look at the comments for MuLife's article on Digg it seems quite a few users are saying they (ab)use Digg votes for bookmarking. Given that only 2% or only a small amount of users actually "digg" stories the impact from this might be substantial.
Besides that we've done a bit of research and came across quite a few interesting pieces of information. Seemingly there is a growing group of those who made Digg to what it is now – those who "actually" vote and thereby input quality – becoming more and more unhappy with what's happening there. The range is from disgruntled users that have been banned or blocked most likely by spammers over power users that put up their Digg profile for sale on EBay to Mike Arrington from Techcrunch.com writing about "social" networks to game Digg (read the comments on his article).
Nevertheless we don't give up easily and here are our suggestions to Digg for an immediate fix:
- Do not allow to "vote" for a story without accessing it first.
- Create a bookmark feature that users can store & share links without using their vote.
Both of these features can be done very quickly and can function very intuitively. I'm less concerned that spammers would abuse the first feature as they are more interested in the traffic from the 98% Digg users that don't vote but have a look once a post makes it to the front page.
4. What does concern me much more than the two missing features is the extend "social" networks are already been used to spam or exploit Digg.
It seems that currently spammers can easily declared themselves as content and remove content as spam. How can you otherwise explain that an article that is digged heavily is removed in favor over non-content. This also opens quite a few questions if Digg with such an algorithm is actually fit to expand into topics like politics as planned. There stories are even more controversial and opinion driven than within a technical subject like computing.
Related Posts:
- Gaming Digg or is anybody actually looking at the posts?
- Yahoo: Online Bookmark service gets an upgrade
- Web Browsers: New IE and Firefox ante portas
- Singapore plans free wireless Internet
After quite some discussions the last days on Digg power users dominating the front page stories at Digg we today stumbled over something rather strange. How can people rate a story when they can't even access it? And how does a story that nobody can access make it to the front page with high numbers? [...]
Anew version of Yahoo's online bookmark service is now available. The service allows users to store bookmarks or favorites online to share them on different computers or with others. New features of the service include drag and drop support, folders to organize your bookmarks and improved search functions. Tags can now be used as well [...]
Both Microsoft and the Mozilla Foundation today announced new versions of their popular web browsers. Both releases are primary targeted at web developers. The public release for Mozilla Firefox is due within November 2006 while Microsoft wants to roll out Internet Explorer 7 by the end of October to end users. Developers are strongly advised [...]
From January next year, Singaporeans will get to enjoy free wireless Internet in public areas for two years. The government hopes this will grow the broadband market from the current 50,000 users to about 250,000 users in two years. Three operators – iCELL network, QMax Communications and SingTel will participate in this government and industry [...]


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Gerald Teschl0000-0002-1036-9173
Gerald Teschl obtained his M.S. degree in physics from the Technical University of Graz, Graz, Austria, in 1993, and his Ph.D. degree in mathematics from the University of Missouri, MO, USA, in 1995. Teschl is a mathematician. Currently he works at the University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. His interests are in spectral theory (oscillation theory and scattering theory), dynamical systems, and completely integrable wave equations (algebro‐geometric solutions and long‐time asymptotics).
Biography Updated on 24 May 2014


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Psychic Science News
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Follow @psychicscience
About Free-Response ESP Trainer
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ESP Trainer
ESP Trainer allows you to conduct trials of two-person telepathy. It can also be used for solo trials of clairvoyance.
The trainer uses an engaging "free response" protocol. In this, no information about the possible ESP target is given in advance and you have to freely form ideas, images or other impressions that might correspond to the target. This contrasts with the "forced choice" protocol of the ESP Card Tests in which the possible targets are already known prior to guessing.
The ESP Targets
The ESP target which you try to guess is randomly selected by the computer from a pool of 400 FULL COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS stored on our server (100 sets of four photos are used). The photographs vary considerably in content. All photographs are suitable for viewing by a general audience and none is likely to cause upset or offence.
Choosing a Test Procedure
You may select either Solo Clairvoyance, or Two-Person Telepathy.
In the Solo Clairvoyance procedure, the computer will randomly select a set of four possible targets. One of these is then randomly selected to be the target which you will aim to guess. The computer will "transmit" this photo (hold it in its memory) while you try to form impressions that might relate to the image.
In the Two-Person Telepathy procedure, one person acts as Sender while the other is the Receiver. The computer again randomly selects a set of four possible targets. One of these is then randomly selected and is shown to the Sender who tries to transmit information about the image telepathically to the Receiver.
For both test procedures, you should choose a fixed time period for "transmission" (although you may cancel the transmission at any time).2>Sending and Receiving
In the Two-Person Telepathy procedure, the Sender may wish to draw or write down things that relate to the photo during the transmission period. As long as there is no possibility of being overheard, the Sender may also talk about the picture during transmission.
During transmission (both procedures), the Receiver should attempt to pick up any impressions about the target photograph. Generally the Receiver should be relaxed and should allow impressions and images to come into the mind without "thinking" or trying to guess too much. He or she may wish to make notes or drawings during this period. An alternative procedure is for the Receiver to sit comfortably with eyes closed and to speak any impressions out loud, which may be recorded. The Receiver may also wish to make other notes following completion of the transmission period.
When time is up, the computer will display FOUR possible photographs (in random positions), one of which will be the actual target. The other three are "decoys" from the set of four that was originally selected.
The Receiver should compare EACH photograph with the impressions formed, before placing the four photographs in rank order, based on how closely each picture seems to match the impressions. In the Two-Person Telepathy procedure, it is important that the Sender and Receiver do not communicate in any way until the scoring is completed (to avoid any clues being given to the Receiver).
When the scoring is completed, the computer will show the actual target photograph. A hit is recorded when the actual target was ranked as First Choice.
Statistical Analysis
Statistical analysis is possible once at least 10 trials have been completed. To do this, you should record the rank position given to the actual target on each trial (i.e., 1, 2, 3, or 4), then add up these rank positions for all trials (to find the "Sum of Ranks"). You can then examine the data for statistical significance with our Ranked Data Psi Test Statistical Calculator.


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Ashlee Simpson-Wentz is firing back at Fox News after a recent report titled "Jessica Simpson Shocks Fans With Noticeably Fuller Figure."
"I am completely disgusted by the headlines concerning my sister's weight," Simpson-Wentz blogs on MySpace, adding, "Is this something you would say to your wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, or even a friend? I seriously doubt it."


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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — H. D. Smith on Monday announced its support for H.R. 1041, otherwise known as the Fairness in Medicare Bidding Act.
Introduced in March by Reps. Jason Altmire, D-Pa., and Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., the bill seeks to repeal the Medicare Durable Medical Equipment Prosthetics, Orthotics and Supplies competitive bidding program included in the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA).
"We applaud the efforts of Reps. Altmire and Thompson in introducing this legislation that will help ensure marketplace competition, patient access and quality of care for home medical equipment suppliers and consumers," stated Ron Lanton, government affairs counsel for H. D. Smith. "H.R. 1041 provides a common sense solution to ensure an open and fair marketplace that can provide patients the healthcare options they need for their medical care and quality of life."


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Blood : An Epic History of Medicine and Commerce Paperback
by Douglas Starr
The story of blood is a story of transformation, divided into three eras. The first period, from antiquity to the early twentieth century, involves the transformation of blood from a magical substance - the blood of Christ as holy sacrament - to a component of human anatomy, capable of being studied and turned into a source of healing. In the next era, which lasts until the end of the Second World War, the scientific curiosity of blood becomes a strategic material. We see medical scientists master the resource, learning the techniques of mass collections and storage, ironically aided in their research by the battlefield necessities of two world wars. In the final period, the global traffic in blood-products explodes, saving the lives of untold transfusion recipients and haemophiliacs, but resulting in some of the worst medical calamities western science has known.Is blood a gift of charity or a pharmaceutical product, no more precious than, say, penicillin? The way in which societies decide to answer this question will determine how we deal with this precious yet dangerous resource in the years to come.
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 544 pages, Section: 16, b/w photos
- Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
- Publication Date: 06/07/2000
- Category: Social & cultural history
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Legal Question in Disability Law in Michigan
I have non-reporting probation for a MIP and also have to take a court mandated alcohol class. I believe i have to personally go to the probation office to get off of probation. Will they drug test me at either appointment?
Asked on 2/14/11, 4:38 pm
1 Answer from Attorneys
Timothy Klisz Klisz Law Office, PLLC
Always a possibility. Random testing is often a element of sentencing. Visit kliszlaw.com to discuss in detail. Tim Klisz
Answered on 2/14/11, 6:07 pm
Related Questions & Answers
How do I get my record espunged? How long will it take? Asked 11/23/10, 1:42 pm in United States Michigan Disability Discrimination Law (ADA)


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