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Oil divides value-seeking investors
The rout in commodities has continued into 2016 with the plunging price of oil a particular concern, but could a recovery be on the horizon?
Commodity capitulation
The start of 2016 has seen little respite for commodity prices and equity markets. Investor sentiment remains downbeat and dominated by familiar themes including China growth, geopolitical tensions, US dollar strength, interest rate rises and increased market volatility.
Despite the tumultuous start to the year, which saw the oil price fall below $30 a barrel to its lowest level in more than a decade and copper prices slide to a near six-year low, some investors expect a rebound in commodities, in particular oil.
Many investors are anticipating a near 75% rally in the price of oil in 2016. The latest Reuters poll revealed the average 2016 price for benchmark North Sea Brent crude was forecast at $52.52 a barrel. Schroders' own poll found that 51% of respondents would prefer to invest in oil above any other commodity.
Why oil and why the optimism?
Value: Oil prices are now hovering around 2004 levels and analysts and fund managers have been arguing for some time that the rout has been overdone.
Now, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, Maurice Obstfeld, has agreed. He warned that investors have got themselves into too much of a funk over oil prices and China's economy.
"Financial markets have been known to overreact in the past, and it's not a stretch to suggest that they may be reacting very strongly to rather small bits of evidence in an environment of heightened volatility and risk aversion," Obstfeld said at a recent press conference.
Oversupply is thought to be the main issue. A recent Bloomberg poll found that 72% of respondents thought the oil slide reflects increased supply rather than slumping demand. We find ourselves in agreement. Prices might dip into the $20s, but this will simply make the cash costs of an even larger amount of production uneconomical and speed the supply-demand adjustment.
Quite rightly there has been some concern over the slowdown in China. From around 14% GDP growth nearly a decade ago, the country's economy slowed to around 7% in 2015. Although demand is unlikely to be as strong as the country changes to a less energy-intensive service-driven economy, China is still growing at a rate of around 7%. The global economy is also recovering. Global growth in 2016 is expected to be 3.4%, compared with 3.1% in 2015, according to
the International Monetary Fund. As growth improves so too should the demand for oil.
Green shoots
Signs of an imminent recovery in oil, however, remain few and far between. But within the Schroders Wealth Preservation team we have has been hunting for differentiation within commodities for clues. In 2011 agricultural commodities peaked in March followed by metals in April and oil in May. Over the last few months, some agricultural prices have started to stabilise while metals and energy have continued to fall.
That could be a sign that we are nearing a nadir for commodities, although it can't be guaranteed. Commodities have come a long way over the last five years. Tentative signs are emerging the "out- of-fashion" phase (of the sentiment cycle) may be reaching its conclusion. Perhaps the mindset should be to revisit the asset class.
That slither of hope could be music to the ears of oil investors waiting for a recovery. In another Schroders Twitter poll, respondents said they expected the oil price rally to between $35 and $50 by the end of 2016.
Four arguments for investing in oil
1. Value play with energy prices at their lowest in nearly 12 years.
2. Sentiment is too downbeat and could turn.
3. Costs could force producers to cut supplies.
4. Cold weather in early 2016 and rising global growth could spike demand.
Hope over expectation?
In the short-term the odds appear stacked against a rebound in oil. The International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that there could be further weakness in the oil price over the coming year, and the oil supply could exceed demand in the first-half of 2016.
US v OPEC
There seems to be little sign of a let-up in the blink-first supply battle between OPEC and the shale producers in the US. Schroders Chief Economist Keith Wade said that the market has been surprised by the resilience shown by the US shale gas producers and their ability to operate at lower price levels. But he warned that Saudi Arabia, which is currently pulling the strings in the energy market, appears to be preparing for a longer conflict. "We know from the fact Saudi Arabia is selling reserves, issuing bonds and planning to sell some of its assets it is building up a war chest for a long fight… To me, the oil price could remain much lower for longer," Wade said at January's Schroders Live event.
Falling energy prices is not a new phenomenon. Since hitting $141.94 per barrel in April 2011, the energy price, as measured by the World Bank Commodity -The Pink Sheet (WBC), has slumped around 80%. But the ongoing concern over the state of China's economy has exacerbated the downbeat sentiment surrounding oil.
James Barrineau, co-head of Emerging Markets Debt Relative and Malcom Melville, Wealth Preservation manager at Schroders


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- Advertising and digital printing materials
- Packing materials
- Printing paper and film materials
- Drinking Straw Manufacturing Machine and Materials
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Min. Order: 3 long ton
self adhesive glossy paper
Contact Person
- Srinivas Dong
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subset: commoncrawl


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Wedding Etiquette
From how to address wedding invitations to figuring out who pays for what, we have the definitive guidelines on wedding etiquette to answer all your questions.
Wedding Invitation Etiquette
Wedding Gift EtiquetteAll Wedding Gift Etiquette ▸
Bridal Party Etiquette
Bridal Shower Etiquette
More Wedding Ideas
Even if you've only just begun your wedding planning, you've probably already realized that weddings provide a lot of opportunities for drama. Whether you're dealing with tricky family issues, spats with your bridesmaids, cold feet, or other relationship problems, sometimes weddings can bring out rude behavior in even the most courteous friend or family member. Fortunately, we have plenty of helpful tips to get you through the trickiest wedding issues. One of the most common wedding fights has to do with family. For example, maybe his family keeps adding to the guest list -- without offering to chip in to cover the costs. Rather than let an issue like this spin out of control, talk to your fiance. It's his responsibility to communicate your concerns to his family, and the two of you should be a team. Another common wedding problem? Religious beliefs. If you both come from different backgrounds with different wedding traditions, the best first step is simply explaining what is expected of each other. This can be a great opportunity to learn more about each other and grow closer in the long run. A third common wedding problem is friends. Maybe you hate his best man, or he can't stand one of your bridesmaids. In this case, it would be better to be supportive -- but also sensible. Instead of telling him he can't have his best friend in the wedding, just make sure there are plenty of responsible groomsmen and family members around to make sure nothing gets out of hand. The best course of action whenever any wedding issues arise is to be open with your fiance about your concerns but also willing to compromise yourself. With this attitude, you will get from the engagement to the reception with as little wedding drama as possible.


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It's been a lot of years since there's been a professional sports year like this one for fans of the Baltimore teams.
It was the year Seattle Slew won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, "Star Wars" was first seen by movie theater audiences and Jimmy Carter took the oath of office to become president.
It was in 1977 that the Orioles finished the year with a respectable record of 97-64 and in second place in the American League East. The Baltimore Colts finished the NFL regular season with a record of 10-4 and fell in the playoffs.
The Orioles would go on to have more good seasons well into the 1980s, but the Colts fell into a downward spiral that would end with a ride to Indianapolis aboard Mayflower moving vans.
There were a few seasons when a Canadian Football League team with a familiar blue and white horse emblem played fairly impressively in Baltimore, but the CFL isn't the NFL and it just wasn't the same.
By the time the NFL saw fit to expand the league and allow Baltimore to have a football team, it was as though the Orioles wings had been clipped. A previous incarnation of the Cleveland Browns was shipped from Ohio to Baltimore the way the Colts had previously been packed off to Indiana, but where there had been national fan apathy at Baltimore's loss, there was a sense of indignation in the football community that Baltimore would pilfer another town's team. It shook out that Cleveland would be allowed to keep the mascot name for when a new team would end up in that city.
Baltimore fans felt slighted at being vilified, but were on the whole just glad to have football.
Within a few years, sporting salvation was at hand. While the Orioles continued to struggle, squandering what had once been the best record in Major League Baseball over a span of 25 years, the Ravens grew into sleek, aggressive birds with a reputation for having a defense that had no trouble protecting the nest.
Then came the 2000-01 season and the Ravens managed to win every time the season was on the line, right through the Super Bowl. Since then, they have finished most seasons with a respectable record, and made it to the post-season many times, including the past five seasons.
The Orioles continued to struggle. Until 2012.
When October 2012 rolled around, the Orioles were still playing. It was the first time in a generation such a thing had happened for Baltimore baseball fans. Possibly, it was the return to the old cartoon bird mascot that made the magic happen.
With the Orioles playing into autumn, there was an athletic apogee in Baltimore that hadn't been reached in many years: baseball games that still made a difference in the pennant race were being played even as football games were being contested.
The Orioles weren't able to go the distance, but the Ravens certainly picked up where Buck "Never Let 'em See You Smile" Showalter's diamond squad left off. And they're still running with the ball.
Last week, there was something of a sense that Friday would be the final Purple Friday of the season. The team had played well, but Denver, well they had the stats and the mile-high home field advantage. Today, however, is a new Purple Friday. The odds this week in favor of New England are comparable to the edge the Broncos had. As was shown last week, though, there's a reason they play the game, even if the statistics are lopsided.
This is a weekend to cheer for the home team, to wear purple, black ... and orange.
It's been a long time since there's been a year like this for fans of the Baltimore pro football and baseball teams, but it could get even better. While 1977 may have been the last year the O's and Colts both had top-shelf records, it was only seven years before that when the Orioles were World Series winners and the Colts were Super Bowl champs (technically in 1971).
Hey, it could happen.


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Here is a photograph of John Quayle and Elizabeth Sharp and presumably one of their children. Since I have the photograph, I thought I better make it available.
Elizabeth Sharp was born on Christmas Day in 1834 in Misson, Nottinghamshire, England to Thomas Sharp and Elizabeth Cartwright. If you are interested, I have written about her parents, the family's conversion to the LDS faith, and the family's trip to America in her brother's short biography, Sharp-Bailey Wedding.
Siblings William and Isabella continued west with a LDS wagon train and Elizabeth stayed behind with her brother James in St Louis. Elizabeth's mother died in St. Louis shortly after arriving. Elizabeth and James did not join the LDS faith with their mother (Elizabeth), William, and Isabella.
Elizabeth married John Quayle who was a shoemaker and born 14 March 1833 in Kirkham, Isle of Man. I have not been able to find this town, so either it is a mistake or misspelling. The 1860 Census has the family living in Meramec, St Louis, Missouri. 1870 places them in Central, St Louis, Missouri. 1880 finally places the family back in St Louis, Missouri, where both of them died. By the 1880 Census, John had become a foreman in a pork house, probably the pork house of his brother-in-law James. I have a photo of James and his short biography will be available soon. The family seemed to have some difficulty informing the census takers because their ages jump pretty wildly from the right year to up to nine years in difference. Further, John Quayle is listed as Isle of Man in one, Wales in another, and even Missouri in another. We are pretty confident in the date given above, but it is not perfectly sure.
John and Elizabeth have seven children that we are aware of, some believe there is another named Thomas but we cannot link him with any clear documentation.
John Quayle (Jr) was born 5 November 1855 in Illinois and died 13 May 1910 in St. Louis. He was buried on the 15th in the New St. Marcus Cemetery in St. Louis. He married Laura Breitenstein 19 June 1833 in St. Louis.
James H Quayle was born 15 February 1858 in St. Louis and 6 September 1864 in St. Louis. He is buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis.
Isabella Quayle was born October 1861 in St. Louis and died 12 September 1864 in St. Louis. She is also buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Margaret Quayle was born July 1864 in St. Louis and died 25 April 1866 in St. Louis. She is also buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Ida Quayle was born in 1867 and died 13 November 1888. We do not know much more.
Emily Quayle, also apparently called Emma on some records, was born 29 January 1868 in St. Louis and died 1 February 1928 in St. Louis. She was buried on the 3rd in St. Marcus Cemetery. She married Gustavus Crause.
Elizabeth Quayle was born December 1870. She married William Duggan. We do not know much else about this family besides this little bit shared with family near the early 1900's. She died 25 June 1903 in St. Louis.
In 1878 the family lived at 1286 S 8th St in St Louis. In 1880 they were living at 1727 Decatur in St. Louis.
John died in 1894 after falling off a load of hay. We do not know much more than this and it does not appear he is buried with the rest of the family in Bellefontaine Cemetery, if so, it is misspelled or under another name.
Elizabeth lived with her daughter Elizabeth, known as Lizzie to differentiate, until her passing. Elizabeth died of typhoid fever 6 November 1902 in St. Louis. She was buried the next day in Bellefontaine.


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At AyA Kitchens we take pride in quality and customer service. Our commitment to quality made us one of the first in our industry to become third party certified by the Woodmark Quality System. Share your AyA experience with us and help give us a voice online. We look forward to hearing from you!
Submit your review to any of the options below.
Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create profiles, upload photos and video, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues.SUBMIT REVIEW
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HomeStars.com is a growing online community of homeowners and home improvement companies throughout Canada and the U.S. Give AyA Kitchens a voice and add your review.SUBMIT REVIEW


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Federal Trade Commission.
Proposed consent agreement.
The consent agreement in this matter settles alleged violations of federal law prohibiting unfair or deceptive acts or practices or unfair methods of competition. The attached Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes both the allegations in the draft complaint and the terms of the consent order—embodied in the consent agreement—that would settle these allegations.
Comments must be received on or before March 29, 2012.
Interested parties may file a comment online or on paper, by following the instructions in the Request for Comment part of the
Lisa De Marchi Sleigh (202-326-2535), FTC, Bureau of Competition, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580.
Pursuant to section 6(f) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, 38 Stat. 721, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and § 2.34 the Commission Rules of Practice, 16 CFR 2.34, notice is hereby given that the above-captioned consent agreement containing a consent order to cease and desist, having been filed with and accepted, subject to final approval, by the Commission, has been placed on the public record for a period of thirty (30) days. The following Analysis to Aid Public Comment describes the terms of the consent agreement, and the allegations in the complaint. An electronic copy of the full text of the consent agreement package can be obtained from the FTC Home Page (for February 28, 2012), on the World Wide Web, at
You can file a comment online or on paper. For the Commission to consider your comment, we must receive it on or before March 29, 2012. Write "Fresenius Liberty, File No. 111 0170" on your comment. Your comment—including your name and your state—will be placed on the public record of this proceeding, including, to the extent practicable, on the public Commission Web site, at
Because your comment will be made public, you are solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive personal information, like anyone's Social Security number, date of birth, driver's license number or other state identification number or foreign country equivalent, passport number, financial account number, or credit or debit card number. You are also solely responsible for making sure that your comment does not include any sensitive health information, like medical records or other individually identifiable health information. In addition, do not include any "[t]rade secret or any commercial or financial information which is obtained from any person and which is privileged or confidential," as provided in Section 6(f) of the FTC Act, 15 U.S.C. 46(f), and FTC Rule 4.10(a)(2), 16 CFR 4.10(a)(2). In particular, do not include competitively sensitive information such as costs, sales statistics, inventories, formulas, patterns, devices, manufacturing processes, or customer names.
If you want the Commission to give your comment confidential treatment, you must file it in paper form, with a request for confidential treatment, and you have to follow the procedure explained in FTC Rule 4.9(c), 16 CFR 4.9(c).
Postal mail addressed to the Commission is subject to delay due to heightened security screening. As a result, we encourage you to submit your comments online. To make sure that the Commission considers your online comment, you must file it at
If you file your comment on paper, write "Fresenius Liberty, File No. 111 0170" on your comment and on the envelope, and mail or deliver it to the following address: Federal Trade Commission, Office of the Secretary, Room H-113 (Annex D), 600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20580. If possible, submit your paper comment to the Commission by courier or overnight service.
Visit the Commission Web site at
The Federal Trade Commission ("Commission") has accepted, subject to final approval, an Agreement Containing Consent Orders ("Consent Agreement") from Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co. KGaA ("Fresenius"). The purpose of the Consent Agreement is to remedy the anticompetitive effects resulting from Fresenius's purchase of Liberty Dialysis Holdings, Inc. ("Liberty"). Under the terms of the Consent Agreement, Fresenius is required to divest 60 dialysis clinics and terminate one management contract in 43 geographic markets across the United States.
The Consent Agreement has been placed on the public record for 30 days to solicit comments from interested persons. Comments received during this period will become part of the public record. After 30 days, the Commission will again review the Consent Agreement and the comments received, and will decide whether it should withdraw from the Consent Agreement or make it final.
Pursuant to an agreement dated August 1, 2011, Fresenius proposes to acquire Liberty for approximately $2.1 billion. The Commission's complaint alleges that the proposed acquisition, if consummated, would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 18, and Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act, as amended, 15 U.S.C. 45, by substantially lessening competition in 43 markets for the provision of outpatient dialysis services.
Headquartered in Bad Homburg, Germany, Fresenius is the largest provider of outpatient dialysis services in the United States. Fresenius operates more than 1,800 outpatient dialysis clinics in all 50 states and the District of Columbia treating approximately 131,000 patients. In 2010, Fresenius's revenues were approximately $8 billion.
Liberty, headquartered in Mercer Island, Washington, is a privately held company and the third-largest provider of outpatient dialysis services in the United States. Liberty operates 260 dialysis centers, providing dialysis services to approximately 19,000 patients in 32 states and the District of Columbia.
Outpatient dialysis services is the relevant product market in which to assess the effects of the proposed transaction. For patients suffering from End Stage Renal Disease ("ESRD"), dialysis treatments are a life-sustaining therapy that replaces the function of the kidneys by removing toxins and excess fluid from the blood. Most ESRD patients receive dialysis treatment three times per week in sessions lasting between three and five hours. Kidney transplantation is the only alternative to dialysis for ESRD patients. However, the wait-time for donor kidneys—during which ESRD patients must receive dialysis treatments—can exceed five years. Additionally, many ESRD patients are not viable transplant candidates. As a result, ESRD patients have no alternative to dialysis treatments. ESRD patients who are not hospitalized must obtain dialysis treatments from outpatient dialysis clinics.
Dialysis services are provided in local geographic markets limited by the distance ESRD patients are able to travel to receive treatments. ESRD patients are often very ill and suffer from multiple health problems, making travel further than 30 miles or 30 minutes very difficult. As a result, competition among dialysis clinics occurs at a local level, corresponding to metropolitan areas or subsets thereof. The exact contours of each market vary depending on traffic patterns, local geography, and the patient's proximity to the nearest center.
Entry into the outpatient dialysis services markets identified in the Commission's Complaint is not likely to occur in a timely manner at a level sufficient to deter or counteract the likely anticompetitive effects of the proposed transaction. The primary barrier to entry is the difficulty associated with locating nephrologists with established patient pools to serve as medical directors. By law, each dialysis clinic must have a nephrologist medical director. As a practical matter, medical directors are also essential to the success of a clinic because they are the primary source of referrals. The lack of available nephrologists with an established referral stream is a significant barrier to entry into each of the relevant markets. Beyond that, the attractiveness of entry is diminished where certain attributes, including a rapidly growing ESRD population, a favorable regulatory environment, average or below nursing and labor costs, and a low penetration of managed care are not present, as is the case in many of the geographic markets identified in the Commission's complaint.
Each of the geographic markets identified in the Complaint is highly concentrated. The proposed acquisition represents a merger-to-monopoly in 17 markets and would cause the number of providers to drop from three to two in 24 other markets. Additionally, in the remaining two markets identified in the Complaint, concentration is already very high and would increase significantly. In these two markets, the fourth market participant is small and does not meaningfully impact competition. Further, the evidence shows that health insurance companies and other private payors who pay for dialysis services used by their members benefit from direct competition between Fresenius and Liberty when negotiating rates charged by dialysis providers. The high post-acquisition concentration levels, along with the elimination of Fresenius's and Liberty's head-to-head competition in these markets suggest the proposed combination likely would result in higher prices and diminished service and quality for outpatient dialysis services in many geographic markets.
The Consent Agreement remedies the proposed acquisition's anticompetitive effects in 43 markets where both Fresenius and Liberty operate dialysis clinics by requiring Fresenius to divest 54 outpatient dialysis clinics to Dialysis Newco, Inc. (d/b/a DSI Renal) ("New DSI"); divest one outpatient dialysis clinic to Alaska Investment Partners LLC ("AIP"), and five outpatient dialysis clinics to Dallas Renal Group ("DRG"). The Consent Agreement also requires Fresenius to terminate one management services agreement pursuant to which it manages an outpatient dialysis clinic on behalf of a third-party owner. As with the divestitures, termination of this management services agreement will ensure that this clinic remains a viable independent competitor.
As part of these divestitures, Fresenius is required to obtain the agreement of the medical directors affiliated with the divested clinics to continue providing physician services after the transfer of ownership to the
The Consent Agreement contains several additional provisions designed to ensure that the divestitures are successful. First, the Consent Agreement provides each buyer with the opportunity to interview and hire employees affiliated with the divested clinics and prevents Fresenius from offering these employees incentives to decline any buyer's offer of employment. This will ensure that each buyer has access to patient care and supervisory staff who are familiar with the clinics' patients and the local physicians. Second, the Consent Agreement prevents Fresenius from contracting with the medical directors (or their practice groups) affiliated with the divested clinics for three years. This provides each buyer with sufficient time to build goodwill and a working relationship with its medical directors before Fresenius can attempt to capitalize on its prior relationships in soliciting their services. Third, to ensure continuity of patient care and records as each buyer implements its quality care, billing, and supply systems, the Consent Agreement allows Fresenius to provide transition services for a period of 12 months. Firewalls and confidentiality agreements have been established to ensure that competitively sensitive information is not exchanged. Fourth, the Consent Agreement requires Fresenius to provide each buyer with a license to use Fresenius's policies, procedures, and medical protocols, as well as the option to obtain Fresenius's medical protocols, which will further enhance the buyer's ability to continue to care for patients in the clinics that will be divested. Finally, the Consent Agreement requires Fresenius to provide notice to the Commission prior to any acquisitions of dialysis clinics in the markets addressed by the Consent Agreement in order to ensure that subsequent acquisitions do not adversely impact competition in the markets at issue or undermine the remedial goals of the proposed order.
The Commission is satisfied that New DSI is a qualified acquirer of the majority of the divested assets. New DSI is currently a significant operator of dialysis clinics, having been formed to acquire the divested assets resulting from the 2011 DaVita/DSI investigation. The company was formed by Frazier Healthcare, a firm with a dedicated focus on healthcare, and New Enterprise Associates, the world's largest venture capital firm with over $10.5 billion under management.
Similarly, the Commission is satisfied that AIP is a qualified acquirer of divested assets in Alaska. AIP is a limited liability company wholly-owned by Dr. Mary Dittrich, the divested clinic's medical director, and Dr. William Dittrich. AIP has received financial support from Crystal Cascades LLC, an investment fund that manages $100 million.
Finally, the Commission is satisfied that DRG is a qualified acquirer of divested assets in the Dallas, Texas area. DRG is an integrated care provider in Dallas, Texas with nine nephrologists on staff and whose nephrologists currently serve as the medical directors of these divested assets. DRG holds the majority ownership interest in the five Liberty clinics in Dallas that would be divested, and has a strong reputation in the Dallas area.
The Commission has appointed Richard Shermer of R. Shermer & Co. as an Interim Monitor to oversee the transition service agreements, and the implementation of, and compliance with, the Consent Agreement. Mr. Shermer assists client companies undergoing ownership transitions, and has specific experience with transitions of outpatient dialysis clinics.
The purpose of this analysis is to facilitate public comment on the Consent Agreement, and it is not intended to constitute an official interpretation of the proposed Decision and Order or the Order to Maintain Assets, or to modify their terms in any way.
By direction of the Commission.


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WH necesitaba un nuevo diseño de otro y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 20 diseños de 7 diseñadores freelance.
Make Your Child Predator Proof
I'm a coach, speaker and author who was raised by parents who were child pornographers. It was ugly beyond anything you've ever seen on TV and I'm on a mission to help keep kids safe.
The Problem: 90% of the predators are KNOWN to the kids; they are "trusted adults" who hide in and amongst the teachers, counselors and clergy that are legitimate helpers of children. There's nothing else in the literature out there to teach kids how to tell who those people might be.
I designed and teach a program that easily teaches parents how to raise kids that are both aware (savvy about what's really going on without being freaked out) and confident and empowered, which makes them immune to the advances of predators. (Preds only prey on the vulnerable kids they can most easily control.)
It also teaches families how to cultivate "gut sense" that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when something is off. We have games and tools to teach this to kids to trust their "gut sense" so that they can tell when someone is lying to them (either a lie that's spoken, or unspoken.)
When they get this info, kids actually relax (info is power!) and parents get huge relief and peace of mind.
Note: This problem can only exist because people don't talk about it.
Wanna help me change this?
You can learn anything else you might be curious about here (video):
Parents of school aged children (toddlers to teens). They're usually very afraid of this topic, and most of them are in a lot of denial because the subject is so upsetting and they feel powerless and overwhelmed about what to do to protect their kids, or even broach the subject.
Design with the words "Make Your Child Predator Proof." Perhaps a circle with a line through it over the silhouette of a predator? Got an even better idea?
This design will go on the header of my blog, as well as to be primarily used as a hotlink button to post on other people's sites as an affiliate re-direct, and to get backlinks.
I don't have a point of view about colors, though it should fit in with the color scheme ( and will go on the header of ) my blog:
http://www.WendyJoyHart.com . I'll also use the design to replace the graphics for the newly named product (replaces "Keep Kids Safe and Aware") http://KeepKidsSafeandAware.com
You could also include my headshot as part of this design if it works to do that. Samples are attached.
BTW, I'm looking for a designer for ongoing projects (I have a bunch of other products coming out soon for kids) so the best designer will have a chance at more work, both with me, and my IM friends/colleagues.
Thanks for your help with this in advance! The world could use more heroes!


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I'm playing Europa Universalis: Rome.
I was assuming this program should be the "Punic War" Game you sought here.
It's not true: Europa Universalis: Rome goes not very far away from Europa Universalis III.......imagine this last one dressing a Roman Tunic.
Guess there's space for an AGEOD "Punic War" Game!
Hope to see it running one day.


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Ordinance 120532 Report
In 2001 the City of Seattle adopted Ordinance No. 120532, which is sometimes referred to as the Initiative 63 (I-63) Settlement Ordinance. It is intended to increase water conservation for the protection of the environment and to assist salmon recovery by increasing flows in fish-bearing creeks and rivers.
Noteworthy accomplishments from 2001 through 2010 include:
- Achieved additional water savings in excess of the required 12 million gallons per day (mgd) in the Seattle retail service area by accelerating conservation efforts;
- Reserved water for the "Environmental Block" by committing, through the 2006 Settlement Agreement with the Muckleshoot Indian Tribe, to leave 20 mgd of Seattle Public Utilities' (SPU) perfected water right in the Cedar River, in perpetuity; and
- Provided water conservation assistance to low-income households through the "Everyone Can Conserve Program," which benefitted 20,842 Seattle customers by reducing their water consumption and utility bills.
As shown in the 2010 report (pdf), SPU has satisfied all of the requirements of the Ordinance to date. However, there are some requirements that extend beyond 2010, most significantly the requirement for evaluation, implementation, tracking and reporting of cost-effective conservation measures. SPU plans on meeting these requirements as it satisfies the Washington State requirements for a Water Use Efficiency (WUE) program, which became effective in 2007.
The WUE requirements include evaluating conservation measures, setting conservation goals, implementing measures to meet the goals, and reporting on progress towards those goals. The WUE program evaluation and goals will be included in SPU's Water System Plans, which are updated every six years, and through SPU's Asset Management business case analyses, as needed. Annual reports of WUE goal progress are posted on the Washington State Department of Health website and must be reported to customers.
Annual reports
All reports are in PDF format.


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The profession's number one database catalogs ballet and contemporary dance information and records names for dance history. It contains detailed information about more than 7000 people, 3000 productions, 300 companies, and is continuously updated.
BALLETBASE is the leading invitation-only membership community that serves as a global communications network for real collaboration between dance professionals, associates and dance lovers.
Internet Ballet Database (IBDB) is the most complete ballet and contemporary dance database ever compiled. The database is continuously expanded and updated by BalletBase community members adding information about themselves and their professional activities that IBDB tracks automatically.
IBDB is a community project and open for new entries from all dance professionals and associates as well as dance enthusiasts and anyone who shares our passion.
To ensure accuracy, some data submitted will be checked by the portal moderator.
This section gives brief biographical information about the people and his or her repertory and companies if available. Reviews, media and extra information may be added.
The database gives a brief historical background of theatres and companies together with a listing of their repertoires and company members. Reviews, media and extra information may be added.
These are listed if available with a names of composer, author of libretto, choreographer, costume and set designer, dates of first performances, revivals and/or restaging of productions. Reviews, media and extra information may be added.
BalletBase is the leading international community for dance professionals, associates and dance lovers that serves as a global communications network for real collaboration. It is based on invitation-only membership, which makes the social network unique and the connections authentic.
There are five simple points of the community:
|2008 May:
|Established "Who's who in classical performance arts" – the first structured ballet database of
artists, companies and performances.
|2008 August:
|Opened Stellar Alliance video channel and published original articles.
|2008 December:
|Established the first ever professional ballet community based on an invitation only social network with closed membership.
|2010 August:
|The database is expanded to cover more than 500 artists and over 300 performances.
|2011 May:
|balletbase.com becomes the world's first comprehensive internet ballet database covering more than 7000 artists, over 3000 performances and over 400 companies – and is still growing.


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Black Star, Bright DawnBy O'Dell, Scott
Bright Dawn must face the challenge of the Iditarod dog sled race alone when her father is injured.
Code Talker: a Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War IIBy Bruchac, Joseph
After being taught in a boarding school run by whites that Navajo is a useless language, Ned Begay and other Navajo men are recruited by the Marines to become Code Talkers, sending messages during World War II in their native tongue.
Crooked RiverBy Pearsall, Shelley
When twelve-year old Rebecca Carter's father brings a Native American accused of murder into their 1812 Ohio settlement town, Rebecca, witnessing the town's reaction to the Indian, struggles with the idea that an innocent man may be convicted and sentenced to death.
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time IndianBy Alexie, Sherman
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
The Beaded Moccasins: The story of Mary CampbellBy Durrant, Lynda
After being captured by a group of Delaware Indians and given to their leader as a replacement for his dead granddaughter, twelve-year-old Mary Campbell is forced to travel west with them to Ohio.
The Ransom of Mercy CarterBy Cooney, Caroline B
(Electronic book only) In 1704, in the English settlement of Deerfield, Massachusetts, eleven-year old Mercy and her family and neighbors are captured by Mohawk Indians and their French allies. They are forced to march through bitter cold to French Canada, where some adapt to new lives and some still hope to be ransomed.
Trouble's DaughterBy Kirkpatrick, Katherine
When her family is massacred by Lenape Indians in 1643, nine-year-old Susanna, daughter of Anne Hutchinson, is captured and raised as a Lenape.


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Crowne Plaza Hotel Old Town Alexandria
Welcome to our Old Town Alexandria Hotel! You'll enjoy a convenient location and top-quality amenities when you stay at the Crowne Plaza Old Town Alexandria . Our hotel is only two miles from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and less than six miles to Washington DC. We are located near all major attractions and monuments. Guests will enjoy spectacular views of the Potomac River and city from many rooms, a large fitness center, and the Sleep Advantage Program with comfortable beds. We're only a few minutes walk to the shops and historic homes on Alexandria's revitalized waterfront. Walking tours of the historic area and River Cruises of the national monuments begin just minutes from our hotel. We offer complimentary shuttles to DCA/Reagan Airport, Metro/Subway and King Street . Our 100% Non-Smoking hotel near Washington, DC is ideal for business travelers as we are a few minutes from corporate offices like "Robbins-Gioia", Deloitte, the Pentagon and the many museums, bureaus and government offices of Washington, DC. We also offer the convenience of eight meeting rooms, a 24-hour business center and wireless high speed Internet access. For family and fine dining visit Chequers for an amazing buffet breakfast and visit the exciting Railstop Gastropub for lunch and dinner. Close To Everything, a convenient stay awaits you at the Crowne Plaza.


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Reports emerged first from a Chicago radio station then later confirmed by Joe Christensen that the Twins were indeed considering bringing in the mammoth slugger, Jim Thome. According to the Star Tribune reporter, a Twins official reiterated that the team has "real interest" in the 39-year-old and "haven't ruled out their chances of signing him." This recent development has sent Twins fans agog for the first time since the news about Jarrod Washburn broke.
Thome's role in the overall puzzle isn't exactly defined. MLB.com's Twins beat writer Kelly Thesier later tweeted that the expectation would be to limit Thome to 200-300 plate appearances. In a follow-up article on the Twins website, Thesier noted that, as it stands, the organization will enter the 2010 season with a backup catcher, a 5th outfielder (possibly Jason Pridie), an additional infielder (likely Matt Tolbert) and one additional vacancy of which Thome would fill.
In an ideal world, Thome would become the Twins equivalent of Cliff Floyd for the Rays in 2008. Two years ago, the Rays had a very young roster and decided they needed an injection of expertise to be a leader in the clubhouse and be able to fulfill designated hitter duties against right-handed pitching. Bringing in the often-injured Floyd, and they gave the 35 year old 284 plate appearances, the bulk of which was against righties (272), and he responded by hitting .268/.353/.466 with 11 home runs that year. Overall, he supplied Tampa Bay with 0.6 WAR for $2.8M contract. Thome, in comparison, has been much better against right-handed pitching then Floyd. In '09 at 38 years old, Thome hit .262/.383/.498 with 18 home runs in 329 plate appearances in those favorable match-ups. If able to produce a similar line for the Twins, it could easily give the team a 1.0 WAR role player.
If the Twins do bring in Jim Thome, there are some inalienable truths that need to be accepted.
In the twilight of his career, Thome has witnessed numerous other skills erode. First it was his defense. This was not exactly a surprise as the lumbering lug would have had to improve during his prime years to even be deemed adequate. The Indians tethered him to first base in the late 1990's, hiding his defensive shortcomings, where he stayed until 2006. Since being signed by the White Sox, Thome has been on the field with his pitcher for all of 28 innings. So he could play first in an emergency just like a skateboard could get you across country if necessary, but god, why? He's a designated hitter or pinch hitter. Period. End-o-story. Essentially, what this means is that the Twins now have TWO left-handed designated hitters in Jason Kubel and Jim Thome. If Ron Gardenhire wants both of them in the lineup against a right-handed starting pitcher, Kubel becomes an outfielder at the expense of either Delmon Young* or Michael Cuddyer. Simply put, Kubel is a slightly worse defensive outfielder than either Young or Cuddyer. The Twins already had the second worst defensive outfield in baseball last year. More playing time for Kubel means an incrementally worse defensive outfield next season. Did with not learn anything from Detroit or Seattle? Upgrade, not downgrade, your defense.
*Were we not led to believe the underlying message sent when trading Carlos Gomez that Delmon Young would see more time and thus find a groove at the plate that he was unable to because his playing time was so chaotic? Now the Twins are considering once again removing him from the lineup two or three times a week? Am I on crazy pills?
In the same vein, if there is an inverse for terminal velocity, Thome's reached that. He's so slow that the laws of physics will not allow him to go any slower. According to the billjamesonline.net "skills assessment" section, Thome is in the 11th percentile for running. This isn't surprising considering each one of his legs weighs the equivalent of a dead sun. There has been a pattern that shows his ability to motor around the bases is becoming difficult without the assistance of a segway. In '07 he netted -7 bases. The following year, it was -11. On the bases this past season, his net gain was -15. Likewise, his speed score, a statistic developed by Bill James, is at a new career low of 1.0 (Adam Dunn's 0.8 was '09 worst while Michael Bourn led baseball at 8.6). So once he does get on base, the odds that he will circle the set entirely without the assistance of a long ball are slim (he scored just 19 times without the help of a home run in '09). While his on-base percentage has remained outstanding as he still has the capability of drawing walks, however once on base the Twins will be forced to decide if they need to use a pinch runner or suffer the slow-moving consequences.
Nobody is suggesting that Thome still can't hit for power - after all he's strong like bull and has been well-above average every year in that department since 1993. Even so, there are developing indications that while flirting with 40-years-old, the power is primed to decrease. His slugging and isolated power numbers have dropped considerable since 2006. As you can see, with the exception of his injury-riddled 2005 season, Thome's isolated power has started its grand descent, potentially ripe to drop from the "Good" area to the league-average line:
Furthermore, with all this aging comes a reduction in bat speed. Signs that Thome's swing is starting to slow down can be seen at hittrackeronline.com by referencing his home run distribution maps. According to his home run chart, Thome pulled just four of his 23 home runs to right, hit seven to center while 12 went to left field (47% to right/center):
This is a stark discrepancy from 2008 when 24 of his 34 home runs were to right and center (70% right/center):
Overall, bringing in a Jim Thome who is a one-trick pony limits the team's versatility. The need of a pinch runner on the roster is a necessary. And, as shown above in his power, there are questions regarding how much the trick pony has left. The Athletics rekindled Frank Thomas's career in 2006 in his age-38 season which allowed him to parley that into a two-year deal with Toronto. However, as Thomas slipped into his age-40 season, his skills ebbed beyond the point of being serviceable. I highlight this because Thome happens to be the third most similar player to Thomas as well as entering his age-40 season. Players of a certain age regress hard.
Certainly he could be a useful piece. Keep in mind that "useful" and "right piece" are two entirely different things. What would be a better fit is targeting a right-handed hitter, one who can supply defense in some capacity, to give the team more flexibility instead of limitation. If the Twins' investment is small ($4 million or less) and the expectations are low (Cliff Floyd-like implementation) then acquiring Thome would be a useful piece to the puzzle.


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Authorities on Thursday said they have identified a juvenile who they suspect may have started the Weber Fire southeast of Mancos.
In a brief news release, the Montezuma County Sheriffs Office said it has identified a juvenile as a person of interest.
The Montezuma County Sheriffs Office is working jointly with the Bureau of Land Management on the investigation.
Both agencies declined to comment further Thursday, including about the cause of the fire or whether any arrests have been made.
As the case evolves, further information will be made available that will not jeopardize the case, the release said.
The Weber Fire started June 22 near the side of a road south of Mancos.
As of Thursday, it had burned 9,279 acres and was 45 percent contained.
No homes have been lost.About 140 homes were evacuated, but the evacuation orders have been lifted for some houses.
For the latest information about which homes remain evacuated, visit www.montezumasheriff.org.
The cost of fighting the fire was estimated at $2.5 million as of Thursday afternoon, said Connie Clementson, field manager with the BLM.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has been authorized to cover 75 percent of the states expenses for managing, mitigating and controlling the blaze.
The grant does not provide assistance to individual home or business owners.
Firefighters have been aided by cooler, more humid weather the last few days.
Fire officials set controlled burns to reduce fuels around the fires perimeter and used a hydro axe to grind up vegetation and make it less likely to burn.
Other firefighters are making their way around the perimeter in search of hot spots and dousing them with water.


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US senators announce deal on gun trafficking
Gun trafficking and purchasing firearms with the intent of transferring them to someone else would become federal crimes under bipartisan legislation announced by five US senators.world Updated: Mar 05, 2013 14:28 IST
Gun trafficking and purchasing firearms with the intent of transferring them to someone else would become federal crimes under bipartisan legislation announced by five US senators.
Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, a Democrat, said on Monday that the bill would establish tough penalties for those who buy a firearm or ammunition with the intent of transferring it to a criminal or a person barred from gun ownership, known as a straw purchase.
The measure would also make it a crime to smuggle firearms out of the United States.
The Judiciary Committee has taken a lead in considering the gun violence issue following the shooting massacre last December at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six educators dead.
Leahy said there is no federal law now that defines either gun trafficking or straw purchasing as crimes.
The legislation will be taken up by the Judiciary Committee on Thursday as part of a package of four bills aimed at reducing gun violence. The others involve regulating assault weapons, enhancing school safety and requiring background checks for all firearm sales.
The proposed legislation would make it a crime to transfer a weapon when a person has "reasonable cause to believe" that the firearm will be used in criminal activity. It contains exemptions for the transfer of a firearm as a gift, or in relation to a legitimate raffle or contest.
While existing law makes it a crime to smuggle firearms into the United States, the Senate proposal would also ban the smuggling of weapons out of the United States. That provision is specifically aimed at the trafficking of arms across the Mexican border.


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- Made in Australia with fresh goats milk
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Quantity in this kit: 3
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At Billie Goat, customer satisfaction is our number one priority. If you are not completely satisfied with your purchase for whatever reason, please get in touch. Please note: you must contact us within 30 days of receiving your order to be eligible for refunds, replacements or exchanges. If you believe an item is missing please contact us within 30 days of placing your order.
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Secretary Duncan Commemorates 46th Anniversary of March on Washington, Helps Launch "Kids for King"
Secretary Duncan Commemorates 46th Anniversary of March on Washington, Helps Launch "Kids for King"
Challenge to Country's Youth to Submit Essay, Artwork, Video about Dr. King and How to Create a Better America
Rica Orszag, Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc., 202.253.8974, firstname.lastname@example.com
Erin Haberman, The Travelers Companies, Inc., 860.277.3617, firstname.lastname@example.com
The following was released today by The Travelers Companies Inc.***
(Washington, D.C., August 25, 2009) – U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. today commemorated the 46th anniversary of the March on Washington and launched the Kids for King Education Initiative during a live event on the National Mall. Earlier this year, The Travelers Companies, Inc. announced a $1.25 million donation to the Memorial Foundation to support the building of the Memorial and to spearhead the Memorial Foundation's Kids for King Education Initiative.
In addition to Secretary Duncan, the August 25th speaking line-up included: Harry E. Johnson, Sr., President and CEO, Memorial Foundation; Brian W. MacLean, President and COO, Travelers; Byron V. Garrett, CEO, The National Parent Teacher Association (PTA); Dennis Van Roekel, President, the National Education Association (NEA); and Kym Hampton, WNBA Legend. Sam Ford ABC 7 / WJLA-TV news journalist served as the Master of Ceremonies.
"We must never forget the progress that Dr. King inspired in civil rights and social justice, and we must recognize how much work is still ahead of us," said Duncan. "With high school drop-out rates unacceptably high and college completion rates far too low, education is clearly the civil rights issue of this generation. Every child and adult deserves a quality education. This is the only lasting way to fuel our economic recovery and end stubborn cycles of poverty and social failure."
The March on Washington and Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech occurred 46 years ago this Friday – August 28, 1963.
As part of the 46th anniversary celebration, the Memorial Foundation is pleased to announce the Kids for King initiative, which will inspire youth from grades 3-12 to write an essay, create a piece of art, or produce a short video about the lasting legacy of Dr. King and his ideals of democracy, justice, hope, and love. The program also contains a lesson plan for teachers and parents to educate the youth about Dr. King. Three lesson plans have been developed, including plans for 3-5 grades, 6-8 grades, and 9-12 grades. The PTA, the NEA, YRC Worldwide, Inc., and The LEAGUE will also support the Kids for King initiative.
The year-long program will culminate in Fall 2010, when nine students will win a trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in a live press event on the National Mall. Complimentary meals, travel, and hotel accommodations will be provided for each student and a parent/chaperone. Each Kids for King Education Initiative entrant will receive a blue Build the Dream wristband. To learn more about the program visit www.KidsForking.org.
"Travelers is proud to sponsor the Kids for King Education Initiative," said Brian W. MacLean, President and COO, Travelers. "As a company, we are committed to investing in education and we believe in the importance of teaching Dr. King's vision. Kids for King is an excellent mechanism for both teachers and parents to educate today's youth about Dr. King and his ideals."
In addition to collaborating with the Memorial Foundation on the development of the Kids for King curriculum, Travelers will encourage public schools in cities where the company has significant operations to participate in the initiative. Travelers employees will also serve on the judging panel that selects the national finalists.
In addition to fulfilling its $1 million pledge to financially support the construction of the Memorial, the NEA will distribute the Kids for King curriculum to its members through online curriculum offerings, and during Black History month and beyond. The NEA will also ask teachers to encourage their students to participate in the art, essay, and video contest, and to use Kids for King in their classrooms as a means of educating this generation on the legacy and the promises of Dr. King.
The PTA will encourage schools to use the Kids for King curriculum and engage students in learning about Dr. King through its web site, email newsletters and other communication activities.
The LEAGUE will support Kids for King by providing resources about the initiative in its King Day Service Project Toolkit which is available to all LEAGUE Service Coaches nationwide. Kids for King will further help LEAGUE Service Coaches raise their students' knowledge and awareness of Dr. King; not only honoring his legacy but also building social capital and empowering students to practice acts of kindness and advocacy.
YRC Worldwide, Inc. a Fortune 500 company and one of the largest transportation service providers in the world, will promote Kids for King on 40 foot trailers that will be driven around the country.
"We challenge every teacher, parent, and youth leader to make Dr. King's legacy relevant to this generation and to explain the importance of building a lasting memorial to honor this legacy. I call on the youth of America to express your ideas about Dr. King by sharing an essay, a piece of art work, or a video about why Dr. King is important to you," said Harry Johnson, Sr., President and CEO, Memorial Foundation.
The Memorial Foundation has raised $106 million out of the needed $120 million to build the Memorial. Travelers joins the following major donors to the Memorial: General Motors, Tommy Hilfiger Corporate Foundation, NBA/WNBA, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., W.K. Kellogg Foundation, The Walt Disney Company Foundation, The Coca-Cola Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Ford Motor Fund, Toyota, AARP, AFLAC, Boeing, Inc., BP America, Inc., CIGNA, Credit Unions of the United States, DuPont, ExxonMobil Foundation, Fannie Mae Corporation, FedEx Corporation, GE, Ann and Joel Horowitz Family Foundation, John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Sheila C. Johnson-Newman, Lehman Brothers, George Lucas, MacFarlane Partners, The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation, McDonald's Corporation, MetLife Foundation, National Association of Realtors (NAR), National Education Association (NEA), Nationwide Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Pfizer Foundation, Prudential Financial, Inc., Shell Oil Company, State Farm Insurance, Verizon Foundation, Viacom, Wal-Mart and Morehouse College, among others.
About the Washington, DC Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial Project Foundation, Inc. A Memorial honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. will be built on the National Mall, situated adjacent to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial and in a direct line between the Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. Congress passed Joint Resolutions in 1996 authorizing Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. to establish a Memorial honoring Dr. King to be built in Washington, D.C. The ceremonial groundbreaking took place on November 13, 2006, and the Memorial will be completed in 2011. McKissack & McKissack / Turner Construction Company/ Gilford Corporation / Tompkins Builders, Inc. Joint Venture will serve as the Design-Build Team. McKissack & McKissack is the oldest minority-owned architectural firm in the United States. For more information or to make a donation, please visit www.buildthedream.org.
About Travelers
Travelers is a leading provider of property casualty insurance for auto, home and business...The company provides support for charitable organizations in the community through the Travelers Foundation and with corporate funding and in-kind services. The company's community giving is focused on education, community development and the arts. Travelers employees are consistently active in community initiatives and perform thousands of hours in volunteer time each year. For more information, visit www.travelers.com.


text: If you haven't time to read through the entire 19-page patent, let me outline it for you. A system called, "Methods and systems for mixing media with communications" will tentatively allow users to share different media whilst making telephone calls. Apple would accomplish this by enhancing the phone function in the iPhone with an 'add media' button. iPhone users could then share music files, video, images, voicemails, and podcasts with a tap.


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By J.O. Combs Unified School District
The J.O. Combs Unified School District's Governing Board invites you to a Community Forum on Thursday, December 6th beginning at 6:00pm in the Combs High School Library to meet the finalists for the Superintendent position.
Moderated by Mr. Steve Highlen, Arizona School Board Association consultant, parents, staff, students, and community members will be offered an opportunity to submit questions for the panel discussion. After the question and answer session, attendees will have the opportunity to informally interact with the finalists. During this time, attendees will also be able to complete a comment card that will be delivered to the Governing Board as part of their deliberations commencing at approximately 7:00pm.
We encourage all parents, staff, students, and community members to attend this very important meeting.
Dr. Cort Monroe
Dr. Monroe earned his Doctorate from Northern Arizona University in the area of Educational Leadership. His dissertation is titled, Relationship Between New Teacher Evaluation Scores and Student Growth Scores in Grades 4-5. The study provides insight into the relationship between teacher evaluations and student academic growth.
Dr. Monroe currently serves as the Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for the Queen Creek Unified School District, a position he has held since July of 2017. Prior to this appointment, he served Queen Creek as the Assistant Superintendent for Student Learning for two years. Dr. Monroe joined Queen Creek after holding the positions of Director of Student Services and principal in the Higley Unified School District. His career in Higley began in July of 2009. Prior to joining Higley, Dr. Monroe was a principal in the Mesa Unified School District, a teacher in the Gilbert Unified School District, and a teacher in the Nebo School District in Utah. Dr. Monroe has also taught undergraduate classes for the University of Phoenix and Chandler Gilbert Community College.
Dr. Monroe has received a number of awards during his career that include:
- Earned A+ School of Recognition Award through the Arizona Education Foundation
- Higley Unified School District CONNECT Award
- Brigham Young University Alumni Educator Spotlight recognition in 2009 and 2015
As an educator Dr. Monroe has been an active member with a number of professional organizations, including the following:
Brigham Young University McKay School of Education Phoenix Arizona Chapter Alumni Board
- Justserve.org Volunteer Coordinator
- State Superintendent of Arizona Principal Advisory Group
- Phi Delta Kappa International
- Boy Scouts of America National Association of Elementary and Secondary School Principals
- Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development
Dr. Greg Wyman
Dr. Wyman earned his Doctorate from the University of Arizona in the area of Educational Administration. His dissertation, a comprehensive study of the education reform movement, is titled The Excellence Reform Movement: Sixteen Years Later.
Dr. Wyman currently serves as the Superintendent of Payson Unified School District, a position he has held since July of 2014. Over the past twenty years Dr. Wyman has demonstrated his leadership skills as a Superintendent in three Arizona school districts including Payson USD, Apache Junction USD, and Snowflake USD. Dr. Wyman also has experience as an Associate Superintendent for Tempe Union High School District, a principal for the Snowflake School District, and a principal for the Patagonia Union High School District. He began his career in public education as a teacher and track coach in the Amphitheater Unified School District.
Dr. Wyman has received a number of awards during his career that include:
- President's Technology Award from the American Association of School Administrators
- Education Partner Award from the Arizona Business Education Coalition
- NCA Circle of Excellence Award from the North Central Association
During his career Dr. Wyman has taken an active leadership role in his community. To mention a few:
- Town of Payson Economic Development Planning Team
- Friends of the Rim Country Gila Community College Board
- Chamber of Commerce (Rim Country, Apache Junction, and Snowflake/Taylor)
- Superstition Mountain Rotary Club
- Apache Junction Economic Development Action Planning Team
- Boy Scouts of America.


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Originally published in Inside Sports in January 1981.
Nudging 50, I find it increasingly difficult to cope with a changing world. Raised to be a saver, for instance, I now find myself enjoined by the most knowledgeable economists to fork out faster than I can earn, borrowing whenever possible. But the rate they are encouraging me to borrow at from my friendly bank manager is what I once understood to be usury. In the kitchen of my boyhood my mother cooked on a wood fire, because we couldn't afford better, but now that I've grown up to heat my country home with oil, I am scorned by modish neighbors, many of whom are rich enough to re-equip with antique stoves, burning wood again. A couple of years ago, after taking in a World Series game at Yankee Stadium with author Wilfrid Sheed, the two of us found ourselves in midtown Manhattan, looking for a friendly bar where we could round off an enjoyable evening. As we passed a celebrated boîte on Second Avenue, I said, "Why don't we go in there?"
"You don't understand," Sheed admonished me, a visitor from Montreal. "If we go in there, two men together, they'll put us in the roped-off section for gays."
A year earlier a militant feminist press in Canada had published a hockey book titled She Shoots! She Scores! It turned out to be very topical stuff, because an irate Ontario father later sued a bantam hockey league for not allowing his daughter to play, thereby depriving her of the possibility of growing up to be taken into the boards, as it were, by Dave Schultz or Paul Holmgren. A mind-boggling thought. Since then, we've had Scoring, The Art of Hockey, by Hugh Hood, with images by Seymour Segal. It is the book serious students of the game have been waiting for, the one that dares to ask, "Which came first, the penis or the puck?" Scoring offers the definitive answer to why so many American fans can't follow the puck on TV. It isn't because they lack puck sense. Rather, the psychologically informed Hood writes, "this seems a clear instance of sublimated sexual anxiety. Where is the little fellow?" Furthermore, the reasonable author observes, "one wants to know where the puck is at all times," and then he throws in the kicker, "especially if one is a goalie, who occupies the most womanly position in contact sport."
Obviously, there's a whole new world out there. Me, I'm not only dizzy, I'm also resentful, if only because in confusing times sports used to be a consolation. An unchanging vista, its values constant. From the time I saw my first baseball game until now, the distance from home plate to first base has measured 90 feet. Though most of us can no longer afford it, a championship boxing match is still scheduled for 15 rounds. To win a hockey game you still have to score more goals than the opposition, but, alas, just about everything else in the game has changed.
Major league hockey, the game I grew up with during its vintage years, used to be played in six cities: Montreal, Toronto, Detroit, Chicago, Boston and New York. The 50-game season began in November, and the playoffs, involving the top four teams, were done with in March, when there was still snow on the streets of Montreal. Violence was an intrinsic part of the game, and any player over 16 who still had his front teeth in place was adjudged a sissy. One night Dick Irvin, who took over as coach of the Montreal Canadiens in 1940, rejuvenating a team that had failed to win the Stanley Cup for nine years, looked down his bench and said, " I know what's wrong here. Your faces are unmarked. I don't see any stitches. I don't see any shiners."
It was Conn Smythe, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, who made the immortal pronouncement, "If you can't beat 'em in the alley, you can't beat 'em in the rink." Smythe, who died at the age of 85 in November, bought the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927, changing their name to the Maple Leafs, providing at once both a challenge to the Canadiens and philologists. Recalling the legendary owner, Dink Carroll of the Montreal Gazette observed, "You know that pro hockey was so rough back in the early '20s that it kept Smythe away for years? Hockey was the very end back then. The players were considered just a cut above bank robbers. When they came down the street people would cross over to avoid them. But when Smythe finally got into it, he eliminated a lot of woodchopping and got them good sweaters and made them comb their hair.
"It makes me laugh when they talk about violence in hockey today. You may not believe me but guys like Newsy Lalonde and Mean Joe Hall and Sprague Cleghorn and Lionel Hitchman were out to kill each other. Ching Johnson of the Rangers had a smile on his face the whole game, smashing everybody he could get close to with his stick.
"When they weren't on the ice, they were in court half the time, for breaking up bars and fighting. I guess you could say there was a pioneer spirit in hockey back then."
In the '40s, when I first warmed to the game, goalies had yet to be pronounced womanly. Even later, none of us dreamed of a date with Gump Worsley, however cuddly he appeared between the pipes. In those days goalies did not look like witch doctors and you could read their faces when they stood to counter a three-on-one. During the offseason the players nursed their cracked ribs and scarred faces while driving beer trucks, helping to bring in the wheat on the family farm or working in the mines. A players' union? Doug Harvey, the greatest defenseman ever to wear a Canadien sweater, began to make dissident noises about a players' union and was condemned to the NHL's Gulag the following season. He wore a Ranger uniform in 1961. Harvey, who now sharpens skates in his brother's Montreal sports shop on weekends, never had a salary of more than $21,500 a year as a Canadien.
Today so-called major league hockey is played in 21 cities, the 80-game season begins early in October, before the World Series starts, and the playoffs, involving 16 teams, end in May, long after the next baseball season has begun. Salaries are prodigious. Marcel Dionne has signed a new contract with Los Angeles for $600,000 a year. Wayne Gretzky's escalating contract with oil-rich Edmonton calls for millions over the next 20 years. If you talk to the players they will, understandably, tell you the game is burgeoning. So will NHL officials. But among the fans complaints abound:
1) The season is too long.
2) Frenetic expansion has led to too many yawners. Obvious mismatches.
3) There's too much violence in the game.
Happily, I can report that these complaints originate either with Canadian soreheads who feel that the vile Americans, to whom we have already yielded Paul Anka, snowmobiles and the RCAF exercise book, have now also pilfered our national game, vulgarizing it in the hope of appealing to yahoos everywhere. Or with sexually sublimated Americans who obviously suffer from puck-envy. A post-Freudian malaise rampant in expansion cities. The truth is that far from there being too much violence in hockey, there is not enough anymore. But to deal with these ill-informed complaints in order:
1) The familiar argument proffered by ignorant fans runs that it is somewhat silly to play a total of 840 games, which settle nothing, and then embark on a round of playoffs that call for 16 of 21 teams to fight it out for the Stanley Cup. At least one owner, Howard Baldwin of the Hartford Whalers, also suffers from a short attention span. "I think," he said recently, "we should condense the season and start on November 1, ending on March 30 but still playing 80 games. The playoffs should end by May 1, no later, and only 12 teams, not 16, should qualify."
What Baldwin and many fans fail to grasp is that the season, far from being too long, is now too short. The so-called regular season, properly looked at, is no more than an endless exhibition series, which brings something reminiscent of real hockey to such hitherto deprived outposts as Washington, St. Louis, Calgary and Denver. Over the long wintry haul, the bored and jet-weary players only go all out in short spurts, usually when they are hoping to renegotiate a contract they pronounced binding only the year before. Who cares, who even remembers, who won the Norris or Smythe Division titles in 1976? The real season, the one that counts, the battle for the Stanley Cup, begins in April. Starting this second season in the spring provides jaded players with the novel opportunity to fight it out in fog, as in Buffalo in 1975, or at least on such soft slushy ice as to reduce the flying Canadiens to slow slithering idiots. With further expansion, a game which owes something to lacrosse will inevitably acknowledge its debt to water polo.
2) It's true that expansion to 21 teams has made for a number of uneven contests, but this has not gone undetected by those purists who unfailingly put the fan's interest before the owner's profit, namely the savants who comprise the NHL Board of Governors. These skilled observers have noted that when the Winnipeg Jets (one win in their first 28 games) play Montreal or the Islanders they seldom get to touch the puck, never mind slip it into the net, and so, if only to accommodate this disability, there will be a rule change next season. Remember, you read it here first. Next season in certain games between unevenly matched teams there will be no puck whatsoever put into play, allowing the sportsmen on both sides to have a go at each other without unnecessary distractions. This will enable Winnipeg right wing James Edward Mann, who scored all of three goals and five assists last season, but led the league in penalty minutes (287), to prove that behemoths belong.
3) Which brings us to the question of violence.
When we talk about violence in the NHL today, one team immediately springs to mind. The Philadelphia Flyers, a.k.a. the Broad Street Bullies, whose aggregation, even without the fabled talents of Dave Schultz, still hold the following records:
- Most penalty minutes, one team, one game: 194, the Flyers, March 11, 1979, at Philadelphia against the Kings. The Flyers received seven minors, eight majors, six 10-minute misconducts and eight game misconducts.
- Most penalties, one team, one period: 31, the Flyers, February 22, 1980, at Vancouver, third period. The Flyers received 12 minors, 10 majors, one 10-minute misconduct and eight game misconducts.
- Most minor penalties, 1979-80: 499, the Flyers again.
But the Broad Street Bullies had the most points in the regular season last year. And when they won Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975, they led the league in penalty minutes each season.
Item: In the most thrilling hockey event most Canadians can remember, the series that pitched Team Canada against the Soviets in 1972, Bobby Clarke grasped that there was no legitimate way of stopping the superb Valery Kharlamov, and so he did the next best thing: He whacked him over the ankles with his stick, taking him out of the game. "I realized," Clarke said, "I had to do anything to win." Put plainly, violence pays, and in the case of Clarke, it also shows what a patriotic Canadian boy is made of. Or does it?
Because the question we must now ask ourselves is: Is it violence? Or sexual abandon? Or, God help us, even attempted rape? Which brings me back to the burning question posed by Hugh Hood: "Which comes first, the penis or the puck?"
Hood replies: "In a general way, mind you, without making a mystery of it, we guess that the penis came first, and continues to come first in the sense that it directs the occasions of fecundity. If it—or something like it—doesn't go in, no goal, no baby. The race is continued by sperm and egg, not the conjunction of that black rubber disk and the space enclosed by the Art Ross Safety Net."
The difficulty inherent in writing this piece for fans who haven't read Scoring is akin to addressing a group of scientists who are as yet unaware that the atom has been split, its energy harnessed. After Scoring, nothing will ever be the same again. Hockey is no longer seen through a glass darkly. Instead, its very essence has been illuminated.
Consider, for instance, what the uninformed once took to be a rink, and no more. "Looking down at the ice surface from a height," Hood writes, "what you see is a human body, admittedly without head or arms or legs. A torso. The space, 200 feet by 85, has about the same proportions as a human trunk, with nipples marked on it and a navel—the point where the action always begins. . . . The spectators form a body, and the players seem more like blood in a torso than anything else, eternally circulating as red or white corpuscles wearing contrasting jerseys. The body is the name of the game."
Conversely, of course, our bodies are filled with jerseyed red and white draft choices, some of them dandy playmakers. Our chests, properly considered, boast two faceoff circles. Which is to say, within every one of us there is a hockey league, eternally circulating. Cut yourself, and the good corpuscles clear the bench and rush to defend the infected area. It then follows, logically, that violence is no more than a healthy body defending itself. Against infection here, Paul Holmgren there.
Hood is especially rewarding on the sexual nature of the game. "There may be people to whom sex is a metaphor for hockey, an outer appearance containing a real inner struggle. Making love, such people, usually male, imagine themselves faking to their left, circling the goal, persuading the goalie to go down, then slipping it in on their backhand." Astutely, Hood points out what should have been obvious to us before. The Art Ross Safety Net, only adopted by the NHL in 1936, is an image of the female body.
Or, put another way, Gordie Howe, the NHL's all-time leading scorer, was a satyr. Constantly thrusting at the opposition nets, Phil Esposito, Bobby Hull and Maurice Richard were also sex-crazed, though we didn't understand it at the time. Furthermore, once we have accepted the image of the goalie as womanly, we can understand that certain defensemen, traditionally pronounced unnecessarily violent, are actually gallant defenders of their goalperson's virtue. Standing tall at the blue line, swinging their sticks with abandon, all to defend Chico Resch or Rogie Vachon from assault by Guy Lafleur, Mike Bossy or Marcel Dionne. It also follows that some of the game's low-scoring forwards, players we took to be inept, are actually well brought up kids, too nice to go the limit—that is to say, slip the puck into the net—with some 16,000 howling fans (or voyeurs) cheering them on.
Properly understood, what today's game needs is less blatant sex or scoring, more manly fighting spirit. What's called for is more forechecking, less foreplay.
Mind you, this is not to suggest that so-called hockey violence can only be defended on grounds of sexual propriety on ice. The new rule designed to cut down on bench-clearing brawls, the rule that calls for a game misconduct for the third man into a fight, is (a) bound to even further limit the possibility of an American network contract for hockey and (b) especially directed against one team, the Montreal Canadiens.
If Americans, new to the game, can't follow the puck on TV, they can certainly follow and identify with flying fists. More bench-clearing brawls, on a medium already attuned to violence, could only lead to popularity for a grand game.
Of course, we will have to get rid of the spoilsport—the referees—who tend to wrestle players to the ice just as their punches are beginning to tell. An obvious refinement of the curved-stick blade would be one sharpened to come to a point. It also would be exhilarating if fights could be continued in the penalty box and players were allowed to pursue taunting fans into the stands, with rows one to 10 being declared a free fire zone.
Older fans will remember that a minor penalty once lasted two minutes, no matter how many goals the team with the manpower advantage scored. But in the 1950s, the Montreal power-play (Beliveau, Richard, Geoffrion. Olmstead, Moore) proved so overwhelming, sometimes scoring three times in two minutes. that the rule was revised in 1956 to allow the penalized player to return after only one goal had been scored. Similarly, it is now common knowledge that a Canadien rookie is fortunate indeed to get on ice for more than a shift a game. His only other opportunity to stretch his legs during a game is a bench-clearing fight. The new rule is obviously calculated to render him sedentary and therefore a diminishing threat in his sophomore year.
Finally, I'm surprised that sociologists have failed to notice the obvious correlation between violence on the ice and the safety of Canadian streets. While muggers proliferate on the streets of Detroit, New York and Boston, prowling the streets after dark, nobody feels threatened in Montreal, Toronto or Calgary, even if tempted to take a 1 a.m. stroll downtown. This is because we have cunningly put our potential muggers into team sweaters, shoving them out on the ice, paying then handsomely to spear, slash and high stick or whatever.
Even our judiciary is aware or the Canadian solution and reacts accordingly. When Wayne Maki of the St. Louis Blues was brought before an Ottawa judge in 1970, charged with assault causing bodily harm for using his stick to fracture the skull of Boston's Ted Green during an exhibition game, he was acquitted. Judge M.J. Fitzpatrick later found Green not guilty as well. "When a player enters an arena," he decreed, "he is consenting to a great number of what otherwise might be regarded as assaults. The game of hockey could not possibly be played unless those engaging in it were willing to accept these assaults."
In the absence of King Solomon, M.J. Fitzpatrick.
Born and raised in Montreal, Mordecai Richler was one of Canada's premier novelists, essayists, and satirists. His most famous books are The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz and Barney's Version, both made into feature films, though this generation may know him more for the Jacob Two-Two series of children's stories. His sportswriting has been collected in Dispatches from the Sporting Life. Richler died on July 3, 2001.
The Stacks is Deadspin's living archive of great journalism, curated by Bronx Banter's Alex Belth. Read his introduction here.


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Babs, Murda Mook, Lady Luck & TL Freestyle Session On Rock Me TV! [Spittin Ova "I Get Money"]
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AARP is hosting their next Virtual Career Fair on September 14 from 5 p.m. – 8 p.m. CST. This live online event provides those 50+ with the opportunity to recharge their job search and connect with local and national employers – all from the comfort of home.
During the Virtual Career Fair, participants will have the opportunity to chat with recruiters from companies like Home Helpers. There will be opportunities to apply to caregiver jobs during the event.
This official AARP event is a great way for job seekers to:
• Re-charge their job search
• Connect with local and national employers and volunteer organizations, such as Home Helpers
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• Get a sneak peek at AARP's new Work & Jobs Skills Inventory designed to help job seekers polish the digital skills they need to find a job or keep the job they have
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Q: What is the AARP Virtual Career Fair?
A: The AARP Virtual Career Fair will feature AARP Employer Pledge Program employers that are hiring. In addition, AARP will be providing job search resources to job seekers in the form of live webinars and online chats with career professionals, tip sheets, games, and other resources.
Q: Are all of the employers in the Employer Exhibit Hall hiring?
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A: A range of skills and jobs are being recruited for by employers.
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Can't make the live date? Register anyway! By registering, you'll have access to the Virtual Career Environment and see the jobs listed by employers, access tip sheets and view webinars on-demand through the end of 2017.
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Ugh. Read here from Bob McGinn. I think Scott Wells is important to this team. He is a reliable veteran who is healthy. And his age (31) doesn't seem to be an issue considering he has gotten better each of the last 3 years as McGinn points out. He made the Pro Bowl last year. He is a good player and my hope is that the Packers can figure something out with him. I think he deserves a pretty high offer from the Packers – and I'm sure Aaron Rodgers is saying the same thing. Centers are important to teams, especially teams that get as involved in dissecting defenses at the line of scrimmage like the Packers do.
Another reason I'd like for Wells to get paid is that we should minimize the O-Line shuffling we do – especially at center. To the extent that we can control it, I think it should be a goal to return the same or a mostly similar starting O-Line next year.


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Pre-medical student Tim Marquis
As an undergraduate research assistant in the Center for Molecular Endocrinology at the University of New Hampshire, student Tim Marquis is gaining hands-on experience with world-class research opportunities. Last Memorial Day weekend – while other college students were barbequing on the beach – Marquis was in the hatchery at UNH learning how to conduct immunohistochemistry procedures to determine the localization and distribution of lamprey hormones with internationally renowned Japanese comparative neuro-endocrinologist, Masumi Nozaki.
"Professor Nozaki is known as the world expert in immunohistochemistry of protein hormones and receptors in the brains and pituitaries of non mammalian vertebrates, particularly fish," says Stacia Sower, Director of the Center for Molecular Endocrinology at UNH. Sower and Nozaki worked together as post-doctoral researchers at the University of Washington in Aubrey Gorbman's laboratory. "Gorbman was one of the founding fathers of the field of comparative endocrinology," says Sower about this rare American scientist to receive Japan's top Medal of Science. Over the years Sower and Nozaki continued to conduct research together from afar, and Nozaki, who developed techniques in immunohistochemistry while he was a graduate student and later refined his procedures during his tenure at the Niigata University's Sado Marine Station, became a visiting professor at UNH in 1993, practicing and sharing his knowledge of immunohistochemistry.
Renowned Japanese Researcher Masumi Nozaki
"Masumi is a master artist," Sower says of Nozaki's intricate slides that resemble stained glass windows with the reds, blues, and greens of co-localized hormones clearly delineated within the same cell. "He does beautiful work – you can actually see the cell itself. He does double staining." Beauty is only ancillary to the important work that Sower, Nozaki, and others are doing to help show that the pituitary historically arose with vertebrates, not with invertebrates. And while the lamprey has a notochord (precursor to a backbone), its brain is encased in a cartilaginous cranium, making the species closer to its ancestral vertebrates that existed 550 million years ago. "The acquisition of the pituitary was a seminal event for vertebrate evolution," says Sower about the tiny gland that sits at the base of the brain. Now it is rightfully seen along with the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, the center of control over the endocrine system.
When Sower began her work with these ancient, jawless fish known as cyclostomes more than thirty years ago, people didn't even think that the lamprey had the same brain control as other vertebrates. The focus of her research has evolved over time as well, and she's currently studying the extent of hypothalamic control over the pituitary-gonadal aspect in cyclostomes.
Nozaki's most recent visit corresponds with the spawning of lamprey. "We do twelve months of experiments in six weeks," says Sower about the primitive fish that spawn and die all within a narrow window of time. Accompanying Nozaki is Maki Nishiyama, a Ph.D. student learning the research techniques he developed. Sower's team at the Center for Molecular Endocrinology have already identified structures in the lamprey brain and pituitary gland, cloned hormones, and sequenced the fish's genome as well as discovered the gonadotropin-releasing hormone, a peptide released from the brain that stimulates the pituitary to secrete the hormones that control the sex glands. Nozaki and Nishiyama spent their time here working with the team to study the next steps of function and distribution of immunohistochemistry in the lamprey.
Within all of this highly skilled research there still exists space for teaching and learning. Marquis has taken the initiative to further the studies using the process of in-situ hybridization to look for the expression of mRNA transcript found in the pituitary or one of its subunits. In fact, Marquis has just proven the existence of a pituitary hormone subunit, "beta 5," which enables Sower's team to proceed with a major grant proposal.
"It is an absolute honor to study under Dr. Sower and to have learned so much in the time that I've been here," says Marquis who began assisting with research in Sower's lab during his freshman year. "Dr. Sower has been an incredible mentor and role model. I wouldn't be here today without her help, support, and encouragement," he says. As a biomedical science major in the medical veterinary science option, Marquis plans to attend medical school after graduation to facilitate his career goals of becoming an oncologist and conducting biomedical research. As for a chance to learn from Nozaki, Marquis says, "We are especially lucky to have Dr. Nozaki with us this week. Learning his immunohistochemistry techniques will have a direct impact on my research in this lab." The Sower lab at the Center for Molecular Endocrinology spans disciplines of neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, molecular, biomedical, and biochemical sciences.
After decades of friendship and collaboration, many discoveries – such as the fact that fish have both luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone – have been landmarks for both Sower and Nozaki. In the interest of working together once more before Nozaki's retirement next March, Sower invited Nozaki and Nishiyama to UNH last May. "One lab can't do all the work that's necessary," says Sower. "You have to be collaborative to be successful."


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When I told Brigadier General Moore that I would not roll over and accept an Other Than Honorable Discharge without a hearing, I requested that it be held close to DC because that's where most of my witnesses and I live. But that request was denied and the hearing will be held at 8am on Monday, June 4 in Kansas City. While the Marine Corps was willing to fly me out for the hearing, there was nothing they would do to help get my witnesses there.
Enter Jim Goodnow. Jim is a member of Veterans For Peace and proud owner of the Yellow Rose of Texas Bus for Peace. He has graciously volunteered his bus and his time to drive myself, and my witnesses all the way to Kansas City from Washington, DC.
We will be leaving from Union Station at 6pm this Friday, driving to Columbus, then from Columbus to Kansas City on Saturday. We will be having a send-off press conference in front of Union Station at 5pm, and you are all welcome to attend, even those of you who are only reading this blog to get me in more trouble.
My attorney has just informed me that the Marines plan to use posts on my blog against me at my separation hearing. So, a quick message to those of you who are wasting government time and resources to spy on me: go fuck yourselves. I was very reluctant to start a blog after hearing the statistics that there are a bazillion new blogs and ten bazillion new blog posts every day. If everyone in the blogosphere is so busy posting this crap, who the hell is reading it? At least someone is reading this blog.