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Anyone else excited for today?
Few days in baseball are like Opening Day. Things have been buzzing at the stadium since long before sunrise. Grounds crew members, stadium chefs and many others have been preparing to have 56,000 fans in house in just about few hours. Our department has been here for live shots on just about every TV station in town…
For those coming out to the stadium, please plan to come early and carpool if you can, or take public transit and use the shuttle from Union Station. Your patience is appreciated, as we always have more cars on Opening Day than any other day of the season.
Among the highlights to look out for…
– Pregame ceremonies including a 1981 Opening Day first pitch, a Salute to the Military and the national anthem performed by Placido Domingo
– New food options, including the Doyer Dog (available at Camacho's) and other new healthier options throughout the stadium, plus the new Dodgertown Deli on the field level
– Remodeled merchandise stands on the left field and right lines of the Loge Level (one is a Nike store and the other is Adidas). Plus the Top of the Park store with lots of new items and the Left Field merchandise tent with all your favorites
– Patches on the uniforms of the players in memory of Duke Snider
– Bill Russell signing autographs beyond center field from 2:30 to 4 p.m. in autograph alley
– For those on the United Club Suites level, an incredible historical exhibit is there for your perusing (for those who aren't on that level, it will be part of the Dodger Stadium tours
– The Phantom of the Opera, Davis Gaines, will be singing God Bless America
– Oh, and two of the game's best young pitchers squaring off in one of the game's greatest rivalries. There's a special Opening Day edition of Dodgers Magazine with Kershaw and Lincecum on the cover, available today only in stadium!
If we don't see you today, hopefully you'll be here for Fireworks tomorrow, the day game on Saturday or Sunday's 5 p.m. start with sleeved fleece blankets for the first 50,000 fans.
499 Comments
I'm so excited! Will miss the game, due to kids games, school open house and award ceremonies. I just wished the schools, & softball league work around the Dodgers Schedule!
Thanks Josh!!!
This could be the only SOLD OUT series of the whole season – one can only hope.
Look for the new add placed on the LF wall requesting fans to text on their mobile phones for a $10.00 donation to Frank's Defense Fund. We should have a text message to register a SELL THE TEAM vote.
Good Lord, bear. I hope you're kidding about that link to support mccourt, but I can actually believe it. Of all the gall!
Finally! It's time for Dodger baseball!!!!
So how can I change my Avatar picture?
NELLY love your Avatar pic!*
MESSAGEBEAR your pic is perfect for you!
I'd be more excited if I could actually have something post.
Go Dodgers! and Go Frank…back to Boston!
MLB Wins. I give up.
Davis Gaines used to send chills up my spine when he'd do our National Anthem and the Canadian Anthem for the Kings in the NHL. It's a little while ago now, but if he still has the pipes everyone will hear Our National Anthem the way it's supposed to be sung.
It worked enchanted – yeah!!!!!
Good morning all! I am watching the Yankee-Tiger game, and as much as Russell fell off the last few years, I hate seeing him in pinstripes! Uggghhh!!! I am excited for today! I will miss the start of the game, and will then have to mute ESPN and turn on the radio, but I am hoping we start the Giants' season off 0-4, or will even settle for 1-3. 🙂 Have a great opening day everyone!
So happy it's oppening day….GO, DODGERS!!!!!
Thanks Rosie!!! ETHIERAHOLIC I AM!!
this is the first Dodger Openigng day I've missed in 25 years. Sold my tickets. I'm still a big dodger fan but the McCourts have ruined it for me.
We are listening to the Braves/Nationals game, and Lowe pitched 5 and 2/3rds innings and did a great job. Braves are winning 2-0.
Martin 1/1 with 1 run scored and a 1 SB so far.
Whoaaaaaaaaa the time look like it fixed now.
Gee fellas, sorry I'm late to the party.
I don't want to see Russell Martin in pin stripes…I know he will do great, he is going to give it his all to impress all those damn Yankees' fans.
They already started a thread about him.
How come my message is always awaiting moderation?
It's PianoMan – Right On!!
I am going to go with an even 90 🙂
I think our competition will be the gnats. On paper, they seem to be the strongest team. However, like every season, you can never count out the Rockies. I think we will have a hard time against the other divsions due to their pitching, but I am hoping the gnats suffer the same fate. Only time will tell.
I've waited a whole year for this…GO DODGERS!!!!!!
Hi Everybody
Well it starts to count again today. I had such a busy winter that it seems like the '10 season ended yesterday. Boy how time flies.
I hope to some day place my picture in an LA cap up as soon as I find out how.
Glad to see you finally got in Dodger4life!!! Now you need to work on an avatar.
oldbrooklynfan – today we start from scratch 🙂
Well it look like the Brewers mess up big time not getting that one out on that ground ball hit by Rolen and it cost them 4 with a walkoff homerun by Hernandez.
"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are, you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference." – Tommy Lasorda
So it boils down to You win 60, you lose 60, it's the other 42 that matter. I might be going in over my head here with this list, but I want to look at the Dodgers the past few years (at least since the seasons went to 162), and see, by year, whether they won 60 or lost 60 first, and see what they did with those other 42 games.
I only have time to do the 21st century for now:
2010 : W60= 8/14, L60= 8/18, O42= 20-22, R= 4th
2007 : W60= 8/10, L60= 8/18, O42= 22-20, R= 4th
2005 : W60= 8/29, L60= 8/4, O42= 11-31, R= 4th
2003 : W60= 8/9, L60= 8/19, O42= 25-17, R= 2nd
2002 : W60= 7/31, L60= 9/8, O42= 32-10, R= 3rd
2001 : W60= 7/27, L60= 8/28, O42= 26-16, R= 3rd
2000 : W60= 8/13, L60= 8/20, O42= 26-16, R= 2nd
Hover the cursor over the dates and results to see the Dodgers' record when they won their 60th, lost their 60th, and their final record for the season.
Took entirely too much time, gotta run to be on time for work… Happy Opening
Day Night, everyone!
think want the Dodgers to finish with 42 wins.
Eighteen games w/SF
Eighteen games w/SD
Six games w/Anaheim
My pick is 79 Wins.
On the plus side I think Frank will start experiencing serious trouble with his finances. I'm also thinking optimistically that Bud may be inclined at this point not to approve any big loans no matter the source, and that would really hurt Frank – may even become the convincing factor to have him SELL THE TEAM.
Welcome to the dark side of .500 Bear!!
Let's Go Dodgers, Let's Go!!
Down the Hatch!!
I was on the SF blog on yahoo and I just read the last part even the blog manager was shocked how bad Broxton was.
Pitcher to watch
Tim Lincecum. Because he's good.
If you're looking for a Dodgers pitcher to watch, try Jonathan Broxton. Hopefully the Giants don't have to see him — and I mean that both in a competitive and aesthetic way — but if they do, he's a big question mark. A big, big question mark. He was ridiculously dominant in the first half of last season, only to fall apart completely in the second half. Falling apart is too generous of a description. He melted into a puddle of goo. Without that puddle of goo, the Giants might not have won the division or the World Series. I'll always have a soft spot in my heart for that puddle of goo for that very reason. But the Dodgers are still going with Broxton as the closer for now. I don't see how he can be as bad as he was at the end of last year, but then I still can't believe how bad he was.
Hitter to watch
Brandon Belt! Shiny new toy!
If you're looking for a Dodgers hitter to watch, go with Juan Uribe. Give him a big ol' smooch. Pretend to make up with him and then invite to Lake Tahoe for a friendly fishing trip. And, for the love of Bonds, do not throw him anything in the strike zone.
Kid K
Way to bounce back Kershaw from Furcal error.
I fully expect for Kersh to have a breakout year. I just wish they'd put a better team behind him.
GOOOOO DODGERS!! ethier kemp barajas kershaw
Gosh I hate infield single especially when they was Belt 1st major league hit off of a good pitcher.
Cute pictures.
How about scoring some runs?
I wish you can edit and delete post lol I notice that tru made a lot of typo.
Of course Uribe had that double I guess he enroll in the Kemp bad baserunning class.
Loney is killing me!!!
Ned said " He was looking for RBI men " We'll…
jhall, any idea why in the world tony gwinn jr is starting in left??
I just realize Uribe never hit a HR's and he played over 35+ games at DS before he had some key HR's and yeah like 3 to 4 I miscounted last year. I also seen that Uribe in his career vs the Giants batting under .200.
Ned said it…..
Come on Panda ground into a dp.
Urgh damn it go figure he get a hit.
Come On Dodgers!!
Victory Flask Time!!
Hey that's pretty cool D4. You'll have to teach me how you did that so I can have musical accompanyment to my songs.
Picking right up where they left off last year. Can't say as it wasn't unexpected. I'm thinking they score 2 maybe 3 runs this series if they're lucky.
There we go and caught a break.
Woooo Hoooo!!!
There's your run Sandy.
I hate 2nd and 3rd with 1 out and we're still only get 1 freaking run and are we going to be the worst team to hit with risp.
Someone turned the lights out, yet the band continue's to play…
I love shutdown inning after we score.
Please no Broxton tonight.
Enchanted – What are you doing in that dark room?
When I first came on, your box was just a black square – LOL!!! Now, I see you are back – LOL!!! Too bad you can't delete a post – LOL!!!
I'm usually left in the dark Nells.
Especially last week, literally 🙂
Dang not a good way to start Kuo and gosh Kershaw could've finish one more inning.
For a second there I thought it was going to be Hong-Chih Sherrill.
WTG Kuo you're still the man.
Nice start and I didn't expect Kemp to walk 3 times. Let's get some insurance runs maybe 6 to 7 runs so we don't have to bring in Broxton.
Yeah!!!!!!!! I am at school (working on tomorrow's festivities) so I am screaming to the top of my lungs :))) While at home……………they are sitting there going.."crap" – LMAO!!!!!
Dang enchanted you just had to mention that Sherrill guy.
I love this Kemp guy a SB and a double about damn time Loney.
Are we going to leave another risp with no out?
It's nailbiting time – sigh
Pucker up baby, because Heeeerrrrree's Johnny.
Johnny says: Whhooops. That one's not coming back.
100 games that's the call, 100 games that's the call, take one down, The Boy's burned it down!! 99 games left to go till fall!!
What does Johnny say boys and girls???
What does Johnny say?…
You can rest your sphincter now Wally!!!
Now, tomorrow will definitely be fun for me!!!!! YEAH!!! WAY TO GO DODGERS!!!! THANK YOU!!!
My freaking gosh used Kuo/Jensen in the 9th. I hate freaking drama why am I'm not shock that Broxton would give up a run? I want the shutout so bad.
I had to reboot at the wrong time and miss Burrell HR.
Back to your normally scheduled breathing – whew!
What the over and under on games being so closed and Broxton giving the lead back I think it would be over? I hope Mattingley has a short leash on him.
I'd also like to extend a thank you to our 10th man tonight – Buster Posey.
Jhall – I won't have to say a word at home. Tomorrow with all the gnat fans here at school. That's another story – LOL!!!!
Well, that was easy…………………………..
Good Night and God Bless, Dodger Faithful
Great first win tonight! many more to come
Good Night Dodger4Life!!!
The gnat's sign was so bad. I mean it just looked bad. All the words were scrunched together so you could barely read what the sign even said. The gnat fans paid $8000 for a sign nobody could read – idiots!!!
WOOOOO HOOOOO GREAT GAME! Should of been a shut out, but hey DODGERS WON! Great job Kershaw!
94 wins for the 2011 Dodger Season
Just got home from work, loooong day, but at least I was put on the register closest to the 40-something inch HDTV showing ESPN. For a waaaaaaaaay busy night, it sure was quiet at work, heheheh.
I'm home now, and am going to rewatch the game on my ($99) projector in my room (this is why I asked for the thing for Christmas). No Vin tonight, there was a mix-up with my Gameday Audio renewal, but Orel and Bobby V. will more than make up for it.
I won't try to find the clip on youtube, but after seeing Brox close it, this line from the owner on "Major League" came to mind: "That oughta shut 'em up."
And for a peek from the other side of the state, SF's 680AM was broadcasting a post-game call-in show where they lavished so much praise on that Belt guy, they did everything short of calling Aubrey Huff the next Wally Pipp.
Sure is quiet up here. Nice and quiet.
It sure is Northstateblues!!! It is very nice indeed!!!
I can't believe that I'm the one who gets to break this, but according to the LA Times, FRANK'S SELLING THE TEAM!!! Dylan Hernandez's article is here . Glad to be putting this sideshow in the rearview mirror in the coming months (or, dare we think, weeks?), and maybe the core will stay, providing that the new owners are a bit more loose with their money than the old ones.
Between the Opening Day win and this, the past 24 hours have felt like a huge weight lifted off our shoulders. Hopefully we end up with some good buyers, and not just whoever's buddy-buddy with Selig at the moment.
How will I sleep tonight?
Dang this guy already started writing about this and wow $1,050.
Well now, that was a great win. Thank you, Kersh.
Now, only 78 more to go for the season.
Good Morning All!
GAME 2……Let's Go Dodgers!
I tried to change my avatar. Then I realized Trublu is using the one I had picked (b)LUCKY(/b), so I picked another one but I can't get it to show up!
I didn't believe it for one second Northstateblues!! – lol!!! If it had really happened, I would have heard Dodgereric all the way from Temecula screaming to the top of his lungs "It's about frickin' time!!!" Did I click "here" just to make sure? Me and my gullable self sure did 🙂
Didn't think anyone would actually believe it, but I was up late, and it was April 1st, so had to do something…
YAY it worked! OK got my avatar, now still working on my tags and now I have to figure out how to add those happy faces so for now I will go oldschool :0)
TRUBLUE you have great taste!
Go back the other way I hate this lol
This is why it suck to stay until the last freaking out. Some moron always want to start crap with the Giants fan.
Good morning ITD!
Great win yesterday and great day! We started our chant "Let's go Dodgers!" from Barragans restaurant where we enjoyed lunch. Quite a few Dodger fans there. Placido Domingo and David Grines were great! Kershaw was outstading! It was great enjoying the win with friends!
I'll go with 88 games.
Can't change my avatar. Probably has to do with security here at work.
Sorry I missed you! Do let me know next time you are back at Our Home!
I tried the Doyer dog on Wednesday. It was good but messy. I shared it between three of us and 1/3 was enough for my dinner. It had chill beans, nacho cheese, chopped tomatoes and jalapenos.
b Good Morning Ya'll b/
b Fantastic b/ game last night Boy's!!
Let's Go Dodgers, Lets Go!!
b BEAT THE GIANT'S b/
LOL!! Try, try, again……
>b GO DODGERS b/<
My class did such a fabulous job on their MLB Opening Day program. Any baseball fan would have been proud!! They read the poems perfectly, they pulled off their baseball jokes, the read "our created" ABC Baseball Book wonderfully, and they sang their hearts out during "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (the entire version, of course)
First Gnat fan that approached me this morning complained about the three errors, but other than that, it has been fairly quiet around here with all the gnat fans. I guess the bandwagon fans just found out they have to play another 161 games and the glory doesn't last forever.
There are four certain things in life Nells:
1. Death
2. Taxes
3. The Dodgers can't hit with RISP
4. 90% of Gnat fans are bandwagoners that'll jump on and of ship depending on the tide.
…and some of them are just plain IDIOTS…. family sometimes excluded 🙂
A little groggy this morning, I'll get it!!
Think of the < like you would a parenthesis. for right side which closes the parenthasis. Everything after that will be bold until you shut it off by close
Boy, it didn't like my explaination (by example) using the arrows now did it? Lets try that again. Left arrow is like a left parenthesis. The b is for bold. Right arrow closes the command like you'd close a parenthesis. Now everything is bold until you give it the command to stop which is left arrow, backslash, b again for bold and right arrow to close the command and return to normal.
Thanks E and North 🙂
Kershaw had
NINE outs last night… :-))
That was clever Rosie!!
I'm going to be keeping my eye on you!! 🙂
It's all downhill from here.
Enchanted Just enjoying the new toys Josh/MLB have provided us! I can't wait to see who will be your next inspiration (other than Ned & Frank) for your Dodger Lyrics, well now that Martin is gone (still 😦 about that!)
Rosie (AKA ThinkingBlue)
What's better than a Dodgers Opening Day victory? My Spring Break from teenagers, which starts in 120 minutes….
Jealous – I have two more weeks 😦
I had one in February so I really can't complain too much even though I am 🙂
Geez…that is inhuman…I haven't really had a break since January 3…
What about italic or italic ? Did either work?
Another experiment…
Pretty much epic fail…as my son would say.
One last time, for boredom's sake…
Double epic fail…I can't change color to the font.
lol you had 8 years old Giants fans complainting about those 3 errors.
Infinite sadness.
That'll get the fans to the stadium in droves.
And commenters around the sports blogosphere have been saying that the problem is that tickets at Dodger Stadium are too cheap. Wonder what kind of spin that'll give for the next ticket increase upon a weary fandom.
The problem isn't ticket prices. It's deeper than that, it's societal. The public today is a lot angrier than it has been. Not to get tooo much deeper on the subject in a sports blog, but it's a reflection of the rapid change we've gone through in the last 9 years and 5 months.
Some people use sports as their escape. And out of those, some people are prone to unleash their frustrations on what, to them, is a faceless public. To those who go to Dodger Stadium to get drunk and get in fights, they don't see anything except for color (in this case, black and orange), and people who don't see anything but color are very hateful,because they dehumanize a person to the point that they're just something to be used.
As someone who grew up taking in games in the cheapseats at the stadium, I'm ashamed when I read stuff like this. It makes me think twice about wearing my Dodger gear up here, which I've been thinking twice about since before last years' world series, because unfortunately in NorCal, brown + blue = something a little worse than just a baseball rivalry. And this stuff doesn't help.
Don't get me wrong, there's always been bad apples. But apples rot over time if you don't take control of the situation.
Hi everybody
That was a fine performance by Kersh yesterday to open the season and put the Dodgers over .500 to start the season and make Donnie Baseball 1-0 for his managerial career. We even got a save from Big Jon.
:think blue:
Great game yesterday evening, unfortunately marred by many stupid incidents both inside and outside the stadium. Overall though, besides the heat, the fans were passionate on National TV and everyone stayed for the most part till final pitch. Get em tonight Bills.
Go Dodgers Go!!
LET'S GO DODGERS! Hopefully it works!
It did not! 😦
– Uribe is out of the line up due to an arm injury. Here we go with the injuries already.
So if we went the Crud & Crap way of thinking (Nicknames for the Giants announcers) someone should be drilled for Uribe being hit.
Opening Shots
Clayton Kershaw had nine strikeouts against the Giants, tied for the third-most by a Dodgers pitcher on Opening Day since 1900.
Year Pitcher K's
1960 D. Drysdale 14
1906 H. McIntire 10
2011 C. Kershaw 9
1986 F. Valenzuela 9
1965 D. Drysdale 9
1937 V. Mungo 9
Dodgers have a job opening for a social media coordinator. Social media experience is necessary.
I know it's not the 3rd inning yet, but Dodger Stadium is looking kind of empty in parts it usually isn't at the beginning of the game.
Let's Go Dodgers, Let's Go!!!!
Way to go Andre for the productive out!!
Way to go Matt for the RBI!!!
Why wasn't I informed there was a game tonight?
I feel like Andre.
I see we already got Don his run for the night.
Uh oh!!! That was not good!! What is worse, I had to hear crud and crap say "outta here!" 😦
I don't think that if you started out with that as your goal, that you could put together as poor as hitting an run producing team as Ned's put together. Not only is it painful to watch, its unwatchable period.
Wow I get home, turn the TV on and we a loosing 3 to 1! What the F….k?
I just recieved a gift in the mail. It was a bottle of Soulshine. It's actually a 5th of homeade bourban, with a Caution label saying Extremley Potent
Let's get some runs Boy's….
This kind of crap makes me sick:
Way to go James and Matt!!!!
My earlier comment is still not posted, it's "under review for moderation"…
I just wanted to say, LOPES HAS UNLEASHED THE BISON.
Look out everyone else
OK, that didn't work. Let me try it again. The old way:
Collie brings this up every year about security issues and the gang influence there seems to be at Dodgers Stadium. This happened last year on Opening Day, but it being a gnat fan makes it seem worse.
I do have to say the bay area radio people I was listening to on the way home today were alot nicer about than I thought they would be. They were talking about how real Dodgers/Gnat fans are rivals but not violent. That the people that do this stuff are not fans and are just looking for trouble.
Let's get some runs boys!!!!
wooooohoooo! DROP IT LIKE IT'S HOT!
I am so enjoying the aggressive baserunning. Let's go Ferk!!
Me too, sparkle! Davey, Tim and, of course, last but not least Maury, have lit a fire under this team. Can you imagine what Kemp's gonna be like later in the season? He almost steamrolled that second baseman!!!!
Eric, that's what my "under review" comment pertained to. Don't see why it's under review, unless it's "too long". Basically, I said that, though some say the problem's that the tickets aren't expensive enough to keep the "riff-raff" out, I think the problem's societal, involving people who only see color, whether it'd be the color of one's skin, or the color of one's baseball cap.
But enough of that, WTG FURCAL! Thanks Guillermo!
I'd like to thank the Giants defense. This team needs all the help it can get to score some runs.
How that possible? Well everytime I post I can see mine but it always saying waiting for moderator. I don't want to see that no more.
Oh god I hate bunt single especially to guy name Tejada.
If a Huskie and a Bulldog got into a fight, who will win? I know an out of the BLUE question!
French, English or American bulldog?
I'd take the Fresnan.
I'll take a Grey Wolf!! The Ultimate Road Warrior!!
In that case, I take the American. Husky's no contest for a pitbull.
My Heart Bleeds
Red</del Blue</ins!
OUCH! Poor DodgerFan, but YEY!
Yeah, the Giants broadcast only showed him for 5 seconds, but it didn't look pretty 😦
Yeah Hawksworth we need that one.
The was one big out! I hope that fan is okay 🙂
Someone tell their Flower Child catcher he's supposed to hold on to the bat!
Kids these days… sigh.
Where is Shad with our Dodger Stadium attendance update?
Don't let them have our Soulshine Boy's
Oh man I can't watch Broxton…I just can't!
Come on 1 2 3 Broxton please stop touching us.
Great play Andre!!!
Johnny says Fu-Q Y'all!!!
Y'all can rest your sphincters now.
All right!! Two in a row to open the new season!! Is it too early to pass the victory flask?
Yeah!!!!!!!!! Way to go Brox!!!! The worst we can donus split the series now!
I'm write here Nelly watching the Lakers game and it was 56,000 last night no surprise there.
I am having typing issues tonight 😦
Hey jhall, you're getting pretty tricky!! LMAO!!!
North, I made a comment on the Times site that never made it I guess. I also made a social link to the problem….. somewhere along the line we stopped teaching our kids about class and started the trash-talking. I also mentioned that mccourt wouldn't dare throw these idiots off the premises – they may not buy any more tickets.
Yeah, I hear that. That's one thing I really liked about Chico State. EVERYONE held the door open for people. Might be a bit overboard to some, but it's a small courtesy that doesn't take much to do, and is a nicer habit than going around slamming doors.
But then some felt entitled by it, like everyone HAD to hold the door open. One kid (wearing a Giants hat, to boot) yelled at me when I let the door close as I was trying to get to class on time a minute too late, "Hey %$#%$#, we're not holding doors open anymore?!!" I almost asked him if he still had his mother hold i….
But the lesson is, sometimes, it's just not worth the fight.
2 down, 40 to go.
100 games! Thats the call! 100 games! That's the call! Take one down, the Boy's burned it down! 98 games left to go, until Fall!
It's Soulshine Time Boy's!
Look like I mean right not write damn where is the edit button?
I have no idea how long I'll be able to keep this up, but…..
2010 attendance after 2 home games: 100,621
2011 attendance after 2 home games: 100,834
Interesting – hmmm
Reeeeeeeally hoping to see a dropoff soon.
Blue Soulshine
Keep On Truckin…Eric!
Impress by Broxton for the first time!
Now I can have a good night sleep!
Here in NorCal, the air is filled with quiet.
And CSN Bay Area is reliving their entire loss in detail. I guess the Giants announcers can be enjoyable to watch.
That's cause they went to bed long long time ago! Too many errors from the Gnats!
LOL!!!! Hubby changed the channel 🙂
Nelly ask Bill, " If they have changed the flag pole @ the Phone Booth yet, or if they are going to delay that event a few more Blue day's! "
Bill says he doesn't know (laughing) but at least Dodger fans aren't being hospitalized for attending a game there.
That was 56,000 last night.
Good things:
1) Broxton looks like he may be back so far
2) Kershaw looked dominate with only 1 BB
3) 2-0 against the gnats
Bad things:
1) Scored 3 earned runs in 2 games
2) RISP is 3 for 18 (.167)
3) Gnats w/5 errors have given us both games
Yup that's true…but it feels GOOD to beat the GIANTS!
44,834 (80.1% full) – % is based on regular season capacity
They may not be purdy, but that's two the Gnats ain't getting back!!
lol look like are fans didn't get the memo.
Good Night ITD!
Good Night, Rose 🙂
Nice! I was at the gym watching the Bay Area broadcast and listening on my MLB 11 App to the Dodger Broadcast. It was nice to have them get the 2nd W tonight. I still had Giants fans popping off to me today. I figured out the term for them… they have this sense of "entitlement" to talk smack — even before they won in 2010. They always are yapping. Even in their losses they still spout off. I can't relate to that.
That being said I really feel for the fan in that incident outside Dodger stadium.
When will they do something about this type of idiot fan coming to these games. They HAVE to start to take names and boot these people out and not let them back.
Maybe after this guy & his family sue McCourt for not taking the proper measures for his safety McCourt will do something to clean this junk up. Really a horrible incident and it just shows that there are still issues there.
I know some say "well it's just one incident from a couple of punks" — but isn't one incident enough?
Clean it up Frank — there are things you can do.
So I just read another article about this incident and I'm just sickened about it. The guy is 41 in an induced coma and possibly going to have one of his frontal lobes removed. He is a paramedic in the Bay Area.
Josh this is a real tragedy. I know it's not the Dodgers fault but I really think and as Nelly mentioned have brought it up for years. There needs to be a strict conduct code that shows these people they aren't welcome at Dodger Stadium. There is a way to do this — it won't happen over night but with a strong commitment and starting somewhere and really cracking down on these punks in a year or two the acceptance of this stuff will stop.
When will the Dodgers say NO MORE?!
Lopes and Mattingley have created a monster in Kemp.
Lopes is like the Grey Wolf ….Chasing the Bison where no animal, has gone before…. Run, Bison, Run!!
Blue Soulshine under the moonlight
Let Em Hear Ya' Howl Baby!!
About the tragedy last night, yes, it's a tragedy! A life was lost! Not a Giant Life or a Dodger Life for that matter but a Human Life!
Being a fan4life doesn't entitle you to mayhem @ any cost. It simply entitles you, to undivided attention and spirit tor-ward's your beloved team.
What happened last night to come to end!!
The Battle is on the Field….That's where the enjoyment comes from!!
The Dodger Way and Our Dodger Pride is ours to be Cherished not Tarnished!!
Please Let's Make Our Soul's Shine!!
Good Night and God Bless Us All…
Good Morning, Dodger Faithful
They say keepin' up with the Giants boy
You can't back off one inch
Give us some front porch kickin' tonight, enjoying some of that Blue… Soulshine!!
Ready or Not here We Come
Click on Larry McRay to see another rendition of Blue….. Soulshine
Don't Stop Believing meets Soulshine
Man, I wish we could change font colors… also HTML tags such as this would be 8), :think Blue: where a logo pops up. That would lead to endless possibities, :16: :04: etc… However this is, so far… a Maior improvemnet…. Kudo's Wonderful 💡
Hi Evryone
Isn't it nice to see our bums 2 games over .500?
Let's Go Dodgers, Let's Go!!!
Hey lbirken!!! How do you like this new ITD setup?
Where did lbirken's comment go? Strange!
Lilly is bringing it today (so far). Let's get some runs for him today boys!!! GO DODGERS!!!!
lbirken's was right after jhall's lineup – hmmm! I was wondering about the attendance numbers too because with 56,000 the first day, they would have had 44,834 last night. Perhaps, but it didn't look like it. However, the rivalry alone will bring more fans, not to mention it's opening weekend, so we shall see what happens when we play teams outside of our division.
Spoke too soon about Lilly!!! Come on Ted!!! You can do it!!!
I wonder if I'm on ignore?
The "attendance" is the number of tickets sold, not the number of people in the stadium. So I guess it doesn't matter how it looks, it's how much $'s have been spent but not utilized.
Thank for that catch Andre!!! Whew!! Now go out and get you some runs boys!!!!
About time they got rid of that waiting approved for my comment. I wonder all those times I've been waiting and I can see my post did anyone else seen my message?
Hey Shad!!! How are you?
Sparkleplenty – I know, but it boggles my mind how people spend money on tickets and don't go.
Shad – I think we all went through that "waiting" thing. Some more than others too. You are the only one who sees those comments until you are cleared thru that waiting process.
Geez Tigers is Penny really your #2 starter.
B Penny 2.0 5 6 6 3 2 1 54-27 27.00
Nelly, this new format has got me all confused. Am I missing a link to ITD from the home page?
I'm fine hopefully we can get the swept but I'll be happy if we win 3 of 4 games. Yep and has been like that since the 1st game of the season. I also want to say why Don didn't have Paul leading off over Miles and it look like an easy choice for him and I hate when we leave guy on 3rd bases with 1 out and that flyball by Paul came 1 batter to late
lbirken – the link is under the "fan" tab, and the click on "Connect with the Dodgers" , and you will see blogs with ITD A's one of them.
Yeah Andre!!!
I mean swept=sweep dang I hate making stupid typo
Thanks. Now I have to figure out the new Gameday!
Well, that was short-lived 😦
Still having typing issues 😦
Damn that was too nice but that was a bark.
The wheel just come off like that.
All these dumb 2 out hits and where the old Giants at from last year hahaha
The Dodgers used to announce actual attendance through the turnstiles (remember those; they don't even use them anymore) while other teams announced tickets sold. My guess is MLB wanted every team doing things the same and tickets sold will always be a greater number than actual attendance. Not sure who decided to add the stadium capacity to the box score. Still, buying a ticket but not showing up still derives the team a lot of revenue because most fans purchase food and other stuff at the game (I don't). But honestly, why waste your money on a ticket if you have no intention of going?
Here another one damn
Oh great fox just show those 2 HR's than Posey hit off of Lilly.
Gosh damn it fox why did you show us Lilly face?
Watching the game on Fox. Not much to cheer about from a Dodger perspective, but I am enjoying all the EMPTY SEATS. I'm picturing a Screw You, Frank sign on each and every one of them. I hope they keep growing and growing as the season goes along.
We never play well during these Fox games. Not that I am using this as an excuse, but still……
I hate 2 outs 2 strike hit.
messagebear – and it's past the third inning too so the late shows are already there 🙂
I bet with all of those empty seats it be somewhere over 40,000+
Yep and I was waited for Nelly to make that comment.
I still can't believe there is a game on fox this early of the season. I can't believe Cain would be 3-8 after going 0-8 vs us if this score hold up. Cain need those 2 wins and I think Sanchez had won his last 2 games last year before we beat him and he was like 0 for something. Those 4 wins were huge for them.
Bear, you are right, the Dodgers did not do well on Fox broadcasts last year. Not sure how they did on ESPN games. Also, remember Dodger Stadium has a capacity of 56,000 which is a lot more than most of the newer stadiums. 40 K fans in San Diego or San Francisco is a full stadium with few empty seats. 38-40 K at Dodger stadium still means some empty seats. The big difference is those games in New York or Boston late at night and everyone is still there. At Dodger Stadium the seats behind home plate (full camera view) are pretty thin towards the end of most Dodger games regardless of game time.
lbirken – is that where people get the impression that being a fan of a west coast team is more of a social event? I bet half those fans sitting in those seats behind home plate don't care who wins. It's just more important that they are there and are seen IMO. At other ballparks, it is always packed behind home plate all game long, from the throw of the first pitch to the throw of the last pitch.
Nelly, I suppose so. I am sure fans leave early at every ball park, especially late in the game with the home team losing. Still, I see people leave Dodger games after the 7th inning regardless of the score. The West Coast does have a repuatation for being more "laid back" than the East Coast. I don't attend Laker games but I have heard a similar knock on Laker fans who arrive late. Perhaps to some it is a social event, a place to be seen. I maintain half the people attending any given Dodger game did not pay for the ticket themselves; someone (or some company) paid for the ticket. Some of those people don't even know who is playing. I pay for my tickets and I want to be in my seat before the game starts and I don't leave until the game is over. Of course, I am glad I am not at the game today but if I were, I would stay until the bitter end.
I hate count 1-2 and the last 3 pitches wasn't even close.
Nelly, sorry it was you who mentioned the Dodgers don't do well on Fox. Sorry about that.
It's okay 🙂
Gosh where the Jansen from last season this one look awful I know this is his 1st game but still.
One word – Honeycutt
Walking pitcher with an 0-2 count are unacceptable.
Meanwhile at the Yankee game. Russel just hit a 3-run bomb!
Gosh damn it
I think it go back farther than Honeycutt lol
I know Donny didn't want to take him out but the last 2 k's was prefect.
Oh come on I was happy he made the team and work his butt off in ST but maybe he need more time. Dejesus should had drop that on purpose to get the dp.
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the one hour pregame show of Opening Day? I was only able to see the game itself on ESPN. Thanks!


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News | April 11, 2002
Atlas III Chosen to Launch Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
NASA has chosen the Atlas III expendable vehicle offered in a competitive bid by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services, Inc. for the launch of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled in 2005. Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services is a division of International Launch Services of McLean, Va.
This is a firm fixed-price task order awarded under the terms of the current NASA Launch Services contract for intermediate-class launch services, for which Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services is one of two selected providers.
The prime contractor for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft is Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, Colo., which is responsible for spacecraft design, integration of the science instruments and the support of mission operations. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mission is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft will weigh approximately 1,975 kilograms (4,355 pounds) and have a 250 by 320 kilometer-high (200 by 155 mile) polar orbit around Mars. The spacecraft's instruments provide significant improvements in resolution and data volume over previous missions and are being developed by both U.S. and international investigator teams. The spacecraft also provides telecommunications and navigation support for future Mars missions. There is a 21-day planetary launch period for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that extends from August 8 to August 28, 2005.

subset: commoncrawl


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Amanda Seyfried in McQueen Pictures at 2013 Oscars
Amanda Seyfried Wears a Special McQueen Dress to the Oscars
Amanda Seyfried continued her string of elegant red carpet ensembles with her Alexander McQueen look today in LA at the Oscars. She told Ryan Seacrest that McQueen was working on the special dress for her for months. Amanda's not in the running for any individual awards, but her film Les Miserables is up for best picture against Argo, Life of Pi, Django Unchained, Silver Linings Playbook, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Lincoln, Zero Dark Thirty and Amour. She's showing support for Anne Hathaway, best supporting actress nominee, and Hugh Jackman, who's up for best actor, as well. She'll also be performing with her cast. What do you make of Amanda's look on the carpet? Be sure to weigh in on all of our Oscars fashion and beauty polls.


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Wild Mushroom & Smoked Tomato Penne Pasta
|Pasta, Vegetables
|Menu Part
|Cuisine Type
This pasta features mushrooms galore—morel mushrooms, crimini mushrooms and a mix of oyster, chanterelle and porcini. Adding in some smoked tomato, pine nuts and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese makes this dish very satisfying.
8 oz. dried morel mushrooms
1 1/2 lbs. fresh crimini mushrooms, trimmed, quartered
1 1/2 lbs. mixed fresh wild mushrooms (such as oyster, chanterelle or porcini), trimmed, sliced
lengthwise 1/4-in. thick
5 1/4 cups boiling water
1 lb. smoked tomato, large dice
8 oz. unsalted butter
3 large garlic cloves, minced
Kosher salt to taste
Fresh ground black pepper to taste
2 cups white wine
1 1/2 lbs. dried whole-wheat penne pasta
1/2 cup fresh chives, chopped
1/2 fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted
3 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1. Soak dried mushrooms in boiling water in bowl until softened, about 20 mins. Drain in paper towel-lined sieve set over bowl. Reserve liquid. Rinse mushrooms. Pat dry and finely chop.
2. To prepare smoked tomato, quarter tomatoes and remove seeds. Place on wire rack. Place in smoker for 5 mins. Let cool and remove skins. Cut into large dice and reserve.
3. Heat half of butter in large heavy skillet over high heat until foam subsides, then sauté rest of mushrooms with garlic, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms' liquid is evaporated and mushrooms are browned, 5 to 7 mins. Add white wine and mushroom-soaking liquid and reduce by half.
4. Stir in chopped, mushrooms and smoked tomato and simmer 2 mins., remove from heat.
5. Cook pasta in 2-gal. pot of boiling salted water until al dente, about 10 to 12 mins. Ladle out and reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water. Drain pasta in colander; add pasta to mushroom/tomato mixture in skillet. Add remaining half of butter and cook over high heat, tossing and adding pasta-cooking liquid if necessary to lightly coat, about 1 min.
6. Add chives, parsley, pine nuts and 2 cups Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and toss well. Garnish with more cheese and pepper to taste.
Recipe by Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Mich.


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|Connect with Us
The AAAS Annual Meeting is the most important general science venue for the growing segment of scientists and engineers who are interested in the latest advances as well as multidisciplinary topics and the influence of science and technology on how we live today. Thousands of leading scientists, engineers, educators, and policy-makers interact with one another and with hundreds of members from national and international media. Approximately 160 sessions spread across a dozen tracks are typically presented at the Annual Meeting.
Meeting Updates
Symposium Proposals
The call for symposium proposals is now closed. Decisions will be announced via email to proposal organizers in early July.
Poster Sessions
Submission for the student poster competition and general poster session is now open. Submit your poster proposal and find more information.


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I can still remember the first time I took high school students to Berkeley on a missions trip that put them in direct contact with prominent local atheists and atheist students groups on the campus of UC Berkeley. In one of our first lectures with an atheist presenter, the students were told that Jesus never lived and was nothing more than a re-creation of prior mythologies. The speaker used Mithras (the ancient Persian and Roman god) as his "case in point". He listed a number of striking similarities between Mithras (whose worship began several centuries prior to the birth of Christ) and the person of Jesus. Luckily, I was familiar with the claim and the true nature of Mithras; I was able to help our students sort through the evidence. Movies like Zeitgeist have popularized the atheist objection that was offered by our atheist visitor in Berkeley, but if you take the following steps, you too can make sense of the evidence:
Take a Closer Look at the Mythology
Pre-Christian mythologies are far less similar to the story of Jesus Christ than critics claim. The gods of mythology were not born of a virgin as Jesus was born to Mary, they did not live a life that was similar to Jesus in detail, they did not hold the titles attributed to Jesus, and they were not resurrected in a manner that is remotely similar to the resurrection of Christ. Primitive mythologies simply fail to resemble the Biblical account of Jesus when they are examined closely.
Take a Closer Look at the Strategy
Critics typically "cherry pick" from the mythological attributes of a variety of pagan gods and exaggerate the supposed similarities to construct a profile that is even vaguely similar to Jesus. Skeptics search for singular similarities to the Christ of the Bible and then assemble these similarities from a variety of gods spanning the centuries and originating in geographically diverse regions. Given this strategy, nearly any person from history can be said to be a recreation of preceding characters, either fictitious or historical. There is no single prior mythology that is significantly similar to Jesus.
Take a Closer Look at the Expectations
Many alleged similarities are extremely general in nature and would be expected from anyone considering the existence of God. The primitive cultures that were interested in God's nature reasoned that He would have the ability to perform miracles, teach humans and form disciples. These are universal expectations that fail to invalidate the historicity of Jesus. As Paul recognized on Mars Hill (Acts 17:22-31), men thought deeply about the nature of God prior to His arrival as Jesus. Sometimes they imagined the details correctly, sometimes they didn't.
Take A Closer Look at the Influence
It is unreasonable to believe that Christian conspirators would create a story designed to convince Jewish believers that Jesus was God by inserting pagan mythological elements into the narrative. Judaism is a uniquely monotheistic religion, and the God of Judaism provides strict prohibitions against the worship of pagan gods. It is unreasonable to think that the New Testament authors would utilize pagan mythology in an attempt to influence adherents of Judaism.
The more you examine the nature of the gods who were worshiped before Jesus, the more you will notice their dissimilarities and the dishonesty of trying to compare them to the historical Jesus. Take the time to examine the evidence, you'll be glad you did.
For more information about the reliability of the New Testament gospels and the case for Christianity, please read Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels. This book teaches readers ten principles of cold-case investigations and applies these strategies to investigate the claims of the gospel authors. The book is accompanied by an eight-session Cold-Case Christianity DVD Set (and Participant's Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured Cold-Case Detective, Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview, Adj. Professor of Christian Apologetics at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, author of Cold-Case Christianity, God's Crime Scene, and Forensic Faith, and creator of the Case Makers Academy for kids.
Subscribe to J. Warner's Daily Email


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OpenMedia Overview ‧ read
That's why Vancouver-based internet rights advocate Steve Anderson founded OpenMedia in 2008. The organization has raised awareness for Canadian net neutrality, helped overturn metered internet usage in Canada, and actively campaigns against mass surveillance.
Recently OpenMedia has widened its scope with projects aimed at protecting the whole internet—not just for internet users in Canada. Here's what you need to know about this tireless campaigner for online freedoms.
Safeguarding Canada's internet
In 2011, Save The Net brought together a coalition of organizations that worked to safeguard the open internet. At the time, U.S. cable companies were lobbying to end net neutrality in America. Save The Net raised awareness about net neutrality in Canada to defend against similar threats north of the border.
The biggest online appeal in Canadian history
The Stop The Meter campaign raised awareness about attempts by big Canadian telecoms to force metered internet usage on the whole of Canada. If they had succeeded, Canadian internet users would have been charged per megabyte to use the web, video services, and other online essentials.
That's unthinkable today. Thanks to the Stop the Meter petition, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) and the Canadian government scrapped their plans.
#TellVicEverything: Fighting spy Bills C-30 and C-51
In 2011, OpenMedia launched the Stop Spying campaign against Bill C-30, which would have allowed Canadian police to gather internet and phone data from all Canadians without a warrant. The campaign won over 100,000 signatures and Bill C-30 was shelved.
When Public Safety Minister Vic Toews launched surveillance Bill C-51 in 2012, OpenMedia got creative with a new campaign. Protesters used the hashtag #TellVicEverything to share mundane facts that C-51's spying might reveal—and again, OpenMedia won the battle.


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Times were tough for Dorothy Ariail back in 1977 when she became a young widow with three children. A schoolteacher on a tight budget, she put her children through college using a line of credit on her house in Charleston, S.C. Now she is an 80-year-old semi-retired grandmother with two sons and a daughter who are college-educated professionals—and she's still using real estate to manage her finances.
Mrs. Ariail owns several houses inherited over the years, and she has taken out a reverse mortgage on one of them. Her loan, a home equity conversion mortgage (HECM), is insured by the federal government and serviced by Generation Mortgage Co., the largest privately owned reverse mortgage retailer and wholesaler in the United States. Guggenheim Partners, a New York-based global financial services firm with more than $125 billion in assets under management, is Generation Mortgage's controlling shareholder.
"The little house I live in now became available right next to the house I had grown up in, so I decided that it would be nice to be near my children, and the reverse mortgage helped make that all possible," she says, adding that she rents out her other properties as retirement income while she waits for the housing sales market to improve.
While Dorothy Ariail is happy with her reverse mortgage, the product is often seen as an overpriced retirement income vehicle of last resort for distressed seniors. In fact, advisors typically avoid recommending them to their clients, and following Wells Fargo's and Bank of America's exit from the reverse mortgage market in 2011 due to worries about rising defaults, the product has come under an even greater cloud of suspicion.
"It would be a really rare circumstance where a reverse mortgage would fulfill a need for somebody. I've never done a reverse mortgage for a client for exactly that reason," says Susan John, chair of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. "There's always a better alternative."
Boomers and Big Business
Yet as the U.S. population ages in pricey properties they don't want to give up, the market for reverse mortgages is growing. In particular, HECMs have gained popularity because the federal government backs the program. As baby boomers age and home prices remain stagnant, seniors are likely to rely on them even more—and ask their financial advisors about reverse mortgages.
Here's the surprise for advisors who decide to give reverse mortgages a closer look: Under the right circumstances, there are times when the product may actually benefit a client.
"Given that many baby boomers will reach retirement with insufficient wealth from other sources, reverse mortgages are likely to become more popular," wrote the authors of a Boston College Center for Retirement Research white paper in 2006.
Five years and one Great Recession later, boomers are indeed asking about reverse mortgages. The number of HECMs has skyrocketed since 1989, when the Federal Housing Authority (FHA) started to approve this type of reverse mortgage. According to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association, just 157 HECM loans were made in 1990, the first full year they were available, and the number grew year over year until it reached its peak of 114,692 in 2009. With the continued decline in the housing market, though, the number of loans fell to 79,106 in 2010, the last full fiscal year for which figures are available.
But according to advisors who have already done the research, HECM loans are the most viable reverse mortgages now available, and they are the only ones insured by the FHA. If anything threatens them now, it's not a lack of demand. It's the risk that the FHA will go broke and require a tax bailout for the first time in its 77-year history: Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante admitted in November 2011 that the FHA is facing "severe economic conditions," but asserted that the agency's programs are actuarially sound.
Available only to homeowners over the age of 62 with significant equity, HECMs are a special type of home loan that lets borrowers convert a portion of their home into cash. The property must be the borrower's primary residence, and the homeowner must have no delinquencies on federal debt. Once those restrictions are met, the advantage of a reverse mortgage is that borrowers can use their equity as cash while they stay in their homes. As the reverse mortgage pays out the equity in a home as cash, the homeowner's debt level rises and equity decreases, and repayment typically isn't due until the homeowner sells the property or dies.
Complications and Counseling
To be sure, the product is complicated, borrowers don't always understand the risks and HECM fees can be steep. Although federal law requires HECM borrowers to receive advice from FHA-funded housing counseling agencies, those services are not always the best. A 2009 report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found inadequacies in the counseling process, citing instances where counselors failed to discuss other lower cost options available to borrowers and the financial implications of an HECM.
"HUD launched an initiative earlier this year aimed at improving the counseling services," Morningstar columnist Mark Miller wrote in an August 2011 column. "But more recently, Congress voted to eliminate funding that supported the counseling in a budget-cutting move, raising questions about how the program will be funded starting in October, when the government's new fiscal year begins."
Further, the AARP in March 2011 filed a lawsuit against HUD, charging that spouses of deceased HECM borrowers were not sufficiently warned that they were subject to foreclosure if they wanted to stay in the home but could not pay off the balance. In a second suit this year, AARP filed a class action lawsuit against Wells Fargo and Fannie Mae, challenging reverse mortgage foreclosures.
The good news, says Jeffrey Lewis, a senior managing director at Guggenheim Partners and the chairman of the board of Generation Mortgage, is the value proposition presented to consumers in terms of interest rates and how much is available.
"It is as good as it can be because there is no profit margin. It is the triumph of government intervention in a marketplace," Lewis says.
"The beauty" of the federal reverse mortgage program is that the government is simply trying to make sure that the winners and losers offset each other enough from the FHA's perspective so the program breaks even, Lewis says, adding that the winners are the homeowners who live a long time while staying in their house.
Like a Home Equity Loan Without the Credit Market Risk
David Heilman, director of business for Franklin Funding, the Charleston-based company that originated Dorothy Ariail's loan, suggests in an online note promoting Franklin's services that the tax-free liquidity of a reverse mortgage can create the same advantages of a home equity loan without credit market risk or the uncertainty of housing trends. Heilman suggests a number of ways the product can be used as part of a retiree's financial plan:
- The levels and term of life or long-term care insurance can be increased.
- Adult children in the "sandwich generation" can free up resources that had been earmarked for the care of their parents.
- Seniors who have lost money in the equity markets can avoid cashing in retirement assets.
- Retirement accounts can be left undisturbed while seniors use reverse mortgage proceeds to purchase a vacation home or fund gifts for children or grandchildren.
What's the smartest choice for borrowers?
"You can put an HECM Saver line of credit in place, not unlike any other home equity line of credit, except with one important difference: you don't have to pay it back with regular monthly payments," says Michael Kitces, publisher of "The Kitces Report" and director of research for Pinnacle Advisory Group in Columbia, Md.
Kitces says the HECM Saver charges significantly lower up-front fees by reducing a reverse mortgage's insurance premium to just 0.01% of the maximum claim amount. That compares to the initial premium of 2% for an HECM Standard reverse mortgage. At the same time, according to Kitces, the lower up-front fees result in less money being made available to the borrower—an outcome that many advisors may find preferable.
'We May Start Seeing Reverse Mortgages Used by Advisors'
"I'm hearing about a lot of changes going on in that marketplace that I think will make reverse mortgages dramatically more relevant for advisors," Kitces says. "I don't think advisors ever were really using them in the first place, but with some of the changes coming forward now, we may start seeing reverse mortgages used for the first time with some increased regularity by advisors."
Taking the example of a client with a $500,000 house, Kitces says a traditional HECM could allow the borrower about $300,000 against the house's equity. However, over time, interest on the loan could end up costing more than the value of the house, particularly if housing prices remain sluggish. With the HECM Saver, borrowers can take out a loan of just $100,000 plus interest. When they die, their children can decide whether they want to take $200,000 of their own money to pay off the principal and interest and keep the house, or pay off the loan and distribute the $300,000 that's left over if they want to sell the house.
"I don't care how bad the market gets, this loan is virtually never going to be underwater," Kitces said. "It's a way to take a loan out against your house and not have cash-flow constraints in paying it back."
HECM Saver or Standard?
The AARP, despite its lawsuits against HUD, also has given a nod of approval to the HECM Saver, according to financial journalist Jean Chatzky. She quotes AARP spokeswoman Mary Liz Burns as confirming that "the HECM Saver can be a better option for people who want to borrow a smaller amount of money for a short period of time."
However, Lyn Link, publisher of The Reverse Mortgage Critic website and a former reverse loan broker, counters that if borrowers are interested in using the Saver, they might want to consider the Standard with an adjustable rate, which helps preserve home equity, and then elect the line of credit option and only withdraw what they need when they need it. They would benefit from a lower initial interest rate and a growth rate on the line of credit, he says.
Link is emphatic in stating that a fixed-rate HECM is riskier than an adjustable-rate one. Lenders only allow one option with the fixed rate, the lump sum, while the adjustable rate provides flexibility to structure payments.
"Requiring borrowers to take a lump sum, which could amount to $100,000, $200,000 or more, puts them in jeopardy of spending their money too quickly and could leave them without money for later," Link writes in an analyst note. "With a lump sum, borrowers are at greater risk of being defrauded out of their money, especially by being sold costly or unnecessary financial products. Because interest and mortgage insurance premium charges will start accruing on the lump sum starting from the day of closing, the compounding effect of these costs will accelerate the depletion of the equity in a borrower's home much quicker."
Dorothy Ariail says she was aware of the risks of taking out her HECM Standard reverse mortgage because she discussed them with an HUD counselor, her local banker and a financial advisor. She also discussed the reverse mortgage with the lawyers in her own family. Her son Warren, who runs his own law firm, and her daughter, Bright, who is a partner at Rosen, Rosen & Hagood, both practice in Charleston.
"A reverse mortgage is good if a person needs a bridge, which is what it has been for me. My financial planner wanted me to understand it fully so that I would know exactly how it worked, which I think is good advice," she says. "Hopefully, if I can keep jumping rope, my children will inherit everything, and then they can go from there. Of course, they'll have to decide whether to keep this house or what they want to do with it since it's right next door to our old family home. My son and I have already been talking about how this house could be helpful for him when he retires."
Read Recession-Wracked Boomers Seek Reverse Mortgages at Younger Age: MetLife at AdvisorOne.com.


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The debate over who is better, Taylor Hall or Tyler Seguin, will reach new heights now that the NHL Central Scouting final rankings had Seguin first and Hall second. For the past few months many posters, fans, bloggers and members of the media have said Hall was the best, however, I've been a believer that the Oilers, or whoever picks first should take Seguin. I'm not sold he is a better player, but he plays the more influential position; centre.
For the past few months I've spoken with a variety of scouts who have seen both play 30+ times, and out of the 27 scouts I asked 13 liked Hall while 14 preferred Seguin. But everyone one of them had them ranked first or second. Not much separates these two, and that is why I've said Seguin should be the pick.
Centres have historically been better and normally they influence the game more. Of the current top 50 scorers of all time, five are defencemen, 15 wingers and 30 are centres. Eight of the top-ten scorers of all-time played the middle. If Hall was a clear number one, like Patrick Kane in 2007, then of course he should go first, but he isn't and that's why taking Seguin first overall makes more sense.
The Canucks have never won a Stanley Cup, and up until Henrik Sedin, Trevor Linden was the best centre they've ever had. The Flames traded their last great centre, Joe Nieuwendyk, to Dallas in exchange for Jarome Iginla. Iginla has been good for the Flames, but only once in 13 years did his team win a playoff round. And all we ever hear is how he needs a centreman.
One centreman won't change everything for your team, but it is clear a franchise has a better chance with an elite centre than an elite winger. Of course you need a goalie and solid defence, but a centreman normally has more of an influence on a winger's game than the winger has on the guy taking the draws.
Conn Smyth Trophy winners
C. Lemieux
B. Smith
Fifteen centremen, 14 goalies, nine D-men, four right wingers, and two left wingers make up the list.
Look at the Stanley Cup champions and strength down the middle seems more important than strength on the wings. No team in recent memory had more dominant strength on the wings than down the middle. Goalies and centremen are the most dominant positions, but drafting a goalie in the first round is very rare.
Since 1969, 947 players have been drafted in the first round. Only 54 of them have been goalies, which is a measly 5.7%. Active goalies taken in the first round include Martin Brodeur (22nd), Roberto Luongo (4th), Marc-Andre Fleury (1st), Cam Ward (25th), Kari Lehtonen (2nd), Pascal Leclaire (8th), Rick Dipietro (1st), Devan Dubnyk (14th), Carey Price (5th), Simeon Varlamov (23rd) and Tukka Rask (21st). The first four are stars, but the rest are still developing and some are already in their second organization.
Only six goalies chosen in the first round have won the Stanley Cup: Tom Barrasso, Grant Fuhr, Martin Brodeur, Cam Ward, Marc-Andre Fleury and Michel Larocque. Goalies have become the most important position in hockey, but their development takes longer, thus many top flight goalies are taken later on.
It seems that Stanley Cup winners are blessed with either dominant guys down the middle or great defence. Rarely are teams led to the Cup by a dominating winger looking at the recent champions.
- Crosby/Malkin/Staal in Pittsburgh
- Zetterberg/Datsyuk/Draper in Detroit.
- The Ducks won with great goaltending and two hall of fame blueliners.
- Staal/Brind'Amour/Weight in Carolina.
- Lecavalier and Richards in Tampa.
- The Devils won with Stevens and Brodeur with three shutouts in the finals.
- Yzerman/Federov/Lidstrom led the Wings.
- Sakic/Forsberg/Roy was the backbone of the Avs.
- Modano/Nieuwendyk/Belfour/Zubov led the Stars.
The last winger you could argue that led his team to victory from was Claude Lemieux, and he won't make the Hall of Fame. He was great in the playoffs, but he was known more for scoring clutch goals than dominating a series.
I'm not saying it is a lock that Seguin will be more of an impact player in the NHL than Hall, but considering they are ranked so close I would go with the centre, based on past history and the fact Seguin's 2nd year in junior was better than Hall's second season in Windsor.
The Phoenix Coyotes clinched home ice in the first round yesterday so say hello to Kristen. She is a veteran member of The Pack Entertainment Squad. This blonde haired, blue eyed beauty is a broadcast Journalism Student at Arizona State University, her favorite food is Mac & Cheese, her favorite book is Pride and Prejudice, she loves watching movies and she never shies away from a night of karaoke. Sounds like a perfect date; cook her some KD, hit a karaoke bar and then rent a movie. Giddy Up!
- Would you trade Jarome Iginla for the 2nd pick if you were Darryl Sutter? Or does loyalty to a player mean something to you.
- Will Darryl Sutter remain as GM, will Brent remain as coach? The off-season in Alberta will be fun to watch, but both teams will be revamping complete opposite areas of their team.
- Right now, who do you think will be a better team next year, the Flames or the Oilers?
- The schedule maker got it right. The Rangers and Flyers finish the season with a home and home series. Those games are essentially playoff games.
- I think Mike Gillis' patience will cost his a team a lengthy playoff run. With Aaron Rome, Shane O'Brien or Andrew Alberts as a third pairing they are in trouble. And all three might have to play because Sami "injury-waiting-to-happen" Salo is always a play away from the pressbox.
- Ted Leonsis is one of the few owners in sports who talks to the fans. His blog his pretty insightful and entertaining. www.tedstake.com Of course he is pro-Capitals, but Capital fans love interacting with him. He responds to their complaints and that's what the fans want. The Oilers should pay attention.
- I have no idea what the criteria is for the Messier award, but it's supposed to go to "the player who exemplifies great leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season." The five finalists are Nicklas Lidstrom, Jamie Langenbrunner, Alex Ovechkin, Ryan Miller and Mike Richards. I'm a huge Messier fan, but this award is hard to handout, because unless you are in the room no one really knows how good of a leader a player is. Richards has been getting ripped all year for being a bad leader, yet he makes the final five. I don't get it.
Here are the top ten in pts, goals, assists and other stats.
48: Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby
47: Steven Stamkos
43: Patrick Marleau
41: Marian Gaborik
40: Ilya Kovalchuk
39: Dany Heatley and Alex Semin
37: Zach Parise
35: Alexandre Burrows
78: Henrik Sedin
68: Joe Thornton
67: Brad Richards and Nicklas Backstrom
63: Martin St. Louis
58: Ovechkin and Paul Stastny
56: Patrick Kane
55: Mike Green
54: Daniel Sedin and Duncan Keith
107: H. Sedin
106: Ovechkin
100: Crosby
98: Backstrom
91: Brad Richards
90: Martin St. Louis
89: Stamkos
87: Thornton
86: Kane
84: Gaborik
+44: Jeff Schultz
+43: Ovechkin
+35: Mike Green
+34: Backstrom, Daniel Sedin and H. Sedin
+33: Christian Ehrhoff
+31: Alex Burrows and Alex Semin
+26: Tom Poti
***Patrick O'Sullivan has a big lead for the green jacket sitting at -37. Shawn Horcoff has dropped to -28, with Rod Brind'Amour is -26 while former Oiler Steve Staios sits near the bottom -27.***
PP Goals:
21: Stamkos
18: Heatley
14: Anze Kopitar and Gaborik
13: Mike Richards, Crosby, Ovechkin, B.Richards, Tomas Holmstrom and Teemu Selanne
308: Cal Clutterbuck
283: Ryan Callahan
274: Dustin Brown
262: Stephane Robidas
255: David Backes
247: Steve Ott
245: Brooks Orpik
239: Chris Neil
230: Matt Greene
228: Douglas Murray
360: Ovechkin
333: Parise
310: Jeff Carter
301: Henrik Zetterberg
297: Phil Kessel
286: Vincent Lecavalier
285: Crosby
275: Patric Hornqvist and Heatley
272: B. Richards and Kovalchuk


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Practice management is a struggle for nearly all advisors. While in most instances they know they should have better practice management skills, there is little agreement among advisors and their partners over what the term actually means, much less any empirical, public evidence on which approaches and programs actually deliver success in practice management.
So over the past six months, the Investment Advisor Group and ActiFi have partnered to help solve the mystery of practice management. Rather than dictate a definition or merely brainstorm our own ideas, however, we asked the people doing the work—advisors themselves—to do so, to tell us what they need in terms of practice management help.
We also approached the firms that partner with advisors on a daily basis—your broker-dealers, custodians, asset managers, product manufacturers and technology firms—to share with the advisor community where they are spending their energy and dollars on practice management programs (see "Pursuing Practice Excellence: The Study" for more on the research approach).
Beginning with this article, we present the results of what we humbly believe is the most comprehensive, objective research project ever on practice management for advisors of all kinds. Over the next three months in the pages of Investment Advisor and on AdvisorOne.com, we will share with you the key findings of this research, so that informed of those findings, your partners can better meet your needs, and you can use actionable insights from this project to better run your businesses, improve your profitability and best meet your clients' needs.
In subsequent articles, blogs, videos and web seminars, we will present what your partners are providing and identify the gaps between what you need and what they provide. In this, the first article, we start with the insights of the nearly 1,000 advisors of varying business and compensation models who took the time to answer a time-consuming survey online. We undertook this project not simply out of intellectual curiosity, but as a service to the advisor community. We believe the scope of the research, the numerous surprising findings and our intention to provide ongoing research and analysis in this area will constitute such a service.
Which Advisors Responded
The 954 participants in the survey (fielded in December 2011 and January 2012) were overwhelmingly male (84.2%). Since the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 69.2% of all personal financial advisors are men, respondents to the "Pursuing Practice Excellence" advisor survey constituted a larger percentage of men than the industry overall. In addition, 28.4% of respondents were over 60 years old, a significantly higher age than estimates (14%) from a recent report by Cerulli Associates as to the average age of advisors. Finally, nearly 40% of the participants had more than 20 years of experience. So, in general, a higher percentage of respondents were men, and they were older and more experienced than the "typical" advisor. That experience, we believe, makes the findings additionally authoritative (for additional data on the respondents and the entire survey, see the Pursuing Practice Excellence homepage on AdvisorOne.com).
Respondents to the survey also represented an accurate cross-section of advisors. Nearly 50% of the participants described themselves as "employees of a financial services" firm. Just over 30% called themselves "owners of their own firms," and roughly 20% described themselves as independent contractors. In terms of practice structure, respondents were spread across the five categories with over 60% identifying themselves as a "solo advisor" or "advisor with support staff."
The survey participants were spread across revenue categories as well, with those reporting annual revenue of from $100,000 to $250,000 constituting the largest percentage of respondents (28.4%) and just under 15% reporting annual revenue of more than $1 million. This revenue comes from a mix of areas, but the largest group (35%) identified themselves as deriving more than 75% of their revenues from advisory fees.
Finally, there was a broad mix of types of firms that advisors are affiliated with, with each category constituting at least 15% of the whole, again reflecting an accurate cross-section of the advisor affiliation universe.
What Advisors Do Now and How They Measure Success
A majority of the advisors surveyed (59%) said they have taken at least one of the first steps toward running their practices more like a business by creating a formal business plan. However, two of five advisors (41%) still do not have a formal business plan. Moreover, more than half of the respondents (54%) reported that they are going it alone and not working with someone else (such as a branch manager, field leader, sales manager or coach) to improve their practices, while the remainder said they were working with someone else to improve their practices.
As you would expect, success is most often measured by the amount of revenue a practice creates. In contrast, only 37% of advisors use expenses as part of their success metrics. Either monthly or quarterly reviews appear to be a common best practice (70%) of advisors.
Where and How Advisors Are Investing in Their Practices
The survey found that advisors invest both time and money in improving their practices, but over the past year, 71% of advisors reported spending less than $10,000 on improving their practice, which we considered as showing a significant commitment. Looking forward, advisors say they are most willing to spend more than $10,000 on sales and marketing (19.7%) compared to client service (16.5%), operations and technology (14.6%) and, especially, business services (7.9%). Another finding of note: Advisors are much more willing to spend their time on client service than the other categories. Fifty-eight percent reported they spend three or more hours per week on improving their client service activities.
The Crux: What Advisors Want From Their Partners
Getting to the heart of the research, what do advisors want when it comes to practice management? How important do they consider their partners to be in giving them what they want? Our survey findings showed that practice management is viewed as a key part of the value proposition that advisors are looking for from the financial institutions that service them. Nearly two-thirds (64.2%) of respondents rated practice management services as either critical or very critical to their relationship with their partners.
Advisors are most interested in receiving training that is specific to their practice. It is interesting to note that all of the options listed in the survey were ranked positively by advisor respondents.
Commentary from ActiFi
The findings of the Pursuing Practice Excellence research clearly show that practice management is increasingly important to advisors while the institutions that service them are likely to continue to provide ever-more sophisticated levels of service. The most valuable types of training deal with how to make practice management techniques specifically applicable to advisors. We'll talk more about that throughout the series.
The Partners That Deliver the Practice Management Goods
Broker-dealers emerged as the clear leader in not only providing services to advisors but in creating value. Advisors reported receiving practice management services from BDs (64.1%) at a significantly higher rate than the second highest firm (product wholesalers, 39%) and at twice the rate of all the other firm types. In addition, 65.6% of advisors rated the practice management they received from broker-dealers as "valuable" or "extremely valuable"; again the highest rated firm type.
Commentary from ActiFi
These numbers on where respondents said they received their practice management services closely match the percentage of participants in each area, so it's probably not surprising that broker-dealers are the leading provider. We'll have additional analysis of this issue in subsequent articles.
From a relationship perspective, however, product wholesalers top the list, with 50.7% of advisor respondents reporting that they have a "good" or "deep" relationship with their wholesalers. However, only 40.4% of respondents said they have a similarly strong relationship with a branch or sales manager.
How Advisors Define Practice Management
Participants were asked to provide a two- to three-sentence description of what practice management means to them. The word cloud in the sidebar below displays the most commonly used words of the 643 advisors who supplied a response to this question.
The top five words used were: service, efficient, time, financial and planning. The definitions advisors used were quite varied and covered a multitude of topics mirroring the above, but also include some off-the-beaten-path definitions based on ignorance, existentialism and even, apparently, Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
Commentary from ActiFi
There is a gap between the responses to the "How do you define practice management?" survey question and the next set of questions. When asked an open-ended question about practice management, the responses tended toward service, efficiency and time. However, when asked to tell us the most important solutions offered, a different picture emerges.
[Click here to view a word cloud of the words advisors used most often to define practice management.]
The Most Important Solutions Partners Offer Advisors
Sales and marketing services were viewed by advisor respondents as the most important practice management solutions offered. In particular, enhancing prospecting and client acquisition skills, improving client communications and improving asset gathering skills were at the top of the list. Interestingly, all 30 activities in our survey were marked as "important" or "very important" by at least one-quarter of the advisors surveyed.
Potential practice management solutions were divided into four categories. Sales and marketing was the most important category for advisors, with nearly 57% saying it was either "important" or "very important."
At a more detailed level, advisors listed three specific sales and marketing activities as particularly valuable. Moreover, at least 25% of respondents reported one of the activities as "important" or "very important." See the top 10 activities below.
In each category listed, however, advisors reported that they needed assistance. Sales and marketing again was the top of the list.
Respondents put help with prospecting for new clients (71.4% of respondents) as the top need. See the chart below for the top five needs.
The Most Valuable Delivery Methods
Practice management solutions can be delivered in a number of ways. In the "Pursuing Practice Excellence" survey, we asked advisors to tell us which of 15 methods were most valuable to them. Nearly half of advisors said that one-on-one coaching was either valuable or very valuable. Conferences were the second highest ranked, followed by advisor CRM systems, on-site workshops and individual phone consultations. Since this is the first year this survey was conducted, we cannot make comparisons to prior years' findings, but it is interesting to note that smartphone and iPad applications were cited by respondents as the most valuable practice management solutions delivery methods by 18% and 17%, respectively.
Five Key Takeaways
Looking at the results, here are the key findings from the advisor portion of the "Pursuing Practice Excellence" study.
- It's clear that practice management is critically important to the relationship between advisors and the institutions that serve them and will become increasingly so. It's obvious why so many firms are investing in practice management, with two-thirds of advisors saying it's critical to their relationship with their partners.
- The definition of practice management is broad and varied, yet key themes emerge: service, efficient, process, time, financial. However, advisors rank sales and marketing as their highest need. So there is an opportunity to expand the advisor's definition of practice management to include sales and marketing.
- While sales and marketing is the individual sector that scored significantly higher than any other area in which advisors said they most needed help, all areas scored highly with even the lowest (operations and technology) hitting almost 40%.
- While there are a wide variety of methods to deliver practice management services, advisors want advice and best practices tailored to their needs and want someone to assist them in implementing improvements.
- Advisors said they will devote significant new investment dollars to sales and marketing, while advisor time spent is most weighted to client service.
In the following articles on the findings of the "Pursuing Practice Excellence" study, we will look at what more than 50 industry leaders on practice management are thinking, and doing, in their firms on behalf of advisors. In the third and final article in this initial series, we will describe the gaps that exist between what advisors need and what their partners offer. We'll also provide some analysis of the differences between different types of advisors. A panel of experts will help clarify those gaps, and propose ways to close those gaps, in a roundtable discussion moderated by Investment Advisor Group editors with the assistance of ActiFi's practice management experts.


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Videos from Seven on Seven are now posted to Vimeo. For more documentation, check out the Live Blog from Saturday. Videos from the previous conferences are also available on Rhizome's Vimeo page.
Seven on Seven 2012: Introductions and Keynote by Douglas Rushkoff
Stephanie Syjuco and Jeremy Ashkenas
Blaine Cook and Naeem Mohaiemen
Anthony Volodkin and Xavier Cha


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29 of 40
Savory Summer Squash Quick Bread
Use up extra zucchini or summer squash in this savory version of zucchini bread flavored with feta cheese, oregano, and black pepper.
A quick bread is a great way to use up summer squash. This savory version of a zucchini bread recipe combines oregano, feta, and lots of grated squash, for a tender, moist bread. Special equipment: You will need a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan for this recipe.... Read More
View Recipe


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Dr. Grumpy: "This is Dr. Grumpy."
Clerk: "Please hold for Dr. Wokemeup."
(pause, bad music)
Dr. Wokemeup: "Hi, Grumpy?"
Dr. Grumpy: "What's up?"
Dr. Wokemeup: "Do you know a patient named Mr. Headbleed?"
Dr. Grumpy: "No, doesn't sound familiar."
Dr. Wokemeup: "I didn't think you would. He's visiting from out of state, and says he doesn't have any local docs. Anyway, it doesn't matter. At the family's request we're transferring him to Major Neurology University Medical Center. Thanks for returning my call."
And he hung up.


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OMBRE PREMIERE Longwear Powder Eyeshadow
- CHANEL OMBRE PREMIERE Longwear Powder Eyeshadow
- Application: Apply the eyeshadow with the foam applicator and blend with the brush applicator. With OMBRE PREMIERE, Lucia Pica, CHANEL Global Creative Makeup and Color Designer, unveils her signature technique, inspired by her expertise as a Makeup Artist: layering. For a very long-wearing, subtle yet deep result, apply OMBRE PREMIERE cream eyeshadow to the entire eyelid to dress it up and even it out. Then, to reveal and intensify the eyes, layer a CHANEL powder eyeshadow on top, playing with colour combinations
- 2.2g
We regret that, unsealed beauty items including toiletries and cosmetics which have been opened, tested or partially used cannot be exchanged or refunded, unless faulty.
An ultra-soft powder texture that reveals easy-to-blend, long-wearing and intense colour. A wide palette of radiant shades in three finishes: matte, satiny and metallic for a multitude of makeup results. Its case features a large mirror and two applicators - a foam applicator to apply and a brush with ultra-soft synthetic bristles to blend - making this an easy-to-use, on-the-go product. Spherical particles roll over the eyelid, creating a very soft texture for easy gradation. A high concentration of ultra-pure pigments reveals intense and vibrant shades. A formula rich in long-wearing ingredients for a dense and even result that lasts all day. Ophthalmologist tested, suitable for contact lens wearers.


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A. Toad Gully Growers is a wholesale propagation nursery and is not open to the public. However you may make an appointment to visit if you are working on a Paulownia project and would like to discuss it face to face or to inspect our facilities.
A. Something of concern about what some other companies are offering is they state their Paulownia plants are "1 to 3 feet tall"! Paulownia grow very fast. If you plant young trees that are already over 30cm tall they will suffer wilting badly in hot conditions and are likely to be broken by wind. They will suffer transplant shock and many will die. It would be easier for us sell tall seedlings. The skill in growing good Paulownia planting stock is to keep it short and strong, not tall and soft. Taller is NOT better.
A. We use vague terms such as "medium height" to describe Paulownia because the variation can be great depending on the conditions. There is record of an 80 year old Paulownia reaching about 50m tall and over 2m trunk diameter. More commonly they will settle for around 20m. Under plantation conditions they will be anywhere between 8 to 15m when harvested for timber. Many park or garden specimens struggle to grow more than 10m.
A. No. Paulownia are best suited to large rural properties or parkland. We don't generally recommend planting in suburban gardens unless you have a large area to fill. The mixed Sampler Pack (A) is 3 trees. If you only need 1 you can share with friends or plant the spares in large tubs. Or if you plant all 3 close together you can limit their size and shape them with pruning.
A. Paulownia are the Formula 1 of trees. If everything is properly attuned to provide them their best potential for growth they will be faster than any other tree. However they are exacting in their requirements. Having said that, there is a lot that can be done to improve conditions, such as cultivation to increase drainage, adding fertiliser and irrigation, which will make a huge difference to the outcome. If you are looking for a tree to throw in the ground and walk away from they are not the right choice. There are easier trees to grow but these will not match Paulownias' growth under conditions suited to Paulownia. Just as for any crop, suitable land and climate should be selected.
A. This is a matter of perspective. To those of us familiar with Paulownia they are not difficult to grow. However, if you are new to the tree and have less than ideal conditions you are likely to face some challenges. Take advantage of the wealth of free information TGG provide to allow you to learn from the research and development, avoid the mistakes of others and get it right first time.
A. Over 20 years experience, a wide range of genetics and strong plants. Beware of exaggerated claims about "superior" tissue cultured Paulownia. Tissue culture is just another propagation method. TGG have used it from time to time for breeding stock, but our unique ex-vitro clonal propagation is more efficient in producing trees for plantations. Unlike laboratory stock, TGG plants are soon ready for growing in the real world.
A. Yes, but TGG don't recommend root cuttings for field planting. Root cuttings are not plants. They are just pieces of root with potential to grow into trees if all conditions are right. Root cuttings from trees dug from the ground can carry soil borne diseases. TGG may supply container grown root cuttings to nurseries wishing to grow them on in pots. This is a safe, low cost option for those needing very large numbers. Headstarters™ are not root cuttings - they are trees with a trunk and root system, ready to grow.


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There's never been a better time
to apply to Otterbein University.
Apply online today!
I am a
the pen is your
window to your soul
From journaling to journalism your voice can be heard. Otterbein offers multiple options to share your voice through its award-winning Tan and Cardinal newspaper to literary magazine Quiz and Quill to humanities journal Aegis or feminist'zine Kate. Creative writers, script writers and grant writers find a home here. Copy writers put their words to use on WOBN Radio and WOCC TV as well as the Otterbein 360 website.
Check out these areas:
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Otterbein University, 1 South Grove Street, Westerville, OH 43081 614.890.3000
Otterbein University is a private, non-profit, United Methodist affiliated, regionally-accredited institution.
© 2019 Otterbein University. Otterbein University is an affirmative-action, equal-opportunity employer


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Maybe you haven't been to church in decades. Maybe you've moved and are stuck in the oh-so-frustrating time of "church shopping." Maybe you never thought you would set foot in a church again. Maybe you spent your whole life in church and you are so thrilled to come visit this one.
Whoever you are and whatever your reason, we're so excited meet you!
We want everyone to know that because Jesus died and rose again, we have freedom from the sin and guilt taking power over our lives. Because of Jesus' promises to us, we are free from the fear of the future.
Worship Environments and Times
Worship as a Christian community is core to our faith. We invite you to experience it fully at St. Paul's.
There are many ways to grow closer to God and the St. Paul's family.
10.28.18 | Traditional
10.28.18 | Contemporary
10.21.18 | Traditional
10.21.18 | Contemporary
10.14.18 | Traditional
10.14.18 | Contemporary
10.07.18 | Traditional
09.30.18 | Traditional
09.30.18 | Contemporary


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Make You Whole
1. How can I face all this suff`ring?
How can I bear all this pain?
Why does each day seem impossible to face?
Can all prayers be in vain?
Can I endure it all?
Save me before I fall.
Can I hold on for one more day?
This pain is more t ha I can bear.
Does someone really care?
There is one who gave His life for you.
He'll take your pain.
If you have faith, and trust in Him,
He'll make you whole again.
With great mercy He will gather you
And great shall be your peace.
Trust in Him to heal your soul.
If you will reach,
He'll raise you up and make you whole.
2. Darkness appears all around me
And peace is gone from my heart.
I can't see clearly to find my way back home;
Can't find a place to start.
Can someone touch my soul
To mend and make me whole?
Oh give me courage to be strong.
When will this suff`ring fin`lly end?
Will I be whole again?
Text: Joel McCausland and Betty Jenson
Music: Merrill Jenson
Artist: Sonja Jenson and Joel McCausland


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Act II, Scene 2
The same. A public way or platform leading to the
lists. A pavilion by the side of it for the [p]reception of King, Princess, Lords, &c.
[Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, and Attendants]
[The Third Knight passes over]
[The Fourth Knight passes over]
[The Fifth Knight passes over]
[The Sixth Knight, PERICLES, passes over]
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Generating Solutions
E/One's focus is on generator applications -- for both hydrogen-cooled and air-cooled units -- and for over 40 years, the company has led the way in the development of condition monitoring and predictive maintenance systems for electric power producers.
Today, more than 3500 of our systems stand vigil worldwide. Our mission is helping generator manufacturers and plant owners/operators optimize safety, increase unit efficiency, and avoid costly disruption to operations.
E/One Utility Systems offers a range of products and services for critical gas monitoring and control, including:
- Condition monitoring
- Predictive maintenance
- Peripheral auxiliaries associated with generator cooling and seal oil systems
Our designs meet the highest international standards for safety in hazardous involving hydrogen, and business operations are maintained in accordance with our ISO9001 certification.
- Overview — About E/One Utility Systems
- Services — Programs and support services from E/One
- Products
- DHCP — Dual Hydrogen Control Panel
- GCM-X — Generator Condition Monitor, Explosion-Proof Design
- GCM-A 2 — Generator Condition Monitor, Air-Cooled Apparatus
- GGA — Generator Gas Analyzer
- PGA — Portable Gas Analyzer
- Gas Station — Several monitoring and control systems on one skid
- Gen-Tags — Chemicals applied to locate generator hot spots
- GGD — Generator Gas Dryer
- GGM — Generator Gas Manifold
- HCC II — Hydrogen Control Cabinet II
E/One offers power plant site evaluations where we will review your plans for upcoming generator outages and where we might be able to help increase efficiency and performance of your generator monitoring and control systems.
Please contact us at 518.346.6161, or firstname.lastname@example.com if we can assist you with your gas system, or if you have questions about existing E/One monitoring and control systems already installed with your electric power generator.
Exclusive: Listen to E/One's podcast with IIR (Industrial Info Resources). (mp3 format, 11 mb)


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Hartville voters approve a request to reinstate income tax credit.
Voters in two Stark County communities rejected requests to raise income taxes, while voters in a third town, Hartville, approved a measure reinstating a tax credit.
In Alliance, voters turned down a request to add 0.5 of a percent to the existing 2 percent municipal income tax rate.
The unofficial count was 1,494 to 1,109, according to Tuesday night returns at the Stark County Board of Elections. That amounts to a ratio of 57.4 percent to 42.6 percent.
Projections were that the 0.5 percent would generate about $2 million annually in additional revenue.
The financial situation in Alliance is becoming dire enough that the city could be under state fiscal caution, fiscal watch or fiscal emergency in about a year, according to the auditor.
"By the end of next year we would definitely be in one of those fiscal conditions with the state," Alliance Auditor Kevin Knowles said. "There is no other major source of revenue out there."
"I voted against it," said Alliance resident Michael McCain. "I haven't supported any tax increases for a while."
Meanwhile, Brewster voters apparently held similar sentiments to Alliance residents. Voters rejected a measure to add 0.33 of a percent to Brewster's existing 1 percent income tax.
Revenue from the 0.33 of a percent would have been applied to maintenance of streets, curbs and gutters and storm sewers.
"Brewster has a high standard of living," Brewster Councilman Dave Godwin said. "Residents like nice sidewalks. The curbing is holding water so it doesn't go in people's basements."
The tax increase would have run a five-year cycle, taking effect in 2014 and expiring at the end of 2018.
The 0.33 of a percent was projected to yield about $230,000 a year. Brewster's income tax generated about $680,000 in 2012.
In the northern Stark County village of Hartville, voters approved what amounts to a tax relief for some residents.
Voters approved a measure to reinstate the income tax credit by an overwhelming 73.08 percent to 26.92 percent, according to unofficial vote counts. The count was 513 to 189, unofficial returns say.
Residents who live in Hartville but have their earned income taxed at a rate of at least 1 percent in whatever city or village they work in will not have to pay the 1 percent income tax back home in Hartville.
Having the credit reinstated, "wouldn't cripple us," Hartville Councilwoman Cynthia Billings said. "But there are a lot of things we have been putting off for years that wouldn't get done. We kept spending the same amount of money every year. At some point things need to be replaced and fixed. And we just haven't had the funds for it."
Projections call for Hartville to collect about $1.2 million from its income tax this year.
The reinstatement of the income tax credit is expected to cost Hartville about $300,000 annually in future years.
Reach Malcolm at 330-580-8305 or firstname.lastname@example.com
On Twitter: mhallREP


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Tool centre chisels out new work ethic
PUBLISHED: 14:16 16 November 2012
Working fewer hours for the same momey is a big hit at an Axminster company - for bosses as well as employees
Working fewer hours with no drop in wages has proved a big hit at an Axminster company – for management as well as staff.
Two months ago Axminster Tool Centre, which employs 250 staff, embraced new ways of working in order to ensure firm foundations were in place for continuing success.
Among the initiatives instigated for all employees were the reduction of the working week with no loss of pay, the abolition of the clocking-in system, performance related bonuses, together with improvements to working conditions and benefits.
Now the company has seen a fantastic result with October sales exceeding all previous months in its 40 year history of trading.
A spokesperson said: "The staff have really embraced the new ways of working which is all about trust, commitment and the desire to succeed as an individual, a team and as a whole.
"The October figures say it all and will ensure the company can continue to move forward with its future investment plans."
As a thank-you to all staff, a free lunch was provided by the company's canteen last week.
Meanwhile the firm says it will continue to implement its long term objectives and is currently setting up a bank of casual employees to be available on an ad hoc basis during busy times.
Anyone who is interested in this scheme should contact Jane Boulton, human resources director, on 01297 630003.
If you value what this story gives you, please consider supporting the Midweek Herald. Click the link in the orange box above for details.