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By Krishna Pokharel and Paul Beckett
A photograph of the Babri Masjid from the early 1900 (Copyright: The British Library Board)
Our story begins in 1949; two years after India became an independent nation following centuries of rule by Mughal emperors and then the British.
What happened back then in the dead of night in a mosque in a northern Indian town came to define the new nation, and continues to shape the world's largest democracy today.
The legal and political drama that ensued, spanning six decades, has loomed large in the terms of five prime ministers. It has made and broken political careers, exposed the limits of the law in grappling with matters of faith, and led to violence that killed thousands. And, 20 years ago this week, Ayodhya was the scene of one of the worst incidents of inter-religious brutality in India's history.
On a spiritual level, it is a tale of efforts to define the divine in human terms.
Ultimately, it poses for every Indian a question that still lingers as the country aspires to a new role as an international economic power: Are we a Hindu nation, or a nation of many equal religions?
Chapter One
The Saryu river winds its way from the Nepalese border across the plains of north India. Not long before its churning gray waters meet the mighty Ganga, it flows past the town of Ayodhya.
In 1949, as it is today, Ayodhya was a quiet town of temples, narrow byways, wandering cows and the ancient, mossy walls of ashrams and shrines.
The town's residents included both Muslims and Hindus. But most noticeable were the Hindu holy men known as Sadhus, with painted foreheads, long beards and loose robes. They flocked there, as they do today.
Hindu scriptures say Ayodhya is the birthplace of Lord Ram, making it one of the religion's holiest places. (Ayodhya means "unconquerable" in Sanskrit.)
Among the Sadhus, back then, was Abhiram Das, a muscular priest with a strong voice, a severe visage and a quick temper, according to two of his surviving disciples. In his mid-40s, he had arrived in the town 15 years before from the countryside of Bihar, to the east, they say.
He revered Ram. And, his disciples say, he made it his mission to restore Ram to the exact place he believed the god had been born: a site then occupied by a mosque called the Babri Masjid.
The mosque was named after the Mughal ruler, Babar, whose troops had built it more than 400 years before. Inside, the mosque had space for about 90 people to pray, according to two elderly Muslims in Ayodhya. Verses of the Koran were written on the walls inside. On the Menber, or pulpit, under the central dome was inscribed in Persian: "Place for the angels to descend."
The complex had two courtyards, ringed by a perimeter wall and separated by a wall with a railing. In the outer courtyard was a small wooden platform with an idol of Ram where Hindus worshipped.
A map of India showing Ayodhya
Abhiram Das wanted to establish Ram inside the building itself. He was not alone in his quest: a movement of sadhus dedicated to that goal was gathering momentum.
They claimed the mosque had been built from the ruins of an ancient temple to the Hindu god, which Muslims disputed. The site had been an occasional flashpoint for violence between the two communities in the past.
Abhiram Das told his disciples that he had a recurring dream that Ram made an appearance under the building's central dome, the two disciples said.
One day in mid-1949, the Sadhu repeated his vision to the city magistrate in neighbouring Faizabad, the city which oversees the administration of Ayodhya.
His words immediately struck a chord with the magistrate, Guru Dutt Singh, according to an account given by Mr. Singh's son, Guru Basant Singh. Mr. Singh's reply, his son said: "Brother, this is my old dream. You are having it now; I am having it for a long time."
The two men started to talk about how a statue of a young Ram might be surreptitiously put in a Muslim place of worship, Mr. Singh's son said.
The use of idols marks one of the great differences between Hinduism and Islam. Islam strictly prohibits idol worship because God, to its followers, is an invisible and indivisible entity. Hinduism holds that God can exist in many forms and devotees worship idols as mediums to God. So a statue of Ram itself would be a deity.
There are various versions of what transpired a few weeks later. Many Hindus have come to believe that it was a miracle. Mr. Singh's son, speaking in detail for the first time about those events, said it was, rather, a carefully-planned plot to return Ram, in the view of his father and Abhiram Das, to the deity's place of birth.
At the time, India as a country was only two years old, its promise as a fledgling democracy challenged by the fact that it was rent in two – geographically, demographically, socially, and emotionally— by the Partition that created the Muslim nation of Pakistan in the territory's northwest and northeast.
The migration of many Muslims to Pakistan consolidated the Hindu majority in the new India. Muslims comprised 24.4% of India's population in 1941; they were down to 10% of post-Partition India a decade later, according to census data.
Jawaharlal Nehru, the country's first prime minister, was striving to stabilize the new country. He was determined to establish India as a secular nation that respected the religious beliefs, or lack of them, of all its citizens.
"All of us, to whatever religion we may belong are equally the children of India with equal rights, privileges and obligations," he said in a message to the nation when India became independent on Aug. 15, 1947.
Still, many Hindus felt aggrieved about Pakistan's creation and the choice given to Muslims to move or stay. They used a term that would be repeated countless times over the following decades: Muslim "appeasement."
Even within Nehru's Indian National Congress party, there were many who supported the drive to make India a Hindu-dominated country. Some in Congress were actively involved in the formation of the All India Hindu Mahasabha, a conservative Hindu political party, several years before.
The party opposed the creation of Pakistan and blamed Congress for it. The man who killed Mahatma Gandhi in early 1948, Nathuram Godse, was an activist of the Hindu Mahasabha. He was hanged in November 1949.
Partition had little effect in Ayodhya, though. Many Muslims stayed, maintaining a cultural mix that had existed for hundreds of years.
Muslim artisans made many of the idols that Hindu devotees worshipped in the temples. Hindu priests bought clothes and flowers for temple statues from Muslim vendors. One temple in Ayodhya even had a Muslim manager.
"Why would we leave our country?" said Mohammad Hashim Ansari, a local tailor, who was then in his late 20s. "We belong to this land."
Guru Dutt Singh, the Faizabad city magistrate, was tall and obstinate, with a neatly-trimmed moustache. He graduated from Allahabad University in what was then the United Provinces; today, it is in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
He joined the Provincial Civil Services but, his son said, refused to kowtow to his colonial masters. He insisted on wearing a self-fashioned turban in contrast to the hats favoured by the British.
During a posting to Bareilly, when he first met one of his superiors, Michael Nethersole, the British man asked him: "Why don't you wear a hat?"
"Why don't you wear Indian headgear?" Mr. Singh retorted, according to his son.
Yet Mr. Singh also demanded respect for rank: He scolded his son for cheekily referring to Mr. Nethersole, as "Leather Sole" because "He is, after all, a district magistrate," his son recalled being told. Mr. Nethersole's descendants couldn't be traced.
In his duties, which included preventing riots, Mr. Singh sought to be even-handed about religion, his son said. At times, he told Hindus that he would lock them up if they created trouble.
At other times, he called Muslims for consultation and said, "I consider you as my younger brothers; I'm your elder brother and we both belong to Mother India," his son said.
What Mr. Singh considered his neutrality at work, however, fuelled his resentment at what he saw as "the appeasement of minorities" – Muslims, in other words — his son said.
His father was not in favour of the creation of Pakistan. But once it existed, he believed, "If a country has been made for you, you should all go there," his son said.
Mr. Singh was a devout Hindu, eschewing alcohol and maintaining a vegetarian diet. He visited Ayodhya at least annually, staying in a guest house at a temple. Since college days, Ram had been his religious focal point.
Ram is one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, who is part of Hinduism's holy trinity: Vishnu is the protector; Brahma is the creator; Shiva is the destroyer.
According to Hindu scriptures, Ram was born in Ayodhya tens of thousands of years ago. He was the eldest son of the Hindu King Dasharath of the Solar Dynasty, so-called because the monarchs were believed to be descendants of the sun. Ram is revered as "Maryada Purushottam," an excellent man of honour.
It was to Ayodhya that Ram returned from exile after rescuing his wife, Sita, from the demon god Ravan in Sri Lanka, according to an ancient Sanskrit version of the Ramayan, the Hindu text about Ram's life.
Benevolently, Ram ruled over his kingdom from Ayodhya, becoming the epitome of good governance, the Ramayan says. And, in the twilight of his life, he was said to walk through a door in Ayodhya directly to heaven.
As Mr. Singh aged, his conviction grew that he wanted to put Ram back where he believed he belonged, his son said. He thought Muslims should yield the Babri Masjid.
"He used to have this tussle in him that 'While I so much respect their religion, why don't they reciprocate?'" his son said.
In the mid-1940s, Mr. Singh met K.K. Nayar, an administrator in the national Indian Civil Service, Mr. Singh's son said. The service was a precursor to today's Indian Administrative Service and the two men were stationed in the same city.
Mr. Nayar was from Kerala in the south. He was erudite and more soft-spoken than Mr. Singh. The two men found common cause in their reverence of Ram and their desire to take action, Mr. Singh's son said. Both men were also sympathetic to the Hindu Mahasabha, the conservative Hindu political party, but refrained from actively supporting it because of their government jobs, he said.
Together, the men asked the official in charge of appointments in the United Provinces to post them at the same time to Faizabad, which administered Ayodhya, according to Mr. Singh's son.
Mr. Singh moved there in 1948 as city magistrate. Around the same time, Mr. Nayar moved there as district magistrate, the most senior administrative post in the district. Both men are now deceased. Mr. Nayar's son declined to be interviewed.
The Singhs moved into Lorpur House, a yellow, British-era mansion. Starting in mid-1949, Mr. Singh, Mr. Nayar, Abhiram Das and other local officials met there to plan how to install Ram in the Babri Masjid, according to Mr. Singh's son.
As the family's only child, Guru Basant Singh was then about 15 years old. He said he was in charge of serving tea and water at the meetings and at times hid behind the door to listen in on the planning.
The meetings were held in secret after sunset, he said. A Hindu servant was posted at the door with instructions to tell any visitors that his father was resting.
His version of events is confirmed by Mahant Satyendra Das, one of Abhiram Das's surviving disciples, who are now the government-appointed head priest at the site of the mosque.
He joined Abhiram Das in 1958. That year, the Sadhu gave him a detailed account of events, said Mr. Das, who recalled their discussion in an interview. (The two men share a surname but were not related.)
"Top district officials" including K.K. Nayar and Guru Dutt Singh, worked with Abhiram Das on how the idol might be put in the Babri Masjid, which was locked and guarded, Mr. Das said the Sadhu told him.
One guard, a Hindu, took the afternoon and evening shift. Another guard, a Muslim, took night watch, Mr. Das said he was told.
The Hindu guard agreed to let Abhiram Das and a small group of Sadhus sneak into the mosque with an idol of Ram during his watch, Abhiram Das told his disciple, adding: "We took the Hindu guard into confidence by telling him about the virtues he will earn by being part of this extremely holy work."
The Hindu guard would then hand over the keys to the Muslim guard at midnight, as usual; Mr. Das said the Sadhu told him.
On the other hand, the Muslim guard was "briefed" by Guru Dutt Singh and K.K. Nayar "what he had to do," according to Guru Dutt Singh's son. He was threatened with his life if he did not cooperate, Mr. Singh's son said. The guards and their descendants couldn't be traced.
The statue of Ram would be about seven inches tall, made of eight metals, and would depict an infant – a "Ram Lalla" – befitting the place of his birth.
Both Mr. Singh, the city magistrate, and Mr. Nayar, the district magistrate, knew how furious Nehru and the government in New Delhi would be if the mosque was infringed upon, said Mr. Singh's son. They both decided that they would resign rather than obey any order to remove the statue, he said.
Other details fell into place and the meetings ended around October 1949, according to Mr. Singh's son. Now, the planners had to await their moment.
In late November 1949, religious friction in Ayodhya was on the rise. Sadhus and devotees of Ram lit sacred fires outside the mosque and read from the Ramayan as they listened to speeches about how Ram should be returned to his birthplace. Members of the crowd scuffled with local Muslims.
The planners, said Mr. Singh's son, set their date for soon after: The night of Dec. 22, 1949, a Thursday.
"We decided that since the country has now got political liberation, we should also liberate the birthplace of Lord Ram," Abhiram Das told Mr. Das, the latter said.
In the chill of the north Indian winter, the Hindu guard ended his shift that night. But before he left, as planned, Abhiram Das and two other Sadhus gained access, Abhiram Das told his disciple.
When the Muslim guard came for his round of duty, the Hindu guard handed over the keys. Around 3 a.m., an auspicious time in Hinduism, Abhiram Das and the other sadhus started ringing small bells inside the mosque. They lit a lamp and sang to the tiny idol that was placed on the pulpit under the central dome: "God appeared, compassionate and benevolent," the sadhu told his disciple.
The Muslim guard made a statement to local authorities soon after that at around 3 a.m. he saw the area under the central dome bathed in a golden light, according to Mr. Singh's son and others. He said the light illuminated a tiny figure of Ram that seemed to have appeared by itself.
The Muslim guard's "revelation" and the statement had been planned in advance to appear to bear witness to a religious miracle, said Mr. Singh's son.
Bindeshwari Prasad, a sadhu living in Ayodhya, was there that night, the youngest of a group of sadhus camped outside, he said in an interview at the red-brick ashram where he now lives. He described the events in mystical terms.
"I and other people sleeping there that night saw Ram Lalla in our dreams; we all woke up at 3 in the morning," Mr. Prasad said, his voice a whisper and his skin stretched like bark on his aged body. He claimed they could see the idol on the floor through the railings.
Abhiram Das was there, he recalled. The lock to the mosque was broken and the group of sadhus entered. "We went near the Lord and sang religious hymns and worshipped him," said Mr. Prasad.
Armed constables, alerted to what was happening, shot a few rounds in the air, Mr. Prasad said. A bullet grazed his abdomen, he said, pointing to the spot. He said another sadhu took a bullet in the toe.
Mr. Singh's son said the police had instructions only to fire in the air, as part of the planning his father and the others had done.
Back at Lorpur House, Guru Dutt Singh was kept informed of what was happening by two messengers who worked in a bicycle relay from Ayodhya to Faizabad to convey the latest news, his son said.
Mr. Singh, in turn, entrusted a Hindu employee in the household to take hand-written messages to K.K. Nayar with a special order to give the missives only to him. "That was how they communicated," said Mr. Singh's son.
When the officials realized the statue had been successfully installed, and the mosque was filled with sadhus, Mr. Singh and Mr. Nayar took a car to the site, according to Mr. Singh's son and Mr. Prasad.
Later that morning, Mr. Singh offered prayers, or puja, in Lorpur House, his son said: "I don't know what he said but it is my understanding that he was telling God, 'Let happen what has been happening.'"
Then Mr. Singh imposed an order that prohibited the gathering of large groups of people in Ayodhya. But he made it clear to police that they were not to obstruct Hindus, his son said.
After, Mr. Singh left his Faizabad home for nearby government accommodation where visiting officials stayed. He gave instructions that if anyone inquired about his whereabouts, they were to be told he was "out of station," his son said.
Word spread quickly to neighboring communities. Thousands of Hindu devotees came to see the idol in the mosque.
Abhiram Das helped whip up enthusiasm. That day, Dec. 23, he visited a local school. Rajendra Singh, the son of a local officer of the Hindu Mahasabha, the conservative Hindu party, was a pupil then.
"Lord Ram has appeared! Lord Ram has appeared!" he recalled Abhiram Das saying.
There was a dissident voice among the local sadhus. Akshaya Brahmachari was about 35 years old at the time and a devotee of Ram.
He also was a local Congress party officer who defended the rights of Muslims to remain in India "as equal citizens" rather than move to Pakistan, according to a disciple, Meera Behen, who was then a high school student.
There was rising friction in town that day as loudspeakers announced "the appearance of God, exhorting all Hindus to come for audience," Mr. Brahmachari wrote in a memorandum a few months later. But local officials, including K.K. Nayar, showed no interest in removing the idol or defusing the situation, he wrote.
He added: "Communal poison was spread in an organized manner and the attitude of the officials gave the idea to the people that either the Government wanted all that to happen, or they had completely given in to the communalists."
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/12/03/ayodhya-the-battle-for-indias-soul/
URL: http://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/krishna-pokharel-and-paul-beckett/ayodhya,-the-battle-for-india's-soul--chapter-one/d/9534


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Registration is really simple. Basically all you need is a valid email address and a decent password.
U.S. Cellular® Developer Portal is FREE to join! There is no cost to join the program and become a member of the community. You can also register a developer account and create projects in a sandbox environment for free. Register Now!
Once you have created a user account on U.S. Cellular® Developer Portal, you will need to create a developer profile so you can then create projects and receive the credentials for your APIs.
Yes, after you create your profile, you can create multiple developer profiles that are associated with your profile. This will allow you to segment different groups of projects for various purposes. Most users will have no specific need to create more than one 'developer' profile but if you have that need you can do it. Keep in mind that each developer profile will establish a separate business relationship with U.S. Cellular®.
Once you have created a Developer profile you need to create a project so you can receive your credentials for using the APIs. This is a straightforward process. In your Developer profile, simply click on Create a Project and complete the required details.
YES! We encourage you to develop projects and promote them to production. You can create projects under your developer profile. When you create a new project it will be in 'Sandbox' status.
When you create a project it will be in 'Sandbox' status. This will give you very restrictive and limited access to endpoints while you are developing your application or service. You will have a maximum of 100 live transactions in the sandbox. These sandbox transactions are a finite and precious resource for you as a developer so be sure to use them carefully.
No, the Terms and Conditions of use restrict the use of endpoint credentials to a single project. This is to isolate your projects from each other. If you have a project that is mis-behaving or needs to be isolated for whatever reason, we can easily suspend the specific endpoints in use based on credentials associated with your project until you resolve the issue. If you reuse these endpoints across multiple projects, shutting down the endpoint would affect ALL projects that were using that endpoint. It only takes a minute to create a new project and it's easy and free.
Yes, there is a prescribed architecture for using the APIs. Basically, it is a client/server architecture that requires that your service have a server to act as the single connection point to the API interface. If you have mobile or desktop clients, they must communicate to your server and allow the server to invoke API calls and pass the response back to the client. Mobile or Desktop clients must not call the APIs directly.
There are a couple of reasons. First, we want to ensure that we don't have several hundred clients calling the API directly using your credentials. This poses a security risk to your service and could negatively impact your revenue stream or your billable activity. Second, there is business logic that is required for these services to really shine. Things such as managing users privacy permissions or doing informed consent for purchase. These cannot be done if there is no server.
Try posting your question on the Forums. Moderators review the forums regularly and will be able to respond there for the benefit of all. This is the preferred method as everyone can benefit from your question and the answer.
If you have a question of a more personal nature and don't want to expose yourself to everyone, send your inquiry via our Contact Us form. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.
U.S. Cellular supports the oneAPI v2.0 SMS REST. Long numbers are supported, however, this requires additonal network testing. We strongly encourage use of short codes whenever possible.
Yes. Delivery reports are sent to the developer.
The following methods are available:
Sending SMS:
Receiving SMS:
Yes. Developers can enable MMS in their apps using our MMS API. Please see our Resource page for further details.
U.S. Cellular. (note: this is not mandatory to configure). It is up to the developer on whether or not they want to receive mandate termination notifications.
When we notify our billing partner that the MDN has been cancelled, they then terminate everything on their end. The billing partner also sends a notification to the developer (only those that the end user was subscribed to) to advise them of the termination.
The initiation date is the anniversary (renewal) date.
No. The platform is not capable of handling pro-ration. However, pro-ration is not needed since the initiation date is the anniversary (renewal) date. As a result, billing settlement dates are not variable.
Yes. There are different ways of doing this. The most common way is to use a vendor-managed logic.

subset: commoncrawl


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Like any good nerdlinger, Simon Pegg is one of my favourite actors. It just so happens that I frickin' hate the unnecessary gimmick that is 3D too, so when I spotted Pegg mouthing off in a 10-tweet tirade (sample: "3D used in films not aimed at children is like seeing someone you respect trying too hard. Like witnessing your dad in leather trousers"), I couldn't help but post it. In true internet metaness-style, seeing Pegg's next tweet, linking to my post about his tweets, I then self-combusted into flames. Or maybe that was due to Jesus' death-glare, over my first (miserably naff) attempt at a blockquote image. Sozzlepops!
Simon Pegg is Worried About What 3D is Doing to the Movie Industry
I'm going to let Wags write my bio, and only wish to add that it's actually called Gizmodo UK, but I like the idea of a Gizmoduck mascot! Photoshop, anyone? Here's Wags: "KAT HANNAFORD LIKES FILM CAMERAS AND DRINKING UNTIL SOZZLED AND RUNS GIZMODUCK."


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N.B. This is an old mail to Vksuradkar! It was never sent, my outlook went offline before it could be sent.
So you are at Bankot or Hareshwar today! I know these places only by name. I wish I could be with you today, on this Sunday, when I have nothing to keep myself engaged, rather I have the whole world, but just cannot skip out of this hell, to take breath! For now, till I can get out of these four walls, till I am afraid to do it, I must console myself with whatever I can get through a 3 feet x 2 feet window!
Okay, things apart! I have written a post for the blog, but it is big enough that it is creating problems while uploading from home, I must go on net for uploading. I will do it after a while. It is almost a photography post with one-line captions below each post. I hope you will like it. I will give a link on twitter, so keep an eye.
The photos are taken at different places, on different days! The first photo captioned "you grew like a giant" etc, is taken at Laxminagar Hanuman Mandir. The next three photos are taken at Reshimbag NIT gardens. And the next photos from "You made me dream, this road leads to god" are from the Grotto of Mother Lourdes.
I think I should stop writing now. Wait for my post, hope to publish it soon, but I need to go out for that.
Cya 🙂
P.S. This post was later published on this blog named "Because you Love!"


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Puffing In the Playoffs 2010
It seems no one much believes in going to the videotape. After winning a game with a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to clinch the National League Central division and make the playoffs for the first time in a decade and a half, the Cincinnati Reds celebrated in their locker room with the usual bubbly and with cigars handed out by the team owner. The celebration, including the puffing, was broadcast on local TV.
Everyone watching saw players smoking cigars.
After receiving five phone calls complaining about the smoking Reds, the Cincinnati Health Department's spokesman said, basically, the video doesn't count. "The health inspector has to actually see someone smoking."
There's a perverse correlation between the stance of the Cincinnati Health Department and the blind eye Major League Baseball (MLB) is turning on what the video is showing. The health inspector will follow up, but it's unclear if MLB will consider reforming the system and holding accountable—really accountable—bad umpiring.
On the last day of the regular season, the San Diego Padres played the San Francisco Giants in a game that would decide the winner of the National League West. Andres Torres led off for the Giants in the bottom of the first and hit a ball that clearly—clearly—landed on the left-field line. Fair ball. Except the umpire called it foul. After about a couple minutes of protest and discussion, the call stood. The call cost the Giants a run.
If there's a unifying thread to the 2010 season, it is blown calls. If you need any persuasion to endorse greater use of video review, just think about the blunder made on June 2 by first-base umpire James Joyce as he called safe the 27th Cleveland Indians batter faced by Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarraga. Galarraga had faced the minimum 26 batters to that point, pitching a perfect game. On TV, live and at full speed, the blown call was clear. A replay in slow motion made it even clearer. And the call stood. The umpire later apologized and shed some tears, having denied a pitcher the ultimate accomplishment. The next day, Galarraga took the lineup card out to Joyce, who was that day's home plate umpire. Galarraga was forgiving, even voicing support for Joyce. Joyce was on the verge of tears, again.
Nice sportsmanship, but who cares? The gentlemanly behavior of the two did not correct the call. A study by ESPN of 184 games played between June 29 and July 11 showed that umpires missed 20 percent of what were identified as "close calls." Why can't baseball commit to getting it right?
"Part of the game," traditionalists argue. Why should it be? "It's the human element," offered a friend who would actually make a very good commissioner of baseball. Yes, but the "human element" that should count—the only human element that should count—is that of the players on the field. The umpires should be invisible and not only when they're good, but always. That's my argument and I'm sticking to it.
To that end, I'm also proposing that not only "boundary calls" on home runs—fair or foul, homer or ground-rule double—be reviewed relying on video from numerous camera angles, but that line calls and calling balls and strikes be left to video review or a machine. Tracking technology—think tennis and hockey—now used in baseball to train pitchers and give feedback to umpires, and sometimes to show on national TV (ESPN's "K-Zone") how bad a call the umpire has made, works well and can be fine-tuned to gauge different strike zones for taller and shorter players. The technology's "judgment" could be heard by the home-plate umpire who would relate the call to the players and the crowd by signaling upon hearing the "beep" for strike and the "buzz" for ball. The strike zones would become consistent within the game and from game to game.
The use of technology might have let us know quickly during the game of September 15 between the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Rays whether a pitch hit Derek Jeter or the bottom of the knob of Jeter's bat. The latter, it turns out, as shown by numerous replays and confirmed by Jeter himself, but only after the game and after the ump's call of "hit by pitch" awarded Jeter first base. The shortstop really should have gotten an Emmy.
Umpires are not happy about the prospect of using more technology to assess human performance. So what? What fan goes to a ballgame to see how well the umpires do? As Don Denkinger, a former MLB umpire best remembered for a blown call in the sixth game of the 1985 World Series that likely denied the St. Louis Cardinals a championship, said to ESPN, "I really wasn't in favor of replay, even after missing that particular call. I believe that replay has gotten so much better and it's so much quicker, that if it's handled properly, they can put somebody in the press box and have them make a decision very quickly and it wouldn't slow the game down."
And still, MLB is not likely to do anything significant to assure accuracy in a game that has become too fast and has too many variables to absorb the increasing number of errors on the part of the umpires.
Despite the fact that it's not always clear who should have won the game, baseball provided some memorable moments this year. Five no-hitters, two of them perfect games. Ken Griffey Jr., an exemplar of what's right about baseball, retired on June 3, but relatively few paid much attention in the wake of the blown call in the Galarraga "imperfect game." Mike Lowell of the Red Sox retired and so did Dodgers catcher Brad Ausmus, who won three Gold Gloves in his 18-year career and ends up number seven on the list of games caught. Billy Wagner, the fireballing Braves closer, says he's done after the playoffs. Say goodbye to Mets GM Omar Minaya (fired), Mets manager Jerry Manuel (fired), Braves manager Bobby Cox and Cubs manager Lou Piniella (both retired.) Joe Torre, too, after his first losing season as a manager since he skippered the Braves in 1984. See ya, Cito Gaston (Toronto manager). Hello again to Buck Showalter who took over the Orioles in August and piloted the team to more wins this season than the previous two managers combined.
There were the usual great plays, including one on opening day by Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle, who nabbed the runner by flipping the ball with his glove between his legs from foul territory with his back to first-baseman Paul Konerko after the ball had been hit off of Buehrle's leg and caromed past the first-base line.
There were the usual hopes dashed. Just think of Stephen Strasburg of the Washington Nationals. The hopes faded, for the most part, for the "Don't-Call-Me-Anaheim" Los Angeles Angels when their star first-baseman, Kendry Morales, tried to jump on home plate after a walk-off grand slam on May 29. He missed the plate, broke his leg and missed the rest of the season. That might pale by comparison with the achievement of New York Mets second-baseman Luis Hernandez who broke his foot before hitting a home run on September 18. It was the only homer by a Mets second-baseman, all six of them, all year. The Toronto Blue Jays, which hit 257 team taters, had six guys with 20 or more each, led by Jose Bautista with 54. Alex Rodriguez, Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and David Ortiz all again had more than 30 dingers and 100 RBI.
Last year's National League rookie of the year, Chris Coghlan, of the Florida Marlins, tore his meniscus while attempting his best Soupy Sales impression to celebrate a Wes Helms walk-off homer on July 25. The pie-in-the-face ended Coghlan's season. Among other ridiculous moments, Dallas Braden, pitcher for the Oakland A's, ranted on April 22 against Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees for crossing the mound on his way back to first base after a foul ball. A-Rod brushed off the incident by saying he didn't want to "extend [Braden's] 15 minutes of fame." Braden extended his own fame on May 9 by pitching a perfecto against the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that was no-hit twice in 2010.
The Los Angeles Dodgers saw their reputation tarnished by an ugly off-field divorce between the owners, or the owner and his wife who doesn't really own the team, but their lawyer—really his lawyer—changed a notarized post-nup dividing assets or... Oh, just let the courts decide.
A legendary owner with his own stormy past, George Steinbrenner, passed away. Oh, and those Cincinnati Reds are in. So are the Texas Rangers. New blood in the postseason. Nice.
Enough already. It's playoff time and you've got games to watch and cigars to enjoy. Here are my picks for the two leagues, followed by suggestions of where you can smoke in the playoff cities.
For the third year in a row, we've had to wait until the last day of the season or beyond to find out who's in and who's playing whom. No matter what happens, there are good places to enjoy a cigar in any of the cities with teams left in the hunt as well as in most of those already setting up their rotations for the playoffs. Here, as usual, are my extraordinarily "accurate" picks for the series.
If there's any justice, and I think we know there isn't, the Yankees and the Rays will end up playing for the A.L. crown and the chance to go to the World Series. The teams battled all year and the division winner wasn't decided until the last day of the season. The Yankees will open against the Minnesota Twins in Minneapolis. The Yankees should win the series. Barely. OK, maybe not. Yankee pitching consists of C.C. Sabathia, who knows, and Mariano Rivera at the end of games. Rivera has shown himself to be slightly mortal and slightly beatable this year. Andy Pettitte has pitched in four games since July. The rest of the staff is a big "if." The Twins will throw Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Brian Duensing. They recently have seen ballooning ERAs. We could see some real slugfests from two teams with powerful lineups. This is the first year in a long, long time the Twins have an outdoor stadium and weather is going to be a significant factor. The highs will be in the 70s. During the day. Gametime temps will be in the mid-40s. Yankees in four.
The Rays meet the Texas Rangers. The outcome of this series will depend on the health of Evan Longoria, who last played on September 23. The pitching for the Rays is just so-so. I really like the way the Rangers play. Is there a more powerful lineup left playing in the A.L.? If Cliff Lee wins two, the Rangers are a possibility. Plus, ya gotta love that Vladimir Guerrero had 29 homers and 115 RBI after the Angels declined to re-sign him after a miserable 2009. I'd like to see the Rangers move on, but I'm picking the Rays in five.
The Phillies are the strongest team in baseball right now. The "Fightins" are going to be playing late in October and should be favored to win it all behind the pitching of Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and a seemingly revitalized Cole Hamels. Philly has the bangers too. Defense could be their undoing. The Phils will have to beat the Reds in the first round and they will. Cincinnati has the N.L. MVP in first-baseman Joey Votto, but not enough else to beat the strongest rotation in the playoffs.
The San Francisco Giants took it to the limit against the surprisingly strong San Diego Padres. The Padres sat atop the weak N.L. West for 131 games during the season and kept playing better than anyone expected. In the last couple of weeks, the Giants had the better pitching and enough hitting, but played just well enough on the last weekend against the Padres in San Francisco. The Giants play the Braves, the wild card entrant. The Giants pitching is the key and should lead the team to a series win in four.
The Phillies will beat the Giants, but this could be the best series of all of them from a pitching standpoint. Problem is that the Phillies have all the postseason experience and are a run-scoring machine.
The series will open in the National League park thanks to the league's victory in the All-Star Game. Home-field advantage means a lot, and in a bandbox like Citizen's Bank in South Philly, the Rays have to pitch a whole lot better than they have all season. Yes, I'm saying it's a replay of 2008. Phils in six.
Again, New York City leads the pack in terms of number of places to enjoy a fine cigar. Arlington, TX, the home of the Rangers, lies in between Ft. Worth and Dallas and has one place within a long walk of the park. Philadelphia really has only one cigar bar and Tampa Bay (really St. Petersburg) offers the only cigar bar inside a ballpark. In Cincinnati, the riverfront bars on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River offer the best cigar opportunities and they are closest to the ballpark. In any case, below are our annual suggestions. Many are listed in our Where to Smoke section of the website. Add your own and let us know of ones we might have missed.
Arlington, TX
Perfecto Cigar Shop & Lounge
306 Lincoln Square
(close to the stadium)
Arlington, Texas
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Golden Leaf Ltd.
3032 Hennepin Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN
Stogies on Grand
961 Grand Ave.
Saint Paul, MN
New York, NY
The Carnegie Club
156 West 56th St.
New York, NY
Cigar Aficionado Lounge
Cigar Inn
1016 2nd Ave.
New York, NY
Club Macanudo
26 E. 63rd St.
New York, NY
230 Fifth
New York Market Center Building
230 Fifth Ave.,
20th Floor, PH
New York, NY
Patroon Rooftop
160 E. 45th St.
New York, NY 10017
Tampa/St. Petersburg, FL
Cuesta-Rey Cigar Bar
Tropicana Field (inside the stadium)
One Tropicana Drive
St. Petersburg, FL
King Corona Cigars
1523 E. 7th Ave. (Ybor City)
Tampa, FL
Gaspar's Grotto
1805 East 7th Ave. (Ybor City)
Tampa, FL
Atlanta, GA
Highland Cigar Co.
245 N. Highland Ave.
Suite 140
Atlanta, GA
Cincinnati, OH
(1.72 miles away, across the Ohio River)
Home of Fitzgerald's Cigar Bar
604 Main St.
Covington, KY
The Beer Sellar
301 Riverboat Row
Newport, KY
Philadelphia, PA
Mahogany on Walnut
1524 Walnut St.
2nd Floor
Philadelphia, PA
San Francisco, CA
Occidental Cigar Club
471 Pine Street
(between Montgomery and Kearny)
San Francisco, CA
850 Cigar Bar & Grill
(Smoking only in the courtyard)
850 Montgomery St.
(Jackson Square)
San Francisco, CA


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Messy flat
The first rule of being untidy is: keep everything off the floor
Robot vacuum cleaners are becoming increasingly popular, with a few companies joining Roomba in the market over the last couple of years. Neato is the latest to offer a product in the UK, with the XV-15 which boasts laser mapping, and a powerful vacuum – some of the other models are careful to describe themselves as cleaners …
...but in practice, these robotic vacuum cleaners don't really work that well. I have a Roomba and in my experience;
1) Perhaps it's because I'm particularly slovenly or because of my two cats but you have to empty it a lot. I dunno, but having to keep a watchful eye on the little machine to make sure it hasn't filled up seems a little beside the point to me.
2) It's good for a quick sweep around but doesn't have a particularly powerful vacuum so you need to vacuum properly now and then.
3) Because of 2), and the fact that the Roomba can't do stairs, you need another vacuum cleaner. I have one of those little Dysons, initially for doing the bits the Roomba couldn't but recently I just do the lot.
4) Occasionally cat hair gets in the little cogs and you have to do a full disassembly, clean, oil and rebuild job. iRobot make it quite easy but still, I've never had to disassemble any other hoovers I've owned.
5) My Roomba lacks the LCD screen that the Neato product has, which alas means you have to look up a lot of the little warning beeps and boops it makes when things go wrong.
6) Alluded to in this article, the Roomba sometimes fails to navigate properly back to the charging point or doesn't quite sit on it right when it gets there, meaning it dies and looks a little pathetic.
7) You have to keep your place relatively tidy, as alas it lacks a human's "hoovering around crap" skills and can easily get stuck on random objects.
Because of all this I've basically stopped using the Roomba and just use my little Dyson.
I really hope the technology moves on and one day there is a robotic cleaning machine that just gets on with it. Unfortunately we're not there yet.
sucks... but in a good way.
As for robotic appliances, well I just cannot trust any untethered device to "go it alone" no matter how well it supposedly works.
Plus, pushing a good old upright vacuum cleaner around makes for a good workout, I mean I can't get the missus to go to gym or ride her beloved mountain bike, so the Dyson certainly has a dual role...
Having a couple of Roombas, I wouldn't buy another. The battery life is short and the latest one requires removing half the case screws to replace the mounted inside battery. The external battery chargers for the removable battery version seem IME to die like flies. The later version IMO is very poorly designed with the IR sensors losing most of the signal in refractions. I now use a £25 Gtech ($29 Shark in the US). much lighter, works well and only takes a few minutes to do a good touch up cleaning job. I can put up with the slow recharge time and at 1/10 of the cost it's cheaper to buy 2 new ones rather than replacing a Roomba battery! Interesting toys.
If those behind-the-sofa pics are typical, it's clearly not worth buying. You would only have to get your hoover out to finish the job, and end up hoovering the whole lot by hand. I hope these robots improve eventually. I hate vacuuming and would pay $$$ for an effective robot pal.
- needs side brushes
- needs an extra narrow nozzle for some areas, so more intelligence
- needs to know the plan of the whole house. I'm not messing around with magnetic strips
- and much more, as Clarkson would say, "Power!"
1. ewww. If you have more dust bunnies than in the Ventblockers series here in El Reg, or an Western movie, cleaning bots clogging up are the least of your concerns. I see them as means to delay cleaning, not solving it permanently.
2. I got rid of persistent rhinitis by getting rid of rugs. carpet, and curtains. Solid shades are ok, easy to mop. Not much furniture to avoid too. The cleaning bot would be happy in my room, I guess.
3. If positive pressure (cases) work great for PCs avoiding dust, it should work for your living room too. If you are lucky to be in a controlled ventilation floor plan... but I digress, since most dust in a home is said to come from... us.
The coat is for cleaning purposes. Hazmat suit would be even better.
... I'd get one of my upright DC models, and attach some sort of robotic cleaner to it.
Maybe modify the cylinder so the pipe attachment is a 360-swivel thing on the top.
Would need a sensor to help it get over the power cable.
Then I would have a mains-powered robotic cleaner that had the dust capacity of a proper vacuum cleaner. smaller and lighter becuase no need for batteries or a dust receptacle.
1. It needs to charge itself, but it will only go 'back to base' if it can, if it's upstairs, it won't - so I need to take it back down to charge.
2. It doesn't empty itself and has very little capacity - so I have to empty it 5x more than a conventional vacuum
3. It doesn't do corners, so, I have to use a conventional vacuum to do those ... erm ... back to that in a minute
4. It gets blocked up easily, so I have to unclog it often.
This all sounds like a massive FAIL to me.
Point 3 is the kicker. If still have to vacuum the corners and edges of a room - arguably the most tedious part of vacuuming, exactly how taxing is it going to be to just vacuum the rest of the room manually? It's a 2 minute job to do that part.
Does it handle mats, will it lift the covers on the couches and vacuum under them? - nope.
In short, a useless gimmick. The amount of time spent 'looking after' it and having to manually vacuum the bits it can't do, makes the job of vacuuming a house even more tedious!
We were promised Jet Packs dammit, and robots - and all we get are poxy second-rate vacuum cleaners that suck.
Unlike any other posters, I actually do own the XV-15.
In my flat Neato works rather well, wife runs it about daily - That's the big advantage of a cleaning bot, you can let it do it's stuff while you're getting groceries or whatever and it doesn't mind doing it every day. Cleaning result is adequate meaning it does pick off a lot of gunk. Corners are not handled and you still have to clean up manually occasionally. Much less often than otherwise, tho. Emptying the dust bin is hardly a big deal considering it's designed to be easily detached.
I got two cats and pretty easy apartment with no rugs. Most setup needed was to place some plastic strip under certain furniture Neato would get stuck on / waste lot of time navigating - There's a problem with furniture that has just enough gap under it that the laser doesn't see it but the top of the robot will get caught..
Otherwise the navigation works quite well, neato will steer around obstacles like your feet when you're sitting on the couch. With latest firmware it seems the thing gets confused less often, previously it'd sometimes eg. give up trying to find a way out from under baby crib too easily.
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text:
Boston College looks for repeat hockey titles
Boston College hockey coach Jerry York has won more than 900 games, with five NCAA championships and enough Beanpot and Hockey East titles to fill the trophy case at Conte Forum.
There may only be one thing left: repeat as national champion.
"Every year we're trying to win a championship. It's hard to do," York said this week as the Eagles prepared for Saturday night's opener against Northeastern. "We try to prepare as best as we can. Other teams get in our way, though.
"They're just difficult to get, whether it's the Patriots or Celtics or Heat. But certainly our goal is to win it. If we do it this year, that would be a feat we've never accomplished. But I haven't been obsessed with that. We're not thinking of last year, trying to extend a winning streak."
The college hockey season begins in earnest this weekend, with the Eagles among the favorites to make it all the way to the Frozen Four in Pittsburgh on April 11 and 13. BC is ranked No. 1 in the U.S. College Hockey Online poll, with Minnesota topping the USA Today/USA Hockey Magazine rankings.
The Gophers begin on Friday night, when they host Michigan State. Minnesota returns all six starters on defense and seven of the top nine forwards from the team that won the WCHA regular-season title last year; there is only one senior on the roster, Seth Helgeson.
All told, this is a season that has a bit more buzz to it, thanks in part to the NHL lockout. As the work stoppage nears its second month, there are more eyes on college hockey. At Ohio State, Blue Jackets forward R.J. Umberger has returned to his alma mater to help coach the Buckeyes as a volunteer. And at Penn State, Division I hockey is about to debut on Friday night, against American International.
But BC and Minnesota are the best of the bunch.
"This is the most talented team I have played with," Gophers defenseman Nate Schmidt said. "Time will tell, but I think we have a good base to build on."
So does Boston College.
In addition to top goaltender Parker Millner, who took over the starting job last year and won the last 19 games of the season, the Eagles return three defensemen and 10 of 14 forwards, including four 30-point scorers. York has also added six freshmen to a roster that also includes a handful of sophomores expected to play bigger roles.
"The freshmen, they saw us get our rings and our watches they sat in the locker room watching us get all our stuff from last year. I'm sure that put a little boost in their step when they saw that," said forward Johnny Gaudreau, who had 21 goals and 23 assists last season and is the top returning scorer. "Just getting those rings and the watches, we want to win another one just because it's so cool. It's such a big celebration. We're going to know the team we had last year for the rest of our lives.
"It's a special bond."
York wants his players to remember that — and then move on.
BC won it all in 2010 and came back the next year with hopes of a repeat. In the 2010-11 season, the Eagles won 30 games — including the Beanpot and Hockey East tournaments — but fell 8-4 to Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
"It felt like all that work that we put in kind of came down to one game and we weren't able to perform," said Millner, who won titles as a freshman backup and the starter last year. "That year, you just don't look at it the same. We won everything except that one trophy. It's just not the same experience. I know that and I think all the older guys know that."
Captain Pat Mullane said the team has learned its lesson.
"We won all the major tournaments except the national championship. We took one game lightly, and just like that our season was over," he said. "Obviously, we learn from that, and make sure that every game we go into we'll be well-prepared.
"I want my freshmen to experience what I've been able to experience," he said. "That's in our culture. It's just in the culture that once you taste success, you want more of it. And you're never satisfied with, 'Oh, I've won one championship.' Once you feel how special it is to win a national championship, you want to get another one."
For York, a title this year would be the school's fifth and his fifth — his fourth at BC. He won the 1984 NCAA championship at Bowling Green, and also brought the title to Chestnut Hill in '01, '08 and '10. (BC also won it all in 1949.)
And even though he's second all-time with 913 career wins, he's no more satisfied than his players.
"It starts at the top. Obviously, it starts with Coach York," Mullane said. "His passion, his motivation, his drive for success — it shows through every day when we come to practice. It trickles down to everyone involved in the program. He's not satisfied with 900 wins or becoming the winningest coach of all time.
"He's not satisfied with winning last year. He's very much about being in the present, and he wants to win now. Winning in 2001 or 2010, that's not what gets him going. What fires him up is today's practice, getting better today, and winning another national championship in the future."


text:
WBT Alumni
The biggest and brightest stars once shined at WBT These actors, comedians, and directors are just some WBT alum who have gone on to Broadway, television, and film stardom:
Rob Marshall (Director)
Side by Side By Sondheim (WBT) went on to direct films Chicago (Best Picture Oscar winner) and Memoirs of a Geisha. He will next direct the film adaptation of Maury Yestons NINE
Scott Bakula (Actor)
Grease, I Love My Wife (WBT) went on to star in television series (Quantum Leap, Star Trek) and film.
Holland Taylor (Actress)
Blithe Spirit (WBT) went on to the television series Bosom Buddies, Two and a Half Men, and won an Emmy for The Practice.
Randy Graff (Actress)
I Love My Wife (WBT) went on to Broadway shows Theyre Playing Our Song, Les Miserables (original cast), and City of Angels for which she received the Tony Award.
Estelle Harris (Actress)
Bells Are Ringing, Funny Girl (WBT) went on to: Seinfeld Georges Mother
Ron Holgate (Actor)
Shenandoah, City of Angels (WBT) and starred in 1776 (Tony Award)
Susan Stroman (Choreographer/Director)
Gypsy (WBT) Broadway credits include Sugar Babies, Crazy For You, Showboat, The Music Man, The Producers. She received Tonys for all of those shows mentioned; also directed film adaptation of The Producers.
Robert Cuccioli (Actor/Director)
Jekyl and Hyde (director,WBT) Broadway credits include Jekyl (Tony nomination), City of Angels, and Phantom.
Kathleen Marshall (Dance Captain)
On Your Toes (WBT) Broadway credits: The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Wonderful Town (Director/Choreographer) Tony Award; A Chorus Line (Assistant Director/Choreographer).
Thommie Walsh (Actor)
Sugar, Good News, Day in Hollywood/Night in Ukraine (WBT) went on to My One and Only on Broadway (Tony Award)
Faith Prince (Actress)
Shenandoah, 1776; Broadway credits: Guys and Dolls (Tony Award), The King and I, Bells Are Ringing. Numerous film and television credits.
Charles Repole (Director)
I Love My Wife, King and I, Sugar Babies (WBT) Very Good Eddie( Tony Award nomination)
Suzyn Waldman (Actress)
Nine, Christmas Inn (WBT) Broadway credits: Man of La Mancha w/ Richard Kiley; Current announcer for New York Yankee broadcasts
Comedians who performed at WBT and went to greater heights:
- Elon Gold
- Stan Greenfield
- Colin Quinn
- Steve White
- Wanda Sykes
- Ralph Harris
- Jeff Foxworthy
- Ray Romano
- Kevin James
- Lewis Black
- Paul Mercurio
- Lisa Lampanelli
- Lisa Ann Walters
- Jim Breuer
- Brian Regan
- Dennis Regan
- Troy Cotter
- Richie Vos
- Cory Kahaney
- Gary Valentine
- Jeanette Barber
- A. Whitney Brown
- Adam Ferrara
- Judy Gold
- Susie Essman
- Darrell Hammond
- Joey Kola
- Bill Sheft
- Caroline Rhea
- Mark Weiner
- Dave Attell
- Louis CK
- Nick DiPaola
Other actors/performers:
Betsy Palmer
Dorothy Collins
Willard Waterman
Tony Dow & Jerry Mathers
Giancarlo Esposito
Yevette Freeman
Alan Sues


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Kate Thompson (b. 1989) conveys elaborate narratives and creates intriguing scenes of daily life through her distinctive line drawings with simple color palettes. "I like to tell stories . . . I like to draw things where people are doing things, people on bikes, on buses," she explains. Her work sometimes emphasizes individualized characteristics like distinctive hairdos and ornate fashions, while other times, figures are more indistinguishable, conveying a collective populace.
Since she joined Creativity Explored in 2011, Thompson has continued to develop her already distinctive comic book-like drawings, integrating simple color pallets and, most recently, applying watercolor and acrylic paints to highlight details and apply washes of color that unite the composition.
In 2012, Thompson was selected to exhibit in Pro Arts' annual exhibition of emerging artists, Bay Area Currents. Her work, Salsa Dancers, was featured on a CB2 pillow released in Fall 2013, and in 2015, Google selected Thompson's artwork to be featured on their prototype self-driving cars.
Read more about Thompson's creative process here.
See more of Thompson's work on Artsy.
On paper.
Half of the proceeds from each art sale go directly to the studio artist.
Price includes domestic shipping.


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Bisons blanked in finale
Following last night's defeat to the Red Wings and seeing their five-game winning streak snapped the Herd looked to start a new winning streak in this afternoon's game against Rochester. That will have to wait until tomorrow as the Bisons were shut out by the Red Wings 10-0 at Coca-Cola Field this afternoon.
Rochester jumped to an early lead when Trevor Plouffe took the second pitch of the game from Bisons starter Bobby Livingston deep to left field for his sixth home run of the year, giving the Red Wings a quick 1-0 advantage. The Red Wings kept pouring it on by scoring six runs in the first three innings to put the game out of reach early.
Making only his second start since June 13, Livingston (3-9) made an early exit after throwing three innings and giving up seven hits and six runs, five of them being earned. Livingston's three innings marked his shortest start of the season.
The Red Wings continued to pile on the runs following Livingston's exit as Rochester put up crooked numbers in six different innings.
While the Bisons pitching staff was getting roughed up by the offense of the Red Wings, Rochester's pitching staff was holding one of the IL's most potent offenses to no runs.
Coming into the game tied for third in most runs scored in the IL, the Herd was shutout in this afternoon's game as they were only able to collect seven hits as a team. The shutout is only the seventh time this year the Herd has been held scoreless.
On the bump for Rochester, Red Wings starter Matt Fox gave his team a quality start when he got through six shutout innings while only allowing four hits.
If there was one positive aspect to today's disappointing loss it is the fact that center fielder Jesus Feliciano is back in full form. Feliciano went 3-5 today and saw his batting average climb up to .362. Today's game also marked the first time since Feliciano's return to the Herd on July 15 that he had a multi-hit game. Feliciano only needs 18 more plate appearances to re-qualify among the league's leaders.
At .362, Feliciano's batting average would be 47 points higher than any other player in the IL. If he continues to swing a hot bat like he did today, it's safe to say by the time that Feliciano qualifies back he will still be back at the top of the IL in batting average.
The loss for the Herd now drops their record to 51-47 while they stand six games back in the IL North. The Red Wings improve to 37-63 after sweeping the Herd in the back end of a home and home series between Rochester and Buffalo.
BISONS NOTES: In his first game back with the Herd since July 15, Justin Turner went 1-4 today with a single in the ninth inning. The Herd will hit the road for the next eight days as they will travel to Toledo and Columbus for a pair of four-game series in both stops. Tomorrow the Herd will take on the Mud Hens when Dillon Gee looks for his tenth win of the season (9-5, 4.51 ERA) as he takes on Andrew Oliver at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night.


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Download and installation instructions for Windows
We distribute Scheme 48 as a Windows Installer file, which should work on Windows NT 4.0 and above (including Windows 2000, XP and Vista, but not Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME). At this time, the port is considered experimental. The Windows Installer file requires Windows Installer version 2.0 or greater to work.
The standard source distribution also contains the files necessary to build the system on Windows.
Here are some simplified download and installation instructions.
For more detailed installation instructions, see the files
README and
WINDOWS.txt in the distribution.
- Click on the following link
Download scheme48-1.6.msi
- Double-click on the file you just downloaded and
follow the instructions. This will install Scheme 48 on some
location on your system, typically something like
c:\Program Files\Scheme 48\Scheme 48 1.6\
- Click on the entry in the Start menu or use the command
c:\Program Files\Scheme 48\Scheme 48 1.6\scheme48to run the interpreter.
- Consult the manual at this point for information on use.


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Nope, the hunky Maroon 5 frontman (and American Horror Story star) doesn't have Atlantic coast property that's been left damp and electricity-free thanks to Hurricane Sandy — even if he did, dude would have a high-powered generator, no? — but rather, he's no longer got a say about who'll stay and who'll go home on Season 3 of The Voice.
Indeed, Adam may have the ability to hypnotize you with his carefully disheveled facial stubble or leave you daydreaming about what's beneath the precision-perfect holes in his deeply distressed t-shirts. He could even force one of his proteges to cover "Mambo No. 5." But no matter how the viewing public leans, he won't be able to stop the two lowest vote-getters from The Voice's Season 3 Top 12 from getting booted during Tuesday night's results-show telecast.
If I ran NBC — and didn't care about accusations of vote-counting impropriety — I'd send Team Xtina's Adriana Louise and Team Blake's Cassadee Pope to the guillotine during Tuesday night's show, but of course, a variety of factors will play in to who should and will go home.
Who chose a song that fit his or her particular style of singing? (A: "Not many of these cats!") Who was able to stay on pitch? Who looked comfortable performing in front of 15 million viewers? Who wasn't afraid to take some risks? All these questions will come into play on results night, and with that in mind, here's how I'd rank the Season 3 talent based on their output from Top 12 performance night:
Bryan Keith: Amy Winehouse's "Back to Black" | On a night of peculiar, often insane song choices, Bryan got all Katniss Everdeen and hit the bullseye with his choice of Amy Winehouse's dark and stormy classic. Sure, he took the track in more of a big band direction (and less in the vein of "desperate woman in the alleyway singing up to her lover's apartment window") but Bryan's loaded rasp still brought to life the loss and longing that are so central to the song. Bonus points for not changing up the female pronouns on the chorus ("you go back to her"), which added a layer of intrigue to the central soap opera. Grade: A-
Michaela Paige: Pink's "Blow Me (One Last Kiss)" | It can't be easy tackling a chorus in which every fifth word has to be censored (and replaced with a coy "shhh" sign), especially when you've been saddled with eyelashes the size of Monarch butterflies. But to my ears, once Michaela maneuvered her way down the steep Voice stairs and onto the main stage, she absolutely nailed Pink's current radio hit. As Xtina noted, even when Michaela reaches for her upper register, things never get "thin or screechy." I just hope that the likeable teenager's leadoff position — combined with the loss of her trademark Mohawk — doesn't hurt her when it comes to the public vote, making that "I think this might be it for us" refrain all too prescient. Grade: B+
Melanie Martinez: Young the Giant's "Cough Syrup" | There once was a little girl with a dye job right in the middle of her forehead. And when she was good (like with her delicate rendition of "Cough Syrup') she had real-world chart potential, her frail-bird tone proving to have some serious power behind it. Melanie's biggest problem at this point might be her shyness — or is it a carefully contrived "I'm just a bashful cutie" act? — that often leaves her staring at her shoes rather than engaging the audience. Stage presence aside, though, Melanie could last well into the Christmas shopping season if she can continue to find songs that showcase her unique sound while maintaining her pitch in the process. Grade: B+
Amanda Brown: Florence + The Machine's "Spectrum" | Okay, so "Spectrum" was a little disappointing compared to last week's epic cover of "Dream On." But did anyone else feel as though the coaches (even Amanda's team leader Adam) were grading her on a very tough curve, pointing out her minor imperfections while letting her competitors skate by despite much more significant vocal glitches? I thought Amanda sounded great on the full-throttle wail of the chorus, and brought a great sense of theatricality to the number with her "pose"/"pose"/"face" shenanigans. If she gets booted off one slightly subpar performance, I'm going to flip over my TV stand and disconnect my cable till the new year. (I'm not kidding! Or at least I don't feel like I am!) Grade: B+
Dez Duron: Lauryn Hill's "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" | Dez is not generally one of my favorites this season, but this week turned out to be a perfect storm of the exact right song, the exact right staging, and the exact right head of hair. The end result was a soothing slice of soul that helped make bearable some of the less pleasing holleration that went down later in the episode. Grade: B
Trevin Hunte: Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman" | Another week, another stupifyingly obvious song choice for Trevin. And while there's no argument that the kid has serious pipes, I'm still not convinced that he or his coach know how to utilize said instrument in a way that feels current or inventive or exciting. (This week, it felt like Trevin was singing a series of glory notes, without any of the world-weariness required to animate Percy Sledge's decades-old ballad.) It's almost as if Cee Lo strictly limiting his protege to a playlist of big soul ballads that have been previously covered on Idol, The Voice, or The X Factor, not even bothering to consider something offbeat or upbeat for the soft-spoken teenager. But if none of his fellow coaches is willing to call out Mr. Green for his lack of imagination, what are the chances we'll see any progress next week? Grade: B-
Nicholas David: Huey Lewis and the News' "Power of Love" | Speaking of Cee Lo's trouble with song selection, I'm still scratching my head about his choice of a dated, "lite jazz" arrangement of "Power of Love" for Nicholas. I mean, if Purrfect the Cat's owner is determined to take the grooviest hippie that ever appeared on a reality singing competition and make him seem totally forgettable, maybe it's not too early to give Season 4 coaches Shakira or Usher a one-week trial run now? Grade: B-
Cody Belew: Tina Turner's "The Best" | This wasn't a terrible vocal from Cody by any stretch of the imagination — although he did go flat at times while trying to be heard above Bandzilla's machinations — but if I had to make a list of the top 10,000 songs dude could/should cover this season, I don't think "The Best" would manage to finish at 10,001. I mean, as "One More Try" proved last week, Cody is a soulful crooner at heart. So why saddle him with an '80s-era, midtempo lite-rock anthem? Is Cee Lo not interested in winning, or simply unaware of how to navigate his singers to victory? Grade: B-
Terry McDermott: Boston's "More Than a Feeling" | If Blake is going to waste Terry's talent on another classic rock anthem with a range that's slightly beyond the Scotsman's reach, then I'm not going to waste more than a sentence critiquing it. Grade: B-
Cassadee Pope: Kelly Clarkson's "Behind These Hazel Eyes" | I know, I know, Blake keeps reminding us that America loves Cassadee, and that she's a total superstar, and that her voice can cure the common cold. And yet once again, here I am wondering what all the fuss is about. The opening verse of "Behind These Hazel Eyes" was flatter than an iPad screen, and on the bridge, the ends of Cassadee's phrases disappated into nothingness. The second half of the performance was a vast improvement — no doubt Cassadee nailed those tricky high notes — but the parts simply didn't add up to a satisfying whole. Grade: B-
Sylvia Yacoub: Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" | When Adam mentioned "Leo and the boat" in his critique, you know what he was really thinking was that Sylvia's performance brought to mind the final scenes of Titanic. Because after her hot mess of a Celine Dion cover, Sylvia's Voice dreams are water-logged and shivering, adrift in the Atlantic, clinging to a piece of wood and hoping maybe Michaela or Cody will slip off and make a tiny bit of room for her on next week's show. I suppose Xtina was right that Sylvia made the ballad her own, insomuch that the song became virtually unrecognizable thanks to a tidal wave of sharp and flat notes. If somehow Sylvia survives till next week, here's hoping she puts a fork in the plan to turn her into a generic pop diva, and instead shifts gears toward the more restrained, piano-playing artiste she hinted at during the Live Playoff rounds. Grade: C-
Adriana Louise: Carrie Underwood's "Good Girl" | Adriana covering Carrie Underwood was akin to entering a Shetland pony in the Kentucky Derby: It had no business being there, and it resulted in an ugly, last-place finish. I couldn't believe my ears when Xtina started stammering how Adriana just needed the right song to shine. Girl, you're her coach! If you don't like what you're hearing, there's no one to blame but yourself! Grade: D+
And now, let me turn things over to you: Who were your favorites from The X Factor's Top 12 performance night? Who deserves to go hiome? Hit the comments with your thoughts!Follow @MichaelSlezakTV
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