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Liberty News
Kyle Maynard gives 'No Excuses' speech
Athlete, author and young entrepreneur Kyle Maynard delivered a powerful message to Liberty University students on Friday to make "no excuses" for their difficulties in life.
Maynard, 25, was born with congenital amputation that left him with arms ending at his elbows and legs that end at his knees.
"There are no worthy excuses," Maynard said. "Scripture tells us that all things are possible through Christ who strengthens us."
At 11 years old, Maynard began wrestling at his school. After much determination, despite initial failure, he excelled in the sport, winning 36 varsity matches his senior year of high school. He now holds national titles in weightlifting competitions and has been given numerous national awards for his achievements. When he began his weight training, he could only lift 2½-pound weights; in 2009 he bench-pressed 420 pounds.
Maynard said his parents raised him to live a normal life, and he has gone through life with few adaptations. He can type up to 50 words per minute, write, eat, drive a car, and use an iPhone without assistance.
At 18 years old, Maynard wrote his book, "No Excuses," as a freshman in college and it became a New York Times bestseller. He has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, ABC 20/20, Good Morning America and The CBS Early Show and many other national networks.
Maynard began traveling all over the country to share his story, but he encountered criticism along the way and had started to let it discourage him. He said he had never quit anything before, but admitted he had become a "depressed motivational speaker" and was ready to go back home, to the comfort of his family, instead of continuing in his speaking engagements.
It was at this pivotal point in his life when he was at an airport and met injured soldiers who told him they had contemplated suicide but had seen his story on television and were inspired to continue living. Maynard was in turn encouraged by their story and decided to practice what he preached and make "no excuses."
"The challenges you have can be the greatest gift you have been given," he said.
Junior Evan Camilleri said Maynard's story "inspired me to strive for excellence in everything that I do."
Maynard currently owns and operates a fitness center, No Excuses Cross Fit, in Georgia and speaks at up to 80 events throughout the country each year.
After his talk, Liberty's Sigma Beta Delta chapter donated $2,000 in Maynard's name to No Barriers, a non-profit organization that is partnering with Maynard in his quest to climb Mount Kilimanjaro next year.
Maynard said he enjoyed his stay at Liberty. He also expressed interest in Liberty University Online to continue his education.
"I am blown away by the faculty, staff and students here at Liberty. The people here are amazing. To see the growth of the university is incredible," he said.
Friday's event was hosted by the School of Business.


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Eddie Murphy Is Forbes' Most Overpaid Actor… AGAIN
We can run hastily through the professional history of Eddie Murphy — touching on his ascension from edgy standup to big screen superstar, his transformation to family filmmaker, and to his eventual plummet to the caliber of output for which he is responsible these days. But it's all been discussed, analyzed, and mourned time and time again. But, despite the drivel he is presently churning out, Murphy will never lose the reverence his early days have earned him, still marshaling television tributes and high-paying roles. Mysteriously. See, Murphy tops the list of Forbes' Most Overpaid Actors in Hollywood for 2012, meaning that he earns the smallest intake for every dollar paid to him. If this news sounds strikingly familiar, it's because the same exact thing happened last year.
Two years in a row, Murphy has headlined this unflattering Forbes documentation, exhibiting a dwindling cinematic appeal with films like Tower Heist and A Thousand Words. For 2012, Forbes reveals that for every dollar Murphy is paid, he earns only $2.30 at the box office.
It's hard to believe that the comic giant of the 1980s would be in such short supply of the kind of humor that once made Raw, Coming to America, and the Beverly Hills Cop movies so quotable. His failing popularity, it seems, can be attributed instead to his film choices. The audiences for his recent movies like A Thousand Words, Imagine That, and Meet Dave seem to be nonexistent; they're too juvenile for adults seeking Trading Places-style humor, but not flashy and imaginative enough for today's hungry youth. Murphy needs to either return to his days of R-rated comedy, or go full-force in the other direction: Donkey's own Shrek spinoff series (I know, I know, but it'd make billions).
Others to top Forbes' list this year include Katherine Heigl (earning $3.40 to the dollar), Reese Witherspoon ($3.90 to the dollar), Sandra Bullock ($5 to the dollar), and Jack Black ($5.20 to the dollar).
[Photo Credit: Christopher Polk/Getty Images]
Brandon T. Jackson is Your New 'Beverly Hills Cop'
A 'Book of Mormon' Star to Write 'Triplets' for Schwarzenegger, DeVito, Murphy
Redneckognize It! Honey Boo Boo is One of Barbara Walter's 'Most Fascinating People'
Harry Styles Spotted Outside Taylor Swift's Hotel Room The Morning After Their Date Night (PHOTOS)

subset: commoncrawl


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MACLEOD v. U S(1913)
[229 U.S. 416, 417] The appellant, William Stewart MacLeod, surviving partner of MacLeod & Company, brought suit in the court of claims to recover from the United States the amount of certain duties paid by the firm under protest upon a cargo of rice imported into the island of Cebu at the city and port of the same name, in the Philippine Islands, on January 29, 1899. The court of claims decided in favor of the United States and rendered judgment dismissing the petition. 45 Ct. Cl. 339. The case was then appealed to this court.
The court of claims made findings of fact, the substance of which is as follows:
The claimant firm, comprised of the appellant (the survivor) and two others, all citizens of Great Britain, had its head office at Manila, and was engaged in doing a [229 U.S. 416, 418] general mercantile business there and elsewhere in the Orient. On January 13, 1899. the claimants chartered an American steamship, the Venus, at Manila, and cleared her in ballast for Saigon, China, whence she sailed for the port of Cebu with a cargo of rice of January 22d, carrying the usual consular papers. Prior to that time it had been the practice of the military authorities at Manila to require importers, residing in that city and shipping rice to points in the Philippines not actually occupied by the United States forces, to present certified manifests covering their cargoes, and to pay the duties thereon to the United States military collector of customs at Manila, which practice was a matter of common knowledge and discussion among the business men in that city, but there is no other evidence charging the claimants with knowledge of the fact.
The collector at Manilla was informed by competitors of the claimants that the latter proposed to ship the cargo to Cebu without paying duty at Manila, and that, as they complied with the requirements of the United States authorities, they would be unable to compete, under such unfair conditions, with the claimants; and the collector received confirmation of such report from the consul at Saigon on the 21st of January, and on the 23d officially notified the claimants that a certified manifest must be presented and duties paid on the cargo at the custom house at Manila. The next day one of the claimants presented in person to the collector a letter stating that there had been no secret as to the movement of the Venus; that she had been openly despatched to Saigon to load a cargo of rice for the Philippines, and that the captain had instructions to secure consular papers, if ordered to Cebu, in case that port should be in the possession of the United States authorities upon his arrival, and that they presumed his papers were in order; that according to their advice, Cebu was in the hands of the republican gov- [229 U.S. 416, 419] ernment, whose authorities would exact the payment of duties, the same in amount as under the Manila tariff; that in selling the cargo they had been required to guarantee that the duties would not exceed those under the Manila tariff; that the claimants protested against paying the duties twice, as it was through no fault of theirs that the duties went to the Cebu authorities, and that, desiring to respect the notification, they would, if instructed, request their Cebu friends to protest against the payment in Cebu because, according to the notification, the Cebu customs were under the control of the United States. At the same time the collector was informed that a ship of the claimants was about to leave Manila for Cebu, which should arrive in time to head off the Venus (which did in fact sail from Manila that day and arrived in Cebu before the Venus ); that their intention in so advising the collector was that he might take the steps he thought most expedient, but that the claimants, unless otherwise ordered by the United States, intended to carry out their contract with the purchasers of the cargo, even if required to pay double duties.
Upon the arival of the Vcnus at Cebu, January 29, 1899, the native government demanded the payment of duties on the cargo, and refused to allow its discharge until such payment was made. On February 4, 1899, the duties were paid and the cargo delivered to the purchasers. Upon the arrival of the Venus thereafter at Manila, with a cargo from Cebu, she was at first prevented from discharging her cargo without paying the duties involved in this case, but later was permitted to do Subsequently the collector refused to receive further business from the claimants until the duties in question were paid, and because of such refusal, and in order to transanct further business with the collector, the claimants, involuntarily and under protest, paid the duties demanded. [229 U.S. 416, 420] War was declared with Spain on April 25, 1898, and on May 1, 1898, the forces of the United States captured Manila bay and harbor. The following order of the President was thereafter promulgated:
Executive Mansion, July 12, 1898
By virtue of the authority vested in me as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States of America, I do hereby order and direct that upon the occupation and possession of any ports and places in the Philippine Islands by the forces of the United States the following tariff of duties and taxes, to be levied and collected as a military contribution, and regulations for the administration thereof, shall take effect and be in force in the ports and places so occupied.
Questions arising under said tariff and regulations shall be decided by the general in command of the United States forces in those islands.
Necessary and authorized expenses for the administration of said tariff and regulations shall be paid from the collections thereunder.
Accurate accounts of collections and expenditures shall be kept and rendered to the Secretary of War.
William McKinley.
The protocol of August 12, 1898, provided that 'the United States will occupy and hold the city, bay, and harbor of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall determine the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines.' [30 Stat. at L. 1742.] Manila was opened as a port of entry on August 20, 1898, and Cebu on March 14, 1899. The Executive order of July 12, 1898, was not proclaimed in Cebu until February 22, 1899, or later. The treaty of peace was signed on December 10, 1898, but ratifications were not exchanged until April 11, 1899. [30 Stat. at L. 1754.] The Spanish forces evacuated the island of Cebu on December 25, 1898, having first appointed a provisional governor. Shortly thereafter the native inhabitants, formerly in insurrection [229 U.S. 416, 421] against Spain, took possession of the island, formed a so-called republic, and administered the affairs of the island until possession was surrendered to the United States on February 22, 1899, prior to which time no authorities of the United States had been in the island, and the United States had not been in possession or occupation of the island, it having been up to that time in the actual physical possession of the Spanish and the people of the island.
Messrs. Barry Mohun, L. T. Michener, J. N. Wolfson, and P. G. Michener for appellant. [229 U.S. 416, 422] Mr. Frederick De. Courcy Faust, Acting Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Statement by Mr. Justice Day:
Mr. Justice Day, after making the foregoing statement, delivered the opinion of the court:
When the Spanish fleet was destroyed at Manila, May, 1, 1898, it became apparent that the government of the [229 U.S. 416, 425] United States might be required to take the necessary steps to make provision for the government and control of such part of the Philippines as might come into the military occupation of the forces of the United States. The right to thus occupy an enemy's country and temporarily provide for its government has been recognized by previous action of the executive authority, and sanctioned by frequent decisions of this court. The local government being destroyed, the conqueror may set up its own authority, and make rules and regulations for the conduct of temporary government, and to that end may collect taxes and duties to support the military authority and carry on operations incident to the occupation. Such was the course of the government with respect to the territory acquired by conquest and afterwards ceded by the Mexican government to the United States. Cross v. Harrison, 16 How. 164, 14 L. ed. 889. See also in this connection, Fleming v. Page, 9 How. 603, 13 L. ed. 276; New Orleans v. New York Mail S. S. Co. 20 Wall. 387, 22 L. ed. 354; Dooley v. United States, 182 U.S. 222 , 45 L. ed. 1074, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 762; 7 Moore's International Law Digest, 1143 et seq., in which the history of this government's action following the Mexican War, and during and after the Spanish-American War, is fully set forth; and also Taylor on International Public Law, chapter IX.; Military Occupation and Administration 568 et seq., and 2 Oppenheim on International Law, 166 et seq.
There has been considerable discussion in the cases and in works of authoritative writers upon the subject of what constitutes an occupation which will give the right to exercise governmental authority. Such occupation is not merely invasion, but is invasion plus possession of the enemy's country for the purpose of holding it temporarily at least. 2 Oppenheim, 167. What should constitute military occupation was one of the matters before The Hague Convention in 1899, respecting laws and customs of war on land, and the following articles were adopted [229 U.S. 416, 426] by the nations giving adherence to that Convention, among which is the United States (32 Stat. at L. 1821):
A reference to the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, to which we may refer as matters of public history, shows that the President was sensible of and disposed to conform the activities of our government to the principles of international law and practice. See 10 Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 208, Executive order of the President to the Secretary of War, in which the President said (p. 210):
And the like Executive order of the President to the Secretary of the Navy (p. 212).
In pursuance of this policy, the order of July 12, 1898, was framed. By its plain terms the President orders and directs the collection of tariff duties at ports in the occupation and possession of the forces of the United States. More than this would not have been consistent with the principles of international law, nor with the practice of this government in like cases. While the subsequent order of December 21, 1898, made after the signing of the treaty of peace, is referred to in the brief of counsel for the government, it was not alluded to in the findings of fact of the court of claims; but we find nothing in that order indicating a change of policy in respect to the collection of duties. While the signing of the treaty of peace between the United States and Spain on December 10, 1898, was stated, the responsible obligations imposed upon the United States by reason thereof were recited and acknowledged, and the necessity of extending the government with all possible despatch to the whole of the ceded territory was emphasized, no disposition was shown to enlarge the number of ports and places in the Philippine Islands at which duties should be collected so as to include those not occupied by the United States, and the President said (p. 220): [229 U.S. 416, 428] 'All ports and places in the Philippine Islands in the actual possession of the land and naval forces of the United States will be opened to the commerce of all friendly nations. All goods and wares not prohibited for military reasons, by due announcement of the military authority, will be admitted upon payment of such duties and other charges as shall be in force at the time of their importation.'
The occupation by the United States of the city, bay, and harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty which should determine the control, disposition, and government of the Philippines was provided for by the protocol of August 12, 1898, and the necessity of further occupation, until the exchange of ratifications by the governments of Spain and the United States, was recognized by the President in the order of December 21, 1898. We have been unable to flnd anything in the Executive of congressional action prior to the importation of the cargo now in question having the effect to extend the executive order as to the collection of duties during the military occupation to ports and places not within the occupation and control of the United States.
The statement of the facts shows that the insurgent government was in actual possession of the customhouse at Cebu, with power to enforce the collection of duties there, as it did. Such government was of the class of de facto governments described in 1 Moore's International Law Digest, 41, as follows:
The attitude of this government toward such de facto governments was evidenced in the Bluefields Case, a full account of which is goven in 1 Moore's International Law Digest, pp. 49 et seq. In that case General Reyes had headed an insurrectionary movement at Bluefields and acquired actual control of the Mosquito territory in Nicaragua. His control continued for a short time only, February 3 to February 25, 1899, and after the re-establishment of the Nicaraguan government at Bluefields it demanded of American merchants the payment to it of certain amounts of duty which they had been compelled to pay to the insurgent authorities during the period of their de facto control. The American government remonstrated, and the duties demanded by the Nicaraguan government were by agreement deposited in the British consulate pending a settlement of the controversy. The Department of State of the United States, upon receiving sworn statements of the American merchants to the effect that they were not accomplices of Reyes, that the money actually exacted was the amount due on bonds which then matured for duties levied in December, 1898, payments being made to the agent of the titular government who was continued in office by General Reyes, that payment was demanded under threat of suspension of importations, and that from February 3 to February 25 General Reyes was in full control of the civil and mili- [229 U.S. 416, 430] tary agencies in the district,-expressed the opinion that to exact the second payment would be an act of international injustice; and the money was finally returned to the American merchants with the assent of the government of Nicaragua.
A similar case appears in 1 Moore's International Law Digest, p. 49, in which our government was requested by Great Britain to use its good offices to prevent the exaction by the Mexican government of certain duties at Mazatlan, which had been previously paid to insurgents. The then Secretary of State, Mr. Fish, instructed our Minister to Mexico as follows:
See also Colombian Controversy, 6 Moore's International Law Digest, pp. 995 et seq.
While differing somewhat in its circumstances, the case of United States v. Rice, 4 Wheat. 246, 4 L. ed. 562, is an instructive case. In that case, during the War of 1812, the port of Castine, Maine, was captured by the British forces, and during its occupation the British government exercised civil and military authority over the people, established customhouses, and collected duties on goods. After peace and the re-establishment of the Americangovernment ern- [229 U.S. 416, 431] ment at Castine, the collector of customs claimed the right to collect duties upon the goods, and this court held that the duties could not be collected a second time. Mr. Justice Story, delivering the opinion of the court, after stating that the British government was in full control of the port, and authorized to collect duties, said (p. 254):
We observe that the learned justice puts the case of the importation of goods into a foreign territory afterwards ceded to the United States as one which, under no pretense, would afford an authority to collect duties upon goods previously imported there. We do not think that it was [229 U.S. 416, 432] the purpose of the Executive order under which the government at Manila was instituted and maintained at the time of this importation to direct the collection of duties at ports not in the occupation of the United States, and certainly not at one actually in the possession of a de facto government, as is shown in this case.
It is said, however, that the claimants resided and were doing business at Manila, and therefore were subject to the military authority there, and the authority of a conquering power, recognized in New Orleans v. New York Mail S. S. Co. 20 Wall. 394, 22 L. ed. 358, to regulate trade with the enemy and in its country is cited in support of the proposition. That there is such general authority, there can be no doubt. It is, however, not without limitation, and a local commander is certainly bound by the orders of the President as commander in chief, which in this case had limited tariff collections to ports and places occupied by the United States. And such authority is subject to the laws and usages of war, (ibid .) and, we may add, to such rules as are sanctioned by established principles of international law.
A state of war as to third persons continued until the exchange of treaty ratifications (Dooley v. United States, 182 U.S. 222, 230 , 45 S. L. ed. 1074, 1081, 21 Sup. Ct. Rep. 762), and, although rice, not being contraband of war, might have been imported (7 Moore's International Law Digest, pp. 683, 684), the authority of the military commander, until the exchange of ratifications, may have included the right to control vessels sailing from Manila to trade in the enemy's country, and to penalize violations of orders in that respect. But whatever the authority of the commander at Manila, or those acting under his direction, to control shipments by persons trading at Manila, and in vessels sailing from there of American registration, such authority did not extend to the second collection of duties upon a cargo from a foreign port to a port occupied by a de facto government [229 U.S. 416, 433] which had compulsorily required the payment of like duties.
It is further contended that, if the collection of duties was originally without authority, it was ratified by the act of June 30, 1906 ( 34 Stat. at L. 636, chap. 3912), which provides:
The history of this act and others growing out of the Spanish- American War is fully set forth in United States v. Heinszen, 206 U.S. 370 , 51 L. ed. 1098, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 742, 11 Ann. Cas. 688. This court had held that the President had no authority to order the imposition of duties subsequent to the ratification of the treaty, with reference to Porto Rico (Dooley v. United States, supra), and with reference to the Philippine Islands (Fourteen Diamond Rings v. United States, 183 U.S. 176 , 46 L. ed. 138, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 59). The act of July 1, 1902 (32 Stat. at L. 691, chap. 1369), was then passed by Congress, ratifying the action of the President in making the order of July 12, 1898, whereby duties had been collected at 'all ports and places in the Philippine Islands upon passing into the occupation and possession of the forces of the United States,' and amendments of that order, and ratifying such action of the authorities in the Philippines as was done in accordance with the orders of the President. In Lincoln v. United States and [229 U.S. 416, 434] Warner, B. & Co. v. United States, 197 U.S. 419 , 49 L. ed. 816, 25 Sup. Ct. Rep. 455, affirmed on rehearing in 202 U.S. 484 , 50 L. ed. 1117, 26 Sup. Ct. Rep. 728, the act of July 1, 1902, was construed to apply only to duties collected prior to April 11, 1899 (when the treaty became effective ). In this situation, the month following the decision of this court in 202 U.S. 484 , supra (affirming the Lincoln and Warner, B. & Co. Cases), Congress passed the ratifying act now in question. United States v. Heinszen, supra, 381.
Conceding that the act is broad enough in terms to cover tariff duties exacted under the authority of the President's orders before the ratification of the treaty, it is expressly limited to tariff duties, import and export, imposed by the authorities of the United States and of the provisional government of the Islands prior to March 8, 1902 (the date of the act of Congress temporarily providing revenue for the Philippine Islands, 32 Stat. at L. 54, chap. 140); and there is no expression of purpose in the statute to enlarge the Executive orders of the President, which limited the collection of duties during our military occupation to ports and places actually held and occupied by the forces of the United States, or to ratify collections made where goods had been entered at a port not under American control, and in possession of a de facto insurrectionary government, as is here shown.
The statute should be construed in the light of the purpose of the government to act within the limitation of the principles of international law, the observance of which is so essential to the peace and harmony of nations, and it should not be assumed that Congress proposed to violate the obligations of this country to other nations, which it was the manifest purpose of the President to scrupulously observe, and which were founded upon the principles of international law.
The act has the scope given to it in the case of United States v. Heinszen, 206 U.S. 370 , 51 L. ed. 1098, 27 Sup. Ct. Rep. 742, 11 Ann. Cas. 688; namely, to ratify [229 U.S. 416, 435] 'the collection of the duties levied under the order of the President;' which, as we have seen, were tariff duties imposed at ports in the occupation and possession of the United States. The tariff duties upon the cargo of rice here in question were paid to the de facto authorities at Cebu, where the cargo was entered, and the payment made at Manila was not a tariff duty, but an illegal and unwarranted exaction in the nature of a penalty, covered by neither the orders of the President nor the ratifying acts of Congress.
We think that the Court of Claims was in error in holding the duties collectible at Manila under the circumstances related, and in adjudging that the act of June 30, 1906, ratified the conduct of the military authorities at Manila in compelling such payment. Its judgment will therefore be reversed and the case remanded to the Court of Claims, with instructions to enter judgment for the claimant.


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The Languages of the Java Platform / Java Virtual Machine
Once upon a time, not too long ago, development platform choices were limited. Today, the choices are harder to make. Should you use Scala? Groovy? jQuery? Grails? Picking the wrong path will only result in wasted effort and expense, not to mention frustration. Don't go it alone. We've done the legwork for you as these sessions not only introduce you to some of the hippest languages that are out there generating byte-code, but also describe when, why, how and if you should play around with any of these up-and-coming languages, scripts and tools.
Language sessions confirmed:
- Comparing, Contrasting and Differentiating Between Mobile Platforms
- GWT Roundup: An Overview of Google's Web Toolkit and Hybrid Integration
- An Introduction to Seam 3
- Languages Keynote: Pump It Up: Maximizing the Value of an Existing Investment in Java with Ruby
- Panel Discussion: Client Side Development Smackdown
- Panel Discussion: Who Invited All These Other Languages to My JVM?
- SEO in the Real World: A Java Case Study in What Works and What Doesn't
Comparing, Contrasting and Differentiating Between Mobile Platforms
Mark Spritzler, Independent Consultant, Regular Contributor to TheServerSide.com
Java was almost dead to a new generation of Java developers. That is, until Google's Android hit the scene, and all of a sudden it was 'kewl' and 'hip' for college kids to be programming in Java again. Sure, it may not be Servlet and JSPs, but it is Java, and it is responsible for re-igniting an enthusiasm for the language.
But beyond igniting some enthusiasm for the Java language, the ability to program and develop handheld and embedded applications is one of the most sought after skills in the industry right now. Well, here's your chance to get a kickstart on how to get started developing handheld applications. This session will give you the 'feet and inches' you need to take your skills the extra miles.
Mark Spritzler is a widely respected consultant and trainer who has historically specialized in enterprise Java technologies such as Hibernate and Spring, but has begun to focus more and more on iPhone and iPad development. Learn how a 'server-side' developer like you transitioned into the world of micro-device development. After a quick but thorough discussion of the various mobile development platforms that are popular today, Mark will teach you how you can leverage your existing Java skills and transition into the world of micro devices and micro screen sizes.
Come and join Mark Spritzler, who owns a top consulting and contract training firm that specializes in Java, Enterprise Java, iPhone/iPad and Android development (he currently has 5 iPhone and 1 iPad applications on the Apple App Store), explain how you can leverage your server-side Java skills and transition into the world of micro devices and micro screen sizes.
GWT Roundup: An Overview of Google's Web Toolkit and Hybrid Integration
Scott Selikoff, Owner, Selikoff Solutions
GWT is Google's contribution to the Java world's quest to create rich content quickly. In the past year, Google has not only paired up with SpringSource, but they have acquired various companies and technologies that have only added to their GWT offering, making their web toolkit more attractive than ever. Join Scott Selikoff, a senior Java/J2EE software developer with years of experience in Web-based database-driven architectures, as he provides an introduction to GWT for new GWT developers, as well as a review of existing and new features in the GWT library. The session also demonstrates the new mechanisms by which GWT applications are connecting to various and diverse back end systems.
Attend and get the inside scoop on:
- 6 reasons to use Google Web Toolkit
- What's inside GWT's powerful UI widgets
- GWT's cross-browser support; including deferred binding, an alternative to Java's dynamic classloading
- In-depth look at GWT's Data Exchange features and capabilities
- Problems with GWT, including mutating APIs, and how to handle them
- What's next and what's needed for GWT
An Introduction to Seam 3
Reza Rahman, Author, EJB 3 in Action; Member, Java EE 6 and EJB 3.1 expert groups
This is a code-example driven introduction to Seam 3. Seam 3 is a powerful up-and-coming open source framework for building rich web applications in Java. Seam 3 is based on CDI, the next generation type-safe dependency injection API included in Java EE 6. Seam 3 is composed of a set of portable modular extensions and tools for persistence, JPA 2, security, internationalization, JSF 2, Wicket, GWT, Quartz, JAX-RS, Excel/PDF generation, email, JavaScript remoting, JMS, Drools, JBPM, JBoss ESB, code-generation, reverse-engineering and IDE tooling.
The session starts with the very basics of CDI such as injection, context management, scoping and naming. Reza then discusses the relationship between Seam 3 and Weld, the JBoss reference implementation for CDI. Finally, he covers the modules and tools included in Seam 3.
Languages Keynote
Pump It Up: Maximizing the Value of an Existing Investment in Java with Ruby
Charles Nutter, Co-lead JRuby project, Engine Yard, Inc
With half a million Ruby developers worldwide, there's no denying the success and speed of development this language provides. In this interactive session, Charles Nutter, co-lead of the JRuby team at Engine Yard, shows exactly how to tap into Ruby to complement an existing investment in Java. You get a thorough review of JRuby and a Java implementation of the Ruby programming language, which allows organizations to build secure, high-performance application functionality with Ruby while utilizing existing Java code and the JVM. Learn how adding JRuby to your development environment will not only help you build applications faster but will also be a fun experience.
Find out why Ruby and Rails are grabbing the attention of enterprise developers around the world as this interactive presentation provides real-world examples to help you:
- Understand JRuby and its role in helping developers to build applications faster.
- Find out why Ruby and Rails are grabbing the attention of enterprise developers.
- Learn JRuby basics and how to build an app
- And that's just the tip of the iceberg….
Charles also shows why JRuby is such a powerful tool for your toolkit, with demos of JVM tools, real concurrent threading, and the latest performance improvements. He'll also demonstrate how to use Java libraries, how to deploy a Rails app to any Java server (or run it with a lightweight Ruby-friendly server), and how to build applications. Finally, he'll talk about how JRuby can help you bring Ruby to the Java world, and how you can help JRuby succeed.
Panel Discussion: Client Side Development Smackdown
Moderated by Cameron McKenzie, Editor, TheServerSide.com
Technologies such as jQuery and the Google Web Toolkit and even Ajax enabled JSF frameworks such as RichFaces are making it easier and easier to write Java code that creates rich and interactive content for the client side. But which framework or technology is best for creating a rich experience for the user? Which framework is the easiest for a seasoned programmer to learn and adopt, and perhaps most importantly which technology is easiest to incorporate into existing applications with a minimum of disruption.
This interactive panel discussion will tackle the questions common among Java professionals about working with rich client side content; attendees will learn about which Java based client side development technologies are best and, of course, what the impact will be when HTML 5 finally becomes the prominent markup language of the Web browser.
Panel Discussion: Who Invited All These Other Languages to My JVM?
Moderated by Cameron McKenzie, Editor, TheServerSide.com
Once upon a time, developing for the JVM was simple. All you had to do was write some Java code, and you'd happily run that Java code on your JVM. Things were simple.
But this decade has quickly become the decade of the "other languages." Scala, Groovy, JRuby Jython, Fantom? Who invited all of these new languages into the fray, and why is their bytecode running on my JVM?
Well, the fact is, it's a world of integrated Java, where the Java platform thrives but it isn't always Java as we've known it in the past. So what do you need to know about these other languages, and how can you benefit by making them part of your development process?
Can using Groovy reduce your development times? Can you get greater productivity out of your team if you adopted Fantom? What are all of these "Domain Specific Languages" and should you be using Scala to write one of your own?
Join our panel of experts as they weigh into why there seems to be an influx of new languages infiltrating the enterprise Java community, find out what these new languages have to offer over and above the functionality we have come to expect from our beloved Java, and find out what you might have to gain by using some of these new JVM compatible syntaxes.
SEO in the Real World: A Java Case Study in What Works and What Doesn't
Paul Wheaton, Owner, JavaRanch.com
Everyone has a website. Well, most people do. And regardless of whether it's a bank or a blog, stakeholders and contributors want the best search engine rankings for their content.
Over the past few years, Paul Wheaton has put an enormous amount of effort and activity into various SEO experiments designed at improving the search engine ranking of the famous JavaRanch website, which gets millions of contributing visitors a year. This SEO process has been done with the help and insight of a large number of members of the Java community, and this presentation gives back to the community SEO insight that has been gained. Designed to be presented as an interactive 'fireside chat' with several industry experts on stage as well to join in the discussion, you gain valuable in-the-trenches knowledge that zero in on:
- SEO myths that we can definitively debunk
- Site ranking secrets that Bing and Yahoo
- What
- SEO experiments that worked and why they worked, SEO attempts that failed and the roadblocks encountered along the way that led to their failure
- Little-known insights into what can be done right now to improve a sites page rankings.
Bring a Group and Save
Save $1,500 when you come with a team. Contact your Delegate Relations Manager, Melissa Cote, to learn about special registration offers.


text:
National Day Of Listening: Thank Your Teacher
This is a Thanksgiving Day special from NPR News. I'm John Donvan in Washington. Neal Conan is away. Somewhere, sometime in your past, in mine, if we were lucky, we encountered a teacher who made all of the difference for us, and maybe we didn't even realize the fact until long afterwards.
And what if we never got the chance to say thanks? If only we could go back now. Well, why not is the argument that's being made by the oral history project known as StoryCorps, which for four years now has declared the day after Thanksgiving a national day of listening, encouraging Americans to go out and record an interview with a loved one who made a difference in their lives, literally for an archive that has been kept in the Library of Congress forever.
This year's StoryCorps has picked a theme, and that theme is to thank your favorite teacher. And they're saying it can be done with a Tweet or a Facebook post or a call or a card or one of their face-to-face interviews for the Library of Congress.
And so for me, it is time to say thank you to someone. I want to say thank you to Mr. Spizzirri(ph), who taught me biology in the ninth grade, and it's nice that I can do it on the radio. It's even nicer that I can do it in person on the radio because Salvatore Spizzirri joins us now from his home in Amityville, New York. Mr. Spizzirri, welcome to the program, and happy Thanksgiving.
SALVATORE SPIZZIRRI: Happy Thanksgiving to you.
DONVAN: You know, I have to be honest, the most profound and basic and embarrassing question I have is do you remember me?
SPIZZIRRI: Yes, I do, John.
SPIZZIRRI: I remember you, and I remember your family. I remember - I can call up the picture of you, your mother and your father standing in school. It must have been a parents' night. You had your orange and green plaid jacket on and your black glasses, and you were shorter than me. Now I'm sure that you're much taller.
But yeah, I remember. I think your dad was a guidance counselor and...
DONVAN: Yes, he was.
SPIZZIRRI: (Unintelligible).
DONVAN: Well, it's funny you mention the orange jacket because that, you know, I suspect you think I want to thank you for helping me in biology. You were at Regis High School, I think, at the time. You were about 23 years old, and I was 14, a freshman.
And I'm not thanking you for teaching me biology. I'm thanking you about that orange jacket because what you represented to me at that time was the height of hip and cool. You used to hang out in the Village in New York, and you used to talk about the clubs and things like that. And what I really appreciated, and I wanted to tell you this now, all of these years after the fact, that it - you took me seriously, this kid with this very badly chosen jacket.
And when we're talking about an orange and plaid jacket, we're talking about what was meant to be a blazer. And you also told me to get rid of the jacket.
SPIZZIRRI: Yeah, I remember.
DONVAN: So I need to say thanks for that. So where did you go after teaching biology at Regis?
SPIZZIRRI: After Regis I took a year off and finished my master's degree. I got an assistantship. And then after that I did guidance work in local schools in Queens and then got a fill-in job - it was '76, I think - in Huntington Station. And then that person got better, and I had to look around.
So I found a position in the St. John's University College of Pharmacy (unintelligible). So they made me an administrator in charge of the graduate programs and the undergraduate allied health programs. And it was nice except the hours were 11 to seven on Monday through Thursday and then Friday normal.
So then I found a job at my old home liberal arts college, and I stayed there for over 20 years and retired after 30 years at St. John's three years ago.
DONVAN: Did you have any sense that you had had this impact on - I mean, I was developing, I was a very, very well-advanced nerd at that point. And the fact that somebody as cool as you would take me seriously - and we weren't - again, you were giving me sort of lessons in life. I was asking you questions about girls and things like that. And you didn't - you were totally non-condescending, and it made a very big difference.
Did you have any idea that you were having that impact?
SPIZZIRRI: No, I never knew I had an impact on anyone, just...
DONVAN: Well...
SPIZZIRRI: Amazing to hear.
DONVAN: Well, evidence of impact, I got rid of that jacket immediately.
SPIZZIRRI: Good, that's a good taste...
DONVAN: Let me ask you this. Does it matter to you to be thanked? I'm sure you've had many students over the years tell you one way or another that you made a difference. Does it matter to you, or would you have done everything the same?
SPIZZIRRI: Yes, it does, especially at this stage in my life, when you look back. And, you know, you know intellectually you understand that what you've done was good, but it's always nice to get feedback. You know, you like to pat yourself on the head once in a while. It's good to have someone else pat yourself on the head.
DONVAN: Well, Mr. Spizzirri, thank you one last time for what you did all those years ago.
SPIZZIRRI: Well, thank you, John. It was fun.
SPIZZIRRI: You know, you weren't - everybody was intelligent, highly intelligent, and I don't know if your listeners know, but it was a school for special kids, very intelligent kids. And you weren't just intelligent, you were bright. You had a great sense of humor, and you had a great dry sense of humor. You had a good eye for looking at the world.
And so you were an enjoyable kid, let me tell you.
DONVAN: Thank you, as were you, and now when I think back, I realize you were only a kid, too, if you were 23 years old.
SPIZZIRRI: I was, 23, what can I tell you?
DONVAN: Mr. Spizzirri, thanks very much for joining us, and really happy Thanksgiving to you.
SPIZZIRRI: Thank you. It was great fun. You, too. Bye-bye.
DONVAN: So I want to turn to Dave Isay, who I will introduce in a moment. But first I want to ask a very direct question. Dave Isay, how did I do?
DAVE ISAY: You did great.
DONVAN: All right.
ISAY: You know, I think what Mr. Spizzirri said was kind of remarkable, when he said - I never knew I had an impact on anyone. And that, in some ways, is the clarion call of StoryCorps. It's letting people know that they have had an impact on our lives.
DONVAN: Well, let me tell people who you are. You are the founder of StoryCorps and the National Day of Listening, and you have a program that's been in place now since, I believe, 2003, in which you are encouraging people to put conversations like that on tape or some digital form, basically, to record it. And then the idea is that those stories live on forever.
And I'm curious about the decision to ask for this theme now on thanking teachers. Why?
ISAY: Sure, and just to be clear, what we've - StoryCorps did start in 2003, and we have done about 40,000 interviews with 80,000 people across the country. And those are the interviews that go to the Library of Congress. Unfortunately, we can't accept interviews that folks do, like that great conversation you just had with Mr. Spizzirri, because of technical issues and archiving issues. But we do encourage people to have these sorts of conversations.
Teachers, yeah, we have a year-long - we've had a bunch of special initiatives with StoryCorps over the last bunch of years. We have a 9/11 initiative, where every family who lost a loved one on September 11th comes to StoryCorps to remember that loved one.
We have an African-American initiative called the Griot Project and a Latino initiative. And we launched a teachers' initiative this past year, where people are basically, in large part, finding teachers that meant a lot to them and having these conversations and thanking them. And...
DONVAN: Let me just tell you, actually, before we go to the break, we have a lineup of people already who want to tell some stories live on the air. So let's give a little bit of a chance to hear that, then I want to actually come back and hear more about StoryCorps.
ISAY: Great.
DONVAN: But I want to go first to Bob(ph), who is in Reno, California. Bob, welcome to the program.
BOB: Hi, this is Bob from Reno, Nevada.
DONVAN: Hi, Bob. So who is the teacher, and what happened?
BOB: My teacher I want to thank is Mel Seals(ph). In 1977, I had him for English at Reno High School. He'd had my brother and my sister before me, and it was always rumored that he was gay, and that interested me, although he never hid it. And he just carried himself with such integrity in the classroom, and whether you were a jock, a stoner, an underachiever, or whatever, everybody really loved Mel.
And he was the first person I talked to and, you know, helped me come to terms with my sexuality. And, you know, I knew I could go talk to him and that...
DONVAN: So when you shared with him, did you feel protected?
BOB: Oh absolutely, oh yeah. I mean, he stood in front of the classroom, and it wasn't just intellect or anything that came out from him. It was this sense that he really cared about people.
DONVAN: You sound - I feel I'm hearing you choke up as you tell this story.
BOB: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well, he still has a big impact on this community and on people in this town, even though he retired many years ago.
DONVAN: Hey, Bob, thanks very much for sharing that call. And I want to ask Dave Isay, I mean the emotional content of that, do you hear a lot of that in these teacher stories?
ISAY: I do. And, you know, we've been talking about this teachers' campaign now just for a couple days, this idea that tomorrow, on the day after Thanksgiving, everyone should thank a teacher by going on Facebook, going on Twitter.
And we - I hear these stories over the last week of people like Bob's teacher, someone who recognized something in us, someone who protected us, who all of us felt like, you know, like you said, like an idiot at one point, and it's a teacher who said you're going to be okay, you know?
DONVAN: Right.
ISAY: And it's - yeah, you know, I actually took the time to write an email to my 11th grade English teacher last week.
DONVAN: What'd you say?
ISAY: I said thank you. It took about two minutes, and it felt great. I haven't talked to her in, you know, 30-some-odd years, and it's just a very cool thing to do.
DONVAN: Did she get back to you?
ISAY: Not yet.
DONVAN: Oh, so that's hanging out there.
ISAY: Yeah, so yeah. So we'll see.
DONVAN: Let's go to Cooper City, Florida, and Megan(ph), welcome to the program.
MEGAN: Hello.
DONVAN: Hi.
MEGAN: Hi, this is Megan from Cooper City.
DONVAN: Hi.
MEGAN: I just want to go ahead and say a big thank you to Robert Boone(ph). He was an amazing teacher that I had in high school, co-sponsor of our drama club, and it's really thanks to him that I have any fond memories of high school at all.
DONVAN: Why? Why? What happened?
MEGAN: What's that?
DONVAN: What happened?
MEGAN: It was just a tough program at times, and there was a lot of negativity. But he always had a story, and he always had a joke, and he was willing to listen no matter what.
DONVAN: And once you say thank you to him, what does that do for you?
MEGAN: Well, unfortunately, I won't have the opportunity to say thank you to him in person because he passed away two years ago after I had finished my freshman year of college. But he always knew how much he meant to all of us, and we're never going to forget him.
DONVAN: Well, Megan, you made right with the universe on that one. Thanks very much for sharing the story.
MEGAN: Thank you for the opportunity.
ISAY: Dave, is that often the case, that you find that people in general are talking about people who have passed, or is it usually (unintelligible) I got to say to Mr. Spizzirri directly, but what happens...
Well, you know, I saw - there have been a bunch of emails that came in this week, or Facebook posts, saying I wanted to track down this teacher, and I just found out he died a couple months ago.
But, you know, I think even if your teacher passed away, you know, their - a child or a brother can see this thank you, and it can mean something to them. So yes, you know, part of what we do at StoryCorps is try and encourage people to have these conversations while - you know, while this person who means so much to you is still around. But if not, pay tribute to that person by sending an email, by...
DONVAN: Well, we've already hit some pretty nice tributes, I have to say, so far in this special, special Thanksgiving program from NPR. Our number is 1-800-989-8255. Our guest is Dave Isay, the founder of StoryCorps, and all of you who are phoning in to share your stories of a teacher who made a difference. And we're hearing you say thank you, and it's ringing true for all of us. We'll be right back.
DONVAN: This is a Thanksgiving Day special from NPR News. We are talking with all of you about teachers and in a very specific way. We're asking for your stories of the teacher who made the most difference in your life and asking what you would want to say, thank you and what else?
We are going to go now to Eli(ph) in Laramie, Wyoming. Eli, you're on the program, thanks for joining us.
ELI: Hi there. Well, Happy Thanksgiving. I wanted to thank (unintelligible). He passed away a few years ago, but he was such a passionate teacher and awesome English teacher, introduced me to so much literature that I never thought in a million years I'd read. And now I have the best job where I get to enjoy so many books that I was introduced to because of him.
DONVAN: So Eli, how did - if you can be a little bit more specific about - what's the teacher's name?
ELI: Doug Fix(ph).
DONVAN: Doug Fix, how Mr. Fix - and I'm in this habit of Mr. Spizzirri and Mr. Fix, and I applaud you for being able to grow up to the first-name level. But over the years, how did what he did stay with you?
ELI: Well, he - before I had his class, I would just read because I had to. And he showed us how any book that we read could be interesting, even though we didn't really care too much about it. And more so than his teaching, actually, in class, outside of class he had such a passion for life. He ran. He skied. He drove motorcycles. He just had actually just a passion of life that was awesome for me.
And I just tried to continue on his legacy after that.
DONVAN: Eli, thanks very much for joining us. Dave Isay, I want to share with you an email that we - and we're getting a lot of emails. You know, the nice thing about this is the signal is that - for all that they put up with in the culture politically now, and they get bashed a lot, the evidence from us right now is that there are an awful lot of stories of teachers who made a positive difference in the lives of their students.
ISAY: And John, that goes back to when you asked me the question of why teachers. I mean, that's why. I mean, I think over the last year, the last 18 months, the last two years, teachers have been feeling kind of like punching bags, you know. And it's time for us as a country to turn that around and use this day and use every day after that to thank teachers for the influence they have on our lives.
DONVAN: A Judy Austin(ph) has written to us, and she says: If he didn't live in Florida and I in Idaho, I would talk with Dick Garten(ph). In 1956 and 1957 - so we're talking about a half a century ago - he taught me and a dozen other seniors at the Riverdale Country School in New York - from which, by the way, Neal Conan, the regular host of this show, graduated - neither of us knew it at the time, but his class set me on the road to becoming an historian. It led me to a career with the Idaho State Historical Society, and that's been a joy. Dick, who turned 90 last month, came to our 50th reunion in 2007, and we had two wonderful long conversations, not as teacher and student but as colleagues and friends. I'm sure I could - I'm not sure if I could ever adequately tell him how deep his influence was on me.
That's pretty lovely and really hits the note well. Let's go back to calls, and you're lining up, and in Portland I want to have Hank(ph) join the program. Hello, Hank.
FRANK: Hi, there. It's actually Frank(ph). That's okay. I went to a day school in New York City called St. Vernon's(ph) School, and the previous - I just heard the lady was talking about '56 and '57. Well, I've got '58 handled, for fourth grade. And a man named Don Sema(ph) saw the gentle boy in me and coaxed - tried to help me protect myself.
And we had boxing and fencing, and he was so gentle, but he was wonderful about it. And I called - I tried to look him up, and he had already died, unfortunately. But what I have done is I have two girls, 23 and 17 now, and from the get-go, I said to them: You know what? You need to thank your teachers. You need to thank your teachers.
And their eyes glazed over initially, but now they do it, and they go back, and they see the eyes light up. And it's one of the most valuable things we can ever do.
DONVAN: Yeah, you really do feel as though you're delivering a present by telling a teacher, you know, it was all worth it, in a way.
FRANK: Pardon?
DONVAN: In a way you're telling a teacher it was all worth it, everything they did.
FRANK: Oh absolutely, and it's - they've devoted their lives to it. And as a child in the classroom, you'd go oh God, the teacher, you know. Well, no, they've devoted their lives to teaching you, and they want you to learn. And we don't realize that passion that some of them even have when we're younger. That's okay; we can't yet.
DONVAN: Hank, how much - Frank, I'm sorry. How much of it do you think the great teachers stand out because of the not-great teachers?
FRANK: I'm sorry, I'm on a cell phone.
DONVAN: I'm wondering how much is the fact that the great teachers stand out due to the fact that maybe we have some not-so-great teachers. With me that's the case.
FRANK: Oh, I am so sorry. It's a cell phone, and you may want to just get me off the air.
DONVAN: Frank, thanks...
FRANK: How much do teachers stand out? They...
DONVAN: Frank, I will let you go. But thanks very much...
FRANK: Okay, my apologies.
DONVAN: Thanks for your patience.
FRANK: Thank you so much.
DONVAN: Another email has come in from a Carlene Watson(ph), who says: My sixth grade English teacher, Mrs. Williams(ph), opened my eyes and ears to the beauty of the English language and especially to English grammar. And Dave Isay, I have a sense of a little bit of a pattern of English teachers and history teachers.
ISAY: Yeah, I guess we're hearing a lot of those, yeah.
DONVAN: And we're not hearing an awful lot of physics teachers. But what does that have to do with, do you think?
ISAY: I think it's a random sampling. I think it just happens to be what you're hearing. But that's - what we've heard over the last week, what we've heard over the last six months, is it's across the board. It's science teachers, it's every kind of teacher you can imagine. There are other kinds of teachers as well.
You know, I'm looking - I'm in a studio looking at Larry Josephson(ph), who is the engineer here, who created freeform radio in the 1960s and influenced a whole generation of people on the radio and just changed the whole face of radio. And there are all kinds of teachers and all kinds of mentors we should be saying thank you to.
DONVAN: I want to play something, it's actually not from the project but gives us a sense of how powerful the emotions can be on this. In - back in the '80s, Oprah Winfrey began to talk about a teacher she had named Ms. Duncan(ph), who at a time in Oprah Winfrey's life when she was quite young and vulnerable, asked her simply to lay out the graham crackers for a daily ceremony in the school.
And she said that that made such an enormous impact on her, that - here's how Oprah described it.
OPRAH WINFREY: You know what I loved you so much? Because you always let me lead devotion.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Bless your heart.
WINFREY: And we had graham crackers, and (unintelligible). I can't believe I'm crying like this. But Mrs. Duncan would let me lead devotion. And remember when I was going to be a missionary, and I used to collect money on the playground?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Oh my.
DONVAN: Wow, it really comes across there. But there's a second piece of tape I'd like to play, and this is from the project. There was an encounter recorded for StoryCorps by - it was actually initiated by a neurosurgeon who had performed surgery on a patient, and the patient whose life was saved asked the neurosurgeon: Who inspired you, who made you into the doctor you are today?
And he mentioned a Mr. Siedlecki(ph), and the patient said: You've got to call up Mr. Siedlecki and thank him. So they got together and recorded a conversation and talked about the power of this one.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: I picked the phone up and you go: Hey, it's Lee Bono(ph). I said Lee, what's going on, man? I haven't heard from you since you were in high school. And you said: I want to thank you. I was flabbergasted. I said of all the people in your entire career, you want to thank me? It was the same feeling I had when my kids were born. And I started to cry.
DONVAN: Wow. You've put that one on the site as one of your favorites on the StoryCorps site. Why does that one speak out to you so much?
ISAY: Well, you know, all StoryCorps stories we see as - we see as equally valuable and equally important in people's lives. But some of them have a kind of a universal quality, and that, you know, that's just an amazing story.
What actually happened was that the - he had a patient who had a tumor on his speech center, and when he got his speech back, the first thing he said was you need to track down that teacher who inspired you.
You know, and again, I mean, I think it goes back to that - to what Mr. Spizzirri said: I never knew I had an impact on anyone. I mean, the kind of - the simple act of saying thank you can make such a profound difference in people's lives.
DONVAN: In a few minutes, when we come back from a break in a few minutes, we'd actually like to hear from the teachers' side of this experience. If there are teachers out there who have had that phone call, I'd like to know what it was like from your side of the experience and why it had that meaning for you, and did you ever see it coming, did you know that you had made that sort of impact?
Let's go to another call. Melissa(ph) is in Vernon, New Jersey. Melissa, welcome to the program.
MELISSA: Hello.
DONVAN: Hi, Melissa, you're on the air.
MELISSA: Oh, hello? Are you kidding? I just lost - hello?
DONVAN: No, we hear you. You're there.
MELISSA: Oh hi. I'm sorry, cell phone. My name's Melissa. I want to thank Ms. Lang(ph) from North Farmington, New Jersey. She was my third grade teacher in 1983. And she was a first grade teacher who just was so enthusiastic and loved us so much, and she read "Charlotte's Web" aloud to us, and we all cried.
And it just made me realize how powerful literature is and how powerful a good teacher could be, and from eight years old I knew I wanted to be just like her, and I became an English teacher.
DONVAN: Ah, and are you having the same impact, do you think, on students yourself now?
MELISSA: Oh, I don't know. I hope so. You know, I do have kids that come back and say thank you, and of course I burst into tears because you don't know while it's happening. You know, you hope that you're getting through to them, and sometimes they'll come back a few years later and say thank you, you know, your class was tough, but I appreciate it because I was ready for high school.
DONVAN: Right.
MELISSA: You know, it - you hope so. And when they do come back, it's the best feeling in the world.
DONVAN: Melissa, thank...
MELISSA: (Unintelligible)
DONVAN: Yeah. Thank you.
MELISSA: Thank you.
DONVAN: Thanks very much for your call. Another story of an English teacher.
DONVAN: Let's go to Neville in Northampton, Massachusetts. Neville, another English teacher story? Neville? Neville, hi, you're on the air. I'm sorry. I made a mistake.
NEVILLE: Hi. Can you hear me?
DONVAN: Yeah. I can hear you now.
NEVILLE: Hi. I have an English and mathematics teacher story.
DONVAN: Ah, OK.
NEVILLE: I'd like to say thank you to Clyde Pesprestige(ph) back in Romsey, in Hampshire, in the south of England. He was my math teacher from September '74 until the summer - September '69 until the summer of '74. I'm not much good at math, I was always much interested in the arts and painting and in writing, specifically, but he was the coolest guy. He had so much time for kids. He introduced me personally to music and to David Bowie, which is the thing that directly brought me to America. And to cut a long story short, I just got a deal to write my biography, and the first page when I started doing notes a month ago, I put Clyde Pesprestige's name down there, fair and square, on page one.
DONVAN: Oh, my goodness.
NEVILLE: He changed my life.
DONVAN: Have you ever had a chance...
NEVILLE: Nothing to do with math.
DONVAN: Have you had a chance to thank him personally?
NEVILLE: Yup. I managed to track him down through my father about 10 years after I left school, and I was lucky. I got to see him most Christmases when I went back to England. Until about 15 years ago, when we lost track. And so I was quite persistent. I would see him across town in Romsey, and I'd dashed over, and I just had to say thank you. I was quite gushing. I'm doing this now. I'm doing that. He'd say calm down, calm down, it's OK. And I know he had this effect on lots of kids.
But the interesting thing is that - that it had nothing to do with the subject he was teaching. He was just generally empathetic. He was a cool guy, and he just had time for the kids. And it was his – his just passion for us that made me have complete trust in him. And when he used to bring records into school, I used to, you know, take them home and play them, and he changed my life in a way, nothing...
DONVAN: Yeah.
NEVILLE: ...to do with math.
DONVAN: In this case, I...
NEVILLE: Just a nice man.
DONVAN: I can really see how it stayed with you throughout your whole life. Neville, thank you very much and...
NEVILLE: You're welcome. Thank you. Happy Thanksgiving.
DONVAN: ...and good luck with the book. We are talking with all of you about your favorite teachers and what you want to say, how you would thank them, how you would want to say thank you. This is an NPR special. Dave Isay is our guest. He is the founder of StoryCorps and in a sense the reason that we are doing this broadcast because of the project that you have launched in particular this year encouraging people to thank students and - students to thank their teachers.
And as you mentioned earlier, these sorts of conversations are not those that will go into the archive at the Library of Congress. But I just want to take a minute and talk a little bit more broadly about that archive and about what is there. By this time you say you've recorded or we have recorded and supplied - we the people have recorded and supplied to StoryCorps - somewhere in the tens of thousands of conversations?
ISAY: That's right. We've done 40,000 interviews with 80,000 people, because almost everybody comes in pairs. So you would bring your teacher or your mom or your grandmother, whoever you want to honor by listening to their story.
DONVAN: And how long would you sit down for a session of...
ISAY: The sessions are 40 minutes. And you know, many people - and it's with a trained facilitator who works for StoryCorps, who's in one of these booths with you. And many people think of it as, you know, if I had 40 minutes left to live, what would I say to, you know, Mr. Spizzirri? They're very intense conversations. And in many ways, you know, because of the nature of these conversations, people know that their great-great-great-great-grandkids will get to hear their grandmother's voice or whatever kind of angel in their life they've brought to the booth.
You know, they're very much of a kind of transmission of wisdom sort of oral history where people talk about what they've learned, how they want to be remembered.
DONVAN: How do you...
ISAY: So it's - yeah?
DONVAN: How do you see it being used? And I ask this, you know, I - we all know that there's such a scarcity of records of humanity prior to - about 2,000 years ago. We're looking at pottery shards in the dirt and using archeology to understand who we were. On the other hand, nowadays, with digitized information, there is so much. I recently was going through a hard drive and found thousands and thousands of photographs of my kids, more than I can ever keep track of or look at. And in a sense you're creating an archive of that volume. This thing will be there and residing if you - if things work out - for hundreds of years, but there will be so much of it.
ISAY: Yeah.
DONVAN: How do you actually see it being used?
ISAY: Well, I think it's going to be extremely important for families, of course, to be able to track down this record of their ancestors. And I think what we have in these 40 minutes is a very condensed story. So we've almost kind of done the editing for you. This is the important information that this person in your life wants to transmit to the future generations. This is who they are as a human being. And, you know, as, you know, I know you - the power of the voice, the power of kind of an honest conversation between two people.
I also think that it's going to be an incredibly important resource for historians. You know, Studs Terkel, who cut the ribbon on our first booth eight years ago, who has since passed away, the great oral historian, talks - talked so much about a bottom-up history. History is so often told from the top-down, but history through our voices, through our stories and our memories, I think, adds a really rich component to what we know about our times.
DONVAN: Who was your teacher? And we're being asked specifically by Gary who sent an email into us who wants to know: Do you - can you give us the name of the teacher that you would want to thank?
ISAY: I - well, it was - Miss Moustakas(ph) was the person that I wrote to last week, but I - and I also want to thank – I also want to thank Gary Covino(ph) , who taught me radio 25 years ago and had a huge - protected me in my early days in radio and just had a huge impact on my life. There are many teachers who I'd like to thank. And again, what we're trying to do tomorrow, we hope the whole country - this is kind of a modest public broadcasting campaign, and John, I hope you'll do a tweet as well, about Mr. Spizzirri. We're asking people to - if you can't interview a teacher, send an email, write a post on Facebook. You can tag it at StoryCorps. You can do a tweet with the hashtag thank a teacher.
We just want to try to see if - and tell everybody you know to do this. It takes about two minutes. And as you've heard from all these phone calls, it's just a wonderful experience that means something to people.
DONVAN: All right. And when we return from our break, we would like to hear from teachers who can tell us about the students who made an impact on them and what it means to be thanked by them. Do you need the thanks, or could you just go on merrily knowing that you did your job well? We'll be talking again also with Dave Isay about StoryCorps' National Day of Listening and a little bit more about the program. So what teacher out there can tell us who's been thanked or who wants to be thanked and why? Our number is 1-800-989-8255. The email address is firstname.lastname@example.com. I'm John Donvan, and you're listening to NPR News.
DONVAN: This is a Thanksgiving special. I'm John Donvan. Well, so far this hour we have heard from a lot of students who wanted to thank the teachers who inspired them or made a difference in their lives, which is the theme of tomorrow's National Day of Listening, thank a teacher. Of course there's the other side, and that is the teachers. So teachers, now we would like to hear from you. What does it mean to be thanked by a student? Our number is 1-800-989-8255. Our email address is email@example.com.
And you can join the conversation on our website, go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION. And we have Phoebe in Lafayette, Louisiana. Phoebe, I understand you've pulled off the side of the road to talk with us.
PHOEBE: Yes, that's right.
DONVAN: Well, that was the safe move. Tell us your story.
PHOEBE: All right. I myself am a retired French and English high school teacher. I taught for 36 years. You asked if it was important that teachers get thank you's - it certainly is because the money we make...
PHOEBE: ...is not enough to give us thanks. Twenty or so years after one of my students retire - after one of my students graduated from high school, I got a phone call out of the blue from her. She says Mrs. Trotter, this is Amanda. Do you remember me? My last name was such and such. I said sure I do. How are you? She started crying.
DONVAN: Wow.
PHOEBE: She said, Miss Trotter, you never knew this, but when I was in your class, my parents were going through a very ugly divorce. I came to school every day hanging my head. She said I'd go into your class, and you'd make a joke or something, or she said some other student would give a stupid answer, and you'd look at me, and you kind of wink, so that only I would see. And she said for that one hour it just lifted my spirits. If it had not been for you, I would have quit high school and left home.
DONVAN: Phoebe, did you have any idea at the time what you were doing?
PHOEBE: No. I - she always looked kind of down, but she never approached me to speak to me about it, and I didn't feel that she would welcome it if I asked. I just gave her a little extra attention. That meant so much to me.
DONVAN: Wow.
PHOEBE: It...
DONVAN: All this time later, it's still totally alive to you.
PHOEBE: I start crying every time I think about it. I have looked up her picture in the yearbook and cut it out and posted it up on my refrigerator, so that every time I look at it, I think of her and how I was appreciated by her. That means so much. I do hope parents understand how much teachers appreciate that.
DONVAN: Phoebe, thank you so much for your call. Thanks for joining us.
PHOEBE: Thank you. Bye-bye.
DONVAN: Let's go to Guillermo in West End, Florida. Guillermo, welcome to the program. Guillermo?
GUILLERMO: Hello. Hi. Sorry. Good evening, gentlemen. Happy Thanksgiving and thank you for having me.
DONVAN: Sure.
GUILLERMO: I am currently 26. I've been a high school teacher, and my last teaching assignment was at a local community college. In three days I am leaving for boot camp for the Marine Corps, and I constantly - well, I get - one student joined the Marine Corps, and I never tell them I'm leaving for the Marine Corps. That's none of their business. But one of them joined because he later told me I was inspired by who you were and he wanted to thank me. Not only that, I see students that I taught at high school at the recruiting station, and they tell me, hey, that – I used to teach intensive reading, and they tell me, hey, thank you so much for your teaching.
DONVAN: And so - and I want to - I'm sorry to interrupt, but I just want to ask you: How does that hit you, those thanks?
GUILLERMO: I mean, it is - it kind of brings the circle together. I am - I became a teacher, and I joined the Marine Corps because Dr. Christina Weygand(ph), an English teacher - I went to school in Mexico - she basically - she doesn't know this, maybe I should tell her, but she instilled the values of honor, courage and commitment in my life. And it is because of her I became an English teacher, despite getting kicked out of my house because of it. And it is because of her that I got inspired to go into the corps.
DONVAN: All right. Guillermo, thank you very much.
ISAY: Guillermo, tell her tomorrow. Tell her tomorrow.
GUILLERMO: I'm actually - I'll try to get a hold of her.
ISAY: Thank you.
GUILLERMO: Thank you so much, gentlemen.
DONVAN: Thanks, Guillermo. Thanks very much. I want to read an email from a Jay Neiman(ph), who writes: I was preparing my fifth grade class for the upcoming sex education class by telling them about Tommy Smith, who stole a kiss from me in Miss Thomson's cloakroom in the back of her fifth grade classroom. I included in the story that he died in the Vietnam War. A year later, my student Roberta brought me a rubbing from the Vietnam Wall in Washington that said Thomas K. Smith. Wow. I will never forget her. That is a fantastic story. Jim in Belmont, California, welcome to the program.
JIM: Hi. I'm a retired special education teacher. I taught severely handicapped. But my story begins when I was struggling to become a teacher. I have cerebral palsy. And I had a kid I had helped in the - during the Watts riot period as a substitute. And to make a long story short, his mother invited me to her wedding at a time when I'm about ready to give up on teaching, and she thanked me for the help she - I had given. I went on to teach in Kern County. I taught a muscular dystrophy student, and so on. So if she hadn't - that she thanked me really encouraged me to go on.
DONVAN: Jim - yeah. Jim, thank you very much for your call. It sounds like you're passing it forward. Thanks for it. I want to play another tape from - another recording from the StoryCorps project. This one is interesting, Dave, because it's, again, about what inspired a teacher, how it went from a student to a teacher, and this one is fascinating. A young man named Ayodeji Ogunniyi told a story about how his father was murdered and how he temporarily lost all touch with the world because of it.
His father was murdered by three teenagers. I think one was in the 20s, but three very young men from disadvantaged backgrounds. And he was angry. At the same time, he had been already enrolled in a program where he was tutoring people from the same area that the murderers came from. And one day, he was working with one of these kids, and he discovered that the boy was crying because he couldn't read. And that moment led to his reaffirmation as a teacher. Let's listen to Ayodeji's story.
AYODEJI OGUNNIYI: And I went out to talk to him, and he just broke down. He said: It's hard for me to read. There are many people that cry because they're hurt, they've been neglected. But to cry because you couldn't read, that spoke volumes to me. So we got him in some other programs, and he started to read. And it just was like this gift that money can't buy for him. And by me giving that to him, I totally forgot about the pain of the murder, and I wanted to continue to give more of what I had to heal.
DONVAN: And so he's stayed on in teaching.
ISAY: Actually, John - John, I just want to say, he was actually studying to be a doctor and was tutoring on the side when his dad, who was a cab driver, was murdered, and then decided to switch careers and become a teacher.
DONVAN: Wow. It really tells us that there are - again, with all of the pressures that teachers are under now, that there are - there really are ways that you can get something back from it, and it's not going to be the salary, but you really get something rich back from it. And it sounds as though what we're hearing from the teachers who are calling that being told thank you tells you that you're getting it back. It tells you that you've completed the circle.
ISAY: Absolutely. You know, the stories we're hearing are very moving, you know. And I - it speaks so much to what StoryCorps is about, which is, you know, we're surrounded by so much white noise and so much nonsense and distraction, you know. And just the act of taking a couple of minutes to say thank you...
DONVAN: Yeah.
ISAY: ...can have such a profound impact on people's lives. You know, one of the things we hope to do at StoryCorps is just kind of pull people into the present and remind them, you know, to say the things to the people in their lives that they want to say now.
DONVAN: Let's go to Esther in Denver. Esther, you're on the program. Welcome.
ESTHER: Hello?
DONVAN: Hi.
ESTHER: Hello?
DONVAN: Hi. We hear you. And tell us your story, Esther.
ESTHER: Well, I went to Greece years ago, kind of a - as an extended tourist, and ended up teaching college English and humanities on a Navy base and - actually, a number of bases - back when there was plenty of money in the military to pay for tuition. And I worked mostly in a small Navy communications station. And it was a small program, so I was really the only English teacher for a long time. I had amazing students who actually thanked me quite a lot because they had never have the experience of writing or reading literature, and appreciated it.
But mostly, I realized that English is the kind of subject that takes experience and years to sink in, literature and even writing. And so most of my students who are in the military got transferred. I didn't get to hear thanks later unless they happen to be transferred back, or civilians. And then sometimes they'd say, do you remember you said six years ago in that class? So I think English teachers get thanked in the long term because it's experiential. It's not just factual.
DONVAN: You mean, it takes a while for it to sink in - first of all, for the lessons and the skills to sink in, and then it takes even longer to realize why those lessons and skills might have actually enriched your life.
ESTHER: Exactly. And the reason I was hoping you'd take my call is that I hear people talking all the time - with the cost of education going up, people are talking more and more about college education particularly needing to be practical so you can get a job. But it doesn't take into account the richness of education and how it shapes your entire life. So when I did get those things, it was enormously meaningful to me.
DONVAN: Esther, thank you very much for your call.
ESTHER: Thank you.
DONVAN: And now we're going to be joined by Fran in Sacramento. Fran, you're on the program.
FRAN: Hi. Thank you so much. So I was a kindergarten teacher in the Vallejo Schools in California. And at Glen Cove Elementary, we have the tradition of, at sixth grade graduation, we had a big ceremony. So on two different years, those parents, two different sets of parents from the sixth grade came back to me, their child's kindergarten teacher, and thanked me. And they were very specific about what they thanked me for, for their child. And it's so unusual for a kindergarten teacher to get any thanks.
DONVAN: Why is that? But why should kindergarten teachers be low in the thanking list?
FRAN: Because by the times students move on to high school, they remember their high school teachers. Most kids don't remember their kindergarten teachers. It's the way - is what I think.
DONVAN: Really? Oh, well, in that...
FRAN: You remember your kindergarten teacher?
DONVAN: I do, but the teacher I want to thank, again, is my first grade teacher. Sister Mary Alice taught me to read...
DONVAN: ...and that was invaluable skill. But I...
FRAN: That's wonderful. And have you thanked her?
DONVAN: I have not, but I'm going to take Dave Isay's advice and do it right away.
FRAN: Oh, great. Yes. And so this is a wonderful show. And thank you so much.
DONVAN: All right, Fran. Thanks very much for your call. I want to go to another email. This is from Laura Speaker(ph), who's just written us. She says: I am a teacher who's been thanked in the form of a grand slam. I was asked to attend a baseball game of one of my sixth grade boys, J.P. Dailey(ph). It was a Friday afternoon. It was kind of rainy and I was tired, but I agree to attend the game. So missing it really wasn't an option.
And when J.P. got to bat, the bases were loaded. And before he swung, he suddenly turned to the stands and he pointed the bat at me with a most solemn look on his face. I was stunned and grateful that the person next to me told me to return the motion to J.P. So J.P. turned and he hit the ball out of the park. And he rounded all of the bases, and he kept running until he was off the field and ran right up to me. And he said: You see, Mrs. Speaker? And I said, yeah, everybody saw that one. And then he said: I knew I could hit it because you always made me feel like I can do anything. Needless to say - she writes this - needless to say, rain was not the only moisture on my face.
DONVAN: And then she adds an interesting afterthought: What did it mean to me? She says: I became the student. I learned that I may be affecting students and never know it. I felt a renewed energy and devotion to my students. The next day, J.P. presented me with the game ball, which sat on my desk as a daily reminder to always be in tune with what I can learn from my students. Signed, Laura Speaker.
What a fantastic story. It sounds like one you should get on tape, I think, Dave Isay.
ISAY: John, email that to me. It's a great story.
DONVAN: All right. We are talking on this Thanksgiving Day special about teachers. What teachers would you thank? And what does it mean for teachers to be thanked by you? And Dave Isay is our guest, as the inspiration behind this topic and with the StoryCorps program that is asking people to take their teachers aside and thank them, or just drop them a note or a Facebook posting or a Twitter message. It matters. It's important. Let's go to Jo(ph) in Stockton, California. Jo, you're on the program.
JO: Yes. I'm calling because I taught sixth grade a number of years ago and had a migrant student who would leave for two months every year. And I always wondered what happened to her. And one of the projects we did in that sixth grade was PowerPoint presentations for their country reports. And I didn't think too much of it until she came back when she was in high school and told me how much that meant to her, that she felt like I treated the students as if they were high school students, and she could (unintelligible) herself in high school and succeeding. And here she was, a junior in high school, getting straight A's.
DONVAN: Wow.
JO: And it - I really appreciated that thank you, and it continues to inspire me to set high goals for my students and...
DONVAN: So that's an interesting question. Do thanks, you think, make you a better teacher or give you the energy to keep going?
JO: Absolutely, because I teach students who come from very needy homes, and there are so many barriers to them succeeding in school. And sometimes, you wonder what happens to them. And it really makes it worthwhile to have them come back and say that, yes, it did make a difference. I was able to overcome those barriers that I had because of something that you did in that class.
DONVAN: All right. Jo, I want to thank you for your call. And I think we have time for one more caller. I want to go to Riva(ph) in Cleveland. And, Riva, I apologize, but I need to ask you to be brief. But I would love to hear your story.
RIVA: I'm a retired teacher. I'm still teaching. I taught at Cleveland Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. My students, one of them, came - wrote me an email from Munich, Germany, to tell me how much my teaching French had meant to her and helped her. It meant the world to me, and I must say this: When I was at Heights, I had a homeroom teacher, Edith Mainland(ph), whom everyone thought was really very difficult. She turned out to change her life around. That's the reason I became I teacher. I'm still teaching. And every hug I get from a kid that I teach now, I tell you, it touches my heart.
DONVAN: And it sounds as though you're also telling us that the teacher who's nice and sweet not necessarily is the one you're going to remember. But sometimes it's the real tough one.
RIVA: The tough teacher, because she made me what I am, and she made me into a human being, but also into a compassionate, rigorous human being who let her students really do what they could do.
DONVAN: Wow. Terrific story, Riva. I want to thank you very much for joining us on the program. And I also want to thank Dave Isay, who's the founder of StoryCorps and who established the National Day of Listening. So his encouragement is: Say thanks to a teacher. And if you can, record it and save it. Thanks very much for joining us, Dave. And...
ISAY: As always, it's been great.
DONVAN: And all of us thanking - this is slightly different, to thank a teacher, when you have a teacher in the family. And so, for all of the teaching, I want to say thanks to my favorite teacher, my mom, who taught six grade for 25 years at School 30 in Yonkers, New York. Oh, and my dad, who taught junior high English at John Philip Sousa in the Bronx, and Nancy, my sister, who teaches in Pitman, New Jersey, and my Aunts Peggy and Grace, who are high school teachers in New York public school system, and my brother Jim, who taught special ed, and my grandfather Walter, a long-departed high school biology teacher. Thanks to all of you from me, so you all know it may sometimes seemed like a thankless job, but not all the time. Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I'm John Donvan. This has been a Thanksgiving Day special, from NPR News.
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A motorcyclist was airlifted to Boston Medical Center with multiple injuries Friday afternoon after a collision with a car on Great Road that scattered glass and debris across the road.
A motorcyclist was airlifted to Boston Medical Center with multiple injuries Friday afternoon after a collision with a car on Great Road that scattered glass and debris across the road.
The driver of the motorcycle, who was not immediately identified by the Acton Police Department, was rushed by ambulance to NARA Park on Ledge Rock Way to be airlifted. Police declined to comment on the extent of the man's injuries.
Lt. Don Palma, a spokesman for the department, said police believe that the crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. when the driver of a silver Volkswagen Passat, who police also did not immediately identify, was heading east and turned left into the parking lot at 427 Great Road and into the motorcycle's path.
"It does not appear that speed or alcohol were factors at this time, but it's under investigation by the Acton Police Department," said Palma.
When reporters arrived at the scene, a crash reconstruction team was taking measurements around a badly battered black Vulcan Classic motorcycle, which lay on its side, a piece of its windshield nearly 30 feet away. A faint smell of gasoline hung in the air and a black sneaker and one of the Volkswagen's hubcaps lay close to the motorcycle's seat.
The Volkswagen sat several yards away, its rear passenger side door badly dented and the window shattered.Officers at the scene referred all questions to Palma.
Lauri Damiani, a Westford resident who identified herself as the driver of the Volkswagen's mother, said her son called her shortly after the accident.
"When he called he said 'I'm fine,'" she said standing a few yards from where her son and husband were speaking to an officer in a parked police cruiser, one of six at the scene. "When I drove up he appeared fine physically."Damiani wondered about the motorcycle driver's condition.
"I hope he's going to be OK," she said. "Motorcycles are so … there's no protection."
Christian Schiavone can be reached at 978-371-5743 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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During the creator's commentary in Portal 2, Valve animator Richard Lord called the eye portion of lovable personality sphere Wheatley's design a physical impossibility. Cosplayer Furin's talking Wheatley puppet seems to have done well enough.
After Portal 2's release made her switch gears from her planned Fullmetal Alchemist cosplay for this year's Dragon*Con, cosplayer Furin switched a few gears of her own, transforming Valve's brilliant though admittedly-flawed design into a living, blinking, and quipping machine. She's managed to capture all of the personality voice actor Stephen Merchant and animators like Lord (the original voice of Wheatley) instilled in the glowing mechanical eyeball in one conveniently portable package.
Furin will be making an appearance next month at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, Georgia, so I might get a chance to drool over Wheatley in person. Hit up the link below to see the hours of painstaking work she put into creating this most human of machine "intelligences".
Wheatley [Furin Cosplay - Thanks, Tim!]
You can contact Michael Fahey, the author of this post, at firstname.lastname@example.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.


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Victorino could be out until Tuesday with back spasms
BOSTON -- Red Sox right fielder Shane Victorino was out of the lineup Friday night against the Astros, marking the fourth game he's missed due to lower back spasms. Victorino exited two other games early because of the ailment.
It's possible he won't play until Tuesday, when the Red Sox open a road trip in Toronto.
"It's a real possibility," said Red Sox manager John Farrell. "But how he feels is going to be the single most important thing in this."
How did Victorino feel on Friday?
"Improved over yesterday," Farrell said. "He still has some spasms in the lower back so he's day to day but unavailable today."
At this point, the club is still hopeful Victorino won't have to go on the disabled list.
"It will be based on how he continues to improve day after day and responds to the treatment. We're not any closer today to saying this is a DL situation," Farrell said.
Jonny Gomes batted in Victorino's No. 2 spot in the batting order Friday night and played left field. He went 1-for-5 with an RBI single. Daniel Nava got the start in right and was 0-for-4.


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3301.0 - Births, Australia, 2008 Quality Declaration
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When I first saw my brother sing on a karaoke, I wanted to get up and join him but, I didn't have the courage. Even though, in the back of my mind, I really wanted to sing.
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If you're on a tight budget you may want to try the Magic Mic ED-9000 which has a few less features, in particular, the Magic Mic ED-9000 microphone is not wireless, but you have the option to purchase an additional microphone that is wireless. The Magic Mic Ed-9000 is just as fun and entertaining.
The Magic Mic EG-18000 is a combination of the CD player, microphone and sound system all in one. You don't have to worry about keeping CD's organized because thousands of songs are stored in the microphone. You can take it any where and you don't have to spend money at karaoke clubs and leave the kids with a babysitter. The whole family can be together along with neighbors and friends. The wireless Magic Mic EG-18000 is fun, unique, convenient and great entertainment for everyone at a very affordable price. Our family gatherings are never boring - I love it!
As for singing in public karaoke clubs, no stage fright anymore for me.


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