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michigan state
Ding Dong, The Divisions Are Dead (Again)
After months and months of leaks to the effect that the Big Ten would use the opportunity presented by their (nonsensical) expansion to ditch the current divisions and go with a straight East-West breakdown, the Big Ten… actually, wait.
The proposed Big Ten West includes the six teams located in the Central time zone -- Illinois,Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern andWisconsin -- plus Purdue, sources said.
The proposed Big Ten East includes Indiana,Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State,Penn State and Rutgers.
"Just take a ruler and a map [and split the 14 teams]," a source said.
A source? Didn't we just do this last month? ESPN?
ESPN.com reported last month that the divisions debate was down to whether Purdue or Indiana would go to the West. Purdue's campus is located west of Indiana's.
Yes. We did. Every Big Ten blog has a post on this today. The news: Purdue and Indiana have been situated. This came out in the middle of a surreal terrorist manhunt, and we still care. News is weird, but let's get swept away in the tide of history.
Competitive upshot
cowboys ride for free… wait, seriously, Kansas?
Anyone with a keyboard to tap at is making a Big Ten West == Big 12 North comparison, and… yeah, down to the school that'll probably be making the conference's last stand against the dual hegemony in the other division. The best team out of Iowa/Illinois*/Nebraska/Wisconsin/Purdue/Northwestern will probably be pretty good. They'll be a dog in most every championship game, but this is what happens when you expand with absolutely nothing other than the rapidly-fading cable television model in mind. More like NONsense and NONsensibility and zombies, amirite?
Meanwhile, the other division is Michigan, Ohio State, and Also Ran until such time as Penn State gets off the deck from their NCAA sanctions. Michigan State's trying to puff their chest out, but it's over for them. State's recent run of quasi-relevancy (still no BCS bowls… ever) coincided with a three-year period in which
- Michigan was busy punching itself during the brief Rodriguez era
- Ohio State was off the schedule (2009 and 2010) or having their one-year tatgate implosion.
MSU has one win over a good OSU team since 1974, and four total. While they've been a little less futile against Michigan, before the Rodriguez run their record the previous 20 years was 5-15. With Michigan and Ohio State poised for decade-plus long runs of coaching stability and recruiting dominance, there aren't going to be a lot of opportunities to pick off easy wins against teams struggling to .500 records or worse. It's over.
More interesting is Rutgers. New Jersey is fertile recruiting ground. With Penn State down, eastern Pennsylvania should be easier to get into. They've been recruiting on a level commensurate with a middling Big Ten team despite being stuck in the Big East. If the financial and prestige boost from their move bumps them up a notch, they could become the most annoying ankle-biter in the division.
Penn State has to dig out, obviously, and then who knows what they're like without Joe Paterno? Early returns are good, as they managed to acquire some serious talent despite the sanctions. Christian Hackenberg and Adam Breneman signed up for a team with three more bowl ban years upcoming—that says something about PSU's enduring pull with Pennsylvania recruits.
They still have no chance to keep pace. They have to be down to 65 players this year and are currently on track to have a recruiting class of eight guys this year even with some attrition that's 10 to 12 players. Doom awaits. By the time they're good the Big Ten will probably be at 84 teams. Short term thinking, that's our motto.
Indiana and Maryland enjoy basketball.
*[Yeah, Illinois. Every ten years they have a good team and then implode.]
Should we be thinking long term?
The ACC is trumpeting a very long "grant of rights" deal that hypothetically locks the TV revenue from the 15 member teams—ND included minus football—to the conference they're currently in until 2027. This will save the conference unless something totally improbable happens. That thing: lawyers!
Unless a league member decides to go to litigation to escape this down the road, the ACC believes a Grant of Rights will protect it from conference realignment poachers.
Because lawyers never get involved in these things. While the GOR provides an extra hurdle, it's a deterrent designed to look super scary. Just how effective it'll be in the event of a departure is unknown. See: Maryland, currently involved in that litigation stuff over a $50 million exit fee the ACC voted in just before they left. Maryland will likely pay something less than that in a settlement.
People in charge of things are just in charge of them
Goodbye, Successories Conference.
leadership is more about not being clueless than eyebrows
Let us pour out some gasoline for our dead homie division names, and light them on fire. Burning is the most terrible way to die, but as the wisps arise from the charred notions that were "Legends" and "Leaders" it seems far too kind. If that debacle doesn't prove to you once and for all that our tendency to worship any bushy-eyebrowed dim bulb who manages to ascend to the talky bit of any enterprise is destructive, I don't know what to tell you.
Whenever someone cocks their eyebrow at you and condescendingly says that you don't have the vast amounts of information and knowledge they do about complicated geopolitical processes like conference realignment, just remember that those guys are the ones who made the conference a national laughingstock for years. They did this by doing something that was such a bad idea from the start that they promised they'd reconsider after literally every person who heard it laughed in their face.
Therefore their projections that media markets are still going to matter in 10 years…
Nine games
At least there's that. Starting in 2016, Big Ten teams will play nine conference games each. It looks like there's an easy way around the unbalanced schedule issue: have all the teams in one division have four one year, five the other.
I'd rather play more Wisconsin/Nebraska/Iowa than any nonconference opponent you care to name save Notre Dame—RIP, ND series—so I look on this as no downside. With Michigan buying home games from the Oregon States and Cincinnatis of the world, they can have their seventh home game with a nonconference schedule that consists of one cupcake, one interesting guarantee game against a midlevel foe, and one marquee matchup. Well, most of the time. The 2016 nonconference schedule is now locked in: Hawaii, Ball State, and Colorado. Er.
Complicated solution to problem time
Time to re-iterated my desired solution for the basketball situation: everyone plays round-robin, and then the conference is split into a top seven and bottom seven, whereupon another round-robin commences. 19 total games, best overall record wins. Pros:
- Conference championship is almost entirely fair. Home-road is unbalanced in the first half, but none of this "you didn't play team X" business. The regular season championship is a really big deal right now; this would make it bigger.
- No divisions. Divisions kill the importance of the regular season title.
- The last six games for the top half are a must-see all-out war. Dude, take this year's league and do this to it and imagine a stretch run where IU-OSU-M-MSU-Wisconsin-Iowa-Minnesota OR Illinois OR Maryland only play each other. That would be nuts.
- Doesn't require you to expand the conference schedule too much to get coverage. No 20, 22 game conference schedules but you don't get all that discussion about how team X doesn't play team Y.
Cons are obvious and large: potentially problematic ticket sales since you don't know who you're playing or when, a potential for teams near the bubble to get blasted off it (if you're #7 in the top half) or have little opportunity to climb out of it (for #8 stuck with the little people). I stole the RR-split-RR system from Scottish soccer, which has a compelling narrative at the bottom as teams try to avoid relegation that doesn't exist in college sports.
In any case, they could at least try it and see if the upside outweighs the downside.
Unverified Voracity Rides Elephant
Kickstarter, eh! After many requests we have added a couple of kickstarter tiers for international folks: 20 bucks for one mag, 40 for both, and we'll eat the extra costs for anyone who goes for the 50+ tiers.
Reminder: we have made our base goal and are now shooting for the 50k stretch goal, whereupon the basketball/hockey preview mag is a real thing on paper.
Meanwhile if you're in the giving mood check out Marlin Jackson's Fight For Life charity. Very good cause. Seth posted extensively on what they do this morning.
Our linemen are a wonderful freak show. They're all having huge lumberjack beards and looking like Freddie Mercury and, uh, this:
That's walk-on Dan Gibbs's twitter avatar. We probably should have started him against Jesse Williams, who Gibbs is seen riding. Equal to the task is Gibbs's twitter avatar: DJBunyan.
Speaking of offensive linemen, Elliott Mealer has shaved the beard.
as if millions of follicles suddenly cried out in terror
We will always remember you, ZZ Top beard.
This year's OL has a lot to live up to. They are off to a good start, at least.
Michigan has a five star basketball recruit for the second straight year. (isportsweb)
It's too bad he can't compete with the big boys. Rivals has given Zak Irvin the GRIII bump, moving up ten spots after his Mr. Basketball season in Indiana. This nets him the coveted fifth star. Walton is #37—also a ten-spot bump—while Mark Donnal is #111, one of the last four-stars. IIRC Donnal was just inside the top 100 last time. He got one of those "you stay the same and we find twelve guys we like a lot" downgrades.
Indiana's six-person oversigning extravaganza is the best class in the Big Ten according to the sites. Michigan is second, #13 nationally at ESPN. Illinois and Wisconsin are next, but it's always hard to figure out how to rank basketball classes because they're so divergent in terms of numbers.
Speaking of Tom Crean…
You're Nick Saban, dude. A year after Indiana signee Ron Patterson was told he couldn't enroll at Indiana in August—ie, the Les Miles—Tom Crean signs six players and is oversigned by one going into the late signing period. Out you go, Remy Abell. Indiana currently has 13 players. They've just offered Jaren Sina, the former Northwestern commit who opened up his recruitment when Bill Carmody was fired.
Now is the time on Sprockets when brows are furrowed about young men and how it's disappointing they've left the program and etc. etc. etc. It's not disappointing, it is mathematically required by Coach Schrute's recruiting. Someone was going to leave, full stop. There's no difference between what's going down at Indiana and Nick Saban's annual purge. In this, OSU and Michigan fans are united.
The thing is: Crean's just flat out saying they're oversigning, which is at least more honest than Saban's approach.
Again, this was not unexpected, and IU coach Tom Crean admitted as much when he spoke with assembled media in Bloomington, Ind., Thursday afternoon. He knew he might have two guys leaving early, in addition to three seniors (Jordan Hulls, Christian Watford, Derek Elston) which is, Crean told the Indianapolis Star, "one of the reasons we oversigned."
Wait ... what?
Yes, the Hoosiers enter the second straight summer with more players signed than scholarships to give out — this time 14 for 13. (Last season, IU's 15 signed players ended with senior guard Matt Roth's seemingly confused, thensuddenly uber-positive, departure, and a fortuitous turn in freshman Ron Patterson's academic ineligibility.)
Even without further departures Michigan will go into next year with an open scholarship. Purdue's down to ten. Schrute is looking for more guys to run off. Hard to have the moral high ground as a conference when you… uh… don't have it.
Godspeed, Tom Hammond. The Great and Powerful Hammond is being replaced by some guy named Hicks on Notre Dame broadcasts. A tip of the cap to a man who overcame his fear of cameras to be on television, like, all the time. We'll always have the picture and the tie.
See you around the rhythmic gymnastics odeon. /brohug
Baseball making it happen. Rich Maloney's ouster last year was sudden and controversial. So far it looks to have been the right move as the previously moribund base-to-ball team is currently 7-2 in the Big Ten behind freshman starting pitcher Evan Hill's dominating 1.89 ERA. Baseball America takes note:
The future looks bright for Michigan, which has a strong freshman core leading its resurgence this spring. Michigan's best starter has been freshman lefthander Evan Hill (6-1, 1.89), whose projectable 6-foot-5 frame helped him rank No. 165 on the BA 500 heading into last year's draft. Hill still is just scratching the surface of his potential, but he is maturing quickly and has settled nicely into the Saturday starter role.
"He still is a projection guy—his best years are ahead of him," Bakich said. "But he's very talented, he works extremely hard. The mental game has been critical for him, because he's learned how to breathe and focus on executing the next pitch, that's been a big part of his development mentally. But he's still a long, lean, tall, thin guy who has a good fastball, and he's got good offspeed pitches. He just doesn't always have the command that he's going to have in the future of his secondary stuff. But a lot of his success has come from pitching off his fastball. He throws a cutter and a curveball, and when those are on, he usually does pretty well."
Two other freshmen have earned starting jobs on the left side of the infield and in the top half of the batting order. Travis Maezes (.308/.396/.421) has shown good athleticism, instincts and arm strength at shortstop while hitting in the No. 2 hole. And third baseman Jacob Cronenworth (.339/.397/.460 with two homers and a team-leading 26 RBIs) has been very steady in the cleanup spot. He has a balanced, line-drive approach from the left side of the plate to go along with good speed. Cronenworth also has a strong arm at the hot corner, and he can run his fastball up to 92 mph off the mound, where he has emerged as Michigan's closer, posting a 1.06 ERA, six saves and a 16-3 strikeout-walk mark in 17 innings.
That's a hell of a freshman class.
Michigan's coming off consecutive sweeps of MSU and Penn State; they take on ND today at 4, with Eastern coming in tomorrow at 6. If you're in Chicago, Michigan plays Northwestern at Wrigley Saturday.
It was a bet with Zak Irvin. A picture of a displeased Gary Harris wearing a Maize Rage t-shirt made the rounds on twitter recently, and I was all like "dude lost a bet with Zak Irvin?"
Dude did lose a bet with Zak Irvin:
M&GB: Can you tell us about that picture of Gary Harris that surfaced on twitter of him wearing a Maize Rage t-shirt?
Irvin: (Laughs) As a matter of fact I was just talking with him about that a couple hours ago but that was from last year. When Michigan played Michigan State we had a bet that whichever team won, the loser had to wear that team's shirt to school the next day, and Michigan won so Gary had to wear a Michigan t-shirt all the next day.
Just not a recent one.
Not playing coy about Dymonte Thomas. Courtney Avery's job is officially in serious danger given the way Michigan usually talks about freshmen. No one's bothering to say Dymonte Thomas is a long way off or whatever:
"He's a very conscientious young man. For a guy that comes that should have been at his prom to be here the whole time, and for him to pick it up like he did ... Dymonte Thomas had a very, very good spring for a freshman."
So there's that. He's playing. Starting? We'll see.
Cumong, NCAA man. Oregon and the NCAA agree that Oregon paid Willie Lyles 25k to help recruit players. Also this:
There is no information," according to the NCAA, "in the record that Lyles coerced or directed any prospect to ultimately choose Oregon. That said, Lyles did provide a meaningful recruiting advantage by orally providing background information about prospects to the coaching staff and also by serving as a conduit to facilitate communication with prospective student-athletes."
I hate you, NCAA enforcement. Oregon has proposed two years of probation and one lost scholarship for a few years. Seriously. Sic 'em, Get The Picture.
Etc.: A tribute to Trey Burke. His finest moments. Oh yes "Roger Federer as a Religious Experience" reference in regards to Trey Burke, oh yes. HSR on the end of basketball season.
UMHoops talks to 2015 SG recruit Luke Kennard. MSU is selling spots in the press box for their spring game. How much? Next question. The definition of amateurism is "whatever the NCAA says it is," and changes constantly. Four(!) Michigan players make John Gasaway's final top 25 freshmen($), with Spike Albrecht making the tail end of the list at 25. That's for show, man. David Allen Grier gets Trey Burke to smile. It is possible. Drake Harris "commitment" scarequotes are unbecoming.
Unverified Voracity Thanks John Wilkins
Say this for the man: he dances when you tell him to dance. (AnnArbor.com)
Thanks for the service. One of the secret joys of being a Michigan fan has been the excellent service provided by John Wilkins and the alumni band when the students aren't available. Wilkins always brought an entertaining flair to the job he created 21 years ago. He has just retired, and he'll be tough to replace:
Deciding to retire from the pep band was not easy for Wilkins. "I will miss the Alumni Pep Band very much," he said. "The opportunity given to me to conduct a Michigan band at Michigan games, to play this great Michigan music, was a dream that I had since a little boy, a dream come true. Over the years I have developed incredible friendships with the players and will miss working with them on a regular basis. I'm glad that I have been invited to come back every year to conduct the entire Alumni Band at the football game in October on homecoming weekend."
Also I have that tie.
It's kind of like the Heisman I guess. Denard will be on the cover of EA's most recent slight rehash of NCAA Football 2003. Smile incoming:
He joins Desmond Howard and Charles Woodson. The game will pay tribute by having linebackers jump impossibly high to snag interceptions off everybody.
There were vote shenanigans that threatened to propel Texas A&M's Ryan Swope over the top, but EA promised they would eliminate fake votes, and by "eliminate fake votes" they meant "put Denard on the cover even if he finished last because this is EA, and EA gets dollars son even if it means turning a single player game into an always-online fiasco because we are mad at pirates."
He probably doesn't realize he's twisting the knife. After three straight weekends in Ann Arbor, Drake Harris finally gave the "it's not you… it's me" speech to Michigan State, decommiting. Except he said it was actually you, Michigan State:
"Since I'm just playing football now," Harris told reporters after his regional basketball game Monday in Grand Rapids, "I want to play at a bigger school, win a national championship."
Analysts are saying don't count your 6'4" elite wide receivers before they hatch, but it looks like the field is catching up to Michigan now. They'll have an opportunity:
"I don't have a frontrunner, I don't even have a top list right now. I'm supposed to go down to Florida on March 22, and then Ohio State sometime in April and Notre Dame sometime in April. I'm not sure what I'm going to do in the summer. I'll probably go out and visit some schools out West."
Harris says he'll enroll early and plans to commit in October. Long way to go.
[Ace, you can just C&P this section into Friday Recruitin'. Sorry.]
Well, yeah. Trey Burke is a first-team All American to the Sporting News and the Big Ten's player of the year, the first time in 24 years a Michigan player has brought that award in. The last guy was Glen Rice, which also yeah. Burke said "I feel honored" in response to being honored. Tautological point guard is tautological.
It really came down to Oladipo versus Burke, and while I love Burke with a Denard-crush intensity you really can make a case for Oladipo, who shot 66% from two(!), was the #5 guy in true shooting percentage, has a near-top-100 OREB rate—something Michigan felt the lash of on Sunday—and is a defensive superstar. It's that versus Burke's huge usage and incredible assist rate and turnover avoidance. It's Woodson versus Manning for the Heisman, except Indiana fans probably won't be bringing it up 20 years later.
Well… uh. Tim Hardaway also made first-team All Big Ten on one of the two ballots. This I am not so sure about. Aaron Craft got the nod on the media ballots—a weird situation where the better defensive player gets the hype and the coaches go for offense—and to me that's a lot more justifiable than going strictly by scoring average. That's how you pick Hardaway over, say, Gary Harris, who shot 74/52/42 on FT/2s/3s versus Hardaway's 69/50/38 on virtually identical usage. Hardaway did rebound a lot better, but what rebounds exactly was Gary Harris supposed to acquire as a the two-guard in a lineup with Payne, Nix, and Dawson?
I haven't watched Harris that closely but I doubt Hardaway brings much defensive value he doesn't. Eh. Awards are pointless, see…
The CCHA's continuing inability to do anything right. This is far less egregious than the various Hunwick-related snubs last year (Hunwick was a top-three Hobey finalist and not the CCHA goalie of the year), but Boo Nieves was honorable mention All Rookie this year despite having the second-most points of any freshman in league play. Alaska's Tyler Morley's 8-7-15 was better than Nieves's 8-14-22.
In other news, highlights of Michigan's 3-2 win over Northern on Friday contain one Michigan goal and two by NMU.
Where was this all year? Hockey resoundingly swept Northern Michigan over the weekend in two games I did not see because I assumed Michigan would not have a home series last week, because when has Michigan ever finished between 6th and 8th in the CCHA? LOL that idea.
In any case, Michigan's Saturday demolition of Northern was so comprehensive it makes you a little mad. Michigan outshot Northern 23-6 in the first period and 16-3 in the second, whereupon it was 4-1 and all over but the shouting. If you can do that now…
Anyway, Saturday's game was a weird one with two penalty shots:
Copp converted the second once the goalie went for a poke and missed it, leaving his five-hole exposed. He also scored a grinder earlier.
Center Ice has recaps of Friday and Saturday. They've recovered from that January funk and go to Western this weekend. CI:
A few guys are really standing out on a weekly basis, Copp, Racine, Nieves, Merrill, Guptill, they just are playing on a level that no one else is coming close too. I vividly remember our series against Western earlier in the year because every stoppage of play a Bronco went to a Wolverine, chirped at him and gave him a shove. No one did anything about it. Today I thoroughly enjoyed seeing any Wildcat who went near Racine get a push and shove, most of the the time it was Andrew Copp doing it. Little things that make a big difference.
The Guptill-Copp-Deblois line sees Guptill on a seven-game point streak; Nieves was sick last weekend but played through it.
Vincent Smith AMA. #2 popped up on Reddit yesterday to do an AMA promoting his Pahokee kickstarter, and the first question is… not about Clowney. It's about what kind of sub he ate. Well done, zparts. The second question mentions Clowney, but also finger guns. There was also the inevitable MGoBlog question that got the inevitable "I don't really read it" answer.
There is another. Derrick Walton senior highlights:
He won't be Trey, but if Hardaway and Robinson are back he won't have to be. If he can be a better version of Yogi Ferrell (18% usage, 26 Arate, 43%/32%) Michigan shouldn't have too much of a dropoff on offense what with everyone else back.
Etc.: Denard pro day interview. Who wants to dwell on the Indiana game? Special teams… not bad? Jordan Morgan : Space Jam :: Brian : Big Lebowski. Hockey's had a lot of breakaways of late.
Shop Class: Michigan State
One of the great things about this here blog is the user-generated content. After the Michigan State game the board came though with a photoshop thread inspired by Melanie Maxwell's great shot of Trey Burke's steal. This, in turn, has inspired a new regular feature—"Shop Class"—where we'll highlight the best work from these threads (and I'll throw my hat into the ring, as well).
Let's start with one of the many variations of that Maxwell shot, this one posted by hail2thevict0r, who maximized the Appling shadenfreude:
In a similar vein, BlueBarron was reminded of a meme of yore—though I'd imagine the Spartans were quite impressed, actually:
Brian's front-page commentary led to my own effort:
If you're all welped out, I made an alternate version with just Burke's laughter.
[Hit THE JUMP for the, er, inspired(?) work of resident gif wizard chunkums and more.]
Unverified Voracity Found This Too Late
Source needed, but too good to pass up. This image is awesome.
Message board random who posted this only linked to imgur, so it could come from anywhere. UPDATE: Melanie Maxwell of MLive is the photographer.
Burke is of course going WHEEEEEE, and then the Michigan State folk from L to R are going "welp," "welp," "welp," "I am terrified of all things," and "welp."
All the better to rip your heart out. Burke called his shot with McGary earlier in the game:
Michigan forward Mitch McGary said Appling used a spin move earlier in the game, which Michigan won 58-57, and Burke told him exactly how he was going to swipe the ball.
"He told me whenever (Appling) spins, he puts it in his right hand and it's an easy steal," McGary said. "Tim and I were just hoping he didn't hang on the rim."
Note that if it didn't work Appling would have had a choice between pressing the opportunity presented and giving Michigan a last shot of their own or holding for the final shot—it was an excellent time to go for broke.
Champions are made in the hot tub eating pizza. Greg unearths this great shot of Michigan kicker Bob Bergeron eating pizza in a hot tub that made SI:
He got to keep the pizza. Wild west back then.
CIVILIZATION. This is the end of it. There is nowhere to go but down from this.
Or this.
Gritalanche. It was a gritclone on Saturday. A toughdome.
Michigan's Mitch McGary provides much-needed energy, toughness off bench against Michigan State
It was a tickertocker.
Michigan shows its heart in critical win over MSU
It was a toughygritintestinalblockage.
Michigan finally shows grit, toughness, desperation in gutty win over rival Michigan State
It was a basketforge.
Trey Burke, Michigan show mettle in win over Michigan State
To be fair, John Beilein started it:
"We've had some real pretty wins here, where we did everything right and the ball went in and we just played lights-out," Beilein explained after the win. "Today, it was all about grit."
Michigan allowed Michigan State to rebound half of their misses. Congratulations to Mike Rothstein, who did not play along.
Burke steals a signature win for Michigan
Or at least his headline writer. You never know who does those things these days.
Make sure you use the right block M, as long as it's some shade of blinding yellow. Via Kyle Meinke, Michigan's persnicketiness about the block M:
I'm fine with this. Persnicketiness is good with the whole branding thing. but don't try to tell me that that color maize represents the colors Michigan is using on their uniforms these days. Y'all need to get your persnick on more.
BONUS: Hey, #FFCC000 is what I settled on when I was eyeballing what maize was way back in the blogspot days. I was off on the blue, using #000022. This portion of the post brought to you by things no one cares about but me.
Tiebreaker scenarios. The events of last week have caused an enormous hairball in the Big Ten standings below Indiana. Michigan actually has a not-infinitesimal shot at the title since Indiana finishes with Ohio State and Michigan. These teams are still in the hunt:
- Indiana: share clinched. Win outright by winning at home versus OSU or @ Michigan.
- OSU: win out (@ IU, Illinois), Michigan beats IU
- Michigan: win out (@ Purdue, IU), OSU beats IU
- Wisconsin/MSU: IU loses out, win UW/MSU game, don't blow last game against low-level opponent.
The chances are not good, but they're not zero. You may shake your fist at the Wisconsin and Penn State games now. In the event that a bunch of teams tie at the same record, Michigan is hurt by going 0-1 against Wisconsin (grrr) and often loses the tiebreaker and gets stuck without a bye in the first round of the Big Ten tourney, playing (grr) Penn State. If Michigan finishes 12-6 in the Big Ten that is at least a 50/50 proposition.
Lolizzo. Classic "my players destroyed the universe, but it's my fault" line:
"We were looking to get Gary a shot at the top of the key or to Keith and we didn't run it right," Izzo said. "We had a couple of freshmen in there that struggled with it. That was my fault."
Izzo : "my fault" :: humans : "just sayin'"
- Michigan: 93
- Michigan State: 72
Etc.: Wojo thing. Everett Cook on setting the trap. MSU highlights reveal glorious 57-0 victory for the People's Team. Five Key Plays.
Mudville Fine
3/3/2013 – Michigan 58, Michigan State 57 – 24-5, 11-5 Big Ten
left via @detnewsRodBeard / right Eric Upchurch
Sports are hard, and even great players usually succumb to their hardness. When the hockey team had TJ Hensick, when they were tied or trailing late I spent all moments with Hensick on the bench pining for his next shift, and mostly was disappointed when nothing happened. I mean… Denard Robinson. That guy was so great that he ran through two Ohio State defenders and teleported to the endzone, and yet that first sentence is a large chunk of his Michigan career epitaph.
There's a reason Wikipedia describes Casey at the Bat like so:
For a relatively short poem apparently dashed off quickly (and denied by its author for years), "Casey at the Bat" had a profound effect on American popular culture. It has been recited, re-enacted, adapted, dissected, parodied and subjected to just about every other treatment one could imagine.[2]
Probability is an implacable thing. When we turn our lonely eyes to hero du jour in our time of need, the odds are stacked against us. If you're great you move that needle only slightly. Your brain is all like
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
They'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.
Your brain is kind of dumb, and Casey at the Bat is great at telling you that. Your brain listens but does not hear.
My dumb brain was contemplating a blown ten-point lead against Michigan State on the heels of a blown 15-point lead to Penn State and had decided basketball was a pudding and the universe a fake. Michigan State had the ball, the game was tied, and the shot clock was no longer relevant. Earlier in the year Michigan had lost when a no-hoper went in, and my dumb brain was assuming that would always happen forever.
Burke did this.
The thing about this is that Burke developed that move midway through the season and now deploys it a few times a game. He really ramped it up after his first game against Aaron Craft, seemingly because Craft just pissed him off. A few times a game Burke will muster his energy, hike up his shorts, and go looking for trouble on defense. That's part of his ever-expanding game.
That breakway layup off the from-behind steal is a thing I can see him gearing up for now, and I saw it then, and because my brain is dumb it'll burn that into my memory and not the other times when Casey struck out.
It'll go there next to Braylonfest and Mario Manningham and Ernest Shazor killing that guy and Phil Brabbs and that one time I turned on a basketball game with Michigan down 15 to Wisconsin with six minutes left and saw Daniel Horton eat that deficit into nothingness. It'll probably be the first thing anyone involved with this rivalry thinks about when Trey Burke is brought up. It was the kind of thing that's the first thing on the highlight reel when they put your number in the rafters.
That he followed it up by robbing Michigan State of a chance to respond is icing on the cake. After Ben Brust, any shot in the air with a chance to beat Michigan is going to be two seconds of awful anticipation no matter how likely it is to go in. Trey Burke is both awesome at basketball and extremely protective of my emotions. He curls his lip and tilts his head and probably says "damn" and takes basketballs away from people who should not have them after 38 minutes of carrying twelve teammates and 12-thousand-some people in Crisler on his back.
Dawgs. This program has had a couple of nasty dudes at point guard the past few years. I hope Derrick Walton can inherit that.
Your excuses are lame. Both Izzo and Appling claimed that there was some sort of confusion about timeouts before Burke picked Appling's pocket, which is a pretty weak explanation since Appling has clearly decided no TO is coming when he spins and moves to the center of the court. Y'all got robbed straight up.
Life is strange. Michigan loses to Penn State, then beats Michigan State despite going 0/12 from three. I quiver at the thought of playing Purdue. Everyone will turn into crows and play crowhockey, or something.
Obligatory video review complaint. Nik Stauskas got busted open by a wild Branden Dawson elbow, required 12 stitches and was not able to return—probably because he was concussed—and no foul was assessed after an interminable break. It looked like this:
If that's the way you're going to call it, fine. It was inadvertent. But then stop with the interminable reviews. Apparently nothing is a flagrant foul, so stop looking for them.
It's strange how different sports legislate themselves. If hockey was reffed under basketball rules, every post-whistle scrum would come with two ejections, but in basketball you can crush a guy's face and as long as you weren't looking at him it's cool. That's some sort of penalty in the other two sports where elbows get involved, hockey and soccer, and probably a red card/major. In basketball, nope… but only one sport stops the game incessantly to look at these sorts of incidents. I don't get it man.
Morgan defense watch. After Dan Dakich pointed out that Nix always-always goes over his right shoulder when making post moves it's been something that's stood out to me as I watch MSU play, and in this one it was obvious. In that tendency you could see where Morgan is a superior on-ball defender to McGary.
Against Morgan, Nix put up a bunch of contested shots on which Morgan positioned himself such that Nix would take a bump as he tried to go up. In scattered matchups against McGary it was clear McGary had not absorbed the scouting report; Nix got him for a bucket by threatening to go to the middle of the lane and then spinning over his right shoulder like he always does. Morgan, on the floor at the same time, was visibly irritated at McGary—he probably said something along the lines of "he ALWAYS turns over his right shoulder" or "RTFSR*."
Despite that make the difference in Nix's efficacy was dramatic. Morgan played nine minutes in the first game; Nix went 6 of 9 from the floor and had 3 assists to no turnovers. Morgan had 24 in this one; Nix went 2 of 9 with 2 assists and six turnovers, with one of those makes the aforementioned bucket against McGary. Morgan's absence in the first game was definitely a contributing factor to the ugliness therein.
*["Read the frondling scouting report."]
Mocking floor slap for the win. State did the team floor slap thing in the previous game, and did it in this one, and Big Tough Mr. Men got an alley-oop on their face this time, whereupon Michigan responded with sports sarcasm:
via mgovideo
Sports sarcasm is the best. You can tell it is mocking because 1) everyone knows MSU's about to call a TO, and Trey does it twice. I enjoyed that.
McGary FTs. Having Mitch McGary receive the inbounds pass at the end was clearly not the best idea, but Michigan put themselves in a situation where that was possible by using up all their timeouts early. When MSU tripled Burke it was a scramble off the make and the other options were Horford and a covered LeVert.
1) Dump basketball timeouts. End game situations are more chaotic and fun without them.
2) Don't call all of them, especially when you're just setting up a play instead of preserving a possession.
McGary other game. A mixed bag. Like the rest of the bigs he shares in the issues rebounding. One DREB in 21 minutes is Nnanna Egwu level output. He was efficient offensively, going 4/6 from the floor and hitting 3/5 FTs, and he generated a few of those shots himself with two-bounce drives and a nice short corner turnaround. He's showing things that should lead to an increased offensive role as he develops.
Paging Caris Levert. (Upchurch @ right) With Stauskas knocked out four minutes in, Caris LeVert got starters minutes. He did okay with them, scoring eight points on 4/8 shooting from two, missing three attempts from deep, and getting a couple steals. He was mostly guarding Gary Harris; Harris had an eh day with 16 points on 16 shot equivalents.
As long as Stauskas isn't suffering ill effects from the concussion I don't think he'll see his playing time cut much if at all… as long as he's not doing the things that caused Beilein to explode at him in the Penn State game. Competition for that spot will improve it, and if Caris is reliable enough to get him 16 minutes instead of eight Michigan can rest Tim Hardaway a bit more.
Statistical extremes. Take your pick as to which was more of an anomaly: Michigan going 0-fer from three or MSU coughing up 18 turnovers to Michigan's 7. I'll take the former since Michigan is a notoriously low-turnover team and MSU has had their share of issues. Also in the anomaly bucket: MSU rebounded half their misses. While not entirely unexpected, that is extreme.
Speaking of the rebounding. Hammered. Michigan went with the dual-big lineup for nine minutes; it didn't help much. As mentioned, McGary just had 1 DREB. Morgan had four, Horford none in four minutes. If the ball wasn't bouncing to a guard chances are Michigan did not get it.
Michigan's rebounding is reverting after another nonconference season in which they found themselves top-ten. After entering Big Ten play #2 in DREB they're down to 45th. They're fifth in Big Ten play, still a major step up from last year's ninth but not an earth-shaking paradigm change.
Burke fall down make fast break. Michigan State exploited a couple of things to get some early fast break opportunities off of makes: 1) Burke falls down a lot after he tries layups and 2) he never gets a call on this even if someone has bashed him to the ground. You'd like to see him keep his feet, but it's hard to see how in a lot of these situations.
Drinkin' your milkshake part 2. Drake Harris visited last weekend. This weekend…
Devin Gardner changes his twitter handle like every two weeks.
I hear tell he's supposed to be back next weekend, too? Dios mio, man.


text:
Exclusive IDW Preview: ANGEL: ONLY HUMAN #2
Angel Only Human #2 (of 4)
By: Scott Lobdell, David Messina, Pierfederici, Dave Dorman, Messina
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Pub. Date: September 09, 2009
They consider themselves the purest strain of demons-they are the Scourge! This race of demon supremacists are determined to liberate an enslaved Old One from the nether-bowels of... Texas!
Fortunately Illyria and Fred are on hand to make sure that doesn't happen. That is, if she's not distracted by a passionate kiss from Fred's long ago prom date!
Got a comment? There's lots of conversation on Newsarama's FACEBOOK and TWITTER!
Exclusive IDW Preview: ANGEL: ONLY HUMAN #2
Exclusive IDW Preview: ANGEL: ONLY HUMAN #2
Twitter activity Tweets by @Newsarama

subset: commoncrawl


text:
October 07, 2008
– Comments (1)
SAN FRANCISCO - A federal judge has scolded California officials for failing to provide the billions of dollars a court-appointed receiver says is needed to upgrade the state's prison health care system.
U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson made it clear Monday he expects California to pay $8 billion for seven new inmate medical facilities. But he stopped short of immediately holding Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and state Controller John Chiang in contempt for failing to turn over the money.
Medical care in California's prisons is so bad it has been ruled unconstitutional. Henderson appointed a receiver to run the prison medical system after finding that an average of an inmate a week was dying from neglect or malpractice.
Didn't CA just request an Emergency $8 Billion dollar loan from the Fed Govt or it will run out of cash at the end of the month??? THAT WAS BEFORE THIS RULING!!!!!!!
Now CA has to come up with an "uexpected" additional $8 Billion????? A cool $16 Billion.....and growing.......
This is just one state......
That's why I like to take the systemic approach. It's the other factors that aren't part of the normal business (or normal environment) that can screw up the system.
You're right: This is just one state. Prisons in California, Workers Comp in Ohio...I wonder what "monster under the bed" is waiting for New York, Virginia, Texas, and...*gasp*...Alaska?!?
Nice catch, alstry.
View More


text:
North Dakota State Defeats Towson 65-48 - Recap
North Dakota State grabbed a 65-48 win over Towson on Saturday, behind a 16-point effort from Mike Felt at Towson Center.
North Dakota State was a favorite by 5.5 points and came through with an ATS victory for bettors.
Chris Kading had 11 points for North Dakota State and Taylor Braun chipped in with 10 points. Lawrence Alexander had 5 assists for them, while Marshall Bjorklund was the team's top rebounder, grabbing 8 boards.
Towson got 14 points from Mike Burwell in a losing cause and another 9 points from Kris Walden. Kris Walden contributed 3 assists for them, while Bilal Dixon had 11 rebounds.
North Dakota State led at halftime, 28-25.
North Dakota State had a 37-32 advantage in the rebounding department as they won the battle in the paint.


text:
Great Egret - Trowbridge Gallery
Great Egret by Trowbridge Gallery is a stunning photograph of a magnificent bird in all of its plumage finery which is specifically designed to attract a mate. Great Egret by Trowbridge Gallery depicts the large heron with all white plumage that stands up to more than three feet tall with a wingspan of between 50 and 65 inches. This beautiful bird is the symbol of the National Audubon Society and represents a conservation success story. Luxe Home stocks a full line of Trowbridge Gallery photography and paintings to accommodate each person's unique artistic taste!
Features +
- Dimensions: 52W 44H
- Finish: White Wedge
- Artist: Unknown
- Location: Everglades, FL
- Date: 2006
Tear Sheet +
Return Policy +
Luxe Home Philadelphia must be notified within 24 hours from delivery receipt. Customer is responsible for returns of undamaged/damaged products. Items must be returned within 48 hours of receipt in order to receive credit. A 15% restocking fee will apply to all undamaged items. Custom ordered furniture must be cancelled within 72 hours. Failure to notify Luxe Home Philadelphia within Return Policy guidelines will result in loss of credit.
Refund available if product is not available to ship within 7 days: Luxe Home will contact you via email & telephone within 48 hours if the product is not available to ship within 7 days. If the product is unable to ship, you have the option to request a full refund. If you do not respond to the email or return the call within 48 hours we will proceed with the order. All correspondence will be on file.


text:
Events Calendar
Sign Up for Webinars, Conferences, Training, and More
Scroll through the MITC events calendar to register for upcoming webinars, Regional Agency Conferences, trainings, and other events.
BSCAI has been The Business Resource for Contractors™ for over 50 years dedicated to providing better business solutions tailored exclusively to the Building Service Contractor. As we continue to grow, we've renamed the Annual Convention to the Contracting Success Conference to better illustrate the year-round value that is BSCAI's core focus: the success of your business.
Join us for the 2017 Contracting Success Conference and take advantage of the opportunity to network with peers and learn from industry experts. Attend education sessions and exclusive networking opportunities to gain insight into industry trends and solutions, have your BSC hot-topic questions answered and make the new connections you are looking for.
Many contractors are now understanding how much time and money providing employees self-service will save. Join us for a live demonstration and learn how 100,000+ employees enjoy using mobile self-service and help their company be more productive.
For more than six decades, ASIS Annual Seminar and Exhibits (ASIS 2017) has been the premier event for security professionals worldwide, providing industry-leading education, countless business connections, and the latest security solutions. In 2017, we will continue to build our reputation of excellence, while infusing the event with excitement, energy, and innovation.
Make plans now to join your peers and colleagues September 25-28, in Dallas, Texas, for meaningful conversations, education, exploration, and networking. You can't afford to miss this opportunity to see the latest advances in the industry, all in one short week.


text:
- Cars
- New cars
- Maruti Suzuki
- Maruti Suzuki Alto 800
- Reviews
- Superb vehicle with low maintenance but only problem is queue at CNG stations
Superb vehicle with low maintenance but only problem is queue at CNG stations
User review on Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 written by Ankit Khatri on 20 May 2015
Ankit Khatri's review on Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 STD CNG
Year of Manufacture : 2013 | Driven no. of Kms. : 17948
- Pros: Fuel economy, low maintenance, easy handling
- Cons: I don't found is any
The Maruti Alto 800 is a superb vehicle, I am using this vehicle from last one and half years and I am totally satisfied with its performance. Its handling is very easy with its power steering and the interior is very stylish which has trendy features.
Read more →
User Reviews for Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 Competitors
Hyundai Eon
Tata Nano GenX
Maruti Suzuki Alto K10
Renault Kwid


text:
Now, enjoy an air-conditioned horse ride at Thane's Talaopali
Masunda Talao, or Talaopali as it's popularly known in Thane, virtually has a mela in the evenings with toy sellers, chaat vendors and various other activities. One of the most sought-after attractions here is the horse-drawn carriage ride. Now, these Victorian-inspired carriages have gotten a 21st century twist with the addition of a 0.75 tonne air conditioner.
Opened last Thursday, enthusiasts continue to throng the spot to get a ride on this star attraction. Nadeem Ghulam Nabi Shaikh, the owner of the horse carriage, told mid-day, "I had seen a carriage like this in Surat being used in wedding processions. I thought we could have it in Thane as well. So, I got it made within a month."
Shaikh charges Rs 200 for a ride on Sunday and Rs 150 on all other days. The service is available from 6 pm to 11 pm.
(Pics: Sameer Markande)


text:
My Binondo Girl
December 27, 2011 by staff
My Binondo Girl, The year 2011 redefined television viewing. It was a year of notable "returns" on Philippine television, and shows with different formats and plots were also introduced.
In its first issue for the year 2012, entertainment magazine Star Studio listed down this year's most remarkable television achievements.
The success of soap operas which had celebrities starring in dual roles topped the list.
Star Studio cited Coco Martin's portrayals of a military man and as a bandit in the ABS-CBN series "Minsan Lang Kita Iibigin."
Another hit for the year was Kim Chiu in "My Binondo Girl," where she played the role of a young lady who pretended to be her younger brother.
Next on the list is the successful remake of ABS-CBN's "Mara Clara." People avidly followed the show, "proving that a good story can be told more than once."
The remake was headlined by Kathryn Bernardo and Julia Montes. The original version starred Judy Ann Santos and Gladys Reyes.
The presence of child stars on the primetime block also redefined Philippine viewership, said Star Studio.
Viewers religiously followed Zaijan Jaranilla in the hit soap opera, "May Bukas Pa." This triumph was followed by Mutya's self-titled show "Mutya," and Xyriel Manabat's "100 Days To Heaven."
Please feel free to send if you have any questions regarding this post , you can contact on
Disclaimer: The views expressed on this site are that of the authors and not necessarily that of U.S.S.POST.


text:
Welcome to Grahn Creative
Early in 2016 Adria (the Grahn Creative) returned to Whakatane, New Zealand following 6 years in Perth, Australia.
Looking for a change of pace in NZ, the concept behind starting Grahn is to offer bespoke Graphic Design, Website Design and Marketing solutions for businesses and individuals around the world (the internet is a wonderful thing!)
With a solid background in all things graphic design, marketing and writing, Adria has the skills and knowledge to bring your next project to life through printed and online media.
Drop her a line to see how she can add value to your next project or business.
click here to see the portfolio
You only get one shot to make your first impression - this includes your tone, message and style, through to the final design and printing of your logo and marketing materials. So ditch Publisher and let us help you stand out from the crowd and make the right name for yourself.
Here's how we can help you...
- Brand development and logo design
- Website design and content management
- Personal and corporate stationery
- Wedding stationery
- Document design - flyers, brochures...
- Advertising - print, outdoor and online
Marketing & advertising
- Marketing and advertising planning
- Online marketing
- Email marketing
- Social media
- Copywriting
Want to get in touch? We would love to hear from you!
Fill in the form below or click here to send Adria an email...


text:
Peppa Pigs Girls' Blue Dress and Leggings Set only £6.49 @ Argos
Peppa Pig Girls' Blue Dress and Legging Set is half price at Argos and reduced from £12.99 to just £6.49
Click here to buy Peppa Pig Set at Argos*
This is such a cute outfit from Argos that any little Peppa fan would love. Consisting of navy blue spotted leggings and a matching Peppa dress, it's a perfect outfit for Spring. Come Summer the dress could be worn on it's own, giving you two outfits for the price of one.
It's available in sizes 2-3, 3-4 and 4-5 years, with the 18-24 months option still being full price at £12.99.
The dress is 100% cotton and the matching leggings are 95% cotton and 5% elastane. It's fully machine washable at 40°C
You can reserve this to collect from your local Argos store, simply by clicking the link and entering your postcode to check stock levels near you. Home delivery is also available but this will cost you an additional £3.95
Thanks to iamgujju on HUKD!


text:
Mike Wallace sure is happy to be in Baltimore.
"When this process started, I knew I wasn't going back to Minnesota," the receiver said Tuesday during his introductory news conference with the Ravens. "I was like, 'I need a good quarterback. I need a quarterback who I know is proven, who can get things done,' and [Baltimore's Joe] Flacco, he's always been that guy."
Um, no offense, Teddy Bridgewater?
Wallace spent the first four years of his career with the Pittsburgh Steelers, catching passes from two-time Super Bowl champion Ben Roethlisberger.
It was during this time that Wallace established a reputation as a big-time deep threat. He led the league with yards per reception with 19.4 as a rookie in 2009, set a career high in the same category with 21.0 the following year and made his only Pro Bowl appearance in 2011.
But since leaving the Steelers as a free agent, Wallace has played for teams not so enamored with the deep ball: the Miami Dolphins, with quarterback Ryan Tannehill in 2013-14, and the Minnesota Vikings, with Bridgewater as the signal caller last season.
And Wallace's stats have suffered. He didn't average 13 or more yards per carry in any of those seasons, and last year, his overall numbers really bottomed out, with just 473 yards and two touchdowns even though he played in every game and started 12.
Apparently, that was entirely the quarterback's fault and all will be well again now that Wallace is paired with Flacco, a former Super Bowl MVP.
"I always loved [Flacco's] deep ball, always, ever since, like I said, I was in Pittsburgh watching Torrey [Holt] catching them," Wallace said. "I was like, 'Man, this guy gets like eight of them in a row.' I need some of that."
Incidentally, Bridgewater ranked higher than Flacco last year in average yards per pass, completion percentage and passer rating. The Ravens quarterback was higher than the Vikings QB in average yards per game.


text:
End of the world blues / Jon Courtenay Grimwood.
Electronic resources
Record details
- ISBN: 9780553904260 (electronic bk.)
- ISBN: 0553904264 (electronic bk.)
- Physical Description: 1 online resource (348 pages).
- Publisher: New York : Bantam Spectra, [2007]
- Copyright: ©2007
Content descriptions
|Summary, etc.:
| From the author of the celebrated "Arabesk" series comes a stunningly inventive novel of futuristic noir set in a world of shifting realities. A man is drawn into a gritty postmodern subculture and a secret kingdom of otherworldly beings to find what he had lost long ago: a reason to live.
|Source of Description Note:
| Description based on print version record.
Search for related items by subject
|Young men > Fiction.
British > Japan > Fiction.
Thieves > Fiction.
Yakuza > Fiction.
Tokyo (Japan) > Fiction.
Japan > Fiction.
|Suspense fiction.
Mystery fiction.
Electronic books.


text:
Pharmacies' fund has Tory bias, new analysis has revealed
A FUND set up to protect High Street chemists from closure will help four times as many pharmacies in wealthy Tory heartlands than in more deprived Labour constituencies, new analysis had revealed.
Almost 80 per cent of pharmacies will benefit from the Government's Pharmacy Access Scheme
According to figures released by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) almost 80 per cent of pharmacies that will benefit from the Government's Pharmacy Access Scheme are located within Conservative constituencies.
Pharmacies within the Tory heartlands, including the constituencies of Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Phillip Hammond and Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, are among those to benefit from the scheme.
Although the scheme appears to favour pharmacies in the South of England at the expense of more deprived Labour constituencies of the North, three chemists within the Warrington South constituency held by Pharmacy Minister David Mowat, who has overseen the cuts, are also set to receive the funding lifeline.
Although supporters say the effect is down to the Tory shires being more rural, critics say it ignores the specific need of communities.
The news comes as the Government faces a growing backbench rebellion over the £200million funding cut as Labour MPs prepare to force a vote on the issue in the House of Commons on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Theresa May and Chancellor Phillip Hammond are among those to benefit from the scheme
Pharmacies are crucial community assets that people up and down the country rely on
At least a dozen Tory MPs, including former Business Minister Anna Soubry, have previously spoken out against the cuts.
Last night shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: "Pharmacies are crucial community assets that people up and down the country rely on.
They provide vital face to face health services, relieve pressure on GPs and are important small businesses on high streets.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said pharmacies are crucial for people to rely on
"We are appealing to Conservative MPs to stand up for their constituents and the pharmacies they rely on and vote down these damaging cuts."
Labour MP Michael Dugher, who had been leading the fight against the cuts, said: "These cuts are bad for communities and bad for our NHS.
All MPs should vote against these cuts this week."


text:
The Sage has but a moment to orate today, as the Mystic Cave needs to be cooled down soon. On to todays Seekers. http://www.slate.com/id/2261000/
1. Our first Seeker works partially from home, where her new, unemployed husband is trying to begin a new business, which keeps him to busy to help with the chores, but not to busy to berate his bride over having not done them. Damage is being done to the home during these conversations.
The Sage recognizes your failings here, and admires you for acknowledging them. Certainly, you must continue to apologize for living the way you have been, even as you repair the damage in your home. Ignore the Lesser Advisors who would surely command you designate an area in your home for your work which is off-limits to your husband, or worse yet, to inform him that if the dishwasher bothers him so much, he is free to empty it himself. Resist those Advisors who would have you leave or toss your husband out. Whom else could he turn to once he is out of items in your home to destroy?
2. The next Seeker overdosed in college with the intention of suicide, and wonders whether the fiance is entitled to know.
The Sage insists that you bring this up at your next romantic encounter. What could possibly be more exciting than the thought of your betrothed retching heer guts out as she breathes her last? While this is a topic he needs to be aware of, lest these thought return perhaps with a new prescription, for instance, timing is everything.
3. Our third Seeker works in a cubicle with a mentally intense position, which her supervisor and other coworkers chat just beyond the cubicle wall. The Sage confesses to strong empathy here, as the Mystic Cave used to be next door, apparently, to Fox News headquarters.
The Sage recommends that you take a direct approach. When the coffee klatch appears on your ... er, cubicle step, ask in a loud voice, "Don't you have any real work to do?" An alternative phrase might be, "Excuse me, but some of us are trying to work!" Should this fail to be effective, and the Sage is convinced that it will not, go for a walk. Check back every few minutes to see if the group has broken up. If, after enough time, they have not, ask if they are nearly finished, so that you may get back to work. You could always go over your supervisor's head, but there is little satisfaction in that. The Sage suspects that your supervisor was promoted internally, rather than having been hired from outside or transferred from another department, and has not yet quite accepted the mantle of leadership.
4. Today's final Seeker has msigivings about a friend visiting, as teh friend berates the Seeker over the occasional use of air conditioning, even though it is ninety degrees outside on most days.
The Sage advises you, when you know your alleged friend is coming for a visit, to shut all the windows and turn off the air, so that the house gets as hot as can be during the day. Make sure pets and plants are somewhere safe first, however. When the friend arrives, sit inside to talk. Bring up the topics of children and elderly who have died because of excessive heat and the inability to turn on an air conditioner to cool their bodies. If the friend continues to insist that 90 degree weather is not a valid reason to cool the house, find a new friend.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Mixed bag of Sage
Posted by The Oracle at Del-Fly at 5:22 AM
1 comment:
Oh Great Sage,ReplyDelete
I admire you even more for your fortitude for putting up with the windy noise of Fox News headquarters. How did you ever got them to go away from the Mystic Cave? I suspect you sent up a volcanic plume that dropped lots of little rocks and buried them?
Love the way you sum up Letter 1, only a Sage could put it so succinctly!
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text: Heartland, you're breaking ours. One of the friendliest all-ages DIY venues in the city is shutting down, but they aren't going out quietly. To celebrate all the fond memories, the curators are throwing an all-day festival of music and revelry (and maybe pancakes!), featuring a gobsmacking lineup of excellent local talent. Dance, cry, and hug all the friends you've made there, then start plotting your own underground art gallery/party haven. (Heartland, noon, $5 suggested donation, all ages)


text:
Plotting velocity and direction contours
Hi all,
I've collected data at 54 points in a meandering channel flume, and have the overall velocities in all 3 axes, as well as the roll, pitch and heading angle of the resultant velocity flow. I would like to plot this for all the points that I collected data for in the channel width.
How could I go about doing this? I've tried to use a 3D modelling software but it seems to be extremely tedious. Is there a software available where I can transfer my angles and velocities to obtain an overall 3D vector plot?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Have you tried Paraview?
No I haven't. I'm downloading it now, so will give it a go.
Thanks very much.
|All times are GMT -4. The time now is 02:27.


text:
could a higher tax payer who has income from joint rental property give higher share of the income to his spouse instead of 50% each
Is he required to notify HMRC if so what form does he need to complete
Many thanks
Please login or register to join the discussion.
Is this a partnership or joint ownership.
It is possible to notify HMRC on form 17 - Beneficial Income Election - if the ownership is not a straight 50:50.
This ratio then applies to all taxes. It can be varied at a later date and any CGT comp will time apportion the gain between the differing periods of ownership ratios


text:
Tu sei quiHome › Multimedia ›
H264/AVC Level Editor
H264LevelEditor is a free and small tool to edit an H264/AVC encoded video stream and change IDC profile level (see here for detailed info about IDC levels).
Works both on MKV containers and raw H264 streams (*.h264, *.264, *.ts or any other file containing H264 encoded video).
It's a portable software, no need to install it, and comes in two flavours:
- Graphical (GUI):
Use it if you need to edit a single or few files.
- Command line (CLI):
It has the same features of the graphical version and can also work on multiple files.
You could also include it into your custom conversion scripts.
Quick intro
Video stream/file is edited in-place, which means:
- fast editing
- no need to reencode the file (save time)
- no need to demux, edit and remux streams (save time and HDD space)
To make a long story short, some mediaplayers (like my Samsung C6000 LED TV and Sony PS3) search the video file being played for an header info named AVC profile level; if this level is greater than the requested (supported) one they simply refuse to play it, even if they could.
BluRay specifications requires level 4.1, which is supported by all actual HD mediaplayers. Many of the video files you'll find on internet were encoded with an unnecessary high level, like 5.1.
The right way to change AVC level is to reencode the file; this is really time consuming, even if you have a recent CPU.
A quick way is to change some bytes inside the file and make it appear as being encoded with a different level; if you're lucky, changing that 5.1 to 4.1 will make the file playable on your mediaplayer.
Just to be clear: H264LevelEditor does not change video stream compression.
It only changes a value in file header, where it "declares" its level to the world.
Many of the 5.1 encoded files out there are not really 5.1, but over-leveled 4.0 or 4.1.
If the file itself is encoded using 5.1-only features, and your player is not able to decode it, well... you must reencode it, no way.
Usage help (graphical version)
Using H264LevelEditor is easy as 1-2-3:
- select the video file to edit by pressing then tree-dots button, or drag&drop the file directly from Windows Explorer
- H264LevelEditor will show actual AVC level into the "h264 level" box, choose the new level you want to set
- press "Change level" button
- click on "Donate" button (well, this is obviously optional ;) )
User BlackMIIX published a good video tutorial here, take a look.
Usage help (command line version)
Command line version can be used to edit a single file or a group of files in a shot.
Can also be called by .bat or .vbs custom scripts.
This will change level of file C:\MyFiles\test.avi to 4.1:
> H264LevelEditorCli.exe --action change --input "C:\MyFiles\test.avi" --new-level 4.1
This will change level of all file*.avi files into folder C:\MyFiles (file001.avi, file002.avi, fileabc.avi, ...) to 4.1:
> H264LevelEditorCli.exe --action change --input "C:\MyFiles\file*.avi" --new-level 4.1
See the included file H264LevelEditorCli.txt for more options, samples and exit codes.
v.1.5.3 - 2017-04-28
- FIX: CLI parameter "--new-level" is not required if action is "restore".
v.1.5.2 - 2014-07-17
- NEW: Added *.avc to the list of supported file extensions.
v.1.5.1 - 2014-04-22
- NEW: Initial support for Mono Framework. The application should now run on Linux and Mac OSX through the Mono framework.
v.1.5.0 - 2014-01-29
- NEW: Added an option to preserve last modified date of the file being patched. The option is available in both GUI and CLI versions.
- FIX: Runtime error when closing the GUI while search is running.
v.1.4.0 - 2013-08-29
- NEW: Command line version of H264LevelEditor is now available (H264LevelEditorCli.exe).
It has the same patching engine of the GUI version and can also work on multiple files.
v.1.3.0 - 2013-08-16
- NEW: Search task now runs in a separate thread.
This will keep the UI alive during long searches.
- FIX: Readonly files caused a runtime error when pressing the "change level" button.
This state is now detected and user is asked to clear the flag before level change starts (thanks to Biomech for the suggestion).
v.1.2.0 - 2012-01-24
- NEW: Search limit can now be extended up to first 100MB of the file (default is 1MB). This adds better support for MP4 files.
- NEW: initial (and really experimental) support for H264 encoded AVI files. Please remember that AVI is not a good container for H264/AVC stream.
- NEW: added automatic software update checking feature, can be set into Options dialog
- FIX: fixed search algorithm to avoid @n.k profiles detection
please see comments here for further details:
v.1.1.0 - 2011-08-05
- NEW: backup feature, allows to undo any changes to input file
- NEW: improved search algorithm, now changes the muxing tag too
- NEW: fix to recognize mislabeled profiles, such the ones produced with very old encoders
H264LevelEditor it's a portable software (single EXE), no need to install it.
WARNING: .NET Framework 2.0 or newer is required: 2.0 (x86) - 2.0 (x64) - 4.0 (client profile)
(Windows Vista comes with .NET Framework 3.0 preinstalled, Windows 7 comes with .NET Framework 3.5 preinstalled.)
|Latest version, includes both GUI and CLI
|Release date
|256,566 bytes
|Previous version
|Release date
|264,834 bytes
Salve ho provato ad utilizzare questo programma, ma con alcuni file mi da il seguente errore...
ERROR: Can't find any AVC profile!
ERROR: You can try to increase search limits.
cosa posso fare?
Premi il pulsante "Options"
Premi il pulsante "Options" ed aumenta i imiti di ricerca, sia quello in MByte che quello numerico.
Se non ottieni risultato allora il file non può essere editato ma deve essere ricodificato per intero.
--action restore
First of all, thank you for this handy tool.
A lot of my media with profile level 4.1 cannot be succesfully modified so now I am trying to revert the changes with the backup files.
Nevertheles, when I try, I get this error:
H264LevelEditorCli.exe --action restore --input "clip.mp4"
CoolSoft H264LevelEditor 1.5.2 - Command line version
ERROR: The required parameter --new-level is missing
The .hle-bak is present. Any hint as to how to fix this please?
I am using the CLI because I have lots of files and I want to process them in bulk using the command: FOR /r %%i in (*.mp4) DO H264LevelEditorCli.exe --action restore --input "%%~fi"
Thank you.
That parameter is not used at
That parameter is not used at all with --action restore.
I've released an updated version (1.5.3) that fixes the bug.
Thanks for pointing it out.
Ciao, grazie per questo tool
Ciao, grazie per questo tool che mi è stato utile diverse volte. Ora però mi sarebbe molto utile lo stesso tool per HEVC h265...pensi di poter estendere la compatibilità a tale codec? Grazie.
H265 non lo conosco bene e
H265 non lo conosco bene e non credo di poterci dedicare del tempo...
Sorry ;)
Hello. I am trying t change the H264 level of a mkv file. All I get is
"Search in progress (size limit: 1.000.000, count limit: 2)
AVC level pattern found at file offset 277330: [email protected]
AVC level pattern found at file offset 310118: [email protected]
Search completed
ERROR: Warning: different levels found, you can try to decrease 'Found patterns' limit."
The file is encoded with [email protected], according MediaInfo report. So I'm guessing this app is failing. I've tried with some other files with the same encoding level. No luck though!
If the file is @5.2 there's
If the file is @5.2 there's no chance it's an "over-encoded" 4.0/4.1.
Quoted from Quick intro:
> Just to be clear: H264LevelEditor does not change video stream compression.
> It only changes a value in file header, where it "declares" its level to the world.
> Many of the 5.1 encoded files out there are not really 5.1, but over-leveled 4.0 or 4.1.
> If the file itself is encoded using 5.1-only features, and your player is not able to decode it, well... you must reencode it, no way.
Sorry, you must reencode it...
We do not have any dangerous JavaScript running here.
Thanks for your comprehension and enjoy CoolSoft.
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Know more about this business than we do? Cool! Please submit any corrections or missing details you may have.Help us make it right
Be the first NJ.com user to add photos or videos of Custom Floors INC
Custom Floors can be found at Skeet Rd 76. The following is offered: B2B Contractors. The entry is present with us since Sep 9, 2010 and was last updated on Nov 14, 2013. In Medford there are 41 other B2B Contractors. An overview can be found here.


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Latin Percussion Cyclop LP174, Tambourine
Latin Percussion LP174 Black LP Cyclops Hand Held Tambourine
with Dimpled Brass Jingles
The LP Cyclops® Tambourine is the most ergonomically designed, comfortable and durable tambourine ever produced.
Its unique patented shape has been designed especially for natural arm and wrist motions to offer greater playing ease in all situations.
Available in hand held or mountable models the rounded edges provide extra durability for drumstick hits. They have been found to last five-times longer than other
Musicarte can pick up your used gear. Request an evaluation of your used item and buy one or more available products (also for online shopping)LEARN MORE
We're a real shop with more than 1000 square meters of exhibition space,, more than 7000 available products, online store and assistance 24/7, for a total of more than 20,000 items.!
Musicarte Store is an online musical instruments shop. New and used musical instruments at the best price. Guitars, Amplifiers, Drums, Keyboards, DJ Equipment, Home Recording, Print Music, Audio Gear, Lighting. Musicarte is a real shop too, with more than 1000 squared meters of exhibition space! Everything you need for the musician in you. All our musical instruments are ready to be shipped. We ship everywhere in the world, as soon as the order is made, and we deliver within few working days. All our new music gear is under a 3 years warranty, one year more than the italian standars, while ex-demo and used gear have a 2 and 3 years warranty, respectively. Find what you need to make your sound real!
Fender - Ibanez - Gibson - Ableton - ADAM - Professional Audio - AKAI - AKG Acoustics - Allen & Heath - Apple - Aquarian - Aquila ART - Artesia - Artnovion - Arturia - Audio Technica
Buy online with PayPal and PayPal Express, Credit Card or Bank Transfer, Musicarte offers an insured shipping service, too. Do you live here in Italy? Then you can pay in cash on delivery too! And if you are nearby and you want to visit us, why don't you place your order online and then you pick it up at our store? You'll like it for sure!DEALS USED GEAR


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It's hard to believe, but it's been four months now since I first stepped off that plane from Iraq. So much has changed and yet, so much still remains.
January and February will go down as the worst months. Lots of crying and screaming and yelling as the kids tried to figure out where they fit and what they could get away with. Lots of tears on my part as guilt ate away at my soul, part for leaving and the other part for coming home and uprooting them once more. There was the panic over my oldest going from loving school to hating it. The daily battles to get her up in the morning and the ever-present food battles where my oldest proved just how stubborn she truly was.
But February ushered in March, where things got a little better. There were still bad days. Really bad ones but the distance between them grew a little longer. But we as we moved forward, each night I fell asleep hoping that tomorrow would be better, that the stress and guilt eating away at me would ease back and we could enjoy being a family for a little while, however long that might be.
I've focused on my oldest because, at 5, she is more like a little person. She is more articulate and significantly more vocal than my youngest on so many issues. But lately, my youngest is starting to show signs of stress. She's always cried when we drop her off at daycare in the morning, but now, she cries as soon as she wakes up.
She's crying for Grammy, something she has not done in the last four months. I admit to being stunned the day she stood in a crowded rest stop in New Jersey and told me she didn't think I loved her. I didn't know what to say or do. I was prepared for "I don't love you" — not "You don't love me."
But now when she gets upset with us, she says she wants to go back to Grammy's because 'hers always nice to me' and 'her loves me'. I think my 3-year-old is confused. She doesn't know where she fits. I worry more about her adjustment than my oldest's, simply because she is so little and she was so young (just over six months old) when I first left her.
Her difficulty is also painful because she's always just gone with the flow. She's never been a fussy kid, always kind of rolling with whatever. The fact that months into our transition home and she's suddenly having issues is extra tough to deal with because she's been so resilient up to this point.
My little girl has been through a lot. She's three -and-a-half and she's been without me for half her life. The guilt I keep thinking I've dealt with is like an insurgent, sneaking up when I'm least prepared to deal with it, like the middle of a rest stop. I hope she'll be okay in the long run, but the simple lack of information about long-term impacts means that my husband and I are simply going in blind and doing the best we can.
For now, I try to get my mom on the phone as much as I can so my kids can hear her voice. My youngest seems to need this contact more than my oldest. I'm trying to be as understanding and accommodating as I can, but really, how many times can you overlook a roll of toilet paper thrown in the toilet before someone needs to instill some discipline.
I think she's doing fine, over all. But it's those moments when she says how much she misses her Grammy that I feel my own heart breaking. She has no other words to express her confusion about where she fits in the world.
And I have no way to really pierce through the bubble of my own guilt.
Empowering Parents is happy to welcome Jessica Scott to the EP Blog. Jessica is an active-duty army officer, one half of a dual military couple and a full-time mom. She squeezes out time to write late at night or on her lunch breaks, such as they are. She blogged her way through Iraq in 2009 and you can read about her journey here. She is the mother of Mia (3) and Victoria (5) and is blessed to have good children who've struggled through a rough time as military kids.
About Jessica Scott
Jessica Scott is an active duty army officer, one half of a dual military couple and full-time mom. She squeezes out time to write late at night or on her lunch breaks, such as they are. She blogged her way through Iraq in 2009 and you can read about her journey at Jessicascott.net. She is the mother of Mia(3) and Victoria(5) and is blessed to have good kids who've struggled through a rough time as military kids.


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I've been thinking about retiring our huge plastic {ugly, boring} dog crate and creating a new bed for our family pooch. While looking for some inspiration, I came across some amazing ideas that'll have a pup sleeping in comfort and style. I gathered up 21 DIY dog beds that are all so unique and fabulous and I knew you'd love them too. Click and pin and then be sure to let me know which one is your favorite!
For more great projects for your favorite dog, be sure to check out 16 DIY dog projects. Your dog will thank you!


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I'll make this one snappy! Hope you're enjoying your weekend, and if you have time to look at a few beauty blogs, check out this week's roundup from Beauty Blog Coalition. My post is at the very end. If you are not familiar with Fusion of Color Mineral Cosmetics, you should get to know them. Huge color variety in shadows and blush, gorgeous colors, and samples for less than $2. Plus they ship internationally. 🙂
- Slashed Beauty: Ever wonder what the difference between eyeshadow primer and base is? Miranda has the answer!
- Endless Summer Blog: Elena shares her favorite perfume – luxurious, feminine and unique Jimmy Choo Eau De Toilette.
- Lola's Secret Beauty Blog: PurseN Tiara Jewelry Cases in Jet Setter, Vacationer & Weekender are perfect for traveling, but are great as stylish and organized at-home jewelry boxes too!
- Beyond Beauty Lounge : Get soft, silky, smooth skin with Tatcha's Soothing Silk Body Butter
- Geniabeme: See Geniabeme's beauty essentials from Walgreens!
- Color Me So Crazy: #RedCoatTuesday with Episode 5 Predictions. Join in next week!!
- TheFabZilla: Fancy.Fancier.Fanciest.Kathryne from TheFabZilla tells the difference with Burberry Beauty Summer Showers Orange Poppy Collection
- Glamorable!: What happens when science meets skincare? Glamorable discovered two hidden gems that your skin will love.
- Beauty by Miss L: Which products are in Leelo´s sunny summer days must-haves list.
- I Know all the Words: LaCoupe Orgnx Coconut & Macadamia Oil Collection might just be the best smelling hair care range… like, ever.
- Lipgloss Break: Take the pledge to protect your skin and win a year supply of Neutrogena Sunscreen!
- Be Happy And Buy Polish: If you need a holographic nail polish this summer, Be Happy And Buy Polish has two gorgeous indie polishes to show you!
- Never Say Die Beauty: Allison tried a new brand of mineral pigment makeup, Fusion of Color, and was blown away by the color variety
Copyright 2014 Never Say Die Beauty


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Britain's cold snap DEATH toll to hit 50K as winter victims are on the rise
BRITAIN'S winter death toll is set to hit a shocking 50,000 – the biggest for 39 years.
Charities described the figure as a "scandal" and a "tragedy" – as forecasters warned more freezing weather is on the way.
In England and Wales there were 17,600 more deaths than average from the start of December to February 13.
The total is currently 42,790 – and on course to hit 50,000 by the time the Government stops counting "winter" deaths at the end of March.
It means an extra 1,500 Brits are dying every week.
"This is a tragedy"Malcolm Booth
The total is set to top the 49,330 deaths recorded in the freezing winter of 1985-86 to become the biggest since 1975-76, when 58,000 people perished.
Many who die in cold weather are elderly but a fifth of winter deaths are in people aged under 75, with 11% under 65, Office for National Statistics figures show.
The Department of Health said cold conditions worsen winter killers including flu, chest diseases, heart attacks, strokes and dementia.
The ONS blamed cold spells in January and flu for the extra deaths.
Last night Malcolm Booth, boss of the National Federation of Occupational Pensioners, said: "This is a tragedy. Excess winter deaths could reach 50,000. It is alarming and higher than previous exceptional winter excess deaths totals."
And National Energy Action spokesman Peter Smith branded the figures "shocking" and a "scandal".
Meanwhile, forecasters said March would roar in "like a lion", with gales and snow until Wednesday and then chilly nights as skies clear.
Winds of up to 80mph were expected to hit Scotland last night ahead of the first day of spring today.
The Met Office forecasts gales for many regions until Wednesday, with 70mph gusts in the north of England, 60mph in the west and 50mph in the south and east.
There could be snow on higher ground in the Midlands and at lower levels in the north and Scotland, with hill flurries in the south.
Night temperatures will fall from Thursday until the start of next week, with -5C lows.
The RAC said there would be "difficult" conditions for drivers, warning of gales now and the risk of ice later in the week.
Netweather forecaster Nick Finnis said: "March is roaring in like a lion, with intense low pressure arriving from Canada."


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Time to take the lead from other UK countries and outlaw the shameful ritual of fox hunting
letter of the day: cruel sports
This is a month commonly associated with holidays and late summer festivities. But it's also the month when the cub hunting season reaches a peak.
Fox hunts in the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland have been training novice hounds how to kill foxes. This they achieve by bringing them to secluded venues in the countryside in the early hours of the morning. Hunters, some on foot and some on horseback, surround a fox covert known to contain a litter of cubs. When all potential escape routes have been blocked, the young hounds are released into the covert to seek out and kill the cubs.
The startled little creatures are taken unaware and seek desperately to evade the baying pack. Any that seem close to slipping through the circle of hunters are beaten back with whips, or long sticks.
Once caught above ground, each cub has the skin ripped from its bones. No mercy is shown. When all cubs have been eviscerated, the hunt concludes. The dawn pastoral scene reverts to silence, apart from birdsong and the footfalls of departing hunters and horses on dewy ground.
This gruesome ritual is replicated hundreds of times every year, with quiet patches of the rural landscape transformed into blood-drenched arenas. In cub hunting, more commonly referred to as "cubbing" (or "autumn hunting", in polite equestrian circles), even the supposed "sporting chance" accorded to foxes in the winter season is denied to the cubs.
And fox cubs aren't the only victims. Any hound that fails to show a killer instinct is culled from the pack, so it can't infect the others with the canine equivalent of cowardice.
Cub hunting represents the sickening and shameful side of an already cruel so-called "sport". We should follow the example of England, Scotland and Wales and ban it forever from the Irish countryside - north and south.
Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports
Belfast Telegraph


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Experience Physics
/ Observed on campus: some fancy neon signage in the Physics building.
Golisano Children's Hospital
/ Syracuse architecture: this is the best-dressed hospital in town.
/ About sixteen years ago a friend urged me to read Vonnegut and it took me until last week to do it.
Who's standing up to symbolic violence?
/ Pavlovian case study Andrew Bolt versus Indigenous footballer Adam Goodes.
'But I'm demilitarized!'
/ "Even without your principle armament, I bet you could waste planets if you wanted to—"
Science, duty, and maybe love
/ A remarkable scientific discovery emerged from the tragedy of Scott's fatal Antarctic voyage.
Intro to Bitcoin
/ Been listening to and reading some discussions of Bitcoin, so this is where I'll keep track of the good ones.
Restore 'Show plain text alternative'
/ A lot could be said about Mail.app, but for now at least fix the missing plain text option.
The tragedy of Tohoku
/ We have to look at what happened to Japan with clear eyes if we are ever going to get a grip on nuclear power in the years to come.


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I thought you might like to know a strange thing that has just happened to me.
I bought back in 2008 a Dell computer, via eBay. Just after buying it I purchased direct from Dell, extended warranty. Over the years I have had Dell engineers out a number of times to repair it under the warranty.
This last week it has gone wrong again, and I am getting near to the end of the extended warranty, which I can't extend any further. An engineer came out, but was unable to sort it out, so I had expected the engineer to come again today.
Last evening Dell telephoned me and said that an engineer will not be coming and they informed that in fact this machine, is not mine but it belongs to Dell, and that they want it back.
How come I asked them that in nearly five years this issue has not been mentioned?
I had a phone call from them again this morning confirming that they want it back and that not only do they want it back, but it has to be in the same condition as they sold it to the original person. Which is different to the conditon I received it in!
I am of course going to seek advice from the CAB, but thought it was rather interesting, especially as they have taken nearly five years to claim it back. Sadly after all this time I don't have a receipt, and am certain I can't get anything via eBay that far back.
I could not get the guy from Dell to understand that after all this time that I don't have the receipt and could not remember how much it cost. Heck after five years would anyone remember how much they paid for something, I doubt it! But he just didn't want to know!


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Hi guys, thanks for joining me. In this video I'd just like to talk a little bit on the subject of players who are playing and training to win, rather than just playing and training for fun. I'll just talk about the subject of training what you really need to do to win and thinking about what you should be doing to make that happen.
A typical example of what I see other people doing is – I'll go down the centre and people will train for an hour or two hours, and almost all of their training consists of loop vs block, the forehand loop vs block, the backhand loop vs block, and that's the bulk of their session. Maybe a few games thrown in. Then when these people come and play me, they serve, I push the ball and they can't attack it because it's not a topspin ball, it's not easy for them to attack because I'm chopping the ball really heavy.
What they are good at is topspin vs a blocked ball but we never get to that stage. So what I want you to think about is that a table tennis rally consists of a sequence of events: a serve, a return of serve, and then that first shot by the server which is usually someone trying to attack, the receiver then blocks or does whatever he does, or perhaps he attacks if the server couldn't attack. It's that sequence of starting the short game and then somebody has to make the first attack, and then we move into a more open play. But without that first attack we never get to the stage of looping vs block – somebody actually has to open up the rally, and if you spend all your time as an attacker training the open part – the looping against a block – and you forget to train the actual starting of the attack – attacking against a push, attacking against a flick – if you forget to train that then in a match you're never going to get to the stage of doing what you've been training – looping against somebody's block or looping against loop.
So really what I'd like to say is think a little bit about what you're doing in training – are you focusing on the stuff that you need to actually win points – are you working on your opening attack as an attacker? As a defender myself, a long range defender, I need to work on return of serve, pushing the ball and moving back into defensive range, I need to work on that transition from being up close to being far back so that I don' t get caught in the middle. So it's no good for me to spend all of my time simply 3 metres away from the table chopping long range if I never work on the actual sequence that gets me from close to the table back to that point. If I don't do that I'm going to suffer and never actually gonna get back there to do long-range chopping. So I have to work on my return of serve, I have to work on my close pushing, I have to work on when I serve and when I can't attack the return, my push and my move backwards into defensive stance.
So really again to keep this brief but to leave you with this thought, think a little bit about your game and how you play, whether you're an attacker or a defender. Even if you are a close to the table player, you want to make sure that your opponent never attacks you really, really hard so a good return of serve is important. If you can't work on a good return of serve you better work on handling really fast loops and attacks coming at you because that's what you're gonna get a lot of.
So think about your game, think about what you really need to do. Attackers – can you serve well – can you return serve well – can you actually hit that first attack and open up properly so you can get into the open game that every body likes to training – the loop vs block and counterlooping and all that stuff.
Close to the table players think about can you when someone serves at you – can you return tight enough to stop them hitting big attacks at you? If you can't then work on it, either you have to work on your return of serve or you have to work on returning really, really strong attacks.
Defenders like myself, long range defenders, we need a good return of serve, and a good serve, but we also need that ability that if we can't attack, we've gotta be able to push the ball, flick the ball or whatever, but we also have to be able to transition back into our defensive range – no good just working from the back court.
So think a little bit about that, if you spend some time working on pieces of your game that are missing that are preventing you from getting to the open parts of your game what you will find is your results will be better because you will actually more often get to the bit that in the past you have been training – the typical loop vs block- for defenders like myself, the typical loop vs chop when I'm way way back. Think about how your rally transitions, make sure that you can serve well, return serve well, and open up well so that you can actually get to the bit that everybody normally likes to play. OK?
That's my thought for the day, if you've got anything to comment about or thoughts on it , feel free to just pop a comment on the website, OK? Thanks.


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Taking pictures of my car today for an upcoming review when suddenly...old Chevy. I think it was a 1st generation Chevelle Malibu, but I could easily be wrong. (Edit: it's a 1965 Chevelle in Evening Orchid)
It was in good shape, looked like the original owner too. Hat tip to crowmolly and die-trying for the ID.


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Job prospects on horizon for veterans as Medaille expo aims to match career skills
Driving a tank; driving a forklift.
Deploying a battalion; deploying a sales force.
Using computer programs to distribute supplies and arm missiles, or to track shipments and schedule vacations.
When you put it like that, it's easy to see how a veteran's military training can make him or her a good, or even exceptional, fit for a job opening in the civilian sector.
What unemployed veterans want most is the chance to tell that to employers.
They will get their chance at the Veterans Career and College Expo being held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Medaille College.
Among those who will be there is Lance R. Mauro. A captain in the Navy, he believes that his experience as a commanding officer – along with his master's degree in administration – qualifies him for a management position in a private company.
"Military business management skills are very transferable to a company that needs an operations person," Mauro said. "But some companies, well, it seems they have a hard time translating that."
He bases that opinion on months of fruitless job hunting.
"Since February, I've been looking heavy duty, seven days a week," Mauro said. "In that time, I have sent out hundreds of résumés, and I have had about a dozen interviews, some better than others."
One recent interview with a major local bank has left him hopeful: "I talked with two awesome gentlemen, and it seemed to go well. They understood my experience, and they were honest with me. They said if this opening didn't work out, they might have something else soon."
Mauro, 55, compares that to an encounter he had at a financial services company.
"I talked to a couple guys there and got kind of 'beat up' in the interview," he said. "They didn't understand my résumé, and they indicated they thought my service experience was worthless."
That's particularly disheartening for veterans who worked hard to build their technical and leadership skills while on duty so they could find work once they returned to civilian life.
"Financially, it's a major struggle," Mauro said. "My wife is working, but she makes minimum wage, and I am worried about my unemployment running out."
For now, while he hopes for a callback from the bank, Mauro will keep networking and explaining how a man with international logistics experience – capable of ensuring an oil terminal's transition to Iraqi operation with a multinational staff, for instance – could be an asset for any company.
The career expo was organized by the Upstate New York Better Business Bureau and Medaille College, where Raymond M. Otto was the point man.
A Navy veteran himself, Otto now helps veterans make use of their GI Bill of Rights benefits to attend college.
"One of the things I wanted to do was hold a job fair that really targets veterans," Otto said. "The hardest thing is finding employers who really want to hire veterans. A lot of places will say they want to support the veterans, but how many actually follow through on that?"
All the companies participating in Saturday's event have jobs available now, Otto said, and most will be prepared to talk to candidates on the spot.
"They can do initial interviews right here, so the applicants can get their foot in the door," Otto said. "And that's all anybody wants – not a career fair where they smile and tell you to apply online, and you never hear from them again."
William S. Cleary is head of human resources at Dunn Tire, which is taking part in the expo. Its interest in veterans is more than lip service, he said.
"We're always looking for good people," Cleary said. "One good thing we've found about the military is that people come to us from it extremely well-trained."
And while anecdotal excuses sometimes cite veterans as being rigid or having other difficulties adjusting to a civilian workforce, Cleary said, "We haven't seen that. It's not a concern."
The expo is open to all veterans and their spouses, who have their own set of employment issues.
"Spouses are the backbone of the military, and we want to help them, too," Otto said. "They have moved so much, they can't get established in careers."
Aimee R. Victoria knows all about that. She has been looking for work since she and her husband, who is in the Air Force Reserve, moved to Western New York in August. She has experience in public relations, brand-building, nonprofits, event planning and freelance writing.
"Maybe there is no such thing as a traditional résumé anymore," Victoria said, "but in every place that we have lived, I've had to reinvent my career. I've developed a lot of different skills."
She and her husband have three children, with the youngest 3 years old. Being unable to afford regular child care limits her ability to network, which she knows is key to nailing that all-important interview.
"In this economy, I know that if you don't know somebody to recommend you, you're not going to get the job," she said. "I know there are a lot of good employers out there. I just need to make real contact with them."
Warren E. Clark, president of the Upstate Better Business Bureau, said they are hoping for a good turnout Saturday, and good results for all participants.
"We know the statistics – for job openings, for unemployment and for veterans," he said. "And we know the difficulties. Businesses were not understanding the difference in terminology for the military, for instance – that a platoon leader could be an excellent production manager."
To remedy that, the expo will offer résumé-writing help – how to "civilianize" experience – plus career counseling and advice on how to handle an interview. (One tip: After initial introductions, refer to your interviewer by name rather than "Sir" or "Ma'am.")
"This isn't one of those job fairs where people drop a hundred résumés on a hundred tables, and the story goes out that there was a big job fair – and nobody gets employed," Clark said. "We take them one at a time, and we try to find jobs, one at a time."
Among the 35 businesses participating are AT&T, Delta Sonic, First Niagara Banking, KeyBank, M&T Bank, National Fuel, Rite Aid, Snyder Corp., Calspan and Wegmans. Job seekers are encouraged to dress appropriately for interviews and bring copies of their résumés.
The expo will be held in Medaille's Events Area, 18 Agassiz Circle. Workshops will be at 10:30 and 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. in the President's Dining Room.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com