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Correction Appended
Pregnancy can be the most wonderful experience life has to offer. But it can also be dangerous. Around the world, an estimated 529,000 women a year die during pregnancy or childbirth. Ten million suffer injuries, infection or disability.
To David Haig, an evolutionary biologist at Harvard, these grim statistics raise a profound puzzle about pregnancy.
"Pregnancy is absolutely central to reproduction, and yet pregnancy doesn't seem to work very well," he said. "If you think about the heart or the kidney, they're wonderful bits of engineering that work day in and day out for years and years. But pregnancy is associated with all sorts of medical problems. What's the difference?"
The difference is that the heart and the kidney belong to a single individual, while pregnancy is a two-person operation. And this operation does not run in perfect harmony. Instead, Dr. Haig argues, a mother and her unborn child engage in an unconscious struggle over the nutrients she will provide it.
Dr. Haig's theory has been gaining support in recent years, as scientists examine the various ways pregnancy can go wrong.
His theory also explains a baffling feature of developing fetuses: the copies of some genes are shut down, depending on which parent they come from. Dr. Haig has also argued that the same evolutionary conflicts can linger on after birth and even influence the adult brain. New research has offered support to this idea as well. By understanding these hidden struggles, scientists may be able to better understand psychological disorders like depression and autism.
As a biologist fresh out of graduate school in the late 1980's, Dr. Haig decided to look at pregnancy from an evolutionary point of view. As his guide, he used the work of Robert Trivers, an evolutionary biologist at Rutgers University.
In the 1970's, Dr. Trivers argued that families create an evolutionary conflict. Natural selection should favor parents who can successfully raise the most offspring. For that strategy to work, they can't put too many resources into any one child. But the child's chances for reproductive success will increase as its care and feeding increase. Theoretically, Dr. Trivers argued, natural selection could favor genes that help children get more resources from their parents than the parents want to give.
As Dr. Haig considered the case of pregnancy, it seemed like the perfect arena for this sort of conflict. A child develops in intimate contact with its mother. Its development in the womb is crucial to its long-term health. So it was plausible that nature would favor genes that allowed fetuses to draw more resources from their mothers.
A fetus does not sit passively in its mother's womb and wait to be fed. Its placenta aggressively sprouts blood vessels that invade its mother's tissues to extract nutrients.
Meanwhile, Dr. Haig argued, natural selection should favor mothers who could restrain these incursions, and manage to have several surviving offspring carrying on their genes. He envisioned pregnancy as a tug of war. Each side pulls hard, and yet a flag tied to the middle of the rope barely moves.
"We tend to think of genes as parts of a machine working together," Dr. Haig said. "But in the realm of genetic conflict, the cooperation breaks down."
In a 1993 paper, Dr. Haig first predicted that many complications of pregnancy would turn out to be produced by this conflict. One of the most common complications is pre-eclampsia, in which women experience dangerously high blood pressure late in pregnancy. For decades scientists have puzzled over pre-eclampsia, which occurs in about 6 percent of pregnancies.
Dr. Haig proposed that pre-eclampsia was just an extreme form of a strategy used by all fetuses. The fetuses somehow raised the blood pressure of their mothers so as to drive more blood into the relatively low-pressure placenta. Dr. Haig suggested that pre-eclampsia would be associated with some substance that fetuses injected into their mothers' bloodstreams. Pre-eclampsia happened when fetuses injected too much of the stuff, perhaps if they were having trouble getting enough nourishment.
In the past few years, Ananth Karumanchi of Harvard Medical School and his colleagues have gathered evidence that suggests Dr. Haig was right. They have found that women with pre-eclampsia had unusually high levels of a protein called soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, or sFlt1 for short.
Other labs have replicated their results. Dr. Karumanchi's group has done additional work that indicates that this protein interferes with the mother's ability to repair minor damage to her blood vessels. As that damage builds up, so does her blood pressure. And as Dr. Haig predicted, the protein is produced by the fetus, not the mother.
"When I first came across David Haig's hypothesis, it was absolutely cool," said Dr. Karumanchi. "And it made me feel like I might be on the right track."
Dr. Haig is now collaborating with Dr. Karumanchi and his Harvard Medical School colleagues to understand more about how exactly sFlt1 may cause pre-eclampsia. They describe their research in the latest issue of Current Topics in Developmental Biology.
Dr. Haig also made some predictions about the sorts of maternal defenses that have evolved. One of the most intriguing strategies he proposed was for mothers to shut down some of the genes in their own children.
This strategy takes advantage of the fact that most of the genes we carry come in pairs. We inherit one copy from our mother and one from our father. In most cases, these pairs of genes behave identically. But in the past 15 years, scientists have identified more than 70 pairs of genes in which the copy from one parent never makes a protein. In some cases, a parent's gene is silenced only in one organ.
Scientists do not fully understand this process, known as genomic imprinting. They suspect that it is made possible by chemical handles called methyl groups that are attached to units of DNA. Some handles may turn off genes in sperm and egg cells. The genes then remain shut off after a sperm fertilizes an egg.
Only a few of these genes have been carefully studied to understand how they work. But the evidence so far is consistent with Dr. Haig's theory. One of the most striking examples is a gene called insulin growth factor 2 (Igf2). Produced only in fetal cells, it stimulates rapid growth. Normally, only the father's copy is active. To understand the gene's function, scientists disabled the father's copy in the placenta of fetal mice. The mice were born weighing 40 percent below average. Perhaps the mother's copy of Igf2 is silent because turning it off helps slow the growth of a fetus.
On the other hand, mice carry another gene called Igf2r that interferes with the growth-spurring activity of Igf2. This may be another maternal defense gene. In the case of Igf2r, it is the father's gene that is silent, perhaps as a way for fathers to speed up the growth of their offspring. If the mother's copy of this second gene is disabled, mouse pups are born 125 percent heavier than average.
A number of other imprinted genes speed and slow the growth of fetuses in a similar fashion, providing more support for Dr. Haig's theory. And in recent years, some medical disorders in humans have been tied to these imprinted genes. Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome, for example, causes children to grow oversize organs that are prone to developing tumors. Some cases of the disorder have been tied to a mutation that replaces a mother's silent copy of Igf2 with an extra copy of the father's.
"Both of the copies come from the father, and you get double the amount of Igf2, " said Dr. Haig. The extra Igf2 appeared to cause a fetus to grow too quickly, leading to the syndrome.
Dr. Haig's work is now widely hailed for making sense of imprinted genes. "Molecular biologists had it worked out in exquisite detail, but they had no idea why it existed," said Kyle Summers, a biologist at East Carolina State University. "Haig just comes in and says, 'I know why this is happening,' and explained it."
Dr. Haig has recently been exploring his theory's implications for life after birth. "I think it can influence all sorts of social behaviors," he said.
Scientists have found that some genes are imprinted in the brain after birth, and in some cases even in adulthood. "Imprinted genes and behavior are the new frontier," said Dr. Lawrence Wilkinson of the University of Cambridge. In a paper to be published in The Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, Dr. Wilkinson and his colleagues argue that the evidence on imprinted brain genes -- preliminary as it is -- fits with Dr. Haig's theory. They call it "the most robust evolutionary hypothesis for genomic imprinting."
One major source of conflict after birth is how much a mother will feed any individual offspring. A baby mammal is more likely to thrive if it can get more milk from its mother. But nursing demands a lot of energy from mothers that could be used for other things, like bearing and nursing more offspring.
It turns out that a number of imprinted genes are active in the brain, where they might influence how babies behaved toward their mothers. One strong candidate for that role in mice is a gene known as GnasXI. Normally the mother's copy of the gene is silent. If the father's copy is not working, mouse pups are weak sucklers. They draw so little milk that by 9 days old, they are a quarter of the weight of normal mice. Switching off the father's copy of GnasXI may be putting a brake on the aggressive nursing of their pups.
Some genes continue to be imprinted in the brain even in healthy adults. Dr. Haig has proposed that the evolution of these genes has been shaped by the groups in which mammals live.
In many mammal species, females tend to stay in the groups where they are born and males leave. As a result, females tend to share more genes with other members of their group than males. A conflict may emerge between maternal and paternal genes over how the members of the group should act. Maternal genes may favor behavior that benefits the group. Paternal genes may favor behavior that benefits the individual.
"You have to think about resources in a different way," Dr. Wilkinson said. "Instead of thinking about foodstuffs, you have to think about social resources. Your mom and dad want different things from your behavior."
Dr. Wilkinson and his colleagues are beginning to identify genes that may play this role. One, known as Nesp55, is active in mouse brains. The father's copy of the gene is silent. Dr. Wilkinson and his colleagues found that disabling the mother's Nesp55 gene makes mice less likely to explore a new environment. Normally, the mother's copy of Nesp55 may encourage the mice to take more risks on behalf of the group, whether that risk involves looking for food or defending the group. "It's a possibility, but it needs to be proved," said Dr. Wilkinson.
Dr. Wilkinson suspects that conflict between imprinted brain genes may add to the risk for mental disorders, from autism to depression. Because one copy of each of these genes is silenced, they may be more vulnerable. "If you ask me, do I think that imprinted genes are likely in the next 10 years to crop up as mechanisms in mental disorders, I'd say yes," he said.
Dr. Haig has enjoyed watching his theory mature and inspire other scientists. But he has also had to cope with a fair amount of hate mail. It comes from across the political spectrum, from abortion opponents to feminists who accuse him of trying to force patriarchy into biology.
"People seem to think, 'He must have a political agenda,' " Dr. Haig said. "But I'm not talking at all about conscious behaviors. I'm just interested in these mechanisms and why they evolved."
Correction: March 16, 2006, Thursday An article in Science Times on Tuesday about recent research on pregnancy, suggesting that its dangers can be explained by a tug of war between mother and fetus over nutrients, misstated the university affiliation of Kyle Summers, a biologist who praised the work. It is East Carolina University, not East Carolina State.
Correction: March 21, 2006, Tuesday An article in Science Times last Tuesday about recent research on pregnancy, suggesting that its dangers can be explained by a tug of war between mother and fetus over nutrients, referred incorrectly to one process in this conflict. Fetal cells called trophoblasts invade the maternal blood vessels to draw nutrients from the mother; the invaders are not fetal blood vessels.


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Wabash students will visit the Louvre in Paris, study math in Prague, research ancient Mayan ruins, see the seat of European government in Brussels, Belgium, and Strasbourg, France – and, they'll eat wiener schnitzel in Jasper Indiana's famed Schnitzelbank Restaurant over the March 5-12 Spring Break.
Nearly 100 students will be touring the globe to gain an in-depth understanding of their classroom studies.
Spring Immersion trips began five years ago at Wabash as a way for students not likely to study abroad for a full term to gain the benefits of the experience. The trips also allow students to visit cities, countries and sites they've studied or read about in the classroom.
Wabash professors lead the Immersion Trips, which are funded, in part, by the Campaign for Leadership. Students must pay for a few meals and provide their own spending money, but all other costs are covered by the College.
"This is a formula for learning that cannot be replicated, and for many of them promises to be a personal and academic adventure they will carry with them after Wabash, as they enter their years of life-long learning," History professor Rick Warner said.
Warner will be taking 15 students to the state of Chiapas, Mexico. He has previously led a trip to Mexico where students study Mayan ruins and archeological sites.
While Warner's students will dine on authentic Mexican food, a freshman tutorial group will be discovering the finer points of sauerbraten at the Schnitzelbank and Newport, Kentucky's replica of the famed Munich Hofbrauhaus.
For the first time in five years one of the Immersion Trips will be Indiana based. German professor Gregory Redding will lead a group of 11 freshman students to areas of Indiana with strong German influence.
The group will visit New Harmony, the Berne area, and then head south to Dubois County and to St. Meinrad Archabbey. They will visit working Amish farms and the furniture making industry in Jasper. A trip to Cincinnati's Over The Rhine region, an entry point for many Hoosier immigrants, will also be part of the week's itinerary.
"I think they're still pretty dubious, 'what are we going to be doing?'" Redding said of his student's reaction to Spring Break in Indiana.
"The genesis of this was flying down to Ecuador and sitting with Dean of the College Mauri Ditzler. We realized we're really good at sending guys away 4,000 miles and that's a great experience for them. But at some point we ought to be better about keeping people here and helping them appreciate where they are as also a place worth studying. It is historical and interesting in its own way."
On the other side of the world, students traveling with math professors J.D. Phillips, Michael Axtell and William Turner will be working with mathematicians at Charles University in Prague. Small groups of Wabash students will spend the week with leading Czech mathematicians on research.
"The faculty looks forward to providing the students with an intense research experience, and exposing them to another culture that few of them would otherwise experience," Turner said.
Political science professor Melissa Butler and economist Kay Widdows will take a group of Wabash men to Brussels and Strasbourg to study the European Union. While studying the politics and economy of the EU, students will visit with various EU officials and Wabash alumnus Brandon Mitchener '87, who covered the EU for the Wall Street Journal.
It's not all work and no play though. On all of the trips students get the evening free to explore.
"Since the students are let loose at night to socialize, they get a great opportunity to meet European young people and talk about the E.U. and the U.S. in the world today," Widdows said. "It's a wonderful expansion of their angle of vision on themselves and the world."
Art professor Gregory Huebner will be taking art majors to New York City, where they'll visit some of the country's most famous galleries and museums. Assistant Professor of History Michelle Rhoades will lead a group of students around France, looking at the sites and monuments associated with their study of World Wars I and II.
One trip will not occur until May when Professor John Byrnes takes students for a nearly two-week trip to Berlin, Germany. Those students will focus on the active use of the German language and immersion into German culture.
Another group of students will be exploring their career interests with a hands-on opportunity in Washington D.C. Six Wabash men were selected to be part of the first Jim Graham Externship Experience, serving one-week-long externships in the D.C. area with Wabash Alums.
Hewitt is Wabash College's Director of New Media/Web Content Editor.
In Photos:
On homepage: Professor John Fischer led students to Greece in 2004.
In photo above: Students traveled to Turkey in 2003.

subset: commoncrawl


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Early in her husband's political career, Helen Milliken dutifully played the role of unassuming, supportive spouse. But she evolved into an outspoken advocate of women's rights, the environment and other issues close to her heart during her record 14 years as Michigan's first lady.
DETROIT (AP) ? Early in her husband's political career, Helen Milliken dutifully played the role of unassuming, supportive spouse. But she evolved into an outspoken advocate of women's rights, the environment and other issues close to her heart during her record 14 years as Michigan's first lady.
Milliken campaigned vigorously for abortion rights and the ill-fated Equal Rights Amendment, which stated equality of rights "shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex."
She drew the wrath of the outdoor advertising industry shortly after her husband, Republican William Milliken, became governor in 1969, when she criticized highway billboards as unsightly clutter. And at her urging, her husband hiked the Pigeon River State Forest while governor and later decided to limit oil and gas development in the scenic forest.
Milliken died on Friday morning at her family's home in Traverse City, her son, William "Bill" Milliken Jr., said. She had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer, he said, and was receiving hospice care. She was 89.
It was the couple's daughter, Elaine, a lawyer and feminist, who died of cancer in 1993, who influenced her mother to take a stand for women's equality. Helen Milliken served as national co-chair of ERAmerica and was a delegate to the International Women's Year conference in Houston. Her other board memberships included the Women's Resource Center and the Michigan Land Use Institute.
Even into her 80s, she remained active in community affairs and as an environmentalist. Milliken helped organize a foreign policy lecture series at Northwest Michigan College and took a course on the life of Mozart.
Milliken co-founded ArtrainUSA, an art museum housed in rail cars that visited more than 850 communities across the U.S. since 1971.
She told The Associated Press in 2006 about her concerns that many younger women were shying away from political activism and the "feminist" label.
"They don't know their history," she said at the time. "Young women take so much for granted now."
Feminism, she said, had "been redefined and misinterpreted" by conservatives as wild-eyed radicalism.
"Nobody ever saw anybody burn a bra; they're too expensive," she said. "But the myth has survived. There have been excesses, but the goal has always remained the same: equal opportunity for women."
Gov. Rick Snyder in a statement praised Milliken for her "countless" contributions to the state.
"As a champion of women's issues, patron of the arts and dedicated environmentalist, Mrs. Milliken lent her strong voice to causes that enrich our state to this day," Snyder said. "Long after Governor Bill Milliken left office, she remained a driving force for the betterment of Michigan, because she loved this state and believed in its future.
"Mrs. Milliken set the standard for the next generation of first ladies."
The former Helen Wallbank, daughter of a Denver-area attorney, earned a bachelor's degree from Smith College in 1945, and met William Grawn Milliken as he underwent military training in Colorado during World War II.
After marrying, they settled in his Michigan hometown of Traverse City, which also was home to the family-owned Milliken Department Store.
William Milliken was elected to the state Senate in 1960, following in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, both Republican state senators. Shortly afterward, Milliken and other moderates rebelled against the right-wing leadership, issuing a manifesto with progressive stands on issues such as taxes and civil rights.
Elected lieutenant governor in 1964 and 1968, Milliken succeeded fellow Republican George Romney as governor in January 1969 when Romney joined President Richard Nixon's Cabinet. Milliken won the election that fall and was re-elected twice, but decided not to seek a fourth term in 1982. He retired from politics unbeaten at age 59.
His wife, however, wasn't done with politics.
Helen Milliken continued to be a sought-after political commodity long after her husband's retirement. In 1994, she was even asked to be the running mate of Democratic gubernatorial candidate Howard Wolpe as he sought to boost his underdog campaign against Republican Gov. John Engler.
She declined, later telling the AP "it just didn't seem like the right move to make at the time."
Current U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow ended up as Wolpe's running mate in that ill-fated race against Engler.
On Friday, she remembered Milliken as "a role model and a dear friend."
"I will miss her greatly. Her extraordinary and courageous leadership came at a time when we needed strong voices for women, and her efforts to protect women's health, the Great Lakes and our Michigan outdoors will leave a legacy that will be felt for many generations to come," Stabenow said.
Longtime U.S. Rep. Sander Levin said Milliken was a leader, "with strong views of her own, a keen intellect and a deep and abiding commitment to so many causes she was passionate about."
"Helen Milliken was a vigorous, highly valued partner with her husband, Governor Milliken, in a team that has represented the very best in public service," Levin said.
Milliken is survived by her husband and her son, William Jr., of Ann Arbor, and her sister, Elaine Jackson of Denver. The family said a memorial service will be held at a later date. Reynolds-Jonkhoff Funeral Home in Traverse City is handling arrangements.


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Five-Minute Investment
Walking along a street in Tel Aviv an observant Jew decided to try his luck at bringing a secular resident of the bustling metropolis closer to his Jewish roots. He courteously stopped a passerby and offered to study some Torah with him for five minutes.
To his pleasant surprise the fellow responded that he was interested in the offer and even invited him into his nearby home. Together they learned some Chumash, and when the five minutes were up our hero got up to leave.
"Wait", said his host. "If we already studied together I would like you to give your blessing to me and my wife who have been married many years and have not yet been blessed with children."
"Who am I to give you a blessing which will bring you the fulfillment of your wish!" was the humble response. "But what I can do is give you a suggestion that will help. Invite some of your neighbors and friends to participate in a weekly Torah shiur in your home and I will supply the teachers. In the merit of such an initiative you will be blessed."
The offer was accepted, the shiur became a regular event for many years and the hosting couple was soon blessed with their first child.


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The Sunshine State will continue to play a key role in the record success of the beef industry.
By: Richard Mullins, The Tampa Tribune
Dennis Carlton slowly rolls his pickup through a herd of hundreds of mother and baby cows meandering in the midmorning sun around the Audubon Ranch property north of Plant City.
"Come on there, get up," Carlton gently calls out to a calf lying in the grass. "If they're lying down, they're not eating," he jokes. As far as the eye can see, there are open fields of grass and cattle pacing about. Cute as they may be, speaking strictly financially, each calf represents $600 to $700 on the market, roughly twice what it was just two years ago.
Being a seventh-generation Florida rancher gives Carlton quite a perspective on where beef prices are going, and he says burger and steak fans may just have to get used to paying more. "At least for the next two or three years; then we'll see where things stand."
Though Florida may be known for Disney and oranges, dozens of massive ranches make this state one of the largest cattle producers in the nation. One ranch alone, the Deseret Ranches in St. Cloud, stretches to 295,000 acres — roughly 20 times the size of Manhattan Island.
Times are good, lately, for those ranchers. Virtually every factor of the beef industry is pushing up prices: weather, shrinking herd sizes, corn prices, energy prices, growing foreign demand. In turn, the price of ground chuck at Publix stores in Tampa is $4.49 a pound, up 25 percent from last year and 50 percent from 2010, and a New York strip steak last week cost about $13.99 a pound when not on sale.
"A lot depends on the droughts, but there are a billion people moving into the middle class around the world, and given the choice between chicken and a steak, they're gonna pick the steak," Carlton says.
Florida largely plays the role of the maternity ward for the U.S. beef industry. Three of the top five largest calf-producing ranches in the country are within 150 miles of Tampa, and the state overall has 1.7 million cattle when dairy cows are included.
From Florida, thousands of semi-trucks each season carry 8-month-old calves to massive feedlots in the Midwest and West where they grow on corn and other grains. As cattleman often say, it's easier to send the calf to the grain than the grain to the calf. The reason: pure math. A calf in Florida is subject to more heat and swampy sicknesses and will gain less weight by eating grass alone, compared with dry-climate lots in Texas or Oklahoma, said Wes Williamson, president of the Williamson Cattle Co. and president of the Florida Cattlemen's Association.
Once calves are sent West, market forces really begin to push up the final prices customers see in the beef cooler at the grocery store.
Severe Western droughts several years ago forced ranchers there to send cattle to market lest they die of hunger or thirst. That may have temporarily boosted supply and tamped down prices, but the move also shrank the overall herd size dramatically going into the next year. The U.S. cow-calf population fell from 96 million in 2007 to 89.9 million in 2012, according to federal statistics. Presently, the total cattle population in the United States has shrunk to levels not seen in 60 years, all while the human population in the U.S. has almost doubled.
Meanwhile, corn prices also doubled in some cases, pushing feed costs up further. Worse for beef fans, Williamson said: Some cattle ranchers found they could make more money faster by converting ranch land to crops such as corn, thus taking more land out of circulation for cattle.
"Some Texas ranchers even found they could make more money selling deer hunting licenses than selling cows," Williamson said.
Ironically, this cycle of moving cows across the nation means customers here at Publix or Wal-Mart buying a steak may be looking at a product raised in Hillsborough County, then trucked to Texas, then processed in Missouri into quarters, refrigerated and then trucked right back to a store in Plant City.
Higher prices have some moving into the cattle industry.
Chas Bruck, the Tampa developer behind The Heights project along the river downtown, also manages property in the region destined for housing or industrial use.
"We had been leasing land to a cattle rancher," Bruck said. "Then we looked at the matrix and said, 'That's a pretty good return — better than the stock market.'?" So Bruck had his rancher buy more cattle. They now run 60 cows at a plot near the Suncoast Parkway and 40 more in Brooksville.
Bruck said some developers will put so-called "junk cows" on land merely to maintain the lower tax level for agricultural operations until they're ready to build, but he's trying to buy more cows whenever he can.
"It's been an interesting business," he said, compared with building apartments or homes. "But, say that cow gets sick and dies. You have to write off that asset. I can see how hard it would be to get ahead doing just cattle."
Carlton is lucky enough to lease some land directly from Hillsborough County, including the Audubon Ranch area. In exchange, he pays to maintain the land with a crew of employees that fixes miles of fence and keeps out invasive species such as wild hogs and a new, bright green thorn bush that's popping up all over the state.
Even with high prices at the grocery store, the beef industry, unfortunately, can't react quickly to produce more. As Florida ranchers like to say, anyone can get into the chicken or pork business within a couple months. All a farmer needs is an acre or two for a barn. Hens can produce hundreds of chicks a year, and pigs produce a dozen babies each birth, letting farmers rapidly expand supplies.
Cattle, by contrast, take enormous amounts of land, and the time frame stretches years. A cow takes nine months to gestate a calf. Then the calf takes eight months to grow large enough for a feedlot, then two to three years to become a full-size cow. Any rancher trying to rapidly expand their herd needs to retain more cows to become birth mothers (reducing the population for the market), and the cycle begins again.
So ranchers are now dealing with a herd size dictated by decisions made at least four years ago — not this year. For now, prices are high.
"If it rains out west and the pastures come back, maybe we'll see more cattle," Carlton said. "That could have an effect on prices. But I think we're at a new plateau."


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Recommended byPittsburgh Post-Gazette
The shocking details chronicling how a beloved coach and esteemed university became enmeshed in one of the worst scandals in U.S. sports history
It's a scandal that began in a place called Happy Valley. But it's not as happy as it once was, as the child-sex-abuse charges against a longtime coach and the conspiracy of silence surrounding the allegations have rocked America and Division 1 college sports.
The shocking stories started to pour out after the November 6, 2011, arrest of Jerry Sandusky, a former coach under the Penn State football legend Joe Paterno. Sandusky had been Paterno's top lieutenant for thirty-two years. He was also the founder of a charity, The Second Mile, that devoted itself to helping disadvantaged youth. It turns out Paterno was told about an incident involving an underage boy showering with Sandusky in the football locker room, but reported the incident to school officials rather than the police.
The numerous boys in Sandusky's program who have come forward told a grand jury lurid stories of a sexual predator who stalked and abused them, sometimes even in the showers of Penn State's football complex. In Game Over, journalists Bill Moushey and Bob Dvorchak investigate claims of a startling cover-up within the Penn State hierarchy that attempted to protect its football legacy, quite possibly at the expense of disenfranchised children.
Game Over is filled with the shocking details of how a culture built around one deified coach with a glorious vision to have "success with honor" fails to act in the best interests of the most vulnerable. University president Graham Spanier has been consumed in this firestorm along with Joe Paterno himself in what spiraled downward into the worst scandal in the history of college sports.
About Bill MousheySee more books from this Author
facts are missing... much of the testimony has not been made public. In addition, court-subpoenaed documents have not been released, thus leaving gaps in the validity of the book's details.Read Full Review of Game Over
offers a case study in an important truth: Far better to read one well-researched volume, like this, than to wade through day after day of fragmentary, often overwrought and ultimately overwhelming media coverageRead Full Review of Game Over
It's the first of what will be many books on this scandal, but perhaps no other will be quite as explosive, taking on people in high places and the legacy of a legend.Read Full Review of Game Over
an excellent recap of the news that starting leaking out ... in early November 2011. Those that may have come to the story a little late will find the chronology presented to be especially helpful.Read Full Review of Game Over
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Texas River OttersFriday, January 9th, 2009
Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife
What do zoos and East Texas rivers have in common? Both are playground to the river otter!
We have a lot of water, rivers. Full of fish, full of crawdads. It's just an ideal habitat out here. It's just that you're just generally not going to get to see one.
Gary Calkins is District Leader for the Pineywoods Ecological area.
It's not like a deer that you can drive by and shine a spotlight. Otters stay primarily in the water. They will come out on land, but it's only in little specific areas. And so unless you know their behaviors and what areas to go look for sign coming up onto the land. It just makes it really tough to find them.
Imagine, then, trying to get a head count…Every three years, Parks and Wildlife biologists conduct surveys under the 254 bridges in East Texas to track the population and distribution of river otters.
Someone will crawl under that bridge and look in the sand or mud for tracks or scat. And then we're gonna take a subset of those 254 bridges and instead of surveying them once [during the survey period] we'll go back repeatedly. We'll also do transects a hundred meters upstream and downstream and look for sign. And through a big statistical formula you can tell if there are no animals there or if you are just missing finding them.
And finding them is worth the while. Calkins says they're nature's answer to the comedian, and in some instances, they'll actually kind of show off for you.
That's our show…with research and writing help from Sarah Loden… For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I'm Cecilia Nasti.


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Do you love the Apple iPhone? Why not try it on your PC?
iPhoneBT is a small program which replicates the iPhone UI on Windows. It might be useful to have a look at the UI before you buy an iPhone, or just for a bit of fun!
Here are some screenshots:
Current features in iPhoneBT 1.0:
- All widgets from main menu are fully functional (you can access their primary pages, not use them)
- A fully functional iPhone Calculator.
- A fully functional Photo Gallery
- Full Phone Interface: Contacts, Usable Keypad, Calling Screens etc.
- iPod Widget Interface: Playlist Browsing, Now Playing Screen.
Download: iPhoneBT | Mirror
It requires Windows 7, XP or Vista and DirectX 9.
All feedback is appreciated!


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Travelling beautifully
Declaration of love: "My heart belongs to Berlin" clutch by Lili Radu and Yazbukey.
Useful when traveling: mouthwash and skin care products from Aesop.
Where to eat, find concept art, see ancient ruins and more in 13 travel guides put together by locals.
The Balmoral weekend bag in canvas and leather is timeless, smart and ideal for essentials.


text: In 2010, the Aquarium Conservation Team (ACT!) had the pleasure of seeing some new faces at several restoration events: Aquarium on Wheels students! The Aquarium on Wheels program (AOW) is the National Aquarium's after-school work-study program offered to high school students in Baltimore City and County. Approximately 20 students participate in the program each year. The main focus of the program is for the students to learn about an environmental topic, write an environmental play, and perform the play at the Enoch Pratt Free Libraries through the library's summer reading program. Along the way, students learn about career opportunities in the aquarium field and how to make environmentally responsible decisions. Through field experiences, the students have a stronger depth of knowledge to pull from while writing and performing their plays. Participation in hands-on field events is a natural addition to the AOW program because, as student Jordan Green explains, "We are a conservation-education-based group." AOW students participated in several events this past year, including debris cleanups at our Fort McHenry Field Days, the planting and launching of our floating wetland this summer, and a dune restoration project in Virginia Beach in November. It is clear that the youths are really taking the experiences to heart. AOW member Teryn Dixon says participating in conservation events "expands on the classroom activities that we normally participate in. It gives more meaning to what we learned, and gives us a chance to get out of the classroom." Bri'Anna Horne adds, "Helping the environment is one of the goals of the job. So we should, in a way, practice what we preach." The hands-on aspect really hits home for Chanel Moore: "It makes me grasp the whole idea, and I love going outside and actually doing the work. Instead of being told about it, I get to experience it." These dedicated, insightful students have plenty of advice to offer when it comes to helping the environment and persuading others to join in the conservation fun! Shane Cromwell explains, "Helping the environment is a community problem," and participating in hands-on work "makes you feel like you are actually being a part of the solution." Looking to the future, AOW student Kierra Winston says, "Finally, when the Bay is restored, you can feel a sense of accomplishment." Please join us for a restoration event in 2011, and keep an eye out for Aquarium on Wheels students lending a hand. After all, in the words of AOW member Teal Hinton, "Four hours of work will make a lifetime of difference." Tags: conservation-events, volunteers Categories: Conservation, News Previous Post Next Post


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|Prof. Ashok Govila
Information, Before and After Photos and Videos about Liposuction
Who is a candidate for liposuction?
|Does the result of liposuction last?
As long as the patient maintains a healthy life-style, including exercise and a sensible diet, liposuction results are long lasting. Once the fat cells have been removed from an area there is no longer a preferential fat storage area and any fat gain will be distributed more evenly over the rest of the body
What areas of the body can be treated with liposuction?
What is the recovery period like?
What kind of follow up is needed after Liposuction?
Does liposuction leave scars?
What is the most likely complication of Liposuction?
What is the cost of Liposuction?
Where will the surgery be performed?
Where will you see me for first consultation?
Is there a consultation charge or is it free?
Are any finances available for Medical purposes of this kind?
Can I avail some kind of discount
Are there any payments plans like intallments?
© Information provided here is for general education about cosmetic plastic surgery procedures. This information is subject to change. dubai-aesthetica.com does not guarantee that it is accurate or complete, and is not responsible for any actions resulting from the use of this information. General information provided in this fashion should not be construed as specific medical advice or recommendation, and is not a substitute for a consultation and physical examination by a physician. Only discussion of your individual needs with a Professor Dr. Ashok Govila will determine the best method of treatment for you.


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To the surprise of no one, Apple continues to sell more tablets than anyone else — by some estimates, three of every four tablets sold is an iPad 2.
We all think we know why. Apple had a nearly year-long head start, an acolyte user base drawn like lemmings to whatever the company produces, great PR and marketing, a worshipful media, a dominant retail presence — and, okay, it's a pretty good product.
But from an objective standpoint, Apple has some potent competitors. Samsung, Motorola and RIM aren't exactly technology or marketing shirkers. And it can be argued that the Galaxy Tab, the Motorola Xoom and the BlackBerry PlayBook are technically superior tablets and offer myriad functional advantages over iPad 2.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
So why does Apple dominate? One word: Commercials.
Apparently Apple's competitors believe a sterile, dystopic, or mechanized present or future in which no one seems to have a job are the most apropos environments in which to showcase their wares.
In its most widely-broadcast commercial, for instance, Samsung does a nice job of laying out the Galaxy Tab's varying real-world uses in an augmented upper middle class urban reality.
The problem is this reality is annoyingly augmented by the Galaxy Tab, unnaturally fixed in the center of the protagonist's field of vision, sort of a visual tinnitus. No matter where he goes, the Galaxy Tab seems to be stalking him.
Shouldn't a tablet PC complement your life rather than dominate it, and maybe get out of the way so you can see where you're going?
But, Samsung does a comparatively excellent job compared up to the almost too-easy-to-mock Xoom and PlayBook ads.
Xoom Out
All of Motorola's Android device commercials, for the Droid as well as for the Xoom, take place on darker and stormier nights than in Blade Runner — not a place any of us live or want to live, with a tablet or not.
For instance, the current dark and stormy night Xoom ad is cheerily entitled "Vendetta." The protagonist is frighteningly enveloped in some Transformer-like pod, and we are told in a foreboding voiceover that Xoom operates "with the velocity of a 1 GHz dual core processor, 3D graphics engine, gyroscope, and a widescreen HD display."
And what do we do with all this Android-based gadgetry? Obviously, be transformed into an actual android. I know that's what I want my tablet to do.
But wait, there's more. The spot's tagline menacingly notes, "Grab it and it grabs you." Oooh, that's tempting. I've always wanted to be grabbed by a kissing cousin of The Terminator. But couldn't you arrange for me to be grabbed instead by a Victoria Secret model?
No Work And All Play
Okay, geeks like the apocalyptic World of Warcraft environment, so maybe Motorola is marketing to its key tablet constituency. But who does RIM think will be attracted its PlayBook tablet commercials?
For instance, according to its "multi-tasking" commercial, the PlayBook will apparently help you become adroit at double-dutch jump roping, an accomplishment I know every BlackBerry owner yearns to achieve.
In "Power," another ad aimed at highlighting PlayBook's multi-tasking capabilities, you can watch Thor, watch and play a car-racing video game, watch a Jennifer Lopez video and watch a video of some skiing, all at the same time!
The voiceover not-so rhetorically asks, "Why can't every tablet do that?" Uh, because we can only watch one video at a time? But if I had four sets of eyes and four brains, the PlayBook would be my tablet choice.
Most amusingly, a third ad features a white 20-something preppie protagonist — who could be the brother of the white 20-something preppie protagonist in the Samsung Galaxy Tab commercial — is seen reading George Orwell's 1984.
Get it? 1984? Like in the original 1984 Super Bowl ad for the Macintosh?
Except our sweater-clad PlayBook hero is now the conforming-busting anomaly in this sterile Big Brother/THX1138/iPad world. Our PlayBook rebel can read the subversive 1984 and check a map to allow him to move in the opposite direction of the monolithic white plastic hoodie-wearing blank-eyed masses.
But what do ANY of these silly, vacuous PlayBook ads have to do with what PlayBook does best — create a bridge with a BlackBerry — and what the prototypical white collar BlackBerry user (who obviously channel their rebellion into the mainstream) does on a daily basis? Check email. Consult a calendar. Work on a spreadsheet. Create presentations. Write a document.
You know. Work.
Apple Gets It
What Samsung, Motorola and RIM forget is that real people, different types of people, will be using a tablet, each for different reasons. And that none of these people care a whit about the technical aspects of the tablet, living in the future, becoming a machine, conforming or not conforming — only what the tablet improves their life.
Apple knows this. In one ad, Apple dismisses the digerati, noting: "Technology alone is not enough. Faster, thinner, lighter — those are all good things, but when technology gets out of the way, everything becomes more delightful, even magical."
Okay, maybe the whole "magical" thing is a bit over-cooked. But Apple address "real people" in its current ad, showing and describing how parents, musicians, doctors, CEOs, teachers and even children can use and enjoy an iPad.
Anyone who sees the ad recognizes themselves in it and examples of how an iPad can be relevant in and complement their lives. Today. In this world. In this unaugmented, warm, toasty, inviting reality.
And, not surprisingly, Apple sells a lot of iPads.
So, Samsung, Motorola, BlackBerry — want to sell more tablets? Hire another ad agency that understands your product and your constituency.


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Hotel investors pay fees, take out permits for often-discussed, much-delayed 3-story hotel at Sixth and Main
Is Taft's long awaited but much delayed downtown hotel finally going to become a reality?
City officials think so, and so does the master developer they hired.
Tuesday night, Geary Coats, the developer working for the city to bring commercial development to the Rails to Trails property, said the owners of the proposed three-story, 60-room Best Western have picked up permits from the city and are planning to start construction "within 2 weeks."
Coats called it a "fait accompli" and said a ground breaking is scheduled for June 30.
The proposed downtown hotel, which the city is hoping will spur more commercial development along Rails to Trails, has been discussed for several years and was supposed to have started construction several times.
The new hotel was even advertised by the city as "a done deal" a year ago but has not started construction yet. The Taft Planning Commission approved the site plans in June 2013.
A formal groundbreaking ceremony was scheduled then, too, for July 9, 2013.
This time is different, though. City Director of Planning and Community Development Mark Staples said the hotel investors have paid city fees and took ou permits to build the hotel.
When built, it will be located at the southwest corner of Main and Sixth street, diagonally across Rails to Trails from the Oilworker Monument.
A downtown hotel has been under discussion for about four years.
At one point the city was meeting with investors interested in building a Holiday Inn Express but that deal never materialized.
Discussion then shifted to Best Western and, for three years, the project has been discussed but never built.


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I live in a 19th century home, that I have restored and mostly furnished it with 19th century things.I call it the, 1845 Historic Elgin/Cottrell House Museum. The house was built by Hazakiah Elgin and restore by me, Richard Cottrell, thus the name, Elgin/Cottrell House. But one group of things I have, dates much further back, going back as far as the 17th century. Formal portrait paintings, They have been a love and passion of mine for as long as I can remember. When I first started out as an antique collector, I was just out of college and had very little money. I bought a lot of Victorian prints, mostly of children or ladies. I had every wall in every room full of them. They were fun and some where even wonderful. One day when coming down the steps, I said to my self, I am going to sell all theses old prints and replace them all with oil portraits. Well, I did, and there has been no turning back. Almost every time I give a tour at, My Old Historic House, some one asks the question, who are all the people in the portraits? I give the same answer each time, "my store bought relatives." As my family never had the means to have formal portraits painted, when I got older, and stared making some money, I went out and bought me some ancestors. This always is a crowd pleaser.
Most formal portraits can be dated, more or less, by the cloths and hair styles the subjects are wearing. A lot of older portraits were not signed or dated. More often than not, a traveling artist, came through and for a fee, painted your portrait. As cameras were not abundant, this the only means people had to record there history.Great pride was taken in these portraits and they were hung in special places in the home. If you were a person of any means, you had your portrait painted, at least once in your life. Some portrait painters, painted the entire picture except for the face, which was filled in, when you sat for it. These can almost always be pointed out, as the cloths are very simple and were usually black. These portraits could be painted faster, making them more reasonable, as the artist did not have to stay so long to do them. I prefer portraits of men or women with beautiful costumes and jewelry. Some ladies are beautiful, some plain. Some men are handsome and others drab. I usually pick the portraits I buy ,for the workmanship, there cloths and I love women with lace.
All the walls at ,My Old Historic House, are full and I can't buy anymore, unless I sell one I already have. I have grown attached to all of them, so guess we'll just stick it out together.I know a few of there names, some are written on the back and some have papers with them. Most of them, I have no ideal who they are, so I call them, cousin Julia and Uncle Frank, and people just love this. I think people like it better when you make up a story, than they do, when you tell the truth.
I have portraits of all ages, starting with a couple form the 17th century. These two are my oldest and some of my favorites. It is hard to look at them and think they are around 400 years old. One can figure the age by there cloths, style of hair, type of frame,( if it is original) and sometimes by a date.
|17th century portrait of a lady in the style of Peter Lely .
17th CENTURY STYLE: 1601-1700
Ladies clothing of the 17th century had loose sleeves that ended just below the elbow. Low broad necklines and dropped shoulders. The over skirts were drawn back and pined up to show heavily decorated petticoats. A darning new fashion arose for having ones portrait painted, in undress, which was ,wearing loosely fashioned gowns called a,"night gown." Loose hair in tossed curls was the chosen hair style. This night gown clothing, used for portraits, was not what represented what was worn in the streets. This style of portrait was mostly done by Peter Lely, which he derived the style from Van Dyck. The Mantua ,was a new fashion that arose in 1680's. Instead of a bodice and skirt cut separate,. the Mantua hung from the shoulders to the floor. It started out as an under garment, but gradually developed into a draped dress. Flowing silks replaced heavier satin fabrics .Mostly soft pale colors were used.
|18th century portrait of a lady.
18th CENTURY STYLE: 1701-1800
Ladies of the 18th century all wore Mop Caps when indoors. Hair in the 1700's was more in the country fashion. Natural color, instead of powdered, and in masses of curls, instead of piled high. The usual fashion of the years 1750-1780 was a low necked gown called a French Robe and it was worn over many petticoats.The bodice was filled with decorative trim and was on top the corset beneath. Ladies breast were strapped down by the high corset, but, cleavage was very important. This gave the men a hint of what they desired. The elbow length sleeves were trimmed with frills and ruffles and with an under ruffles called-"engageants," made of lace or fine silk. Sleeves were often puffed and held apart by ribbons tied around the arms. The necklines were trimmed with a fabric or lace ruffle or a neckerchief called a,"fisu", that could be tucked into the low neckline.Ladies always covered there hair with some kind of cap, as it was the rule, based on religious customs. The basic cap was of fine white linen and had a crown that was pleated to the head. These were held on with a ribbon that was tied very loos below the chin. Toward the end of the 1700's an uniformed alternative to this dress style ,was a long jacket, made of finer fabric, buttoned down ,over a mass of petticoats.
|19th century portrait of a lady.
19th CENTURY STYLE: 1801-1900.
Ladies cloths of the 19th century -1800's-were Victorian inspired. They tended to reflect the British influence, of Queen Victoria . She reigned for 63 years and fashion changed numerous times. In the early 1800's- all cloths were hand made, making them expensive. Most Victorian ladies had about 3 dresses. One for work, or a day dress, one for going out, or a walking dress and one for evening, usually a ball gown.The introduction of the sewing machine in mid century,simplified dress making and enabled fashion to be extended. When a machine was invented to make lace,dress styles scored and ladies found they could have many dresses in many styles. In the 1890's- women's fashion became simpler and less extravagant . Bustles and crinolines were no longer used and the dresses were not as big and full.At this time skits took a trumpet shape and tops had high necks and puffed sleeves. In 1870's tea gowns were introduced for formal ware and entertaining. Many had low necks and short sleeves with lace trim. Older ladies seemed to prefer a high neck with a lace ruffle right under the chin. Large jewelry pieces were wore at the breasts. Older ladies chose rich darker colors while the younger lasses wore pastels.These dresses were called."toilette de Reception", in European circles.
|20th century portrait of a lady.
20th CENTURY STYLE.1901-2000
The 20th century brought for the first time ,women's clothing that reflected more of American taste than European taste. As a country, we had now been here long enough to have original trends. European taste were still an influence and always will be, but for once, the American ideal could stand alone. Toward the end of the 20th century, the style of American fashion kinda went a little backwards. The long dress length that had seemed to have gone away were back. Most well dressed ladies still wore a long evening gown when they went out in the evenings. Cloths took on a simpler look, yet still maintained a elegance. Straighter skits and loose fitting bodices with a drop waste became the norm. Lots of heavy jewelry was worn and fur coats and wraps were of the most importance. Ladies still seemed to cover their hair with a hat. In the daytime heavier hats were wore for walking about and in the evening the ,"cock tale hat," became the thing. Gloves were always worn when going out in public. Short ones for day and long elbow length ones for night. In the "Roaring 20's," ladies started taking a little more freedom with there dress styles. Short lengths, no sleeves and lots and lots of shear fabric. They still continued to cover there head some what, even if it was just a feather or a jeweled ornamentation. The 20th century has brought more changes to clothing styles than any other century before. I think we can say this was because of the role that women were now taking in society.Women still wear hats today, but mainly on special events or to keep the sun out of there face. I think we have finally became free from the ideal that a women has to cover her hair. It has only taken hundreds of years.
I hope you have enjoyed my little trip, through the past four centuries. Portraits have and will always be a part of our history. Today more and more are being done with a camera especially as cameras develope and get better, I am sure this trend will even get stronger. I think it is wonderful that our United States Presidents and First Ladies, still have formal oil painting portraits done. This is a wonderful way to preserve and share our history as a nation.In between times we can enjoy the old portraits from the past. I love sharing mine at, My Old Historic House. Please drop by anytime for a tour, I will leave the lights on and Sissy Dog will always meet you with a jump and a kiss. Smile for your portrait!


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On Sunday, March 29, 1959, right between the two sessions that gave us Kind of Blue, the bassist on those, Paul Chambers (age: 23) and veteran drummer Art Blakey (age: 39) seemed to have got early to a recording session led by Sonny Clark.
According to Michael Cuscuna, who unearthed these tapes in the 1970s:
[...] another odd early find in the Blue Note vaults. I was systematically going through every reel of every unissued session. When I put on the first reel of an unissued March 29, 1959 Sonny Clark session, which was ultimately released as My Conception, there was not a piano note to be heard. The first two takes were spectacular performances of "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm" and "What Is This Thing Called Love" by what could be none other than Paul Chambers and Art Blakey. I never did find out why these came about (perhaps the rest of the band was late), but I'm glad they did.
Glad indeed. If Chambers and Blakey always maintained a very high standard in all their recordings, here, with nowhere to hide, they both give a masterclass in what a rhythm section should be. Without horns, Blakey can afford to be more subtle, which only makes him swing more, not less, as you can hear in "What Is This Thing Called Love?". In this less-is-more vein, Blakey's tour de force is actually, at least to my ears, the slower but still brisk Irving Berlin tune. His versatility with the drum set, or even something so simple-sounding like his playing behind Chambers's opening solo, is mesmerizing.
Available on Mosaic Select: Paul Chambers, and on Art Blakey's Drums Around the Corner


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I know Grandpa told me that to smoke is wakan (holy). The smoke you inhale represents the spirits of everything you put into the pipe. When you breathe in the smoke, you are asking to become one with everything or to become whole."
~ Dr. A.C. Ross (Enhanamani), LAKOTA ~
The smoke allows us to go from the Seen World to the Spirit World. It is in the Spirit World where we are all connected. In this way, we can become one with all things. Our pipe is sacred. We need to be respectful of our medicine. When we smoke the pipe, we need to have good thoughts because these thoughts are shared with the Spirit World. The pipe, the smoke, the spirits, our thoughts — these things are Wakan.
Great Spirit, today, let my thoughts be Wakan.
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text:
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Aqua King offers these services to Marrickville:
Contact Aqua King for these Blocked Drains and Pipe Lining services in Marrickville.
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text:
Calendar |
Abraham Lincoln Tourism Bureau of
Logan County
New Year's events in Springfield to mark 150th anniversary of
Emancipation Proclamation
Send a link to a friend
[December 15, 2012]
SPRINGFIELD -- The Abraham
Lincoln Association will host two events to celebrate the 150th
anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation: a watch night service
re-creating the anticipation as emancipation neared, and a news
conference and signing of the proclamation by a Lincoln presenter.
Westminster Presbyterian Church and the Old State Capitol State
Historic Site are co-sponsoring these events with the Abraham
Lincoln Association.
On Dec. 31, 1862 -- 150 years ago -- American slaves, freemen,
abolitionists and common folk sat in churches, meeting houses and
fields all over the nation, watching and waiting for the first day
of freedom to roll in. Freedom was to occur the next day, when
President Lincoln would issue a proclamation emancipating, or
freeing, the slaves in states or parts of states in rebellion
against the union. It was a very emotional time.
As people watched and waited, they sang songs and testified to
the glory and the goodness of the Lord. They gave thanks to
President Lincoln, whom many called Father Abraham, and to famous
abolitionists like Horace Greeley, Frederick Douglass and William
Lloyd Garrison who relentlessly urged Lincoln to emancipate the
slaves. They also gave thanks for the sacrifices of slaves
themselves who had risked all in a desperate push to crack open the
door to freedom and the death of slavery.
[to top of second column]
The Dec. 31-Jan. 1 events will re-create the excitement and joy
of 150 years ago. The words and songs of the participants will come
to life.
In addition to the primary sponsors, the following groups also
are contributed to the program: the Abraham Lincoln Presidential
Library and Museum, Looking for Lincoln Heritage Coalition, Lincoln
Home National Historic Site, and the Springfield and Central
Illinois African American History Museum.
The Abraham
Lincoln Association exists to observe each anniversary of the
birth of Abraham Lincoln; to preserve and make more readily
accessible the landmarks associated with his life; and to actively
encourage, promote and aid the collection and dissemination of
authentic information regarding all phases of his life and career.
[Text from
Abraham Lincoln
Association news release received from the
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency]
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text:
|Our 1/2 fraction flipbook
We begin talking about equivalent fractions after we've had a lengthy discussion regarding the relationship between 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, 1/16. etc. as well as the relationship between 1/3, 1/6, 1/12, etc. The kids have a really good grasp on this idea.
We begin by making our fraction flipbooks (which takes a bit!) and then lifting up a fraction to see its equivalent fractions. For example, when we lift up 1/2, we can see it is equivalent to 2/4, 4/8, and 8/16. After we write down lots of equivalent fractions we find, we discuss their relationship. Finally, we discuss the multiplication and division involved. This is a great visual way for kids to come up with the relationships on their own!
|Flipbook showing fractions equivalent to 1/2
|Our 1/3 Fraction Flipbook
|Fractions equivalent to 2/8
|Fractions equivalent to 1/3
|Our Equivalent Fraction Anchor Chart
|Our journal entry


text:
The New Rules of Marketing & PR featuring David Meerman Scott LIVE
Linked Orange County
Thursday, July 11, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PDT)
Event Details
Join us for a rare chance to hear one of the foremost leaders in the field of marketing & PR, bestselling author David Meerman Scott. David will be presenting new nuggets from the new 4th edition of his international bestseller, with more than 300,000 copies sold in over 25 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese...
Evening event reception & book signing: 6:00-7:00pm
David's keynote: 7:15-8:15pm w/ Q&A
Networking 8:00-9:00pm
Refund Policy
All tickets are final sale and non-refundable. Name substitutions are accepted on a case basis.
Special thanks to our sponsors!
Do you want to connect or reconnect with the Pepperdine University or the Graziadio Alumni Network? If so, visit us at: http://bschool.pepperdine.edu/
*Linked OC is a 1 Goodbrain Company. Please note that you'll see 1 Goodbrain Company on your credit card statement and receipt.
When & Where
Hilton Hotel Costa Mesa
3050 Bristol St.
Costa Mesa,
Thursday, July 11, 2013 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM (PDT)
Add to my calendar
Linked Orange County
Visit our website to find out more about us:
We are about Connecting. Business. People.
We are a leading business community network connecting the disconnected to create value among members and in the community.
Quoting from what author Seth Godin has said about the purpose of tribes or communities like ours, our main purpose is:
* Connecting buyers & sellers
* Connecting information seekers with information.
* Connecting teams, collaborators and innovators to each other.
* Connecting those with similar business goals.
* Connecting job hunters with jobs.
* Connecting organizations spending money with ways to save money.
* Connecting like-minded, passionate people into a movement.
While there is strength in numbers, we don't measure value by how many members we have. We're not keeping score of our popularity or adding hundreds of new 'friends' we may never know.
We're interested in people who understand that the real value of social networking is when it translates into meaningful relationships of trust. Where members help each other, form a community and prosper. A place where innovation, creativity and collaboration thrive. And self-promotion takes a back seat to generosity.
Our mission is to help members connect. Our goal is to be a leading community network representing the major industries in Orange County including: Food & beverage, Consumer electronics, Automotive, Motorsports, Software & Technology, Retail, Fashion & Action Sports Apparel, Pro Sports, Entertainment & Music, Recruiting & Staffing and more.
If you live, work or have interest in doing business in Orange County you're invited to join us.
I look forward to connecting!
Bryan Elliott
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Tel. 714 318-6086


text:
IC107SB6WH - ICC Cabling Products 6 Port Surface Mount Box, White
Related Categories
Contractors: Get Dealer Pricing Here!
The ICC IC107SB6WH is a 6 port classic surface mount box designed to accommodate six modular keystone jacks in voice and data connectivity applications. The IC107SB6WH offers a durable construction, optional ID label, and offers multiple mounting options including adhesive backing, screws, and magnets.
Use the IC107SB6WH to provide a clean modular surface mount outlet solution of voice, data, and other communication needs to the work area for commercial or residential cabling applications.
- Includes: (1) White 6 Port Surface Mount Box
- Six available ports for audio, video, voice, or data keystone jacks
- Provides a clean surface mount outlet station
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- Rugged and durable construction
- Accommodates a wide variety of easy to snap-in modules, providing configuration flexibility
- Accepts all standard voice and data keystone jacks
- Part#: IC107SB6WH


text:
SACRAMENTO — California lawmakers are giving up a perk that had been unique among state legislators nationwide — taxpayer-subsidized vehicles.
The program ended today after the state"s Citizens Compensation Commission voted last spring to do away with the benefit, a decision prompted by California"s ongoing budget deficits and a series of stories by The Associated Press and other media.
Legislators, like many employees, will now seek reimbursement for the actual number of miles they drive on official business.
California was the only state that provided vehicles to its rank-and-file lawmakers for unlimited use, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Lawmakers have used the perk to purchase vehicles that included a $55,000 Cadillac sedan and a $52,000 Lexus hybrid, the AP reported a year ago. Taxpayers spent $3.5 million for the vehicles that lawmakers used in their home districts.
Senate and Assembly members also received insurance, repairs — and unlimited gasoline, another unique perk, the AP reported in 2008.
It is not clear at this point what kind of savings the changes will bring to taxpayers, if any. The state plans to examine and compare spending between the two programs in the next year.
Yet taxpayers might end up paying more for lawmakers" travels than the compensation commission had intended when it voted to end the taxpayer-subsidized vehicles.
Commissioners voted in April to replace the unlimited vehicle program with a $300 monthly stipend. However, the state controller ruled that the commission has no authority to order the monthly allowance, so lawmakers will instead get mileage reimbursement. California employees get 55.5 cents per mile.
The commission estimated taxpayers spent an average $7,453 in vehicle costs annually for each lawmaker who accepted a vehicle. A $300 monthly allowance would have cut the average vehicle costs to $3,600 a year.
That means the annual tab for legislators" vehicles would have dropped by more than half.
But paying lawmakers by the mile could cost taxpayers $1.2 million a year, based on mileage figures from the Legislature. Assembly members drive an average of 19,538 miles each year in their subsidized vehicles, compared to 17,649 for senators.
The Legislature"s administrators had contended that providing lawmakers with subsidized vehicles was a relative bargain compared to reimbursing them for each mile driven on official business. Senate spokesman Mark Hedlund said the old system cost the equivalent of 42.5 cents per mile, while lawmakers now will be eligible for reimbursement up to 55.5 cents per mile, although the actual reimbursement rate has yet to be set.
The state Legislature initially sought to get both the mileage reimbursement and the $300 monthly allowance, according to Jacob Roper, a spokesman for the state controller"s office, and a Sept. 15 letter from a deputy state attorney who reviewed the law at the controller"s request. The attorney general and controller rejected the double payments.
"I can"t blame them for trying to get the maximum that they can," said commission member Charles Murray, who pushed to substitute the $300 monthly stipend for the vehicle program. "It"s a natural reaction by someone on the street. But as a legislator, I think you"d speak to a higher power, and you have to lead by example."
Hedlund denied that the Legislature"s lawyer sought both allowances. The lawyer was merely seeking legal guidance, he said.
Murray disagreed with the attorney general"s ruling that the commission lacked the authority to create a new monthly vehicle allowance. He said he plans to ask the commission to appeal, but the commission will not meet again until next year unless chairman Thomas Dalzell calls a special meeting.
California lawmakers already have the highest annual base salaries of any state legislators in the country, at $95,291. They also receive an average of nearly $23,000 a year in daily living expenses, on top of the taxpayer-funded vehicles they will be giving up.
Legislators are not allowed to drive their state-financed vehicles as of today. Some had driven their vehicles to the state Capitol or state garages around California, officials said, while legislative employees are picking up other vehicles.
The Assembly sold its 50 vehicles for $659,000, said administrative officer Jon Waldie. The Senate has yet to sell its vehicles, said Hedlund.
Hedlund said it likely will lose money in selling the more recently purchased vehicles because of the usual heavy depreciation in value.
Lawmakers are prohibited from bidding on the vehicles themselves, though they can buy their old vehicles back from a dealer.
"We don"t want anyone saying, "You gave them a great deal"," said Alicia Trost, a spokeswoman for Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento.


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Recipient: Research Foundation CUNY - Queensborough Community College
Grant: 2011 National Leadership Grant
Pictured: Students from the Borough of Manhattan Community College CLIP program at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan
Kitty Bateman
Margot Edlin
Reposted with permission from The City University of New York. See original article here.
Hortencia Marmanillo spent a few days this summer in a museum, but she didn't just look at art — she improved her language skills.
Marmanillo, who came to the United States from Peru in 2009 speaking very little English, took part in an innovative literacy program, Cultures & Literacies Through Arts for the 21st Century, or CALTA21. She wants to become a nurse, but before she can enroll at CUNY she has to improve her English skills so she can pass an assessment test.
The program is unique because of museum trips where adult students, for whom English is a foreign language, are encouraged to describe the works of art they see, engage in conversation with other students and explain what they like or dislike about the art.
Incorporating visual art into teaching literacy works wonders in the classroom, says Patricia Lannes, CALTA21 co-founder and project director. With their diverse backgrounds, the students include their cultural and life experiences in interpreting art and become curious about cultures they haven't yet explored.
"It's very innovative," says Lannes. "Its innovation and uniqueness lies on the use of images and students' prior knowledge and rich experiences as immigrants as a springboard to acquire new skills and knowledge in a museum setting. When "reading" a work of art they incorporate their personal experiences, learn from their classmates' comments and have meaningful conversations in an art museum. They also learn how to navigate a museum and what kind of resources a museum can offer them." The museum discussions help students build their English vocabularies, practice conversation, articulate interpretations and develop critical-thinking and conversational skills.
Queensborough Community College is the lead institution for CALTA21. Several New York City museums, including the Rubin Museum of Art, the Katonah Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, and the Godwin-Ternbach Museum at Queens College are partners. VUE/ Visual Thinking Strategies, the Literacy Assistance Center and CUNY Language Immersion Program (CLIP) are part of the effort.
Marmanillo took part in CALTA21 while taking English classes this summer through CLIP at Borough of Manhattan Community College. CLIP is designed for CUNY English as Second Language (ESL) students who want intensive instruction in all English skills. Marmanillo took CLIP this summer for 15 weeks, 25 hours of instruction each week. The CALTA21 curriculum was part of CLIP this summer. She says she enjoyed the museum portion of the program because "it's more realistic than sitting in the classroom."
"CALTA21 helped me to learn more vocabulary, it taught me to ask questions, to talk about what the artist was trying to say," says Marmanillo, who visited the Rubin Museum of Art. "It helped me to improve my English, my pronunciation."
QCC received a National Leadership Grant of $495,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to run the program from October 2011 through September 2014. The goal is to eventually implement CALTA21 in Adult Literacy Programs across the nation.
CALTA21 "is designed to be used in adult literacy programs for intermediate and advanced English language learners in programs run by higher-education and community-based organizations in partnership with art museums," says professor Kitty Bateman, Principal Investigator at CALTA 21 and director of QCC's Literacy Program. "It's an attempt to get more students to be fluent in English."
"Students are eager to look at art, they ask to look at more art when the class is over," says Lannes, who came to the U.S. from Uruguay at age 24 with a basic knowledge of English.
After students visited the Museo del Barrio, they returned with family members eager to show them around and act as tour guides. "That's a good sign that they want to show their family and friends what they have learned," says Lannes. "Art takes students into a different world." It's also about "using visual skills to develop critical thinking and literacy skills that you can apply to anything, including a college paper," she adds.
"I feel more confident now going back to the museum," says Marmanillo, "because I feel like I know the right questions to ask when I look at a painting. "I can explain to my family and friends what we need to ask … how to look at a picture. When I went before I didn't ask these questions. Now I appreciate it more."
So far, the response from students has been positive. Building a vocabulary at a museum is more engaging that drilling words by repetition at home or in a classroom, they say. Recently, Marmanillo was eager to share the some of her expanded vocabulary she acquired on a visit to the Rubin: Extravagant, ambience, complexion, body language and costume are just a few of the new words she learned while describing a painting of a Buddha.


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The best origami CD/DVD envelope in the world
by Roberto Verzola, email@example.com
[Note: I have posted in YouTube, here, a step-by-step video of the folding instructions. Or you can just click on the video below.]
I have been looking for a good CD envelope made with paper-folding techniques, but have found nothing satisfactory. The envelopes either unraveled at a slight tug, used unnecessary aids like Scotch tape or left the CD exposed). So I decided to design my own. I wanted something that does not unravel easily, is sturdy purely from folding, and protects the CD/DVD inside fully. What follows is the result of weeks of trying various designs. I think this is the best origami CD/DVD envelope in the world. (November 4, 2007)
Start with 8.5"x11" or A4-sized paper. If you are recycling paper, use the blank side for the inner side, to minimize ink contamination inside the envelop.
Fold the paper across the length into two, one part about an inch shorter than the other, so that a CD/DVD fits completely inside the fold, and the longer half provides about an inch of cover flap. We will call the crease formed by this fold the bottom crease. (See a different set of photos at the pages section.)
Position the folded paper with the shorter front half facing you and the cover flap on top. We will call this orientation the standard position.
Imagine two short 45-degree diagonals starting from the upper corners of the front half, and going down towards its center. On the cover flap, take each upper corner of the flap and fold it inward (forming a valley crease) diagonally, aligning the side of the cover flap with the imaginary diagonal and creating an acute triangle that points towards the center and somewhat upwards. Do not crease along the entire fold. Just pinch a short crease where the fold meets the side of the paper. The final angle of these creases will be adjusted in Step 15.
Steps 5-7 will center the front square. Pull the upper right corner of the front face down diagonally, aligning the horizontal side of the triangle formed with the bottom edge. Don't make a diagonal crease; just note where the corner touches the bottom edge — call it Point X.
At the midpoint between Point X and the lower left corner, make a short vertical inward (valley-forming) crease extending from the bottom edge to about half way up.
Repeat for the upper left corner: pull it down diagonally, aligning the triangle with the bottom edge. Note where the corner touches the bottom edge. Midway between this point and the lower right corner, make a vertical inward crease extending to about halfway up.
Unfold everything, then fold along the two side creases, in the same inward folding direction as the bottom crease and parallel to the length of the paper, marking the sideflaps.
On each folded sideflap, imagine a line along the length, parallel to the side crease, about one-third of the width from the paper's edge. Make a smaller inward fold along this line, splitting the sideflap into two: a smaller portion that is half the width of the wider portion, the paper's edge appearing to divide the wider portion into two. Keep the edges parallel. We will refer to the two new creases formed as the pocket creases.
Each pocket crease ends in two corners. One corner is nearer to, the other farther away from, the bottom crease. Take the nearer corner and, keeping the pockets folded, fold (valley-forming) the end of the sideflap diagonally, forming a small triangle. Make sure the side of the triangle is aligned with the side crease. Repeat for the other sideflap.
Unfold along the side creases, keeping the pockets folded. Refold along the bottom crease.
Position the paper with the shorter half facing you and the cover flap on top (standard position). The diagonal folds at the upper corners of the front half should be visible.
Take each upper corner of the back face and fold it diagonally inwards along the diagonal of the small triangle, covering the small triangle with a bigger triangle similarly aligned and aligning the horizontal side crease with the upper edge of the front face.
Unfold the small and big triangles. Keeping the bottom crease folded, unfold just the upper portion of the pocket creases on the back face, revealing the full length of the cover flap. On the top edge of the cover flap, note the three pairs of creases: the pocket crease, the side crease (point B), and the diagonal crease (point C).
Note also the short creases on each side of the cover flap, made in Step 4. Make a diagonal inward fold along this crease, slightly adjusting if necessary the angle of the diagonal so that it ends midway between points B and C, creating an acute triangle pointing slightly upwards and towards the center. Reinforce the pocket crease over the acute triangle, unfold the acute triangle, and refold the pocket crease. Repeat for the other corner.
Keeping the pockets folded, refold the bottom crease, the shorter half facing you and the cover flap on top (standard position).
Take each bottom corner and make a small inward diagonal fold, making sure the vertical edge of the triangle formed is aligned with the side crease.
Fold the front sideflaps outward (hill-forming) along the existing side creases, hiding them behind the square front face and exposing the back sideflaps.
Fold the back sideflaps inwards, along the existing side creases, and tuck each back sideflap into the pocket (hidden) of the front sideflap. It is better to reinforce the existing creases first, before doing this.
On each sideflap, press the pocket crease with \your forefinger from the outside and your thumb from the inside, flattening the sideflap. Refold the acute triangle on the sideflap. This will in effect sandwich the top edge of the front sideflap between the acute triangle and the back sideflap, locking it in. Refold the sideflaps back into a flat envelop. Note the zigzag pattern on the cover flap. Repeat for the other sideflap.
Orient the envelop with a side edge facing you. Insert four fingers of one hand into the envelop between the back face and the sideflap. With the thumb, press the side edges together from the outside to flatten the side crease on the back face. On the cover flap, note the 45-degree diagonal crease, which actually extends (though hidden) into the sideflap inside the envelop. Refold along this crease then flatten back the envelop, reinforcing the creases hidden inside. Repeat for the other sideflap.
You can insert up to two CD/DVDs into this envelop, using the sideflaps as divider.


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When the 33-year-old Brad Radke retired following the 2006 season after 12 seasons with the Twins, many of those played with futile teams, he did so leaving behind a 148-139 record (.516 win pct) in 377 starts, a 4.22 ERA and 1467-to-445 strikeouts-to-walks ratio. Yet it seems like an abrupt end to Radke's career. Andy Pettite, who finished ahead of Radke for the 1995 Rookie of the Year award, is about to start his 16th season. Why did Radke succumb to shoulder injuries that forced him to retire when some of his compatriots continue to pitch?
There were two parts to the problems that would lead to Radke's early retirement: timing and management. The first, timing, came from personnel moves from the front office forced Radke to enter the starting rotation at a young age. With the impending free agency of Kevin Tapani and the ineffectiveness of Scott Erickson, the Twins traded two members of the rotation that were heavily relied upon. At 22 years old most pitching prospect are putting the final touches at AA and AAA, but Radke was about to receive a baptism by fire. The second, and most important aspect that led to later a final rotator cuff injury, was game management.
The best way to measure a pitcher's workload is by season is to use Rany Jazayerli's Pitcher Abuse Points system. Between Craig Wright's "The Diamond Appraised" and Jazayerli's research, these sabermaticians found that it wasn't the amount of innings or pitches thrown that causes damage for pitchers, but rather it was pitching past the point of fatigue. Jazayerli's analysis shows that the 100 pitch mark is about the threshold for the average starting pitcher and he devised a points-based system that assigns a value as the pitch count grows. One point is assigned to every pitch from 101-110; Two points from every pitch from 111-120; Three points for every pitch from 121-130 and so on. According to his article, "These points are cumulative: a 115-pitch outing gets you 20 PAP's - 1 for each pitch from 101-110 (10 total), and 2 for each pitch from 111-115 (10 total). A 120-pitch outing is worth 30 PAP's, while a 140-pitch outing is worth 100 PAP's - more than 3 times as much. This seems fair; a pitcher doesn't get tired all at once, but fatigue sets on gradually, and with each pitch the danger of continuing to pitch grows."
Below is a season-by-season look at Radke's Pitcher Abuse Points:
22 yrs
23 yrs
24 yrs
25 yrs
26 yrs
27 yrs
28 yrs
29 yrs
30 yrs
31 yrs
32 yrs
33 yrs
The Kelly Years (22 yrs to 28 yrs)
The 22-year-old Brad Radke was summoned to the Twins, unscathed by AAA experience, and the burden of the those lost innings fell on to the young Radke's shoulders. Manager Tom Kelly and pitching coach Dick Such rode Radke hard -- the young pitcher had accumulated 187 PAP in 1995. In four of his starts, the Twins had Radke throw 111-to-120 pitches on four occasions and once he threw over 131 pitches. The following season he would make 35 starts and work 232 innings at the tender age of 23, amassing 288 PAP - throwing over 121 pitches four times. It was obvious that Radke was trending upwards. At age 24, Radke had what most agree was his best season. In 35 starts, Radke went 20-10 with a 3.87 ERA while pitching 239.7 innings. What was most impressive about this display was the fact that his 20 victories accounted for nearly 30% of the team's total (68 in all) and his strikeout rate was up to a career-high 17.6%. Still, with success came additional workload and Radke's Pitching Abuse Points for the season was up to 368. The next season, 1998, Radke tallied his highest PAP of his career to date with 498 with an ERA of 4.30 in 35 starts and 213 innings. Interestingly enough, after two consecutive seasons with heavy workloads (368 and 498 PAP each) and high strikeout rates (17.6% and 16.1% respectively), Radke's strikeout totals diminished to 13% in 1999. In just five starts he entered the 111-120 pitch range all year - mostly staying under 100 pitches - while still throwing well over 200 innings (218) and as a result the Twins received a low 3.75 ERA, a new career low. This success could be attributed to the fact that in 33 starts, the 26 year old finished the season with his lowest PAP total (137) since his rookie campaign. Nevertheless, Kelly and Such regressed to their old ways and allowed Radke to labor on the mound in 2000 as a 27 year old. In four games, Radke threw more than 121 pitches and throw between 111-and-120 in seven more. Fresh off of his contract extension, Brad Radke would finish the year with 407 PAP while making 34 starts and throwing 226.7 innings with a 4.45 ERA. In 2001, in what would be Tom Kelly and Dick Such's last season as the field managers, Radke made 33 starts and matched his 226 innings from the prior year. In those 33 starts, Radke would rarely throw into the 111-to-120 pitch range (four) and threw more than 121 just once, resulting in a PAP of 148 while providing an ERA of 3.94. Judging from his 1999 and 2001 seasons, it would seem that Radke would respond better to a less abusive pitch count.
The Gardenhire Years (29 yrs to 33 yrs)
When Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson assumed the roles of manager and pitching coach, the pair seemed to approach their positions differently then the previous regime. On the pitching mound, no Twins starter broke the 200 inning barrier. The starters as a group went from throwing nearly 70% of the total innings just 62% in 2002. This slight adjustment helped the rotation's ERA go from 4.46 to 4.38, a small difference. An early season strained groin would give Radke his lightest workload since his rookie year, avoiding the 200 inning mark (118) amounting to only 38 PAP in just 21 starts. A year later, the 30 year old Radke would be ready to throw 200 innings once again and make 33 starts, finishing 14-10 with a 4.49 ERA, and a 101 PAP -- his lowest total in a full season yet. In 2004, Radke would make 34 starts with a 11-8 record and a career-low 3.48 ERA in 219 innings. He would also only reach 178 PAP that season as well. It was after that season in which Radke faced a big decision. Once again, he would be a free agent and following a year in which he had a 3.48 ERA, he would be a desired commodity. The Red Sox supposedly offered a four-year, $27 million dollar contract but the Twins pitcher for life passed it over to remain with the team that drafted and developed him to a two-year, $18 million contract. "We're comfortable in Minnesota," Radke told NY Times reporters. "I was looking for something fair. If the Twins didn't come up with a fair deal, I'd be playing for the Red Sox right now. I didn't know what to expect. Half of me thought I was going to go somewhere else; the other half thought it would work out. I'm glad it did. My family is happy. Plus we've been to the postseason the last three years. Why change?"
Radke's fortunes, along with the rest of the team, would turn in 2005. After three straight division championships, the Twins would sink to 3rd in the division as Radke would finish 9-12 in 31 starts, working 200 innings with an ERA of 4.04. Gardenhire's game management added only 56 PAP to his now 32 year old arm that season, an arm that was hanging by a thread. Radke made references to the pain in his shoulder after each start. He would try to work through it in 2006, in what would ultimately be his last season. In mid-August the pain would be unbareable and Radke would eventually sit the month and almost all of September out in hopes that the rest would offer repair. That final season Radke would make 28 starts and toss 162 innings, end the year with a 12-9 record and a 4.32 ERA.
In seven seasons managed by Tom Kelly, Brad Radke had 2,037 Pitcher Abuse Points on his arm, an average of 8.85 PAP per start. In five seasons while managed by Ron Gardenhire, Radke put only 400 Pitching Abuse Points on his arm, an average of 2.72 PAP per start. There are several theories as to why Kelly used Radke more liberally, while Gardenhire more conservatively. Gardenhire had the luxury of pairing Radke with Johan Santana, Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse. These pitchers provided a level of reliance that Kelly never had with the likes of Frankie Rodriguez, Mike Trombley and Rich Robertson. Secondly, the bullpens under Ron Gardenhire were far superior than what Kelly was forced to call upon in the mid-to-late 1990s -- milking out an additional inning from Radke keeps the relievers off the mound.
Still, whatever the logic behind it, either knowingly or unknowingly, Kelly was slowly doing damage to Radke's arm. Think of Kelly's increased workload of Radke to that of a smoker. A young smoker at the age of 22 might not think there is any damage incurring to their lungs when they inhale a pack a day, but as the years progress, their lung capacity is gone. Even when Gardenhire began to curb his usage, the damage was already done. Sure, the entire premise of this statement seems littered with blaspheme, accusing a two-time World Series winning manager of not being able to handle his young pitcher. However, when we review the evidence above, we find that it is true. Tom Kelly's mismanagement of Brad Radke cost him at least one or two seasons in his career.


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Will incident be used to savage second amendment in aftermath of Bob Costas controversy?
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
December 12, 2012
A photo shows armed, militarized police responding to a shooting at a mall in Portland, Oregon last night during which three people were killed, including the gunman.
Photo: Police patrol the parking lot at the Clackamas Town Center after #clackamasshooting. @oregonianphoto twitter.com/RandyRas01/sta…
— Randy Rasmussen (@RandyRas01) December 12, 2012
The photo (click here for enlargement) was tweeted by Randy Rasmussen, a photojournalist with the Oregonian and also emailed to us by a reader who stated;
This picture was retweeted by the Oregonian this evening. They say it is a picture of "police patrolling the parking lot" so the picture looked weird to me. I zoomed in and as far as I can tell those are soldiers. They have the digital ACU pattern, helmets, rifles, and some even look to be wearing body armor. I was in the Oregon national guard and did a tour in Iraq so I'm pretty familiar with the get up. The only thing different is the helmets. No digital ACU covering. I also could not tell of any of them had unit patches on their left shoulders. My resolution is not good enough.
I really just want this to get out. I've listened to you for years and have never seen this in real life. This is further strong evidence that the military and the police are merging In this country in a way that is not healthy for our liberties or what's left of our republic.
Whether the men in the photo are police or National Guard, the image again illustrates how the militarization of America is becoming normalized off the back of shooting incidents like the one last night which occurred at the Clackamas Town Center mall, one of Portland's busiest shopping centers with 185 stores and 20 cinema screens.
According to witnesses, the gunman wore camouflage fatigues, a bullet proof vest and a white hockey mask. He began firing rounds from a military-style rifle near the shopping mall's food court. The shooter killed two people and badly injured another before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide.
Police almost immediately confirmed that there was only one shooter and were able to escort shoppers outside.
This tragic incident will undoubtedly be hijacked once again by gun control advocates and used to attack second amendment rights. The shooting occurred just a week after gun control became part of the national debate after NBC Sports announcer Bob Costas' controversial comments when he called for more draconian gun control measures after the murder/suicide involving Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher and his girlfriend Kasandra Perkins.
Gun sales recently hit record all time highs, primarily driven by fears that President Barack Obama will use his lame duck term to follow through on a promise he made to work "under the radar" on new gun control policy. Gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson also recently announced a 48% surge in firearms sales and a quarterly profit of $21.2 million dollars.
Other readers emailed us to express concerns that shootings such as this and July's 'Batman massacre' are greasing the skids for airport-style security and TSA agents conducting pat downs at large malls.
"All these watch towers may soon employ the shopping mall TSA into watching parking lots with guns and main door check points," wrote one.
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
This article was posted: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 7:11 am
Tags: domestic news, gun rights


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See how Toyota vehicles compare against the competition. Start by choosing your Toyota vehicle and a competitor to learn more on how they stack up.
Prius Prime is designed to enhance your drive with innovation that lies above and beneath the surface of the artfully sculpted exterior. The union of purposeful, aerodynamic elements and lightweight components helps increase your efficiency. Not to mention the EPA-estimated 25 miles 1 in EV Mode.2 All of this helps Prime strike the perfect balance between its elevated efficiency and eye-catching style. It's an uncompromising approach that ensures you'll enjoy every moment.
See how the 2018 Toyota Prius Prime Advanced compares against the 2018 Chevrolet Volt LE. If cost of ownership is important, you'll be glad to know that the comparably equipped price on Prius Prime Advanced is $560 less than the Volt LT. For comfort and convenience, driver multi-adjustable power seat is standard on the Prius Prime while not available on the Volt. Heated front seats and heated exterior mirror and are both standard on the Prius Prime Advanced. You'll have to pay extra to get those on the Volt LT. For technology, a navigational system and universal garage door opener are both standard on Prius Prime Advanced, whereas not available on Volt LT.