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P.E. teachers helped inspire Olympic path
I am lucky to have returned from Sochi, Russia — where, along with 230 other Americans, I competed in the Olympic games. Sochi was the third time I represented the U.S. in the Olympics and I am proud of my accomplishments and the work I did to get there — but I did not get there on my own.
From a young age I was driven by physical accomplishments, not just from within but with the motivation of teachers and coaches who helped me achieve more than I believed myself capable of. I particularly remember my physical education coach, Mr. Harrington, as a source of inspiration. He instilled in us a love for exercise not only as an outlet for competition, but also for self-improvement and building confidence.
During each grade of elementary school, I looked forward to the one-mile run more than anything else as a chance to showcase the physical fitness I had gained. During one particular year I was ready to sit out the one mile run because of a knee surgery until Mr. Harrington taught me an even more important life lesson. He explained to me that competition wasn't always about winning, but doing you best on that particular day and he cheered me on as I used crutches to make my way around the course. The mindset and confidence that was taught to me that day has helped carry me on to a career as an Olympic athlete.
Right now in Vermont kids face tougher challenges. P.E. classes have been cut back. Nearly 27 percent of Vermont children ages 10-17 are overweight or obese. Kids are less and less physically active than ever before, with every distraction available to them. And 29 percent of students report playing video or computer games for three or more hours per day.
We need to make physical activity a priority for kids. Right now, Vermont elementary and middle schools are only required to provide P.E. twice a week, and there is no minimum time required. Only 40 percent of our high school students attend at least one P.E. class a week. This pales in comparison to the national guidelines of at least 30 minutes of P.E. a day for middle school and 45 for high school. Our kids need greater access to recreational opportunities inside and outside of school. Not only can this improve their physical well-being, but it is shown that physical activity and cardiovascular fitness can improve cognitive function and even improve performance on standardized tests.
Vermont legislators have an opportunity to improve P.E. time in schools and provide limited liability to schools so that they can open their doors to recreation during non-school hours. Research shows that people who are able to easily access recreational facilities exercise 38 percent more than those without easy access.
Let's make it easier for our kids to feel good and learn better. Let's make sure this generation has the opportunity to learn how active play outside can be so much more fulfilling and more fun than TV or video games.
The confidence a child can get from being more physically active can help push them farther than they thought possible — they may even be the next Olympian.
Andy Newell is a three-time Olympic cross-country skier from Shaftsbury.


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Organisers of the Singapore grand prix have defended the safety standards of the Marina Bay street circuit.
Organisers of the Singapore grand prix have defended the safety standards of the Marina Bay street circuit.
Lewis Hamilton slammed the reprofiled turn 10 chicane earlier this weekend, describing it as "ridiculous" and the worst corner in formula one.
The slow and tight triple-apex chicane, delineated by high kerbs, comes after a high speed section of the circuit.
Force India's Adrian Sutil broke his suspension after becoming airborne over the kerbs on Friday, and Hamilton said disaster could strike if a car lost its brakes on the approach.
"Last year, we had a Red Bull brake failure into turn one," said the 2008 world champion on Saturday. "If that had happened at turn 10, he would be way over the fence.
"It is important all of us make a point as we are the ones putting our lives at risk," added Hamilton.
A spokesman for race organisers Singapore GP defended the layout.
"The circuit is licensed each year by the FIA," he said.
"As safety is of paramount importance, it (the FIA) would not have approved the track for racing including the turn 10 configuration if it was a cause for concern," the spokesman told Singapore's local Sunday Times.

subset: commoncrawl


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A super cool gift from my brother.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Mr. Jones Poster
12 comments:
- Willow Cove said...
What a cool bro! Looks good on the wall.
- May 9, 2013 at 6:03 PM
- Rot said...
Yeah. He found an image online and blew it up without losing any of the quality.
I love the deep red. Hopefully that's the image Anchor Bay uses to sell the movie.
- May 9, 2013 at 6:04 PM
- Mantan Calaveras said...
Meanwhile, living room corpse is thinking to himself: "Hhm, is that Moroccan leather?"
- May 9, 2013 at 6:07 PM
- Rot said...
that's up in "the office"...tiny room with my computer : )
- May 9, 2013 at 6:08 PM
- Jay's Shadow said...
Very nice. What a great bro you have.
- May 9, 2013 at 7:05 PM
- NoahFentz said...
I was hoping to see some of those at the Film Festival but alas none to be had...it is damn good looking one sheet.
Bro is Cool...
- May 9, 2013 at 9:59 PM
- The Gill-Man said...
So cool! Man, that just has to be such a dream come true!
- May 10, 2013 at 11:22 AM
- Rot said...
Yeah..it's really cool to have been a part of this.
This time last year I was frantically building scarecrows in my yard...and now it's a movie.
- May 10, 2013 at 11:30 AM
- Sara said...
Looks GREAT with the blue wall.
- May 11, 2013 at 1:11 PM
- Ragged Grin said...
Awesome! As I said a while back, really well executed old school poster design. Can't wait to see this. I have some wall space in the "movie room", might have to follow your lead...or moreso your brothers.
- May 12, 2013 at 1:25 PM
- Heather said...
I know you made her and everything, but doesn't she ever startle you when you walk into the room? She must look super creepy at night standing there in the dark! :)
- May 17, 2013 at 1:04 PM
- Rot said...
when i first moved her in there she startled me every time i turned the corner : )
- May 18, 2013 at 9:03 AM


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World's tallest Ferris wheel to spin in New York starting 2016
New York City has given final approval to a $320 million project to build the world's tallest Ferris wheel, expected to pull in four million visitors a year.
Developers say the 630-foot wheel will offer incredible views across the Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn and New York Harbor. Inspired by the roaring success of the London Eye on the Thames and the current record holder in Singapore, work on the wheel is set to begin in the new year.
Earmarked to open in 2016, it will be able to carry 1,440 people in 36 capsules on a 38-minute breathtaking journey curving up into the sky and down. It will be built on the northeastern shore of Staten Island, the most neglected of New York's five boroughs, as part of an overall $580 million regeneration project. Besides the wheel, there will be a $260 million retail, hotel and restaurant complex expected to create thousands of jobs and boost the island's economy.
New York Wheel LLC president and chief executive Richard Marin hailed the final approval from the city council as "a major milestone for Staten Island and New York City."
He expressed hopes that the New York Wheel will eventually rival the city's other iconic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building. The London Eye, which saw the British capital become the first major city to build a giant Ferris wheel as a permanent tourist attraction, is 442 feet tall and opened in 2000.
The Singapore Flyer, at 541 feet, is currently the world's tallest.


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The iconic "Mirror, Mirror" universe, full of evil dopplegangers with awesome facial hair choices, is going to be featured in IDW's ongoing Star Trek comic, specifically issue #15, which hits tomorrow. As you can see from this Tim Bradstreet cover, we get our first look at what nu-Mirror-evil-Spock would look like. Turns out it's Zachary Quinto with a goatee. Whoodathunk?
There will be two variant covers, including a Zoe Saldana/Uhura photo one and one featuring Bradstreet's cover sketch. StarTrek.com has a 7-page preview if your eyes are good enough to read the tiny, tiny text. (Mine aren't. Sad face.)


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Operation – The ultimate goal for many model railroaders. Here, veteran modeler and operator Paul Scoles invites the viewer to join one of his monthly operating sessions. Watch, listen, and learn as Paul and his crew put his Pelican Bay Railway & Navigation Company railroad through its paces. Paul thoroughly explains waybills, the schedule and fast clock, train orders, and many other things during the operating session. This video affords the viewer the rare opportunity to witness and learn from an experienced crew as they operate one of this country's best known model railroads.
Also available from Paul Scoles:
"Advanced Techniques For Realistic Scenery,"
and "Realistic Scenery – Volume 2."
Just click on one of the buttons above (Description, Order, etc.) to learn more and to order your copy today!


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Delicious Bariatric Advantage Chewable FloraVantage Probiotic:
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Provides a strain-specific blend L. acidophilus NCFM® and B. lactis Bi-07, clinically shown to help maintain a healthy balance of intestinal flora, and immune health. Specialized probiotics can be used to target the intestinal microbiome to influence overall health.*
Managing digestive health is important to many individuals following bariatric procedures.1-4
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HarvestAdd to Cart Add to Lightbox Download
29 October 2006: Windmill used to produce electricity. Eastern McLean County, Illinois.
- Filename
- twin groves electric generating wind turbine windmill twin groves 98118295_McLean_County_Illinois.jpg
- Copyright
- Copyright, 2006, Alan Look, All Rights Reserved
- Image Size
- 2048x3072 / 986.5KB
- http://www.alanlook.com/alanlookphotographyeula.htm
- http://www.alanlook.com
rural scenic farm harvest energy windmill green power wind farm electricity technology wind power wind electrical generation turbine green energy Horizon Wind Energy environmentally friendly alternative blade blue climate cloud conservation development electric electricity energy environment environmental farm field generate generation generator global green industrial industry innovation landscape metal mill nature plant power production propeller renewable resource rotate rotating rotation sky spin station supply sustainability sustainable technology tower turbine warming white wind windmill windpower wings
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Oxytocin in PWS
Oxytocin in PWS - a discussion paper
(The latest research papers to be published have been collated for the months of January to March 2017. Topics include: Genetics, General PWS, Brain Imaging, Endocrine (including Growth Hormone, Behaviour, Cognition and Mental Health.)
A press release for April, 2017 about the studies done by Maïthé Tauber et al reads:
OT4B: a start-up emerging from patients and clinicians to develop oxytocin, a new therapeutic solution for Prader-Willi syndrome
In early 2017, François Besnier, Maïthé Tauber and Jean-Hubert Gallouët laid the foundations for OT4B, a new kind of start-up in the medtech environment. Based on very promising results from clinical studies lead by Professor Maïthé Tauber in patients suffering from Prader-Willi syndrome and patents held by 4 co-inventors including Maïthé Tauber, OT4B mission is to provide families and children suffering from this syndrome a new therapeutic solution by 2020.
Prader-Willi Syndrome
A rare genetic disorder, Prader-Willi syndrome is characterized by neurodevelopmental disorders associated with multiple hormonal deficits. Infants have difficulty sucking, growing (anorexia) and tone disorders (hypotonia). By the age of 2 to 3 years, their feeding behavior is reversed and they develop hyperphagia and food addiction which lead to morbid obesity. Later, these children will suffer from poor social skills and various disorders (behavioral, learning, psychiatric and endocrine). To date, there is no therapy to treat the disease as a whole nor to decrease its progression.
Oxytocin, a treatment for Prader-Willi syndrome
Since 2006, Maïthé Tauber has been interested in oxytocin in Prader-Willi Syndrome. Two patents were filed by the teams of Françoise Muscatelli and Maïthé Tauber in 2010 and 2016 based on a proof of concept in mice: the neonatal oxytocin administration corrects the sucking disorders, cerebral dysfunctions and behavioral disorders ( Hum., Mol. Genet 2010, Biol., Psych., 2015). The Phase I / II clinical trial with intra-nasal oxytocin in infants with Prader-Willi syndrome leaded by Maïthé Tauber's team showed that sucking / swallowing disorders and mother-child interactions are improved and identified potential biomarkers (Pediatrics, 2017).
OT4B, an international vocation
Patents for the use of oxytocin in the indication of Prader-Willi syndrome are, for OT4B, the founding elements of the company. With its scientific and clinical expertise, OT4B wants to make available to the entire Prader-Willi community an innovative therapeutic solution. With this in mind, OT4B will continue its clinical development in France, Europe and the USA and is looking for international partners to reach the market as soon as possible.
François Besnier
President of OT4B Father of a 46-year-old woman with Prader-Willi syndrome, he and other families initiated the creation in 1996 of the association Prader-Willi France (PWF, now close to 800 members). As a scientific engineer (Mines Paris), he was appointed as scientific and technical director of engineering companies and participated in numerous French and European research projects. Retired since 2007, today he contributes to various working groups on disability set up by the Ministry of Health. OT4B SAS 109, Avenue de Lespinet, FRANCE Toulouse Trade Registry 824 907 612,
Jean-Hubert Gallouët,
CEO of OT4B As an engineer-economist (Mines and DES Sorbonne), he devoted his professional career to creating and managing of consulting companies in the field of service and financial development in the world (in Europe, Africa and in Asia). Among other companies, in 2005 he created a microfinance network (Advans). Since the partial sale of his businesses, JeanHubert Gallouët, through his investment holding company Galpaco, acts as an entrepreneur and a Business Angel in promising projects.
Maïthé Tauber,
Scientific Director of OT4B She is pediatrician endocrinologist and professor at the University of Toulouse (PUPH). President of RéPPOP (Prevention and Management of Pediatric Obesity Network) of Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées since 2003, coordinator of the Prader-Willi syndrome center of reference since 2004, she has developed in her pediatric department a specialized unit for the multipdisciplinary management of care for obese patients with Prader-Willi syndrome. She is co-inventor of Oxytocin patents filed in 2010 and 2016.
For further information, please contact: François BESNIER, OT4B President,


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Ray Charle's early 50's sides,recorded before his Atlantic years, were reissued by the Coronet label in 1963. They find the future Genius Of Soul finding his own voice through his earlier influences. These song sound a lot closer to Charles Brown and earlier jump blues/R&B songs than the gospel and country influenced soul sound Ray would become an icon with. It's still wonderful to hear a very youthful Ray croon some blues here though.
Key Jam: "Misery In My Heart"
My father gave me his vinyl copies of several of his mid 60's Rolling Stones albums. This one is a classic album of spicy,bluesy rock 'n' soul that showcased the Stones really reaching their commercial and creative peak. Mick Jagger's vocal personality,Keith Richard's down 'n dirty guitar and Charlie Watts' righteous rhythm make the punchy sound of the original Mono mix of this 1965 album something not to be missed out on!
Key Jams: "Mercy Mercy","Hitch Hike" and "Satisfaction"
Berry Gordy himself was part of a writing team he called The Clan,who came up with much of this matter following the iconic Holland/Dozier/Holland team left Motown. The title song of this album felt very different for the Supremes alone-it had a grittier cinematic funky/soul flavor. Even if most of the album,especially the second side followed the groups iconic Motown girl group sound,this 1968 release sure began with a bang.
Key Jams: "Love Child" and "Keep An Eye"
Always enjoyed the horn heavy,soulful shuffle for the title song of this 1968 album whenever it came on oldies radio. I eventually found their full length debut album. With the reliance on interpretations, they do sound very much like an R&B/soul cover band from the time period. One thing they do with them,especially when the source material was a ballad,is add their uptempo horn based approach to it. That makes this a very satisfying listen overall.
Key Jams: "More Today Than Yesterday","Our Day Will Come" and "No One For Me To Turn To"
Donny Hathaway and Quincy Jones coming together to record a film score/soundtrack was a masterstroke for its time. It was musician Nigel Hall who recommended this albumf or me to seek out over a decade ago. It definitely has Quincy exploring his long of jazz history-from dixieland through modal on the scoring elements. Hathaway on the other hand delivers some of his most expansive funky soul on this album as well.
Key Jam: "Little Ghetto Boy"
This 1971 album found Ike & Tina Turner in their prime period of creativity. Ike Turner had an approach similar to James Brown where earlier songs spun off into new ones-with at least one of these songs baring a strong resemblance to the then recent hit "Proud Mary". Even though they duo were seeming to tire a bit creatively at this point,they could still rock up some heavy funky soul with their guitar and vocal might.
Key Jams: "What You Don't See (Is Better Yet) and "Moving Into Hip Style-A Trip Child"
Billy Preston really came into his own on this 1971 debut album for A&M. It brought out the versitility across soul,blues,rock and hard funk that this organ virtuoso and vocalist brought to his music. Especially when adding the guitar like effects of the Clavinet electric piano to his renowned organ work as he did here-not to mention his abilities to deliver message music that could really stick. Billy Preston albums used to be pretty easy to come by in used vinyl crates in my late teens/early 20's. Saw this over and over before finally picking it up. And wondered why I didn't sooner.
Key Jams: "The Bus" and "Outta Space"
In 1974,the song "Lady Marmalade" from this record really helped to bring the talents of Patti LaBelle and future new wave funk/Talking Head member Nona Hendryx firmly into the public eye. Producer/musician/songwriter Allen Toussaint really helped bring the high stepping and stomping New Orleans funky soul sound and gospel soul drenched ballads to this revived Philly trio on this album.
Key Jams: "Lady Marmalade" and "Don't Bring Me Down"
Perhaps it was due to personal problems that made this Carpenters album from 1975 so depressing in parts. Richard and Karen Carpenter both came out of a jazz back-round. So on this album of finely crafted balladry as they did best,there's a reality based soulfulness that would begin to influence their more complex later work together. Even though this has it's flaws,notably in the cover material,at least one of it's two uptempo numbers has it's moments. Again as it points to it's Brazilian flavored jazz orientation of some of their later 70's faster songs.
Key Jam: "Happy"
T-Connection reveal themselves to be a highly underrated band. This 1978 found the groups stylistic versatility keeping up the soul and funk through journey's into disco,West Coast pop,some scorching rockers and even a couple country inflected numbers.
Key Jams: "Lady Of The Night","Groove To Get Down" and "Playing Games"
Even in 1979 when this album came out,this Pittsburgh band were known for their 1976 hit "Play That Funky Music,White Boy". And during the height of the disco era,the bands focus was still on hefty funk grooves and harmony driven soul ballads. So this album was more than a pleasant surprise for me.
Key Jams: "Lana" and "If You Want My Love"
Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones' work on this 1979 masterpiece resulted in so many strong musical performance,listening to this vinyl passed down to me from my parents turned me onto the instrumentalists here. People such as Greg Phillinganes,Jerry Hey,Louis Johnson and Paulinho Da Costa. Which…in turn led me to starting this blog really. Bringing out this old vinyl to check out was mainly based on nostalgia. But also brought out that with songs such as "Rock With You" and "Get On The Floor",very different mixed were used on the mid 90's CD reissue I have. So it was fascinating to hear those differences come alive again through vinyl on this iconic album classic from the late MJ.
Key Jams: ALL of the first side. Plus "I Can't Help It" on the flip side.
Bootsy Collins came out of the lawsuit that barred him from using the Rubber Band name on George Clinton's Uncle Jam label with this 1980 album of 100% P-Funk power! Having some of the bands finest players such as Mike Hampton,Garry Shider and Maceo Parker aboard allowed Bootsy's iconic funksmanship to shine through in a way that…well actually impacted heavier on me by the second listen.
Key Jams: "Body Shop" and "Hyper Space"
Hiroshima are among the most fascinating jazz fusion groups to emerge from the late 70's. This sophomore album of theirs from 1980 showcases their Sansei Japanese founder/woodwind player Dan Kuramoto,along with his Koto virtuoso wife June,creating a pan ethnic jazz/rock sound that blended many Japanese instrumental approaches into that fusion framework. And while their 1979 was extremely strong,this second album made an even bigger musical statement.
Key Jams: "Crusin J-Town" and "Echoes"
Pieces Of A Dream's early albums extend very well on the late 70's/early 80's proto smooth jazz and latter day jazz/funk scene of Philadelphia. Grover Washington Jr. did a lot of work with this trio on this 1983 album. It even adds in a hip-hop styled turntable scratching synth effect on one of it's songs as well.
Key Jams: "For The Fun Of It","It's Getting Hot In Here" and "Fo Fi Fo"
Cameo didn't have just one transitional album-they had a whole transitional period. This underrated 1983 album is a major part of it. As the mid 80's came in,Cameo's lineup seemed to get smaller and smaller. On this album,it was a stripped down quartet. But through the many scratches on my vinyl copy,it was clear that Cameo knew how to hit the groove loud and hard during their stripped down,early 80's new wave funk period
Key Jams: "This Life Is Not For Me" and "Cameo's Dance"


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Check out Our Remaining 2018 Porsche Vehicles to Find a New Car at a Competitive Price
If you're looking for a great new car in the North Bethesda area that's available at a competitive price, be sure to take a look at the remaining 2018 vehicles we have available at Porsche Bethesda. We have a wide variety of 2018 cars and SUVs available and we would be happy to help you find the one that's right for you.
Which 2018 Porsche Models are Still Available?
You'll find all kinds of 2018 vehicles at our Porsche dealership in North Bethesda. No matter what you're looking for in your next vehicle, you can find a great fit at our location.
If you're looking for a vehicle that is reliable, long lasting, offers great performance in a variety of conditions, and an affordable vehicle that offers a variety of intelligent features, take a look at our inventory of remaining 2018 models.
Why Should you Buy a 2018 Vehicle at Porsche Bethesda?
As you can see, we offer a vast selection of vehicles available at Porsche Bethesda. We have an extensive inventory of 2018 cars and SUVs, making it easy for all kinds of drivers to find their perfect fit. You're welcome to stop by our dealership and our staff will help you find just what you need.
Our staff is always happy to help you find just what you need. We can answer your questions and arrange test drives, to help you find the perfect fit.
No matter which vehicle you choose, you can expect a great price when you shop with us. We offer fair, affordable prices that we think you'll appreciate. You can always expect a great deal when you shop with us. We also offer excellent financing options, so you can get the auto loan or lease you need to get behind the wheel of the vehicle that's right for you.
Take a look at the 2018 vehicles listed on this page to see what we currently have available. Then when you're ready to get a closer look, stop by and we will be happy to show you our inventory of Porsche vehicles and arrange a test drive so you can get to know these vehicles and find the one that's right for you.


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Birmingham, Alabama (PRWEB) February 12, 2013
Christian & Small LLP announced attorney Jonathan Hooks joined the firm as an associate. Hooks, a 2003 graduate of Cumberland School of Law, is a litigation attorney who focuses his practice in the areas of appellate law, securities and financial services litigation and product liability
Hooks graduated cum laude from Samford University in 2000. He graduated in the top 20% of his class from Cumberland, where he was a Scholar of Merit. He is chair of the Appellate Practice Section of the Alabama State Bar and serves on the Civil Courts Procedure Committee of the Birmingham Bar Association.
About Christian & Small LLP
Christian & Small represents a diverse clientele throughout Alabama, the Southeast and the nation with clients ranging from individuals and closely held businesses to Fortune 500 corporations. By matching highly experienced lawyers with specific client needs, Christian & Small develops innovative, effective and efficient solutions for clients. Christian & Small focuses on the areas of litigation, business and tax.
Christian & Small LLP is a member of the International Society of Primerus Law Firms.


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ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at email@example.com.
- Roberto, Anthony
- Lorts, Cori
- Hooker, Steven
- 1 Adams, Marc
- 1 Arizona State University
- 1 Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam
- 1 Tasevska, Natasha
- 1 English
- nutrition
- 1 Nutrition
- 1 Public health
- 1 community food environment
- Reverse Fountain Cytoplasmic Streaming in Rhizopus Oryzae
- Diné Research Practices and Protocols: An Intersectional Paradigm Incorporating Indigenous Feminism, Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies and Diné Knowledge Systems
- Developing an Augmented Reality Solution for Mapping Underground Infrastructure
- Characterization of 2D Human Ankle Stiffness during Postural Balance and Walking for Robot-aided Ankle Rehabilitation
- Using Molecular, Cellular and Bioengineering Approaches Towards Understanding Muscle Stem Cell Biology
Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in the United States. Dietary behaviors influence the risk of developing multiple chronic diseases. The U.S. population consumes too few fruits and vegetables and too much sugar sweetened beverages (SSB) and fast food. The Social Ecological Model (SEM) was created as a framework for health promotion interventions. The SEM organizes factors that can influence health into five layers: intrapersonal factors, interpersonal processes, institutional/organizational factors, community factors, and public policy. Each layer can influence dietary behaviors and other layers. This work aims to understand how the community layer, represented by the food environment, …
- Contributors
- Lorts, Cori, Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam, Adams, Marc, et al.
- Created Date
- 2017


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Safeway could be a potential takeover target
Eve Mitchell / Contra Costa Times
Beset by tough competition and buffeted by the Great Recession, Safeway has struggled to find its footing, leading to speculation that it is ripe for a takeover by a bigger grocery chain or private equity firm.
The grocery industry has undergone a transformation in recent years, as stores such as Walmart, Target, Trader Joe's, Fresh & Easy and dollar stores stock more groceries. And unlike Safeway, those stores are nonunion, putting pressure on Safeway's cost structure and profits.
On Thursday, Safeway will report earnings for the first quarter of 2012. Analysts expect the Pleasanton-based grocer to earn 30 cents a share on revenue of $10.07 billion, compared with profit of 29 cents a share and sales of $9.8 billion for the same quarter last year.
But the larger issue for the company will be the takeover rumors, with either Kroger, the country's largest grocery chain, or a deep-pocketed private equity firm seen as possible buyers. Earlier this month, for instance, the chain experienced its biggest weekly rally since 2009 on speculation about a possible acquisition after the grocery chain changed payout mechanisms for executives in the event of a takeover.
In an email, a Safeway spokeswoman said, "We don't comment on rumors." Kroger did not return phone calls.
Over a 10-year period ending in mid-April, Safeway's stock price declined by 52 percent while Kroger rose slightly by 4.5 percent. On Wednesday, Safeway's stock closed at $21.60 and Kroger closed at $23.19. Cincinnati-based Kroger operates 2,435 supermarkets and other types of stores nationwide while Safeway operates 1,678 stores in the U.S. and Canada. In the Bay Area, Kroger operates stores under the Food4Less and the FoodCo. names, discount grocery stores that compete with Safeway's Pak 'N Save stores.
'Food for thought'
Food retail analyst Karen Short of BMO Capital Markets released a report last week that explored a scenario involving Safeway, the country's second-largest grocery, being acquired by Kroger.
"To be clear, we are by no means suggesting a transaction is in the works. We are merely providing food for thought because we strongly believe this transaction makes sense for both shareholder bases," the report said.
In a phone interview, Short said, "If I could have a wish list on what could make the industry better, that would be at the top of my list."
"In general, I think this is kind of a broken industry and it's very challenging. There is a lot of competition from nonconventional formats that are nonunion," Short said in the interview. "The point is, the synergies are fairly significant between the two of them. So you are going to eliminate overhead, a significant amount of overhead, and that would improve the profitability of the combined entity fairly significantly."
The takeover talk comes as Safeway is also facing tricky labor negotiations. United Food and Commercial Workers union Local 5 is in ongoing labor talks with Safeway, Save Mart Supermarkets (Lucky) and Raley's (Nob Hill Foods).
"The unions and all three companies are continuing to look at health coverages that maintain quality care at a level to keep our members and their families healthy and allow the companies the ability to remain competitive," Mike Henneberry, Local 5 communications director wrote in an email. The negotiations, which involve two other locals in addition to Local 5, cover 53,000 members at the three retailers throughout Northern California, including 14,000 at Bay Area Safeways.
Safeway is probably a better play for a private equity firm, said Jeff Green, a Phoenix-based retail marketing consultant.
"I think it's going to be a private equity (firm) over some buyer like a Kroger," he said. "I don't think (Kroger) can affect (Safeway) sales. They have enough of their own issues to want to take on somebody else."
Attractive property
A takeover wouldn't be the first for the company. KKR took Safeway private in a 1986 leveraged buyout after Peter Magowan, the grocer's CEO at the time and grandson of the company's founder, allied with KKR in a takeover battle against Herbert and Robert Haft. KKR sold its stake by 1999, making more than $7 billion on its original $129 million investment, according to KKR's records.
Both Green and Short see Safeway as an attractive property that is not in a distressed condition.
"It's a good operationally run company with pretty good real estate," Green said.
"Safeway is not a distressed asset. They have a very high-quality store base. They've invested in their real estate. They own a lot of their real estate in great locations," Short said.
Safeway made the right move a few years ago when it upgraded stores to provide shoppers with a more attractive shopping experience than the discount model of Walmart, said Kirthi Kalyanam, professor of marketing and director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University. But, he said, it ran into some economic headwinds.
"When they were doing this transformation, we had something happen called 2008. All of a sudden, consumers were voting with their pocketbooks and decided to go back to Walmart," he said, referring to the financial meltdown after Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. "So the timing was a bit unfortunate. … If the economy was OK, then the renewal would have worked out just fine. And if (Safeway) did nothing, it would have been much harder for them to be a viable company."


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|Discworld character
Rincewind as illustrated by Paul Kidby in The Art of Discworld
|First appearance
|The Colour of Magic
|Created by
|Terry Pratchett
|In-universe information
|Unseen University
Rincewind is a fictional character appearing in several of the Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett. He is a failed student at the Unseen University for wizards in Ankh-Morpork, and is often described by scholars as "the magical equivalent to the number zero". He spends most of his time running away from bands of people who want to kill him for various reasons. The fact that he's still alive and running is explained in that, although he was born with a wizard's spirit, he has the body of a long-distance sprinter. Rincewind is also renowned for being able to solve minor problems by turning them into major disasters. His unique "skill" is implied to be due to being the chosen one of "The Lady", the anthropomorphic personification of luck (both good and bad).
Rincewind was portrayed by David Jason in the film adaption of The Colour of Magic[1] and Pratchett said in an interview that he unwittingly took Rincewind's name from "Churm Rincewind", a fictitious person referred to in early "'Beachcomber" columns in the Daily Express.[2]
In books[edit]
In Rincewind's debut in The Colour of Magic, he acts as a guide for the tourist Twoflower, who hails from the Counterweight Continent, a continent across the disc from the 'hub' continent where Ankh-Morpork is situated. He is recruited for this job because he is the only one who can communicate with Twoflower (they use Be-Trobi as a lingua franca). He and Twoflower wander around for quite a while, and get chased by everything from the personification of Death to a Lovecraftian creature named Bel-Shamharoth.
Even after Rincewind and Twoflower part ways at the end of The Light Fantastic—with Twoflower giving Rincewind his sapient-pearwood Luggage in the process—Rincewind's adventures continue to see him being chased across various regions of the Discworld in spite of, or often driven by, his desire to find somewhere he can relish boredom in peace and quiet.
During the events of The Last Hero, Rincewind states that he does not wish to volunteer for a dangerous mission; when he is asked to explain himself, he states that he's merely refusing for appearances sake, because, as someone is bound to nominate him for the upcoming mission eventually, even if he refuses, somehow events will conspire against him and he'll end up going on the mission anyway as he attempts to escape.
In Raising Steam, Rincewind is mentioned in footnotes, which refer to him as a professor at the university, studying the effects of different flowers on the nervous system.
In other media[edit]
Rincewind is the main character of the text adventure The Colour of Magic, which was based on the book of the same name.
Rincewind is also the player character of the 1995 Discworld video game. After a dragon is spotted in Ankh-Morpork, Unseen University's archchancellor sends Rincewind to find out the source of the trouble. In the sequel to this game, Discworld II: Missing Presumed...!?, Death disappears and the archchancellor puts Rincewind in charge of finding him and convincing him to get back to work. In both of the games, Rincewind is voiced by Eric Idle.
Rincewind has the ability to pick up the essentials of foreign languages quickly and fluency only slightly less quickly, and appears to have the ability to blend in with any situation. During The Colour of Magic, when he was projected into a universe that may or may not have been our own, he assumed the role of a nuclear physicist. In keeping with his nature, the role was as a physicist who specialized in the 'breakaway oxidation phenomena' of certain reactors—or, to put another way, what happens when those reactors caught fire (Terry Pratchett served as the press officer for several nuclear power plants before he became a full-time writer). Rincewind speculated on the nature of science, expressing in The Colour of Magic the hope that there was something "better than magic" in the world, and speculated on the possibility of harnessing lightning, for which he was mocked by "sensible" Discworld citizens. Rincewind is also fairly streetwise. He is often depicted as a harsh critic of the selected stupidities surrounding him, even though he can't help but comply with whatever absurdity that arises. For example, in the computer games starring him, he consistently spotted the ludicrous events around him and would then make jokes and puns to the unaware participants. He also seems to display, despite his apparent failure as a wizard, a fairly extensive magical knowledge, recognizing various spells, magical artefacts and concepts throughout his escapades.
Some of Rincewind's talents once stemmed from a semi-sentient and highly destructive spell that had lodged itself inside his mind and scared off all other spells (mentioned in The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic; though it must be stated that even without the spell's interference he was still an extremely incompetent wizard). The spell occasionally tries to make itself heard whenever Rincewind is going through a stressful time; as he was falling to his near-death, he said the first seven out of eight words of the spell.
In Sourcery and Unseen Academicals Rincewind claims that he never knew his mother as she ran away before he was born.
Rincewind has received several titles during his stay at the Unseen University; some of them because nobody else wants them, others to keep him busy doing work unrelated to magic.[3] These titles and their accompanying tenure include the condition that he cannot have any salary, influence, or opinions. They do, however, include meals, his laundry done, and (as a result of all the impressive-sounding but essentially meaningless titles that have been bestowed upon him) up to eight buckets of coal a day during the entire year.
Concept and creation[edit]
Pratchett said that Rincewind's job is "to meet more interesting people", saying that there is not much he can do with a character who's a coward and doesn't care who knows it. Pratchett noted that one of his major problems was that he has a "lack of an inner monologue".[4]
Supporting characters[edit]
Twoflower is a native of the Agatean Empire, on the Counterweight Continent, where he works as an "inn-sewer-ants" clerk, and is the first tourist ever on the Discworld. After his return, he wrote "What I Did on My Holidays".
He is described as having "four eyes" by a beggar at the docks early in the events in The Colour of Magic, who "found himself looking up into a face with four eyes," implying he actually wears glasses, although Josh Kirby's dust jacket illustrations for The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic shows him with four eyes. He also wears dentures, a concept that inspires Cohen the Barbarian to have a set made for himself made out of trolls' teeth, which are made of diamond.
His adventures begin in The Colour of Magic, when he decides to visit the city of Ankh-Morpork, where he meets the inept wizard Rincewind whom he hires as a guide. Throughout the first two novels, he is followed by the Luggage, a homicidally vicious travel chest which moves on hundreds of little legs, carrying his belongings.
Twoflower is the optimistic but naive tourist. He often runs into danger, being certain that nothing bad will happen to him since he is not involved. He also believes in the fundamental goodness of human nature and that all problems can be resolved, if all parties show good will and cooperate. Rincewind, of course, remains immovably convinced that Twoflower's IQ is comparable to that of a pigeon. He has no understanding of the Agatean/Ankh-Morpork exchange rate and often overpays, primarily because even the smallest denomination of Agatean coin is made of pure gold, and, thus, often pays for small items and minor services with enough wealth to buy a sizable fraction of the city. However, he introduces the concept of insurance to Ankh-Morpork (in particular to the landlord of the Broken Drum, which would prove fortunate as the city and tavern were both consumed by flame (albeit not entirely by accident)—the policy allowed the Broken Drum to be rebuilt as the Mended Drum.)
Twoflower also has a rich imagination as he is able to summon a dragon through his mind. The dragon, which he calls "Ninereeds", is very obedient to him. With the help of Ninereeds he rescues Rincewind and escapes the Wyrmberg.
The book relating his journey across the Discworld is considered a revolutionary pamphlet in his native land. At the end of the novel Interesting Times he was promoted to the rank of Grand Vizier of the Empire, under Emperor Cohen. It is not known if he still holds the position following Cohen's disappearance (as told in The Last Hero) but the Discworld Atlas states that the Agatean Empire has, in that time, become the 'People's Beneficial Republic of Agatea', headed by a Chairman.
He appears in the books The Colour of Magic, The Light Fantastic and Interesting Times and in the computer game NetHack as the quest leader for the tourist class. He is played by Sean Astin (alongside David Jason as Rincewind) in the two-part television adaptation.
The Luggage[edit]
The Luggage is a large chest that follows Rincewind literally wherever he goes—even onto Roundworld, which Rincewind initially only visited virtually. It is made of sapient pearwood (a magical, intelligent plant that is nearly extinct, impervious to magic, and only grows in a few places outside the Agatean Empire, generally on sites of very old magic). It can produce hundreds of little legs protruding from its underside and can move very fast if the need arises. It has been described as "half suitcase, half homicidal maniac".[5]
Its function is to act as both a luggage carrier and bodyguard for its owner, against whom no threatening motion should be made. The Luggage is fiercely defensive of its owner, and is generally homicidal in nature, killing or eating several people and monsters and destroying various ships, walls, doors, geographic features, and other obstacles throughout the series. Its mouth contains "lots of big square teeth, white as sycamore, and a pulsating tongue, red as mahogany". The inside area of The Luggage does not appear to be constrained by its external dimensions, and contains many conveniences: even when it has just devoured a monster, the next time it opens the owner will find his underwear, neatly pressed and smelling slightly of lavender. It is unknown exactly what happens to anyone it 'eats'.
One of the most notable features of The Luggage is its ability to follow its current owner anywhere, including such places as inside its owner's mind, off the edge of the Disc, Death's Domain, inside the Octavo, the Dungeon Dimensions, and even (literally) to Hell and back. Like all luggage, it's constantly getting lost and having to track its owner down. It has only one way of overcoming obstacles, and that is by simply ignoring them and smashing a hole through them—including a wall to a magic shop that had since relocated to another city by magical means.
The Luggage first appears as the property of Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist in The Colour of Magic (at a bar no less, where all the patrons decide to stare at their drinks after witnessing the arrival of the Luggage). When Twoflower returns home in The Light Fantastic he gives the luggage to Rincewind, and it follows him through several sequels. Twoflower says he got it by asking for "a travelling trunk" at one of about a dozen magical shops—which are not limited by the constraints of time and space, to their owners' dismay—which is exactly what he got. According to The Light Fantastic, this chain of stores was born when an impatient sorcerer was served rather poorly. When Rincewind eventually visits the Counterweight Continent, Twoflower's home, he finds many items similar to Luggage travelling with their masters. Although the luggage and those other items like it are constructed items, it is implied in The Last Continent that Rincewind's luggage, having learned a few things on its travels, somehow manages to successfully mate with a similar traveling container and produce offspring. Twoflower says about The Luggage in Interesting Times that "I always thought there was something rather twisted about it."
Pratchett says (at the beginning of Sourcery) that he got the idea for the Luggage when he saw a tartan suitcase with dozens of little wheels moving as though it had a mind of its own while an American tourist pulled it along. However, he has also stated (in The Art of Discworld) that it was loosely based on an idea from a roleplaying game he had designed—that being of a similar item that would do only and exactly as it was told.
Students at Saarland University have realized a prototype of the chest, which, however, has so far only been able to follow its owner on its own.[6]
The popular MMORPG World of Warcraft includes a battle pet called the Creepy Crate, which is based on the Luggage. It is a large wooden crate that follows its owner about, eats nearby small animals, and occasionally has eyes and a large pink tongue.
Hrun the Barbarian[edit]
Appeared in The Colour of Magic. Hrun is an archetypal fantasy barbarian: hulking and musclebound yet slow-witted, with very little dress sense, battle-prone, alcoholic and fond of virgins. Hrun owns a magic talking sword, Kring, which he stole following a battle, and lived to greatly regret it due to the sword's talkativeness. He meets Rincewind in Bel-Shamharoth's lair, and aids his escape. Upon nearing the Wyrmberg of the Dragonriders, he is captured by the curvaceous Liessa Dragonbidder and her dragon riders. Liessa's plan was to use Hrun to wrest the rulership of the Wyrmberg from her rival brothers and then become queen, Hrun's payment being her hand in marriage. Hrun agrees to the plan and successfully defeats Liessa's brothers with his bare hands, but he refuses to kill them as they are unconscious. Killing unconscious people would have been damaging to his reputation. Liessa agrees to resort to banishing her brothers. In a scene unusually erotic for a Discworld book, Liessa strips naked before Hrun to see if his desire for her will be strong enough for their relationship to work. Before he can accept the "proposal", Rincewind and Twoflower riding on Twoflower's conjured dragon Ninereeds, snatch up Hrun in a rescue attempt and fly away with him. Hrun is extremely displeased at the event, having been denied both lordship and intimate contact with Liessa through their actions. But Hrun does not need to be angry for long: when Twoflower faints, his dragon, having existed only through his willpower, disappears, causing all three passengers to fall through the air. Liessa catches Hrun on her own dragon, and the couple share a passionate kiss.
Hrun's fate after this is unknown. In Interesting Times, it is revealed that he eventually became the commander of the Watch in an unnamed city. This could also imply that Hrun eventually split up with Liessa. Hrun's separation from Liessa and his enrollment in a Watch unit are not altogether surprising: later on in the Discworld timeline, barbarians and mythical creatures are dying out due to the modernisation of the world, leading them to either fade from existence or have to enroll into society.
Hrun also has some fame, because Twoflower gets very excited at the prospect of meeting Hrun the Barbarian.
Liessa Dragonlady[edit]
Daughter of Geicha the First, lord of the Wyrmberg, and leader of the dragonriders. An archetypal fantasy barbarian woman, she has red chestnut hair, is curvaceous and wears almost nothing except for a chainmail harness. Liessa's ambitions are high: having poisoned her father, the traditional means of succession in her family, she is hindered by the fact that as a woman, she cannot become lord of the Wyrmberg and faces intense rivalry from her two brothers. There is however a loophole: by marrying a man who would then become lord of the Wyrmberg through allegiance, she could act as the real power behind the throne. When she foments this plan, Rincewind, Twoflower and Hrun the Barbarian are passing close to her mountain country. Liessa is interested in Hrun, for as a strong but slow-witted warrior, she could use him to defeat her brothers and then place him as a puppet lord. Having kidnapped Hrun and Twoflower (for whom she expresses no interest and has locked away), she tests Hrun by trying to stab him in his sleep. Hrun grabs her wrist and almost breaks it. Convinced of the fellow barbarian's agility, she tells him that he may marry her if he defeats her brothers. Hrun accepts and succeeds in carrying out her orders, but refuses to definitely kill her siblings. Liessa agrees to banishing them instead and tells Hrun tenderly (calling him by name for the first time) that she did not expect such mercy from him. It seems at that point that Liessa is developing genuine feelings for her husband-to-be. But Liessa still has one more trial in store for him: she strips till she is naked, so as to see how much passion he truly has for her. Before the couple can embark onto anything intimate however, Hrun is snatched away by Rincewind and Twoflower riding Twoflower's dragon Ninereeds. In desperation, Liessa summons her own dragon to pursue them (still naked, as Pratchett makes a point of). Ninereeds nearly outruns her but vanishes when Twoflower loses consciousness, causing everyone riding him to fall. Liessa abandons Rincewind and Twoflower to their fate and catches Hrun on her dragon, and the two share a passionate kiss.
Liessa is never seen or mentioned after this.
She appears in The Colour of Magic. In the Easter 2008 Sky One adaptation of The Colour of Magic, she is played by Karen David.
Eric Thursley[edit]
A fourteen-year-old demonologist and title character in Eric. He lives at 13 Midden Lane, Pseudopolis. Eric inherited most of his demonology books and paraphernalia (as well as a talking parrot) from his grandfather; his parents, apparently convinced that their son was destined to become a gifted demonologist, allowed him free rein over his grandfather's workshop. Eric was relatively unsuccessful as a demonologist until, with some unknown assistance, he managed to summon Rincewind from the Dungeon Dimensions. After a journey across Time to such diverse locations as the Klatchian rainforests, the Tsortean War, and the beginning of the universe (during which he became somewhat more likeable), Eric was last shown escaping from Hell with Rincewind, and it is unknown what happened to him afterwards.
The Discworld equivalent of Odysseus. He was the finest military mind on the continent of Klatch. His genius consisted of realising that, if there has to be a war, the aim should be to defeat the enemy as quickly and with as little bloodshed as possible—a concept so breathtaking in its originality that few other military minds have been able to grasp it, and it shows what happens when you take the conduct of a war away from skilled soldiers. He was a hero of the Tsortean Wars, which he ended by bribing a cleaner to show him a secret passage into the citadel of Tsort. He is also known for having undergone a long and perilous journey home after the war, much like his Roundworld equivalent. It is possible that he is the ancestor of Rincewind as his name means "rinser of winds."
He appeared in Eric and is briefly mentioned in Pyramids.
Cohen the Barbarian[edit]
Ghenghiz Cohen, known as Cohen the Barbarian, is a hero in the classical sense, i.e., a professional thief, brawler, and ravisher of women. His name and character are an obvious echo of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and Genghis Khan, and of the common Jewish surname Cohen.
The man who introduced the world to the concept of "wholesale" destruction, Cohen is the Discworld's greatest warrior hero, renowned across the Disc for his exploits rescuing maidens, destroying the mad high priests[7] of dark cults, looting ancient ruins, and so on.
On his first appearance in the series he is already an old man, but still tough enough to handle anything the world can throw at him; his opponents often underestimate him because of his age, realizing too late that a man who does for a living what Cohen does and nevertheless survives to such an age must be very good at it indeed. Cohen does not know how old he is exactly. In The Light Fantastic, he says he is 87 years old, but in others he estimates that he is between 90 and 95 years of age.[8]
Cohen is described as a skinny old man, with a long white beard hanging down below his loincloth, and wearing a patch over one eye. His most distinguishing feature, however, is his smile—his unique dentures are made out of troll teeth, which consist of pure diamond[9] and were inspired when Twoflower showed him his own (more typical) set.
The greatest problems now facing Cohen come from outliving the heroic age and finding himself in a civilized modern world where great battles and astonishing rescues happen rarely except in stories—which is ironic given that the Discworld runs on narrative. One of the rare Discworld short stories, "Troll Bridge", tells of Cohen setting out to slay a troll, only to end up reminiscing with it about the good old days when things were black and white and everyone respected the traditions. Part of Cohen's danger to normal people is that as a barbarian hero he has extreme problems interpreting such things as empty bravado—as a man of his word, he naturally assumes that anyone else saying something like 'I would rather die than betray the Emperor' fully means it. This led to the deaths of several guards and courtiers in the Agatean Empire before everyone wised up.
In Interesting Times Cohen became Emperor of the Agatean Empire, having conquered it with his allies, the Silver Horde (see below). This was intended to be a sort of retirement plan, but Cohen and his chums became bored and then abandoned the Empire in The Last Hero, in which Cohen decides to express his displeasure with the modern world by "returning fire to the gods, with interest". After the rather unsuccessful attempt, he and his friends escaped on the backs of horses belonging to the Valkyries and rode into the sky, seeking to explore the outside of space. His current whereabouts are unknown.
Given a barbarian hero's attractiveness to nubile young maidens, Cohen has quite a lot of children; in The Last Hero he mentions casually that he has dozens. The only one mentioned by name in the novels is Conina, who appears in Sourcery. She wishes to be a hairdresser, but Discworld-style genetics keep getting in the way, causing her to instinctively kill people who threaten her. She was last seen in an amorous relationship with Nijel the Destroyer. She says she knew Cohen and that he took an interest in her education—such as setting a length of corridor with a variety of traps for some heroic training.
In The Light Fantastic, Cohen helps the other two protagonists, Rincewind and Twoflower, save a seventeen-year-old girl named Bethan, who was to be offered as a sacrifice. They fall in love, mainly owing to Bethan's patience and skill at curing Cohen's back problems, and decide to get married, despite Rincewind's apprehensions about their age difference. At the end of the book they are not present, and it is assumed that they have left for their marriage. Cohen does mention that he has been married before, however.
Actor David Bradley played Cohen in the 2008 The Colour of Magic miniseries. The miniseries was produced by The Mob Film Company and Sky One and it combined both The Colour of Magic and The Light Fantastic. It was broadcast on Easter Sunday and Monday 2008. In the miniseries, rather than vanishing, Bethan and Cohen show up at the docks, already married, to bid Twoflower goodbye as he heads back home. Twoflower supplies them with a wedding present of a box of Agatean money, which he believes to be inconsequential but which Rincewind comments, out of earshot of Twoflower, would buy them a small kingdom.
The Silver Horde[edit]
The Silver Horde is a group of barbarian heroes, featured in Interesting Times and The Last Hero, who see Cohen the Barbarian as their leader. The name of the group is a play on the Golden Horde and a reference to the age of its members. They are Truckle the Uncivil, Caleb the Ripper, Mad Hamish, Boy Willie, Old Vincent (both relative terms, presumably), and Mr. Ronald Saveloy (geography teacher turned barbarian adventurer), or, as the Horde call him, Teach. They are rumoured to be "the legendary Seven Indestructible Sages", previously unheard of, but "Perhaps legends have to start somewhere".[8]
In Interesting Times, The Silver Horde aid Cohen in his invasion of the Agatean Empire in an effort to steal something, which is hinted at but not revealed until the end to be the Empire itself. They also have a hand in overthrowing the current Emperor (a cruel tyrant who isn't "simply at Death's door but well inside the hallway, admiring the carpet and commenting on the hatstand"[8]). A main point of the plot is Teach's attempt to civilise the Horde, a difficult task since "every one of them saw a book as either a lavatorial accessory or a set of portable firelighters and thought that hygiene was a greeting".[8]
With Cohen crowned Emperor, the Horde live like royalty, all except Teach, who dies in the final battle of the novel after proving his barbarian credentials beyond all doubt with a berserker-like rage that amazes even his cohorts.
As of The Last Hero, Old Vincent is also dead, having choked on a cucumber (or possibly a concubine—there's some confusion on this point in the dialogue). The Horde sets off to return fire to the gods in a glorious last adventure, but eventually realize that this would destroy the Disc and, it is implied (if not explicitly stated), give their lives to save everyone else.
The daughter of Cohen the Barbarian and a temple dancer. From her mother she inherited gold-tinged skin, white-blond hair, a voice that can make "Good morning" sound like an invitation to bed, and a very good figure. From her father, she inherited sinews you could moor a ship with, muscles as solid as a plank, and reflexes like a snake on a hot tin roof (from relevant pieces of description in Sourcery). She also acquired from Cohen suitable heroic instincts: a strong urge to immediately attack and kill anyone making a threatening move on her, an ability to use anything as a deadly weapon, and an ability to steal anything regardless of the safeguards (such as having been swallowed). During the book, Rincewind develops something of a crush on her, though it never goes further than that. By the end of Sourcery, she had fallen in love with Nijel the Destroyer, who could be considered her polar opposite in that he wants to be a barbarian hero but is very bad at it.
Nijel the Destroyer[edit]
Nijel the Destroyer, son of Harebut the Provision Merchant, is a would-be barbarian hero, appearing in Sourcery. Nijel meets Rincewind in a snake pit and they escape together. He falls in love with Conina (a barbarian heroine who wants to be a hairdresser but can't due to her genes) at first sight, and she with him. He is a clerk who wants to be a barbarian hero and is currently half-way through a book on the subject, which includes a table of wandering monsters and tends to resemble a Dungeons & Dragons manual. In addition to the standard loincloth, Nijel wears woollen long underwear—his mother insisted. His battle cry is 'Erm, excuse me...'
Herrena the Henna-Haired Harridan[edit]
An ex-opponent of Cohen, and sometime lover. Ofttimes beset by other barbarians, and even more often tearing across the Disc-scape as an aside. Inspired by Red Sonja of Conan fame. She has a prominent role in The Light Fantastic and a small cameo in Eric.
Evil Harry Dread[edit]
Evil Harry Dread is the villainous counterpart to Cohen the Barbarian; an old fashioned heroic fantasy type annoyed with how the Discworld has changed (nowadays, modern heroes always block his escape tunnel before confronting him). He's proud of being a Dark Lord, and the heroes don't bear him any grudges; after all, he always lets them win and, in return, they always let him escape (see the Evil Overlord List for the opposite of this concept). Evil Harry Dread always makes an effort to adhere to the 'rules': he intentionally hires stupid henchmen, invests in helmets that cover the whole face (thus making it easy for a Hero to disguise himself) and places Heroes in overly contrived, easily escapable deathtraps.
He appears in The Last Hero, where he joins the Silver Horde on their quest to 'return fire to the gods' by blowing up the mountain. Harry ends up betraying the Horde (as a villain, it is his job), though when the horde confronts him about his betrayal they praise him for still being a reliable Dark Lord even at the end. He was last seen descending from Cori Celesti with the Silver Horde's bard, a man they had kidnapped in order to chronicle the quest. Earlier in the aforementioned book it is stated by Cohen that Harry began with "two lads and his Shed Of Doom".
Reception and legacy[edit]
In her review of Night Watch, A. S. Byatt noted the lack of recent appearances of Rincewind and the more grim presentation of the Witches and Ankh-Morpork as signs of Pratchett's imagination getting darker.[10]
Release 2.1 of VLC media player is named Rincewind[11] with some previous releases such as release 1.1.0 being codenamed "The Luggage".[12] and release 2.0 being named "Twoflower", the character that gave The Luggage to Rincewind (in The Light Fantastic).
Rincewind and Discworld witch Nanny Ogg appeared on first-class Royal Mail stamps in March 2011. The issue included wizards, witches and enchanters from British fiction, and also included characters from the Arthurian Legend, from J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, and from the Narnia series of C. S. Lewis.[13][14] Paul Whitelaw, writing for The Scotsman, felt that David Jason was "clearly several decades too old" to be Rincewind in the film adaption of The Colour of Magic.[15]
The Cretaceous gymnosperm species Phoenicopsis rincewindii is named after Rincewind.[16]
- ^ "Sir David Jason for wizard role". Digital Spy. April 24, 2007. Retrieved February 2, 2011.
- ^ Breebaart, Leo. "The Annotated Pratchett File v9.0 - The Colour of Magic". www.lspace.org. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
- ^ The Science of Discworld
- ^ Pratchett, Terry; Paul Kidby (2004). The Art of Discworld. Great Britain: Victor Gollancz Ltd. ISBN 0-575-07712-3. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ (Sourcery paperback p22)
- ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20200419175008/https://www.uni-saarland.de/universitaet/aktuell/artikel/nr/10486.html
- ^ Note that "Cohen" is a transcription of the Hebrew word כהן which means "priest".
- ^ a b c d Pratchett, Terry (1995). Interesting Times. Corgi.
- ^ Pratchett, Terry (1986). The Light Fantastic. Colin Smythe Ltd.
- ^ AS Byatt (November 9, 2002). "A comforting way of death". The Guardian. Retrieved September 20, 2011.
- ^ VideoLAN. "VLC 2.1 Rincewind - VideoLAN". www.videolan.org. Retrieved April 7, 2018.
- ^ shredder12; Sahni, Shashank (March 13, 2010). "Some VLC 1.1.0 Facts". Linuxers. Retrieved June 30, 2010.
- ^ "Terry Pratchett celebrated by new Royal Mail stamps". BBC News. December 30, 2010. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
- ^ "Royal Mail's new stamps from magical realms". The Guardian. March 9, 2011. Retrieved February 21, 2017.
- ^ Whitelaw, Paul (March 25, 2008). "TV review: Far, far away – yet strangely familiar". The Scotsman. Edinburgh. Retrieved May 2, 2011.
- ^ Watson, J., Lydon, S. J. and Harrison, N. A. (2001)."A revision of the English Wealden Flora, III: Czekanowskiales, Ginkgoales & allied Coniferales". Bulletin of the Natural History Museum (Geology Series), 57(1), 29-82.


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- Description
Brand New & Lenovo Sealed, Official UK Stock, Next Working Day Delivery (M-F.)
1 Year
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Windows 10 is the best combination of the Windows you already know, plus lots of great improvements youll love. Technologies like InstantGo* let you boot up and resume quickly, everything runs fast and smooth, and Windows 10 devices now have Battery Saver to automatically conserve power so you can work longer and play harder. For total confidence, Windows 10 helps you stay up to date and has more built-in security features than ever for helping protect against malicious software.
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Premium performance, powerful possibilities. With stunning visuals and performance, the Intel Celeron processor delivers processing power that takes your computing to the next level so that you can work smarter and play harder. Enjoy amazing battery life that keeps you productive on the go so that you dont have to worry about recharging. Thats serious processing.
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Everything you need. Nothing you dont. If youre looking for an affordable laptop that doesnt sacrifice on performance, the 15.6" Ideapad 100 is the notebook for you.
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text:
A theft on the fairgrounds! Precious diamonds stolen from the Kimberly Diamond Mining Exhibit! An urgent telegram from your old partner arrives, requesting your help to solve the mystery. How can you refuse? And besides, you've been dying to see the wonder of the age everyone has been talking about, this Columbian Exposition. And so, dossier in hand, you take the next train to Chicago.
But this is no simple theft. And as theft turns to kidnapping, and kidnapping to murder, you find yourself at the center of a plot the extent of which you can only begin to imagine…
1893: A WORLD'S FAIR MYSTERY is an interactive adventure into Chicago history. It uses a text interface and still photos to bring the fair "vividly to life," and "proves convincingly that the best games aren't about razzle-dazzle special effects or cheap gimmickry. They're about story, character, and especially here, location, location, location" (The Associated Press). "Excellent," says the Chicago Sun-Times, and Game Chronicles Magazine calls 1893 a "breath of fresh air."
Here are just some of the 1893: A World's Fair Mystery game features:
- Hundreds of locations on the fairgrounds to explore, as if you were really there
- Over 500 archival photographs illustrate the places you go and the people you meet
- Dozens of interactive characters to encounter
- Carefully researched and historically accurate
- Non-linear gameplay — you control where you want to go and when
- Challenging and unique puzzles
- In-game hint system
- Over thirty hours of gameplay
1893: A World's Fair Mystery also includes 3 PDF guidebooks:
- Instruction Manual
- Visitor's Guide to the World's Fair
- A Map of the fairgrounds
Competitions and Awards
1893: A World's Fair Mystery was listed in GAMES MAGAZINE as one of the top 100 games of the year, a runner-up in the RPG/Adventure category. It was also nominated for two XYZZY awards, for Best Game and Best Setting, and was the winner of the Best Setting award at the 7th Annual XYZZY Awards.
More Information
From here, you can read some more reviews, look at screenshots, or learn more about the 1893 World's Fair.


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A 70-year-old Vermont gentleman reported that his seven-foot bronze statue of Dennis Rodman was stolen, leading to my favorite story of the week: The AP having to confirm that it was not a Dennis Rodman statue and it wasn't stolen.
So let's get this straight. A possibly senile old man goes to a hospital's charity auction and buys what he believes to be a bronze sculpture of former NBA nutjob Dennis Rodman. The fact that someone would create a seven-foot bronze ode to Carmen Electra's ex-husband did not seem odd to him, because he is not even a basketball fan. He just thought it was good art. I repeat, he thought a giant over-sized likeness of Dennis Rodman would just look good in his study.
The wacky Vermont media was all over the theft story, forcing Grace Cottage Hospital to call the AP and reassure them that the statue they sold at their art fair was not actually sculpted to look like Dennis Rodman. The auctioneer just thought that it resembled him and made a joke about it. And that was enough to convince a 70-year-old man to buy it and have it shipped to his house. Except that he might not have done that either. The hospital says "they believe the piece was left at the auction site on the town common and grabbed by scavengers after the event." In some towns, that's called stealing, but if we're going by the old man's version of events, he probably just put a "Free Statue" sign on it and assumed that was his delivery receipt.
The fact that either one of these stories appeared in a newspaper and ended up in my inbox gives me warm and fuzzy feelings about Vermont. It's like the whole state is run by the Lollipop Guild. The good news is that if any enterprising statue makers out there would like to create a seven-foot bronze replica of Dennis Rodman, there is apparently a market for it.
Bronze statue of Dennis Rodman stolen from Townshend [Burlington Free Press]
Hospital says statue was not of Rodman [Fox 44]
* * * * *
It's almost time for the Late Shift with Barry Petchesky. Bronze statues for everyone!


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"The man who designed the iPod ponders the question with furrowed brow," Marco della Cava reports for USA Today. "'That's a good one,' says Jony Ive, when asked what he would turn his talents to if Apple no longer required them. There's a long silence, then a whispered, thoughtful and prolonged answer that boils down to one thing. He's not going anywhere."
"If Apple has a design wizard, it is Ive. He joined the company in 1992 and has been the fertile and detail-obsessed mind behind culture-shaping products such as the lollipop-colored iMacs (1998), the iPod (2001), iPhone (2007) and iPad (2010). His work has earned him countless design awards, flattery in the form of product imitation and even a new name — Sir Jonathan — courtesy of Queen Elizabeth II," della Cava reports. "Most recently, Ive and his hardware design group collaborated closely with teams led by Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, to dream up the newly launched iOS 7 operating system and 5c and 5s iPhones. Industry observers and consumers alike see these new products as critical to proving that the company Steve Jobs created can still think differently."
della Cava reports, "While the affable and well-coiffed Federighi, 44, often bounds onstage like a game-show host at Apple developer and media presentations, the privacy-loving Ive appears only in polished videos. But as Apple seeks to fend off competition from the likes of Samsung and other Android armies, the reserved knight of this digital Oz is peeking out from behind his curtain. In a rare interview, Ive, joined by Federighi, settles into a spartan meeting room with a simple black-and-white photo of a MacBook on one wall and the new lineup of iPhones on a counter. Over the course of an hour, the pair discusses their teamwork, personal philosophies and commitment to Apple's unwavering mission."
"Apple is notorious for secrecy and stage-managing its every move, but there is undeniably genuine chemistry between the two 40-something company veterans," della Cava reports. "Although in many ways the two men are peers, Ive possesses a magnetism and gravitas that makes him stand out."
Some snippets:
• "This is terribly important and at the heart of what we do. We care about how to design the inside of something you'll never see, because we think it's the right thing to do." – Jony Ive
• "I would love, love, love to show you what we are working on now, but I'd lose my job." – Jony Ive
• "I've been here for years, and the way we're working is the same. Nothing's changed in terms of that. We're trying to solve problems in terms of future products that are incredibly complex, whose resolutions have no precedent." – Jony Ive, on the post-Steve Jobs Apple
Much more in the full interview here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Fred Mertz" for the heads up.]


text:
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Penn State had a rare double dose of triple plays against Michigan State on Friday.
The Nittany Lions became the second team in NCAA Division I history to turn two triple plays in one game, performing the feat in the fourth and eighth innings of a 4-2 loss to Michigan State in the opener of a doubleheader.
The only other school to do it was Gonzaga in 2006 against Washington State. It has happened only once in the major leagues: by Minnesota in 1990 against Boston.
In the fourth inning and runners on first and second, shortstop Jim Haley caught Blaise Salter's liner, stepped on second and then threw to first for a 6-3 triple play. With runners again on first and second in the eighth, Jimmy Pickens lined out to second baseman Taylor Skerpon, who started a 4-6-3 triple play -- Penn State's third of the season.


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text:
A Computer That Can Read Your Mind
Smile: Scientists develop software that can recognize emotions.
July 7, 2008 -- One of these days your computer will probably know what you are thinking before you know it yourself. The human face conveys emotions ranging from fear to confusion to lying, sometimes involuntarily, and scientists are figuring out how to make use of those expressions.
At the University of California at San Diego, for example, a graduate student has developed a program that will slow down or speed up a video based entirely on changes in his facial expressions, like a slight frown, or a smile. The purpose of this particular program is to make robotic instructors more responsive to their student's needs, but there are many other potential applications for the work.
"The project I'm working on is how can we use machine perception, including things like facial expressions, to improve interactivity between students and teachers," said Jacob Whitehill, a computer science doctoral candidate. "That includes human teachers, and also robotic teachers, which is something our lab is increasingly interested in."
Whitehill has tested his technology on several other students, using software developed in the university's machine perception laboratory, called the Computer Expression Recognition Toolbox, or CERT. The machine got it right nearly half the time, slowing down a video of a lecture if the student was having trouble following it, and speeding it up if the student was swimming along.
"While these results show room for improvement, they already demonstrate the value of automatic real-time facial expression recognition in intelligent tutoring systems," Whitehill said in a paper describing his research.
In an interview he described how the system works.
A student sits in front of a computer as a webcam captures images of the student's face. The images are fed through a series of filters to keep useful information and remove useless information. The machine has already been programmed to recognize certain expressions, "like a frown, or a smile or a nose wrinkle."
When it worked right, the video slowed down if the student showed signs of confusion, and sped up if the expression indicated that the lecture was being absorbed.
The most common expression detected by the program was the rate of eye blinking. When students found the lecture difficult, or challenging, the eye-blink rate decreased, which is consistent with various psychological studies showing that the rate drops when the mental load is high.
"What I want to know is how fast, or how slow, the student wants the material presented," Whitehill said. Automatic expression detection has the advantage of revealing emotions that even the student may not be aware of, or unwilling to express.
That has significant implications for other possible applications for this line of research.
Humans have no control over certain facial muscles that can reveal what's really going on inside the brain, like whether the participant is telling the truth. Although this particular project is directed at improving the student-teacher relationship, a program that could detect lying would be useful in everything from criminology to interrogations of suspected terrorists, where the passage of time could be extremely important.
Whitehill said it could also be useful in "differentiating between whether humans feel real pain or whether they are faking a pain." He's working on that project now.
It's also possible, he said, that it could help clinicians treat depression, a particularly insidious disease. Changes in expressions over a long period of time could suggest whether a drug was having the desired effect, for example.
This field is still pretty much in its infancy, and UCSD is only one of several institutions pioneering in the research. Whitehill and his colleagues are already planning on branching into other areas of machine recognition.
"We're interested in looking at signals beyond facial expression," he said, like body posture, head shakes and head nods and eye gaze, to monitor channels of communication between a student and a teacher, especially if the teacher is a robot. That's becoming increasingly common in schools around the world, so this is one small step toward making robots more like the real deal.
And who knows, maybe one of these days you won't even have to pick up the remote to control your TV set. All you'll have to do is smile to turn it on. Frown, and it will switch the channel to ABC.
Lee Dye is a former science writer for the Los Angeles Times. He now lives in Juneau, Alaska.


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Pier solar in Regen
AamirM's Regen forum
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I got to relearn half the grammar and vastly expand my vocabulary...
Mida sa loed ? Nagunii aru ei saa
Files of all broken links and images of mine are found here : http://www.tmeeco.eu/FileDen
Files of all broken links and images of mine are found here : http://www.tmeeco.eu/FileDen
Tell me whereKanedaFr wrote: Do you REALLY know what you're talking about ?
Read the first page of the web site (http://www.beggarprince.com/), you'll notice the original credit, the permession they got to make it and the works done (and not simply a translation)
and it's not BoF3
An enormous role-playing adventure game for the Sega Genesis, Mega Drive and all compatible video game systems, Beggar Prince is the first new game to be released for these machines in the United States since 1998.
Beggar Prince is proudly presented through the partnership of Super Fighter Team and C&E, Inc. Developed by C&E, the game was then localized, debugged, partially reprogrammed and otherwise prepared for official worldwide release by Super Fighter Team.
Beggar Prince ships complete with 32-megabit game cartridge, 27 page full color instruction manual and plastic clamshell case with color insert. All parts are brand new, custom produced by our factory for the highest possible quality.
Beggar Prince plays on any NTSC or PAL Sega Genesis / Mega Drive system, including all compatible systems such as the Nomad, 32X, CDX, X'Eye, Laseractive, etc. Saving and loading your progress via the included SRAM battery is also supported on all systems.
Beggar Prince has been featured in top gaming publications across the world such as Tips & Tricks, Hardcore Gamer, Play, Retro Gamer, Edge, Games™, Super Play and Master Player, and is now being enjoyed by 1,500 gamers in over 25 countries.
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text:
April is going out like a Lion .. where has the time gone? It's hard to believe April is over and tomorrow a new month begins. We woke to thunder storms this morning and it was another very ruff night. I have basically been living on heating pads and pain pills. I didn't get up until almost 11 AM!
Not much to really blog about when you are spending all your time in a bed, on the couch or in a recliner. With this back that is all that i am able to do. It has rained so much i'm beginning to think i need to invest in a boat. We are sounded by water and no i wasn't able to get outside and get any pictures. I'm hibernating like a bear does in the winter.
I did manage to put some pork steaks in the crock pot for dinner. Later i added some brown gravy mix and mushroom for a tasty gravy. Hubby nuked some baked potatoes and supper was served.


text:
Red Sox's fast turnaround a thing to behold
Steady veterans a positive influence as Cherington quickly builds contender
HOUSTON -- There was a moment right after last season when Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington begin running down a list of things that needed fixing on his club. In no particular order:
• First baseman
• Left fielder
• Right fielder
• Shortstop
Boston needed pitching, too. Then, just to put everything in a nice, neat package, Cherington mentioned two other factors. First, he would not be handing out long-term contracts to free agents. The Red Sox had been down that road before. Cherington also wouldn't make a trade if it forced him to give up the club's best Minor League talent. That, he said, is the franchise's lifeblood.
When Cherington was done talking, he'd pretty much assigned himself an impossible task. The Red Sox were coming off a disastrous 69-93 last-place season, and he seemed to be acknowledging that 2013 would be a year of transition as the Red Sox shifted back to homegrown talent.
As for competing in 2013, good luck with that. There was no way, absolutely no way, Cherington could fix all that needed fixing without spending huge amounts of money or gutting his farm system.
Poor Ben. Seems like such a nice man. In a city that cares deeply about its hardball club, it wasn't going to be a pleasant summer to be him.
And then, over the course of a few weeks, Cherington did something almost no one thought possible. He built a contender. He did it without spending much money. He changed the atmosphere around the club, changed the leadership, changed pretty much everything.
If Cherington is not the Executive of the Year, someone hasn't been paying attention. The Red Sox, generally picked to finish near the bottom of the American League East, are in first place.
At 69-46, they've already matched last season's win total. When reminded of that, manager John Farrell smiled and said, "I hope we pass last year."
The Red Sox have baseball's highest-scoring offense. They've got a dramatically improved starting rotation. Boston has some grit, too. The club has survived an assortment of injuries, especially in the bullpen, where three important relievers -- Joel Hanrahan, Andrew Bailey and Andrew Miller -- have been lost for the season to injuries. The Sox lost their best starting pitcher, Clay Buchholz, indefinitely to a sore shoulder.
And yet the Red Sox roll along, seemingly headed back to the postseason for the first time since 2009. On Tuesday night, they won for the 69th time by fighting back from deficits of 5-0 and 7-3 to beat the Astros, 15-10.
And while that game was against the team with baseball's worst record, it spoke volumes about Boston.
"You know how we try to play the game," designated hitter David Ortiz said. "We try not to give up. We keep on playing through it."
One win doesn't begin to tell the story of these Red Sox, who've changed so dramatically that it barely seems like the same franchise that sleepwalked through the 2012 season.
It's one thing to change some faces, and Cherington did that. It's another thing to change the attitude and environment.
"If you were to pick a characteristic you'd want on a team, mine would be playoff experience," left fielder Jonny Gomes said Tuesday. "You look at our starting nine, and I think right now our third baseman [rookie Brock Holt] is the only one without playoff experience. That shows a lot about what it takes to get to the playoffs and big games, and peaks and valleys."
Cherington made it work, first, by dismissing manager Bobby Valentine, who was never a great fit. He turned to an old friend, Toronto manager Farrell, who had served as Boston's pitching coach for four seasons under Terry Francona. Players trusted and respected Farrell in a way they never did Valentine.
Looking back on it, it's clear the Red Sox were going to be different before Cherington acquired a single player. And then he went looking for bargains.
Cherington was looking for a certain type of bargain, too, and so he got outfielders Shane Victorino and Gomes, first baseman Mike Napoli, shortstop Stephen Drew, starting pitcher Ryan Dempster, reliever Koji Uehara and backup catcher David Ross.
Those signings were striking for a couple of reasons. For one, all of them had been in the postseason before, and all were considered good clubhouse guys.
They're all in their 30s, but that's OK. Cherington may not have known how much productive baseball they still had left in them, but if he couldn't change the attitude of his club, the other stuff wouldn't matter. And only Victorino got more than a two-year commitment.
So Cherington had upgraded his club, spent modestly and held onto his best farm players. Regardless of how much he changed the clubhouse, though, there were plenty of questions about good the club would be.
The Red Sox have a deep, tough lineup built around second baseman Dustin Pedroia (.296, 27 doubles, eight homers) and Ortiz (.326, 21 homers). Center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury (.301, 40 steals, eight triples) is healthy again and having a great season.
Right-hander John Lackey (3.21 ERA, 126 innings) has bounced back nicely from Tommy John surgery. Uehara (10 saves) has made a solid transition to the closer's role in the wake of the injuries.
As for the new guys, they've fit in and produced in an assortment of ways. For instance, Gomes hit his fourth pinch-hit home run on Tuesday. And Drew is among the best defensive shortstops in the game.
The Red Sox have been in first place for 110 days. They're in a dogfight with the Rays for the division championship, but enough good things have happened that it's easy for Boston fans to believe again.
"It starts with Ben," Farrell said. "There was a clear vision on his part to go out and bring in talented players that had strong teammate reputations. They love to work. They love to compete. The game tonight is the most important thing to them. Day by day, it's been a turnaround, but there's a long way to go."