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Jacob deGrom the King of Queens while Yankees continue sad Bronx tale
New York, New York. For baseball fans in the Big Apple, Sunday was either the best day of the weekend or the continuation of a terrible week.
Jacob deGrom was brilliant for the Mets in a 5-1 win over the Nationals. The Mets pitcher scattered just three hits over eight innings while striking out six with two walks. He also helped himself at the plate with a solo homer in the third inning that tied the game at 1-1. The Mets added a pair of runs an inning later thanks to RBI singles by Travis d'Arnaud and Michael Conforto, who added another RBI single in the sixth.
While the Mets avoided a four-game sweep at home, the Yankees continued their slump on the opposite coast.
The A's completed a four-game sweep of the Yankees with a 4-3 win at Oakland Alameda Coliseum. It was the sixth straight loss for the Yankees, who are off Monday before returning home to the Bronx to begin a three-game set with the Angels.
The Yankees (38-29) have lost their lead in the American League East as the Red Sox (39-30) tied them atop the division with Sunday night's 6-5 victory in Houston.
As the Yankees return home, the Mets will be traveling to the West Coast with a four-game series against the Dodgers that begins Monday. Unfortunately for the Mets, they have Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw waiting for them Monday.
The Dodgers (44-26) are coming off of a sweep of the Reds, but couldn't gain any ground on the Rockies (46-26) thanks to Nolan Arenado's late heroics at Coors Field on Sunday.
Sunday's MLB scores
Brewers 2, Padres 1
Orioles 8, Cardinals 5
Braves 5, Marlins 4
Cubs 7, Pirates 1
Mets 5, Nationals 1
Rays 9, Tigers 1
Dodgers 8, Reds 7
Blue Jays 7, White Sox 3
Diamondbacks 5, Phillies 4, 10 innings
Indians 5, Twins 2
Mariners 7, Rangers 3
Rockies 7, Giants 5
Royals 7, Angels 3
Athletics 4, Yankees 3
Red Sox 6, Astros 5
Studs of the night
Rockies third baseman Nolan Arenado became the first MLB player in seven years to complete a cycle with a walk-off home run. His three-run blast in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Rockies to a 7-5 win over the Giants. Arenado went 4 for 5 and got the cycle with a triple in the first, single in the fourth, double in the sixth and then the home run in the ninth. The last person to complete a cycle with a walk-off homer was Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez, who did it against the Cubs in 2010.
Jimmy Nelson was dealing for the Brewers Sunday. The Milwaukee right-hander became the first Brewers pitcher in three years to throw a complete game at home. Nelson (5-3) dominated the Padres with 10 strikeouts in a 2-1 victory and lower his ERA to 3.39.
Duds of the night
Padres center fielder Franchy Cordero was Nelson's favorite victim and got the dubious Golden Sombrero with four strikeouts at Miller Park.
White Sox outfielder Avisaíl García wasn't much better with three Ks during an 0-for-4 day in a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jays.
Neither Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon nor shortstop JT Riddle could get to the ground ball Braves second baseman Brandon Phillips slapped up the middle in the bottom of the ninth inning. The single came with runners at the corners and Johan Camargo easily scored from third to give the Braves a 5-4 walk-off win as Phillips was mobbed by teammates.
Two walk-offs in two days? That's definitely #ASGWorthy!#DatDudeASG: https://t.co/80vhfC9eqy pic.twitter.com/Y9CWNc9xBh— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) June 18, 2017
What's next
Mets (31-37) at Dodgers (44-26), 10:10 p.m. ET — Teams traveling from coast to coast rarely do well and the Mets face a tough challenge Monday with the Dodgers sending ace Clayton Kershaw (9-2, 2.23 ERA). The Mets will counter with Zack Wheeler (3-4, 4.48), who will have to be at his best to match Kershaw.


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Topic: Finished Objects
This is Matcha Kitty... my very first Japanese crochet stuffie creation. He is sleeping right now, resting up for a big photo shoot tomorrow.
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Knitting-Sushi in AZ
Wednesday, 8 June 2005
Shhhh! Don't wake Matcha!
Topic: Finished Objects
This is Matcha Kitty... my very first Japanese crochet stuffie creation. He is sleeping right now, resting up for a big photo shoot tomorrow.
Posted by amy at 8:30 PM PDT
Comments Page
Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - 9:01 PM PDTName: Oiyi
Home Page: http://www.oiyi.blogspot.com
Oh he is so cute! You did a great job.
Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - 9:32 PM PDTName: thuy
holy smokes! the amyville craft train is going full speed! watch out, everybody!
Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - 9:36 PM PDTName: Christie
Home Page: http://www.superstarra.blogspot.com
The picture came up on the computer and I said "AAAAAAWWWWW!!!!" out loud even! He is soOOOooOOoo cute! Everybody wants a green kitty now!!! At least I do!
Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - 9:42 PM PDTName: K. Anne
Home Page: http://justcinful.blogspot.com
That kitty is just too adorable! Makes me want to run out and buy the book.
Wednesday, 8 June 2005 - 11:04 PM PDTName: amy
Home Page: http://www.simplysaiddesign.com/blog
Thursday, 9 June 2005 - 8:20 AM PDTName: mariko
Home Page: http://www.supereggplant.com
AIYAAAAAAAA!!!!AAGGGGGGHGHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! You are a MANIAC!!!!!!!!!!!!!111
Thursday, 9 June 2005 - 8:32 AM PDTName: Carol
Home Page: http://celadoncupcake.blogspot.com
He is too cute! Must learn to crochet and obtain that book!
Thursday, 9 June 2005 - 8:38 AM PDTName: Stephanie
Home Page: http://woodlandsprite.blogspot.com
yowza! he turned out great! How terrible is it that I am thinking of cannibalizing yarn from my Cozy to do one up?! LOL! well then...there is the small part about locating that book :D I'd better get hunting!
Thursday, 9 June 2005 - 12:21 PM PDTName: Cathi
Home Page: http://abfab.typepad.com
Crazy cute, Ms. Crafty Genius.
Thursday, 9 June 2005 - 2:27 PM PDTName: rachel
Home Page: http://progoddess.blogspot.com
so cute! i can't beleive it's your first stuffie!
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subset: commoncrawl


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Jersey Downsize
If you've lost weight through training, we'll help the new you into a new jersey, with 50% off a smaller size of the same style.
Free shipping on orders over NT$4,500.00 with free returns
Sorry, we couldn't find any results for your search.
The musette is a classic cycling bag, used by racers and commuters alike. But what if you used yours for something else this December? The founder of the Festive 500, Graeme Raeburn, used to deliver presents while out on his rides, and you could too with this special edition version of our classic cotton musette. Emblazoned with a striking abstract design symbolising the myriad weather conditions and road surfaces you'll experience en route to your total, there's also a popper at the top to keep cargo safe and secure.
4 ReviewsRead Reviews
If you've lost weight through training, we'll help the new you into a new jersey, with 50% off a smaller size of the same style.
Rapha Classics products come with a 30 day no-quibble riding guarantee. If you're not totally satisfied, return your worn Classics product for a full refund.
Crashes happen. If one does we'll repair your garment for free to get you back on the road.
Thank you for your request. We'll contact you when your Festive 500 Musette is available.
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Torfaen's Biodiversity
Torfaen is full of excellent habitats and helps regions of both local and national preserve their area. Aside from the town's four Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSis), it also has about 200 Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINC) and 7 Local Nature Reserves (LNR). Vital habitats consist of historical deciduous wetlands, woodland, heather-filled highlands, and lush grasslands.
Because of this, there are a lot of implemented laws provided, which includes the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act of 2006 that obligated every local authority to protect the biodiversity in the area. Supplementary duties are established with the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 as amended.
The Torfaen Local Biodiversity Action Plan in 2003 narrates the actions to be taken to make sure that the county borough preserves and develops the town's mixed and rich biodiversity. With the help of Torfaen Biodiversity Partnership, the strategy is to include independent action programs for the 20 significant habitats and a vast array of wildlife that are in need of immediate assistance.
The Council of Torfaen is serious in following and fulfilling its responsibility to protect and develop the biodiversity within the town. However, the council cannot do this alone. That's why many have invited volunteers, especially those who are very interested in taking part in this advocacy and the Torfaen Biodiversity Partnership.
This cooperation transpires in 1999, which consists of a variety of authorized and non-authorized organizations along with concerned personalities.


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Details are scant, but MIT is venturing more firmly into the world of online continuing education for professionals (including but not limited to their own alumni). They are beginning with a four-course (certificate?) systems engineering program in partnership with Boeing and NASA.
Given the pace of innovation, really, if you got a computer science degree 10 years ago, are you still prepared for the real world?


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We all get stuck. We all mess up. We all have painful truths that are hard to look at.
It doesn't matter how many green juices we have a day. It doesn't matter how often we do yoga. It doesn't matter how plant based we eat.
All of these things help to keep us balanced, strong and healthy, but they aren't the golden ticket for never fucking up.
No one is perfect and we all have our stuff.
Maybe you've been binge eating.
Maybe you lied to someone you love.
Maybe you hide how much you really drink.
Maybe you did everything right and you still feel like shit.
Maybe you're stalking your ex.
Maybe you don't eat as healthy as you tell people you do.
Maybe you're depressed and unhappy and you do everything you can to hide it from your people.
Maybe you didn't want to say yes.
Maybe you're addicted to sugar.
Maybe you didn't want to say no.
Maybe you're a workaholic.
Maybe you did it for the wrong reasons.
Maybe your career is crumbling.
Maybe you were mean.
Maybe you want a divorce and you don't dare let the words slip from your lips.
Maybe you're gay and the thought of people finding out is enough to shit your pants.
Maybe you're just shy of rock bottom.
We all have our shit. It doesn't make you a bad person. It makes you human.
Whatever flavor of bullshit you're dealing with, here's what I want you to do.
The next time that you feel a wave of emotion swelling up inside, don't push it down. Don't muzzle it. Don't try to carry on with your day. Don't run from it. Don't wish it gone. Don't reach for something to mask or dull it.
Instead, stop whatever you're doing, find a quiet place where you can be alone, and allow it to come. Let it swell up inside of you until it has no choice but to move its way out through you and spill over into the universe.
Let go.
It might be ugly and it might be painful. It might come with sobs of anger. It might come with screaming. It might come with getting in the fetal position and crying until you have no more tears to cry. It might come with sounds that don't sound human.
This will not be easy and it won't feel natural at first, but after your cathartic release, you'll have a refreshing sense of calm, you'll have clarity, you'll have peace and you'll feel solid and grounded.
You also might have your answer.
Swallowing our issues and gulping them down is easier than running into the arms of discomfort and facing the very things that we keep stashed away and hidden from the world and even ourselves.
But here's the thing, my love. Sometimes the only way to have a breakthrough is to first have a breakdown. So stop fighting. Stop pushing away. Stop resisting. Stop swallowing it. Stop pretending it's not there.
Take the counter intuitive path and ease into your tension. Accept your pain. Feel your discomfort. Welcome your fear. Greet your anxiety. Salute your embarrassment. Embrace your disappointment. Own your sadness. Make love to your anger.
Breakdown and then Breakthrough.
You are love. You are peace. You are beauty. You are strength.
And you are going to be okay.
When you're ready to make peace with your food, sign up for my weekly Plant Fueled Meal Plans and start honoring your beautiful body and life.
Have you ever had a breakdown which eventually led to a breakthrough? Talk to me about it in the comments below.
If you don't have a juicer but want to make green juice at home, today's recipe will help you accomplish just that.
Juicer-less Green Juice (that's not really green because of the beets)
Juicer-less Green Juice (that's not really green because of the beets)
- 1 cup water 235ml
- 2 apples cored and cut into chunks
- 1/2 cucumber cut into quarters (take off the peel if it feels waxy)
- 1 carrot cut into quarters
- 1 small beet or part of a big beet cut into quarters
- 1/2 of a lime peeled
- Big handful of leafy greens
- 1/4 cup parsley 8g
- 1/4 cup mint 8g
- 1 small piece of ginger about half the size of your thumb
Place the water into your blender.
Wash and prep all of the ingredients and place them into a bowl (apple, cucumber, carrot, beet, leafy greens, parsley, mint and ginger).
Place the ingredients into your blender, a small handful at a time and blend between handfuls (if you have a powerful blender, like a Vitamix or a Blendtec, you can add all of your ingredients at once). Blend until all of the ingredients are nice and blended. The mixture will be thick.
Pour the mixture through a nut milk bag or paint strainer bag and squeeze all of the juice out of the bag (make sure you place a medium-sized bowl under the bag to catch the juice). Squeeze until the pulp is dry and there is no liquid left.
Transfer the juice to a glass and drink with a straw. You can save the pulp in your freezer for crackers, baking or to thicken soups if you like. Or you can add it to your compost.
This isn't a science - you can play around with different combos and have fun with it!
Wishing you a happy week. May it be filled with a much needed breakthrough.


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At last, a high-street kitchen brand has realised that there is a market for clever compact kitchens. Magnet has just launched two new space-saving innovations: Table Plus and Worktop Plus.
Table Plus folds out from a wall unit to create an instant kitchen table. And, the unit itself opens up to reveal an attractive display area. It even has pocket storage in what becomes the table support. Worktop Plus, meanwhile, provides additional worktop space that pulls out from within a base unit. For more on these new products visit www.magnet.co.uk
Like this, this innovative storage dining table will probably be of interest to you too. Read on


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What a heartbreaking, beautiful love story.
We're all going to die, and some of us will be lucky enough to grow old gracefully. But what happens when the gracefulness wears off? That question is at the center of the deeply beating heart of "Amour," a touching, wonderful film that depicts a genuine love rarely seen on the big screen.
In France, Georges (Jean-Louis Trintignant) and Anne (Emmanuelle Riva) are a married couple in their 80s who are enjoying life together. They're both retired music teachers, and Anne's former pupil (Alexandre Tharaud) has gone on to great success. Then Anne has a stroke, and everything changes. She's paralyzed on her right side and needs a wheelchair. We don't see the stroke or any of the traumatic events that make her progressively worse, a wise decision by writer/director Michael Haneke, focusing on the love and care Georges shows for Anne, instead of needlessly showing histrionics.
We also never see them in a hospital, with a doctor or anywhere outside their apartment except during the film's opening moments. Their pain is for them, not the world, to see. It's as if Haneke wants the viewer to be a fly on the wall in the apartment, unobtrusive yet privy to the day-in, day-out difficulty that's often overlooked for the more "dramatic" moments in movies. This is consistent with Haneke's body of work: He is brutal and relentless in showing us things we don't want to see ("Funny Games") and fully capable of doing it in such a way that it resonates with profound emotion.
Watching Anne's slow, steady decline is heartbreaking. There's a moment when she gets out of bed to get a book from a nearby nightstand, but falls and can't rise to stand. Another time, Georges tries to give her water, and she refuses to drink. Another, she wakes up wet, and Georges, without hesitation or judgment but only utmost love, cleans up after her like it's not a big deal.
And as bad as it is for her, think about how torturous it is for Georges to watch the strong woman he's loved most of his life not want to live anymore and be completely dependent on others. Trintignant gives Georges a steely exterior — we never see him cry, for example — but we do occasionally glimpse the anguish on his face that he's otherwise suppressing. Riva similarly shows emotions on her face, but for an altogether different reason: She's often lying in bed under blankets. Her optimism, as it turns to contentment, then frustration and then surrender to the inevitable feels palpably real. Trintignant and Riva, both in their 80s, are splendid and deserve every accolade they receive.
Georges and Anne do get a few visitors. The important one is their daughter, Eva, who means well but doesn't understand the privacy her parents desire. How could she? To her, Mom should be getting help, exercise and therapy, and there has to be a way to make Mom better. Only Georges knows — and at one point bluntly tells Eva — that Mère isn't going to get better, she's only going to get progressively worse until she slips away. How awful to hear, and how worse to have to say.
If "Amour" doesn't inspire you to think of friends and loved ones who've gone through something similar, nothing will. Death is inevitable for us all, and one supposes there's no ideal way to die — but we can't help fearing it will be this arduous and painful.


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Whether you're drinking your morning coffee, evening tea, or something in between – this mug's for you! It's sturdy and glossy with a vivid print that'll withstand the microwave and dishwasher.
• Ceramic
• Dishwasher and microwave safe
• White and glossy
Printed on both sides.
Pray. This mug is a nice dedication to all that like to drink their tea or coffee from a mug with a statement.
If you need a gift or just want to have a collection of out of the box mug designs in your cupboard, look no further.


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Whether it is redesigning light fixtures in a common space or replacing a roof, repair jobs and capital improvement projects are like death and taxes, they are inevitable. Whereas a building administrator or a managing agent most often handles the hiring of contractors and oversees the execution of the job, problems and issues often arise which makes it important for board members to understand licensing, documentation and accepted protocols.
Every co-op or condo community has to hire contractors and deal with contracts at one time or another. If you have a reliable contractor with whom you've done business for years and years, all well and good. But if you're starting from scratch and happen to hire an unlicensed, uninsured (or improperly insured) or inexperienced contractor, then you may be courting disaster.
Know the Facts
Time and time again, we read of the tragic consequences of hiring improperly licensed or inexperienced contractors and workers. Even something seemingly harmless, like hiring a friend to paint your lobby ceilings, could result in serious problems. Fairly recently, this reporter visited a friend in a co-op in Queens. While exiting the building, he saw two gardeners working and almost tripped on their equipment. "Careful," one of them said, "we don't have insurance!" Needless to say, this situation may not be all that uncommon.
While most of the time it's the managing agent or manager who deals with these transactions directly, it's also important for board members to know the fundamentals and to have a basic knowledge of what licensing and documentation is needed for any contractor who performs work for their building.
We should begin with the documentation that a board or manager must demand from a contractor before work on a project begins. The most important documents, says attorney Marcie Waterman Murray, of the Manhattan law firm of Tane Waterman & Wurtzel, P.C., are a signed contract drafted by the building's attorney and original evidence of insurance, (i.e., a certificate of insurance) that conforms to the requirements of the job that's going to be done.


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Bruce Cole
In Memoriam, 1938-2018
Program: History and Civics Education Initiative
Contact: email@example.com
Bruce Cole was a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. His areas of expertise included the teaching of American history and civics, and private and federal cultural policy.
Mr. Cole, the former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, was the author of fourteen books and numerous articles. His fifteenth book, Art from the Swamp, was published in 2018 by Encounter Books.
Under Mr. Cole's leadership (from 2001 to 2009), the NEH launched key initiatives, including We the People, a program designed to encourage the teaching, study and understanding of American history and culture, and the Picturing America project, which uses great American art to teach our nation's history and culture in 80,000 schools and public libraries nationwide. He also created the NEH's Digital Humanities Initiative and Office, which made the NEH a national leader in this new frontier of humanities access and knowledge. Under his tenure—the longest in NEH history—the NEH developed partnerships with several foreign countries, including Mexico and China. Mr. Cole managed a budget of $150 million and a staff of 170 and was responsible for awards totaling over $800 million dollars.
Before taking the NEH chairmanship, Mr. Cole was Distinguished Professor of Art History and Professor of Comparative Literature at Indiana University in Bloomington. In 2008, he received the President's Medal from the University for "excellence in service, achievement and teaching." In 2006, Governor Mitch Daniels awarded Mr. Cole the Sagamore of the Wabash, which recognizes individuals who have brought distinction to the state of Indiana.
Born in Ohio, Mr. Cole earned his B.A. from Case Western Reserve University, a master's degree from Oberlin College, and a doctorate from Bryn Mawr College. He was a recipient of nine honorary doctorate degrees. For two years he was the William E. Suida Fellow at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. Mr. Cole held fellowships and grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the Kress Foundation, the American Philosophical Society, and the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a corresponding member of the Accademia Senese degli Intronati, the oldest learned society in Europe.
Mr. Cole served as a delegate on the U.S. National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), on the boards of the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Norman Rockwell Museum, and as a Senate-appointed member of the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity. He was also a member of the boards of American Heritage and the Jack Miller Center. In 2010, Mr. Cole was appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels to a three-year term on Indiana University's Board of Trustees.
In 2008, President George W. Bush awarded Mr. Cole the Presidential Citizens Medal "for his work to strengthen our national memory and ensure that our country's heritage is passed on to future generations." The medal is second only to the Presidential Medal of Freedom among the honors the President can confer upon a civilian. Also in 2008, Mr. Cole was decorated Knight of the Grand Cross, the highest honor of the Republic of Italy.
In August 2013, Mr. Cole was appointed by President Barack Obama to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Commission.
- January 8, 2018: Bruce Cole, R.I.P.
[Bruce Cole is] a leading voice on arts, literature, and culture. The kind of work Bruce does … is critical because culture really does matter. Culture shapes souls. And our souls, at the end of the day, are what's at stake.
Robert P. George
Seeing a Donor's Vision
Published in Wall Street Journal on October 17, 2017
Smithsonian: Still in Shambles
Published in The New Criterion - October 2017 issue on November 1, 2017
Balloonists & Cherry Blossoms
Published in The New Criterion - June 2017 issue on July 5, 2017
Stormy Mood, Tempestuous Brushstrokes
Published in Wall Street Journal on May 6, 2017
Jeff Koons' Big Bunch of Banality
Published in Washington Free Beacon on April 23, 2017
The Museum as "Town Hall"
Published in The New Criterion - December 2016 issue on December 31, 2016
Unabashed Elitism
Published in Claremont Review of Books - Fall 2016 issue on December 21, 2016
Flood of Memories
Published in Wall Street Journal on November 3, 2016
The Museums We Deserve
Published in The New Criterion - September 2016 issue on October 5, 2016
'Della Robbia: Sculpting With Color in Renaissance Florence' Review
Published in Wall Street Journal on September 6, 2016
All that's Gehrish
Published in The New Criterion - May 2016 issue on June 1, 2016
Guggenheim's Throne
Published in Claremont Review of Books on May 9, 2016
What's Wrong with the Humanities?
Published in The Public Discourse on February 1, 2016
Breaking the Bonds of the Past
Published in Wall Street Journal on January 1, 2016
'Ornament & Illusion: Carlo Crivelli of Venice' Review
Published in Wall Street Journal on December 30, 2015
Letters to a Young Connoisseur
Published in Wall Street Journal on October 2, 2015
Beach Bums
Published in The New Criterion, Volume 34 (September 2015) on September 16, 2015
New York Survival Story
Published in Standpoint (UK) - September 2015 issue on August 26, 2015
Too Cool in the Capital
Published in The New Criterion - June 2015 issue on June 12, 2015
American Amnesia
Published in Washington Times on May 13, 2015
Gehry's Middle Finger
Published in Standpoint Magazine (UK), January/February 2015 issue on December 23, 2014
A Monumental Shame
Published in The New Criterion - December 2014 issue on December 1, 2014
Greatness in Miniature
Published in National Review on October 30, 2014
The Imprint of Battle
Published in Wall Street Journal on August 26, 2014
Narrow Windows
Published in Wall Street Journal on July 15, 2014
Highbrow Taste, Mass Appeal
Published in Wall Street Journal on July 2, 2014
Painting a False Portrait
Published in The New Criterion on May 1, 2014
Monuments Men
Published in The Weekly Standard on February 10, 2014
The MLA's Moral and Intellectual Bankruptcy is a Symptom of the Academy's Decline
Published in Daily Caller on January 20, 2014
Bursting the Hirshhorn's Bubble
Published in The New Criterion on December 1, 2013
Stilling the Pulse of Time
Published in Wall Street Journal on November 8, 2013
The Sunken Treasures of the Arabia
Published in Wall Street Journal on September 4, 2013
Reviving Alfred Munnings
Published in Wall Street Journal on July 15, 2013
The Grand Tradition
Published in National Review on April 8, 2013
Gadfly of the Arts
Published in National Review on December 31, 2012
The Sad and Sorry Smithsonian
Published in The New Criterion on December 5, 2012
A Deadly Weapon, A Solemn Memorial
Published in The Wall Street Journal on November 9, 2012
The Corcoran Ponders a Move
Published in The Washington Examiner on August 3, 2012
Doing Right by Ike
Published in The Weekly Standard on July 2, 2012


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Course description
A lot of sales executives have questions about outbound prospecting. Should I do outbound? Why do most fail? What does it take to succeed? Aaron Ross provides specific how-to advice in a series of videos compiled in this valuable course.
"I'm loving these videos. Aaron speak's plainly, gives great insight and specific instructions in a bite-sized format."
- Jonathan Siegel, CEO Xenon Ventures
Aaron Ross is the best-selling author of Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices Of Salesforce.com and his newest book with Jason Lemkin, From Impossible To Inevitable, called my many "the best business book i've ever read" (read Amazon reviews here).
Aaron, Co-CEO of PredictableRevenue.com, graduated from Stanford University, and is an ex-Ironman triathlete. Aaron lives in Los Angeles with his wife and 9-going-on-12 children. You can see a sample day in his family life here.


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COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates and Guidance
The County is taking a number of actions to keep residents safe and minimize the spread of COVID-19. Find status information for County operations and services.
Baltimore County News
Show Airs on Cable Channel 25 and Online
The latest edition of Baltimore County's half-hour cable television public affairs show, "Hello Baltimore County," includes an in-depth interview with newly elected County Executive Johnny Olszewski, an overview of the County's winter storm response plans and some background on the County's environmental health function.
Meet Johnny O – County Executive Johnny Olszewski discusses his top priorities, and plans for open transparent government.
Winter Storm Response – Learn all about the County's winter storm operations and how you can help.
What's Up Doc? – Baltimore County's top doc, Dr. Gregory Wm. Branch explores environmental health issues like the cleanliness of restaurants, public pools and more.
You can also view the show on the County website's Hello Baltimore County page. In addition to online access, the program runs several times per week on Cable Channel 25 in Baltimore County, at the following times:
Mondays: 1:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 10 p.m.
Tuesdays: 12 p.m., 7:30 p.m., 9 p.m.
Wednesdays: 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m., 10 p.m.
Thursdays: 1 p.m., 4:30 p.m., 8 p.m.
Fridays: 11 a.m., 6 p.m.
Saturdays: 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 10:30 p.m.
Sundays: 10 a.m., 12 p.m., 3 p.m., 7 p.m., 10:30 p.m.
We're working to provide you with a better experience, and want your feedback. Learn more about our project and give your feedback.


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My Running Journey: From Zero to Something
When I was growing up, physical activity was not my forte. I was an indoor kid who spent hours holed up in my room, writing stories and letters to pen pals, running a mail-in newsletter and sticker club (way before the days of the Internet), reading books, and listening to music. And I was perfectly happy and content doing just this. Never did I have a desire to go outside to play or participate in sports like soccer and basketball (both of which my younger sister, Ellye, was a pro in).
When I went to middle and high school, I was confronted with the dreaded hour of Physical Education (PE). Oh how I despised PE. I was always the kid picked last for every sports team. And I constantly lamented about why I had to learn games like flag football (really?!); softball (I was terrified of the ball hitting me); soccer (that was Ellye's sport); and tennis (okay, I actually liked tennis).
But the worst – the absolute worst – was the required running of the mile each week. I HATED running with a passion. Mostly because it was hard for me. I wasn't great at physical activity (clearly), and I was never conditioned to run/jog because I never played team sports as a kid. Every week I would try, and tell myself I could run like the wind (with the "Chariot's of Fire" theme or Christopher Cross' song in my head). And I always struggled. I couldn't catch my breath and my legs got so tired and weak, to the point that I ended up walking nearly the entire mile. I was the slowest kid in the group, always coming in last, and always feeling like a failure.
When I went to college and realized I had freedom of choice, a good friend took me to her gym, where I slowly began to realize that exercise wasn't actually a torture device. The elliptical machine and stationery bike became favorites, while the treadmill remained an enemy. Whether it was with my friend or on my own, I committed to working out a few times each week. After college graduation, my gym membership evaporated, working full time happened, and a family (house, kid, dogs, husband) made life tougher to navigate.
Over the years, I secretly wished I could be like the people I'd see running on the streets, where it looked easy and simple. I would watch Sophie run one mile every morning at her former school's daily running club and I envied her. I loved (still love) the idea that running is simple — just your mind and body working together. You don't need a fancy gym membership or equipment. All you really need is a good pair of shoes and (if you're like me) some earbuds and a great playlist.
But then I'd remember the times I tried running when I was young and convinced myself I physically could not do it. It was too hard, I thought. Or I can't breathe right. Or my physical body wasn't built for the activity.
Then one day — October 8, 2016 — something changed in me. I had been in Indiana a little over two months, and I was thinking differently about my life and began learning new things about myself. I also loved the outside environment and nature that surrounded me. I physically longed to be in the green grass, among huge trees, nature and falling leaves (something that did not exist outside my door in San Diego). On that day, I decided running was something I wanted to do. So I laced up and went for a run.
That first run was not impressive, nor was it easy. I walked more than I ran, and I doubt my distance was even one mile. But I did it. And I knew I wanted to continue. So every week, starting at only twice per week, I went outside and ran/walked.
I've run in winter and under falling snow. I've run in spring when the temperature is near perfect, and the trees are starting to grow green leaves. I've run in 90 percent summer humidity that almost felt like I was wading through a thick cloud. And my favorite is the shorter season of fall, where I'm surrounded by brown, yellow and red trees and fallen leaves on the ground. I love physically feeling the differences in the seasons, and running has helped me experience that.
My running has been an interesting journey. I learned from my physical therapist this past summer that the physical form my hips and legs took while running was wrong, and probably a huge reason why I wasn't progressing and why I've been experiencing hip bursitis pain for years. Thus began the conscious effort to correct the way I've been walking for 41 years. The breathing can still be an issue. But I'm now able to run longer and walk much less.
I never started running because of a big health goal or to run a marathon. But I love that my body feels like it moves easier and my heart rate drops down to normal much faster than previously. My mind feels clearer when I'm outside in nature (even in the humidity). And in a surprising twist, I actually feel anxious when I haven't run for a few days.
But most of all, I'm proud of the fact that I've consistently stayed with running for an entire year. And I'm happy that the sad girl who could barely handle running in school is finally getting the chance to prove that she is, in fact, physically capable of conquering the mile.
November 1, 2017 10:17 am
I'm so happy for you, Leah! And, at the same time, I am SO jealous. I loved that runner's high (and what running did for my creativity). But I've not run for a few years now, due to bone spurs and a knee injury. Oh how I miss it…
I'm so glad you're doing it, though! Go, you!
Lisa K Winkler permalinkNovember 1, 2017 10:24 am
Good for you! I used to run and had a group of friends and that made it more fun. I've gotten away from it over the past few years and prefer either cycling or yoga. But there's something about running- all you need is the shoes. Keep up the great work!
November 1, 2017 11:35 am
Congrats Leah! This is awesome. I've never aspired to be a runner, but I have had other fitness goals that I have always found hard to sustain. I appreciate your inspiration!
November 1, 2017 12:12 pm
I used to run also when I lived near the ocean. The ocean inspired me. I haven't ran at all since I live inland. I despise where I live and it's all hills. I believe where you live matters. I am glad you found a place that inspires you. I need to get back to that! Always love your writing.


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OTTAWA—Here's the good news about Canada's war in Afghanistan — soldiers are surviving wounds that would have killed them in previous conflicts.
If you're wounded and arrive alive at the military hospital at the Kandahar airfield, you have a 97 per cent chance of making it home.
"That's unheard of. . . . That's the highest record in the history of combat medicine," said Commodore Hans Jung, commander of the Canadian Forces health services group and the military surgeon general.
Making the difference is the "platinum 10 minutes" — the crucial window for life-saving care immediately after a soldier has been hurt. And it's because armies have learned the lessons of past conflicts that more soldiers are surviving this one.
"In the history of warfare — and the reasons are no different now — soldiers die from battlefield wounds (because) they bleed to death," Jung said in an interview. "If you can stop the bleeding they won't die."
When a soldier is wounded in Afghanistan, his colleagues race to staunch the bleeding — sometimes while still under fire — often using tourniquets they all carry. That has allowed soldiers to survive crippling wounds, including losing arms and legs in a bomb blast.
"The moment the guy is injured, the medic and the fellow soldiers are trained to a level they have never been trained before to make sure that person stops bleeding as fast as possible," Jung said.
In Afghanistan, improved body armour and armoured vehicles help ensure soldiers are better protected. And helicopters that quickly transport the wounded from the battlefield also make a big difference.
"That's why people come to the Role 3 (hospital) alive and then, because of the skill and technology we have there, they can keep them alive," Jung said.
That advanced care — and the nature of the weapon Canadian troops face — means the war in Afghanistan has become a battle of disabilities. Crude but effective improvised explosive devices now account for up to 80 per cent of the injuries suffered by Canadian soldiers.
Fashioned from old artillery shells and landmines left behind from decades of conflict, and sometimes packed with bolts and nails, IEDs have proven to be lethally efficient.
First, there's a blast wave that that can rupture eardrums and injure bowels and lungs. The pressure waves also rattle brains and, in the long term, can leave soldiers suffering traumatic brain injuries.
Fragments carried by the explosion of air — shrapnel from the bomb along with other debris — cause more damage. Finally, there's the blunt trauma suffered when vehicles get blown over or soldiers get tossed like rag dolls.
"That's why IEDs are so challenging," said Dr. Homer Tien, medical director of the Tory Regional Trauma Centre at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, as well as a lieutenant-colonel in the Canadian Forces who has operated in Afghanistan.
"If you get hit by a car, generally it's all blunt trauma. You don't have to worry about (pressure wave injuries). You don't have to worry about fragments. . . . With an IED, you have to worry about all elements of that."
Body armour and helmets can help shield the torso and head from the worst of the blast. But the devastating explosions have meant many soldiers suffering severe wounds to their extremities — arms and legs shattered.
"When patients come in here (to Sunnybrook), they may be bruised but there are not that many signs of overt external injury. Whereas there (in Afghanistan) from the IED, there's usually quite overt signs of traumatic injury," Tien said in an interview in his hospital office.
"It can be (personally) difficult to see how severely injured some of these young soldiers are."


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By Jen Monroe
Spring is quickly approaching, which means in most places so is the rain. Being from Cleveland, the rain is actually a welcomed change from the snow we've been blasted with over the last 5 month span. Most of the time, an early morning rain makes me want nothing more than watching Romantic Comedies curled up in my PJ's on the couch (which 90% of the time isn't possible because I have to be at work lol). Needless to say I racked my brain to come up with a solution to get me motivated during the workday.
I am the type of person that likes to have a playlist for anything (being a "creative" music is an essential part of my day!) With that being said, it should be no surprise to anyone that I have created my perfect Rainy Day Playlist; it fits the gray skies and soft sounds of the water hitting the window.
In no particular order:
Over My Head (Cable Car) by The Fray
Never Let me Go by Florence + The Machine
Cannonball by Damien Rice
Crush by Dave Matthews Band
Only You by Joshua Radin
Young at Heart by Joss Stone
She Says by Howie Day
Last Goodbye by Jeff Buckley
This Years Love by David Gray
Back to You by John Mayer
Good Enough by Sarah McLachlan
You Wanted More by Tonic
Clumsy by Our Lady Peace
Hands Clean by Alanis Morissette
In Your Arms by The Last Goodnight
Best I Ever Had by State of Shock
As you can see, it's an eclectic mix of artists with mostly acoustic sounds, which are in my opinion, perfect for a rainy day (to note, I could add at least another 100 songs to this playlist, but I didn't want to overdo it). What would you put on your perfect rainy day playlist?


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REMS TA Center staff are available to respond to your requests for TA on topics pertaining to emergency management planning for K-12 schools and institutions of higher education (IHEs).
The TA Center supports schools, school districts, and IHEs, with their community partners, in the development of high-quality emergency operations plans (EOPs) and comprehensive emergency management planning efforts. We provide a hub of information, resources, training, and services in the field of school and higher ed emergency management.
Please complete the form below in order to request TA. We make every effort to respond to requests within 2 business days of receipt. In order to help us better understand how we can assist you and to make sure that we provide the best response to your request, we encourage you to complete all the fields below.
Required fields are marked with an asterisk (*).


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David S. Walsh and Paul M. Wright
Alison Griffin, Tim Roselli and Susan L. Clemens
Background: Health benefits of physical activity (PA) accrue with small increases in PA, with the greatest benefits for those transitioning from inactivity to any level of PA. This study examined whether self-reported PA time in Queensland adults changed between 2004 and 2018. Methods: The Queensland government conducts regular cross-sectional telephone surveys. Between 2004 and 2018, adults aged 18–75 years answered identical questions about their weekly minutes of walking, moderate PA, and vigorous PA. Hurdle regression estimated the average annual change in weekly minutes of PA overall and by activity type, focusing on sociodemographic differences in trends. Results: The sample size averaged 1764 (2004–2008) and 10,188 (2009–2018), totaling 107,171 participants aged 18–75 years. Unadjusted PA increased by 10 minutes per week per year (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.8–11.1) overall, with increases for most subgroups. Adjusted PA increased by 10.5 minutes per week per year (95% CI, 9.4–11.7). Trends differed by employment—employed adults and those not in the labor force increased by 14.3 (95% CI, 12.8–15.8) and 2.2 minutes per week per year (95% CI, 0.4–4.0), respectively, with no increase for unemployed adults. The increases were due to both an increased prevalence of doing any activity and an increased average duration among active adults. Conclusions: Since 2004, PA time has increased for Queensland adults, with substantial variability by employment status.
Paul M. Wright and David Walsh
Don Hellison (1938–2018) was a leader and trailblazer in sport and physical education pedagogy. Early in his career, he was an advocate for humanistic physical education. His engaged approach to scholarship culminated in the development of the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model, which is now recognized as a best practice for promoting social and emotional learning in physical education. The TPSR model has also been widely applied in the field of sport-based youth development. This is the introduction to the special issue devoted to Don's life and legacy. It provides opening comments from the guest editors and a brief overview of the articles in the special issue.
Daniel C. McFarland, Alexander G. Brynildsen and Katherine R. Saul
Most upper-extremity musculoskeletal models represent the glenohumeral joint with an inherently stable ball-and-socket, but the physiological joint requires active muscle coordination for stability. The authors evaluated sensitivity of common predicted outcomes (instability, net glenohumeral reaction force, and rotator cuff activations) to different implementations of active stabilizing mechanisms (constraining net joint reaction direction and incorporating normalized surface electromyography [EMG]). Both EMG and reaction force constraints successfully reduced joint instability. For flexion, incorporating any normalized surface EMG data reduced predicted instability by 54.8%, whereas incorporating any force constraint reduced predicted instability by 43.1%. Other outcomes were sensitive to EMG constraints, but not to force constraints. For flexion, incorporating normalized surface EMG data increased predicted magnitudes of joint reaction force and rotator cuff activations by 28.7% and 88.4%, respectively. Force constraints had no influence on these predicted outcomes for all tasks evaluated. More restrictive EMG constraints also tended to overconstrain the model, making it challenging to accurately track input kinematics. Therefore, force constraints may be a more robust choice when representing stability.
Christopher J. Burcal, Sunghoon Chung, Madison L. Johnston and Adam B. Rosen
Background: Region-specific patient-reported outcomes (PROs) are commonly used in rehabilitation medicine. Digital versions of PROs may be implemented into electronic medical records and are also commonly used in research, but the validity of this method of administration (MOA) must be established. Purpose: To determine the agreement between and compare the test–retest reliability of a paper version (FAAM-P) and digital version (FAAM-D) of the Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM). Study Design: Randomized, nonblinded, crossover observational study. Methods: A total of 90 adults were randomized to complete the FAAM-P or FAAM-D first, and then completed the second MOA (first day [D1]). The FAAM-D was a digital adaptation of both FAAM-P subscales on Qualtrics. Identical test procedures were completed 1 week later (D2). Data were removed if a participant scored 100% on both MOA, reported injury between D1 and D2, or did not complete both MOA. Agreement was assessed on 46 participants between the 2 MOA using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) at D1. There was good-to-excellent test–retest reliability for the FAAM activities of daily living. Results: The authors observed good agreement between the FAAM-P and FAAM-D for the activities of daily living (ICC = .88) and sport scales (ICC = .87). Test–retest reliability was good-to-excellent for the FAAM activities of daily living (FAAM-P: ICC = .87; FAAM-D: ICC = .89) and sport (FAAM-P: ICC = .71; FAAM-D: ICC = .91). Conclusions: The MOA does not appear to affect the responses on the FAAM; however, the authors observed slightly higher reliability on the FAAM-D. The FAAM-D is sufficient to be used for generating practice-based evidence in rehabilitation medicine.
Jillian J. Haszard, Kim Meredith-Jones, Victoria Farmer, Sheila Williams, Barbara Galland and Rachael Taylor
Although 24-hour time-use data are increasingly being examined in relation to indices of health, consensus has yet to be reached about the best way to present estimates from compositional analyses. This analysis explored the impact of different presentations of results when assessing the relationship between 24-hour time-use and body mass index (BMI) z-score using compositional analysis of 5-day actigraphy data in 742 children. First it was found that reallocating non-wear time to day-time components only (sedentary behavior, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity [MVPA]) before normalization to 24 hours provided stronger estimates with BMI z-score than simply removing non-wear time before normalization. Estimates for sleep time were substantially affected, where associations with BMI z-score nearly doubled (mean difference [95% CI] in BMI z-score for 10% longer sleep were −0.20 [−0.32, −0.08] compared to −0.11 [−0.23, 0.002]). Presenting estimates in terms of a greater number of minutes in a component, relative to all others, showed MVPA to be the strongest predictor of BMI z-score, while estimates in terms of the proportion of minutes showed sleep to be the strongest predictor. Both presentations have value. However, presentations in terms of one-to-one "substitutions" of time may need careful interpretation due to the uneven distribution of time in each component. In conclusion, when analyzing relationships between 24-hour time-use and health outcomes, non-wear time and presentation of estimates can impact final conclusions. As a result, the current understanding of the importance of sleep for child health may be underestimated.
Mayrena I. Hernandez, Kevin M. Biese, Dan A. Schaefer, Eric G. Post, David R. Bell and M. Alison Brooks
Context: Sport specialization among youth athletes has been associated with increased risk of overuse injuries. Previous research demonstrates that children perceive specialization to be beneficial in making their high school team and receiving athletic college scholarships. Previous research demonstrates that parents play a significant role in their child's sport experience. However, it is unknown if parents and children answer questions related to specialization factors in a similar manner. Objective: To evaluate the beliefs of youth athletes and parents on factors related to sport specialization and evaluate the level of agreement between dyads on sports specialization. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Online and paper surveys. Patients or Other Participants: Aim 1: 1998 participants (993 children and 1005 parents). Aim 2: 77 paired parent–child dyads. Interventions: Self-administered survey. Main Outcome Measures: The responses were summarized via frequency and proportions (%). Chi-squares were calculated between parent and child responses. Kappa coefficients were calculated for dyads to determine level of agreement. Sport specialization was classified using a common 3-point scale. Results: The parents were more concerned about risk of injury in sports compared with children (P < .001, χ2 = 231.4; parent: extremely: 7.1%; child: extremely: 3.7%). However, children were more likely to believe that specialization was associated with their chances of obtaining an athletic college scholarship compared with parents (P < .001, χ2 = 201.6; parent: very/extremely likely: 13.7%; child: very/extremely likely: 15.8%). Dyad subanalysis indicated a moderate level of agreement for "quitting other sports to focus on one sport" (κ = .50) and a low level of agreement for "identifying a primary sport" (κ = .30) and "training >8 months per year in primary sport" (κ = .32). Conclusions: Parents and youth athletes had differing beliefs on the factors related to sport specialization. Dyad analysis shows that parents and children answer sport specialization classification questions differently. Health care providers should be aware of these differences, and messaging should be individualized to the audience.
Theodore Kent Kessinger, Bridget Melton, Theresa Miyashita and Greg Ryan
Clinical Scenario: Manipulation of exercise variables in resistance training (RT) is an important component in the development of muscular strength, power, and hypertrophy. Currently, most research centers on untrained or recreationally trained subjects. This critically appraised topic focuses on studies that center on the well-trained subject with regard to frequency of training. Clinical Question: In well-trained male subjects, is there an association between RT frequency and the development of muscular strength and hypertrophy? Summary of Key Findings: Four studies met the inclusion criteria and were included for analysis. All studies showed that lower-frequency training could elicit muscular strength and hypertrophy increases. One study suggested that a higher frequency compared with a lower frequency may provide a slight benefit to hypertrophic development. One study reported a greater level of delayed onset muscle soreness with lower frequency training. The 4 studies demonstrate support for the clinical question. Clinical Bottom Line: Current evidence suggests that lower-frequency RT produces equal to greater improvements on muscular strength and hypertrophy in comparison to higher-frequency RT when volume is equated. The evidence is particularly convincing when lower-frequency RT is associated with a total-body training protocol in well-trained male subjects. Strength of Recommendation: There is moderate-to-strong evidence to suggest that lower-frequency RT, when volume is equated, will produce equal to greater improvements on muscular strength and hypertrophy in comparison to higher-frequency RT.


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Many countries these days have speakers of a variety of different languages as is definitely the case in the United States. This often means those who have limited ability in speaking English will need an interpreter when they need to deal with organizations that need to understand what they are saying, such as hospitals, the police and the courts.
In makes it extremely difficult for those in a courtroom such as the judge and jury to make the right decision when it comes to important court judgments. There have even been documented cases when those with limited or no English due to the difficulty they have with communication have ended up with wrongful convictions
In January 2008, a Korean American who was a green card holder was arrested by police in the early hours of the morning in Virginia. Because of his poor English he was unable to communicate effectively with the police officers. As a result he was held in a detention centre for 4 days. He was not offered the services of an interpreter throughout this period. Eventually it was found the man was wrongfully arrested and he was released without any charges being laid against him. This sort of thing is a common occurrence in California which has the widest diversity of foreign language speakers.
According to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are around 350 languages that are spoken throughout the whole country. Out of this number, 150 are the languages spoken by Native Americans while 200 are those spoken by immigrants. Apart from English Spanish tops the list of language speakers. Other common languages spoken are Cantonese and Mandarin Chinese, Filipino which is Tagalog, Arabic, Vietnamese, Korean, French, German and Russian.
There is a great need for language interpreters and in California alone on an annual basis 8 million cases are handled by courts.
For a person with limited ability in English navigating legal matters is far more complex than other areas. From the moment a person enters a courtroom everything is found in English. There are often few multilingual signs present.
The U.S. civil rights law, which is designed to prevent discrimination based on an individual's origin has started to take over in some U.S. states as the federal government was threatening to withdraw funding from any state that didn't allow its non-English speaking residents equitable access to courts. This basically means that interpreters need to be provided.


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The fight to get illegal guns off the street
VICTORIA Cross recipient Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith is leading the fight to get illegal guns off Australian streets.
Speaking in a high-impact video at the launch of Operation Unification - an Australasia-wide operation aimed at ridding the community of illegal firearms, the former serving officer said he had seen what guns could do in war time and there was "no place" for them in a peaceful society.
"Like many others, I have served my country...now it's your chance to protect the community by phoning Crime Stoppers and telling authorities where to find that illegal gun," Corp Roberts-Smith said
"You can remain anonymous if you wish...it's all about getting that gun out of unsafe hands," he added.
In the past year, 8992 guns were seized by or surrendered to NSW Police.
Acting Assistant Police Commissioner John Kerlatec urged the community to think about "how successful" the operation could be, if people picked up the phone and helped save lives.
"Every firearm we remove from criminal or unsafe hands is one that can't be used to shoot someone or terrorise a neighbourhood," Act Comm Kerlatec said
"If you have a friend or loved one in possession of guns they shouldn't have, tell us where those guns are and let us remove any temptation to use them."
The launch of the operation coincided with the release of statistics which showed legal gun ownership was also on the rise.
Figures from the NSW Firearms Registry showed there were 11,940 handgun licence holders owning 27,787 handguns in the state, with 4,740 of them living in Sydney.


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SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- As the Ocean Tomo patent auction got underway Wednesday in San Francisco, Yongyong Xu anxiously clutched a notebook and waited for a year's worth of his research to come up for bid at an asking price of $2 million.
Xu had speculated that opportunities for a buyer to license the patent to large companies would be ample. After all, he noted, the patent claims to cover so-called "AJAX" technology, a popular programming technique prevalent in an entire generation of young Internet companies, not to mention in services from large companies such as Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. YHOO
No bids for the AJAX patent surfaced at $2 million, however, and the auctioneer quickly shifted to $1 million. As Xu looked on passively, the auctioneer then shelved the lot, and moved on. Read more.
As the auction drew to a close, however, Xu slipped into conversation with a group of men outside in the hallway. He reported later that there is some enthusiasm about "licensing and litigation" opportunities for his patent, though the interested parties would like more time to examine it.
Patents such as Xu's tend to invoke the ire of large companies, who complain that they are unfairly subjected to frivolous patent lawsuits based on commonly used technologies.
AJAX, or Asynchronous JavaScript + XML, for example, is used in everything from Yahoo's Flickr photo sharing service, to Google's
In a research report issued last month, Dow Jones VentureSource said AJAX is also a key element of the so-called Web 2.0 Internet start-ups that saw $1.3 billion in venture capital funding in 2007.
Jeffrey Hammond, an Internet analyst with Forrester Research, said that more than 30% of professional developers are now using AJAX or a rough equivalent to create Internet applications. After taking a brief glance at Xu's patent, Hammond sounded unimpressed. "This is a pretty basic architectural pattern in use for years," he said.
Hammond added, however, "But I'm not an [intellectual property] lawyer."
Xu said that while he's been pleased to see his research put to use, he believes that "these big companies are taking advantage" of technology that they should rightly pay for. He said he hasn't had any luck getting the attention of companies that might be interested in licensing what he refers to as his "AJAX patent," and thinks an attorney might fare better.
Xu filed the patent in 1999, but said he was only recently contacted by Ocean Tomo, a firm that describes itself as a merchant bank for intellectual property assets. Ocean Tomo has been holding patent auctions since 2006.
Scott Ross, a director of product marketing at Nielsen Online, said AJAX has had its strongest impact in services such as email. "Yahoo, [Microsoft's] Hotmail, Google, AOL, all the major U.S. email platforms have moved to something like it," he said.
But Ross said the fact that AJAX is so freely available would seem to make it difficult to predict where one might even direct a patent lawsuit.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens there, but who do you sue when you've got an open source framework?" he asked.


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MS MESB - Equine Industry Sciences and Management
Accredited by the French Conference des Grande Ecole and listed on the National Registry of Occupations (RNCP Level 7)
The outcome of joint action by researchers, equine nutrition experts, recognised professionals and the Hippolia Pole of Competitiveness, the Mastère Specialisé® MESB - Equine Industry Sciences & Management trains tomorrow's Equine Industry Managers.
Since it opened in 2007, its specific educational model has reflected its strong values: ambition to contribute to the development of the equine industry, passion for horses and international orientation.
Thanks to rich contents and a network of quality partners and lecturers, this MS MESB offers a unique opportunity for professional openings both in France and abroad. As the only RNCP Level 7 accredited degree in France directed at the Equine Industry, this degree has allowed to train managers who are experts in the Equine world and its graduates enjoy a high degree of recognition from the part of professionals.
Xavier Philippe
Programme Academic Director
Associate Professor in Sociology of work
Each cohort is sponsored by a recognised professional from the industry who takes part in the selection of applicants, supports them throughout their training and helps their introduction into the professional world.
During their 15-month training programme, students on the Mastère Specialisé® MESB - Equine Industry Sciences & Management benefit from a programme that will allow them to discover the range of occupations and activity sectors offered by the Equine Industry. Professionalisation is the focal point of this programme thanks to immersion internships and professional consulting projects throughout the study path in the equine world.
The faculty has been built to offer a triple diversity:
The programme is articulated in three phases:
Candidates are selected on the basis of an application form, followed by an individual interview.
Please use the on-line application procedure.
The programme is open to students holding the following degrees:
EM Normandie is easily accessible by disabled persons and will adapt its welcome schemes to match specific situations.
If you are disabled, please contact
MS MESB Graduates - Equine Industry Sciences and Management work in all sectors of the Equine Industry:
Graduates take up executive positions within a few months after graduation. Most of them are hired by the professional immersion structure they were in as interns. Half the positions are on long-term contracts and the majority have an international orientation.
The MS MESB is a true springboard into the International Equine Industry. Thanks to its courses, its numerous instructors from the industry and its network, this degree helped me find employment quickly in the Equine Health Sector and access a managerial position.
Head of Exports, Class of 2013
Various options are offered to students to help them fund their studies:
Further information here
Search for a study programme
Open day, worshops, workshops and trainings, etc.


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One of the primary uses of my iPhone is to play various types of audio – podcasts, audio books, and music. So when moving from the iPhone 4S to the Nokia Lumia 928 I want to keep these functions. I'll break down current state of these three areas for me and cover audio in general at the end.
Let's start with the worst of Windows Phone audio abilities. I use Downcast on my iPhone and it works great. I automatically download new episodes of podcasts I've subscribed to and they get added to playlists which are further sorted. It also supports playback at faster speeds. Downcast is by no means the only iOS podcast app with these abilities. Instacast is a competitor.
Nothing on Windows Phone even comes close. I've tried a couple apps: "Podcast" and "Slapdash" which are both free. I've had issues with both, even for the basic stuff like subscriptions and playback. Neither approaches the podcast management of Downcast so I haven't aggressively looked for work-arounds or fixes.
My iPhone remains my podcast player. Hopefully things will improve for podcasts on the Windows Phone front. I paid for downcast and I'm willing to pay for a podcast app on Windows Phone. But none of the ones I've tried are worth paying for. And the remaining ones in the Microsoft store don't seem to come close either.
Audio books
While podcast apps are the bottom of the barrel on Windows Phone, audio books have risen to the top. For me, audio books mean Audible and this completely meets my needs on Windows Phone. The Windows Phone does not support all the iOS features but luckily it has all the ones I want. Whispersync doesn't work on Windows Phone. While the ability to sync playback locations between devices, or an eBook, sound like something I'd want the reality is I never used them on iOS after the initial curiosity wore off. The WP Audible app only support playback at normal speeds. Because I like the "performance" of most narrators I only use normal speed.
The only repeatable issue I had was some playback glitches when I was downloading additional books at the same time. The playback would stop and jump to an earlier, random chapter.
There was one time where the Audible book lost track of where I was and started over from the beginning. This only happened once while listening to one 8 hour book. I would also have similar problems with the Audible app on iOS so this is hardly unique. Hopefully it remains rare.
Overall I'm very pleased with the Audible app.
I don't use iTunes for music anymore, not on the iPhone either, so I'm already past the biggest hurdle. I've been using Synology Audio Station for my music along woth storing all my songs in Amazon Cloud Player.
There is a Synology music app for Windows Phone. But as I'm learning, it's features aren't on par with the iOS app. Songs can't be stored locally on Windows Phone although they could be with the iOS app. In addition, Quick Connect doesn't work. Dynamic DNS and port forwarding can be used but Quick Connect is easier to set up. But my music on Synology NAS are ripped at a high bitrate so they're fairly large files, I don't really want to be streaming them over my cellular connection since I do have usage quotas.
There isn't an Amazon player for Windows Phone. I did try the web player but that didn't actually play the songs. So Amazon Cloud Player wasn't an option.
I prefer audio books and podcasts when I'm out of the house so the lack of local music isn't a big issue for me. I decided to go with Pandora for those times I do want mobile music. When installing the app I found Pandora is offering ad free streaming through 2013 for Windows Phone app users. It's still streaming over cellular, but it will use less data than the songs on my Synology NAS.
I gave XBox music a try back when I got my Surface RT. I wasn't at all impressed with it so haven't given it a try on Windows Phone. A music subscription doesn't appeal to me.
So music falls in between podcasts and audio books. It's not as terrible as podcasts but it doesn't have all the features I want like the Audible app.
I can always move songs to the phone manually but I'm not the type who wants to put that much effort into managing my music. I might load it up before heading out on a vacation but that's about it.
Audio In General
My iPhone earbuds (the older style from the iPhone 4S) work OK for music and audio. The microphone and phone buttons don't work. The Nokia Lumia 928 doesn't come with earbuds. So far I haven't needed any but I'll probably pick up a pair if I find some at a good price.
Bluetooth connectivity to my Jambox speaker worked well for all audio. It also worked as a speaker phone.
The phone speaker is on the back, towards the botom of the phone. The location works well. I can put it in the cup holder of my car and it gets some good reverberation so it's easy to hear. It's great for podcasts, audio books and GPS turn-by-turn directions. The power adapter plugs into the top of the phone which is also ideal for cup holder placement.
Overall the Nokia Lumia 928 Windows Phone is a capable replacement for my iPhone 4S when it comes to audio. Podcast handling need to be improved greatly but audio books and music are OK.
Other Windows Phone articles include my first impressions and migrating my contacts.


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Keith Brannon
(504) 862-8789
A New Hampshire high school senior with close ties to New Orleans has launched a campaign to help some of the youngest patients at Tulane Medical Center.
Benjamin Karp, 19, is selling blue "Children of New Orleans" wrist bracelets to raise money to buy toys, video games and play equipment for waiting areas and patient rooms in the Tulane Hospital for Children and the Pediatric Emergency Department. A senior at St. Paul"s School in Concord, NH, Karp says he came up with the idea as a way to help New Orleans children in a post-Katrina world where many families and institutions are still recovering from the storm and rebuilding.
"I have been thinking for the past two years what I could give back to the city in a direct way," says Karp who grew up in New Orleans and attended Isidore Newman School before Hurricane Katrina. He began boarding school in Concord after the storm, but his family still lives in New Orleans.
Karp has a personal stake in Tulane. Back in 1990, he was in a severe car accident that claimed the life of his mother. He credits the staff of Tulane Medical Center with saving his life. So far, Karp"s campaign has raised more than $1,400. The bracelets cost $2 each and are available for purchase in the Child Life and Pediatrics departments of the hospital as well as shops throughout the city. Bracelets retailers are listed online at www.thechildrenofneworleans.com.
The program has created a following among doctors, says Dr. Samir S. El-Dahr, Jane B. Aron professor and chair of Pediatrics.
"The blue bracelet campaign has generated a tremendous reaction from the medical and lay community alike. I have received dozens of e-mails and telephone calls from friends, colleagues and others all wanting to know how they can contribute to the campaign. We are extremely grateful to Ben"s efforts in raising these much needed funds," El-Dahr said. "Ben Karp is a remarkable human being. His campaign is a symbol of generosity and giving back to the community."
Earlier this month, the Senate of the Louisiana Legislature approved a resolution by state Sen. Cheryl Gray commending Karp for his efforts on behalf of the children of New Orleans.


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Caveat emptor.
These are definitely not student prices.
Four Japanese tourists were reportedly charged nearly $1,700 for lunch by a restaurant in Venice. The students each ordered a steak and a plate of fried fish and drank a bottle of wine between them at the restaurant in a busy tourist street close to St Mark's Square.
The incident is being seen as the latest example of Italian tourist-area restaurants issuing overpriced bills to unsuspecting visitors, The Times reports.
"Their tourist guide arrived to pick them up from lunch, saw the bill and tried to argue with the management but to no avail," Marco Gasparinetti, a spokesman for a Venice residents' group, is reported as saying.
"Things didn't go much better for three other Japanese tourists, who were part of the same group but had decided to go to a different restaurant nearby," he said. "They were handed a bill of over $460 for three plates of pasta."
After lunch, the tourists returned to Bologna, where they are studying, and filed a complaint to police.
It's not an isolated incident, coming after a complaint to Venice mayor Luigi Brugnaro by Luke Tang, a university lecturer from Birmingham, who was charged over $700 for a meal with his parents. Tang wrote that a trattoria "blackmailed us and ruined our holiday in Venice."
The mayor responded by calling him a skinflint and criticizing him for not speaking Italian, according to the newspaper.
Gasparinetti said that his group, which represents Venice's shrinking number of residents, was battling against "cowboy" restaurateurs who prey on tourists.
"We regret that our city has these episodes, and the Venice restaurateurs' association appears to do nothing about," he said.
Gasparinetti said that his group was planning to issue an online alert in different languages to warn tourists about inflated bills as thousands of tourists make plans to visit Venice for the annual carnival, which starts on Saturday.
"One trick is to list on the menu the price of the fish by weight, not by portion, which means you don't know how much you will get and what the price will be," he said.


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Love it !!
I want to start by saying that I'm obsess with matcha. I have tried several brands but recently I tried this one and felt in love. The thing about matcha is that is very high in antioxidants, so one cup of matcha is the nutritional equivalent of 10 cups of regularly green tea, which is amazing for your body. I really like this brand because matcha tends to be a little pricey but I found this one to be very reasonable, also the quality and taste are amazing. The best part of all is that is organic ! I would definitely order another pretty soon because mine is almost finished.


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Saffron's deeper now
chintha-matham 21-Feb-2012 Sitaram Yechury
chintha-matham 21-Feb-2012
Sitaram Yechury
Sitaram Yechury, Hindustan Times
February 20, 2012
February 20, 2012
This fortnight marks the 10th anniversary of the horrendous Godhra train fire and the communal carnage that followed in Gujarat, which consumed thousands of innocent lives. Among all factors that reflect on the vulnerability of the secular, democratic foundations of modern India, this decade
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highlights the serious limitations of our system of delivery of justice. This is one of the main yardsticks that measures the character of a modern republic. On this count, India finds itself wanting. This is, unfortunately, not confined only to the victims of the communal genocide in Gujarat, but continues to plague the victims of other carnages as well. The old adage 'justice delayed is justice denied' cannot find a more tragic manifestation than what is happening to the hapless victims of the Gujarat genocide.
The delivery of justice continues to elude us despite the latest order of the apex court (January 25, 2012) entrusting the inquiry of all extrajudicial (encounter) killings by the Gujarat police between October 2002 and December 2006 to a retired Supreme Court judge. In response to the charges of subversion of the criminal justice system, the higher judiciary had earlier ordered the transfer of riot cases outside the state, reopening of more than 2,000 closed cases by the Gujarat police, the appointment of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to reinvestigate nine major incidents of mass killings and directing the CBI to investigate some specific complaints and fake encounters. Much speculation has been generated by the CBI's sealed report submitted to the judiciary. On the one hand, there are serious allegations of complicity and, on the other, chief minister Narendra Modi has claimed that this 'exonerates' his administration's role in subverting the delivery of justice. The report is yet to be made public officially. Notwithstanding all this, the fact remains that the delivery of justice continues to elude us.
While the RSS and its political arm, the BJP, continue to pride themselves in these events as representing the success of the 'Hindutva laboratory' in Gujarat, the tentacles they use to spread the communal virus continue to extend further. Following its successful experiment in controlling the reins of governance at the Centre for six years by keeping its core communal agenda - the construction of a temple at Ayodhya, abolition of Article 370 and imposition of a uniform civil code - on the backburner to elicit the support of its NDA allies, it refrains from using these issues for communal polarisation. However, this polarisation is being pursued vigorously on other grounds.
It has revived its old issue of 'cow protection' in an aggressive manner. Since its inception in 1925, the RSS had founded a wide network of 'Gau Raksha Samitis' (cow protection societies). In 2010, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) conducted a yatra on this issue in different parts of the country. The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has enacted a new law, the 'Prohibition of Slaughter of Cow Progeny Amendment Bill'. With this, it has become the first state in the country to make consumption of beef illegal, going beyond the laws enacted by other BJP state governments. This law puts an accused on a par with someone charged under anti-terrorist laws where the onus of proving innocence lies with the alleged violator, reversing the fundamental tenet of our criminal law that states that an accused is 'innocent until proven guilty'.
The Gujarat government, in its latest move of polarisation, has enacted a law for preventing distress sale of property in areas dominated by another community. This is designed to consolidate the further ghettoisation and, thus, communal polarisation in the state. The state government has also refused to implement the central scheme of scholarships for Muslim minorities on the grounds that it did not want to allow special privileges to religious minorities. This scheme was introduced in 2008 following the national outrage over the findings of the Sachar Committee report on the status of Muslims in India. In Gujarat, only 26% Muslims reach matriculation compared to 41% overall. Urban poverty among Muslims is 800% higher than among high caste Hindus and 50% more than the OBCs.
Simultaneously, in all BJP-ruled states, the massive parallel education machinery of the RSS continues to grow steadily. The Vidya Bharati, established in 1977, today runs nearly 30,000 educational institutions with 32.5 lakh students and 1.6 lakh teachers. Its declared objective is to "develop a national system of education which would help to build a generation of young men and women that is committed to Hindutva and infused with patriotic fervour". As early as 1996, the NCERT, on the basis of a survey of the Vidya Bharati textbooks, concluded that they were "designed to promote bigotry and religious fanaticism in the name of inculcating knowledge of culture in the younger generation".
A more disturbing aspect of this process of communal polarisation comes with the latest arrest of an RSS activist by the National Investigation Agency for his involvement in the terrorist attack on the Samjhauta Express to Lahore, which claimed the lives of 68 passengers in February 2007. This re-establishes the RSS links to the growing web of Hindutva terror in the country. Earlier, investigations had established such links with terrorist attacks in Malegaon (September 2008), Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad (May 2007) and the Ajmer Sharif Dargah (October 2007). It needs to be reiterated that terrorism of all varieties feed and strengthen each other. This is anti-national and the country must display zero tolerance.
All such insidious efforts by the RSS and its affiliates to sharpen communal polarisation must be defeated to strengthen the secular democratic foundations of modern India.
(Sitaram Yechury is CPI(M) Politburo member and Rajya Sabha MP. The views expressed by the author are personal)
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Leave a reply.മലയാളത്തില് ടൈപ്പ് ചെയ്യാന് ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക
അസഭ്യവും നിയമവിരുദ്ധവും അപകീര്ത്തികരവുമായ പരാമര്ശങ്ങള് പാടില്ല. വ്യക്തിപരമായ അധിക്ഷേപങ്ങളും ഉണ്ടാവരുത്. അവ സൈബര് നിയമപ്രകാരം കുറ്റകരമാണ്. അഭിപ്രായങ്ങള് എഴുതുന്നയാളുടേത് മാത്രമാണ്. ഇ-മലയാളിയുടേതല്ല
Leave a reply.മലയാളത്തില് ടൈപ്പ് ചെയ്യാന് ഇവിടെ ക്ലിക്ക് ചെയ്യുക
അസഭ്യവും നിയമവിരുദ്ധവും അപകീര്ത്തികരവുമായ പരാമര്ശങ്ങള് പാടില്ല. വ്യക്തിപരമായ അധിക്ഷേപങ്ങളും ഉണ്ടാവരുത്. അവ സൈബര് നിയമപ്രകാരം കുറ്റകരമാണ്. അഭിപ്രായങ്ങള് എഴുതുന്നയാളുടേത് മാത്രമാണ്. ഇ-മലയാളിയുടേതല്ല


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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: Weary (05/03/12)
TITLE: Coming Apart | Previous Challenge Entry
By Sarah Heywood
I hear the raised voices before I reach the family room. It's the twins, fighting with each other again. I'm tempted to ignore the fracas, but then I see Joe straddling his brother, with his fist in the air, holding a video remote controller. Pinned underneath his brother, Luke is about to have a very close encounter with the controller.
"Joe!" I yell. My nine - year old pauses, mid-swing. Thus ensues a session of "He did, well, he said" and ends with me sending one culprit to his room and the other to go feed the dog. I feel a headache coming on.
I enter the kitchen, intent on finding an aspirin – or the whole bottle. I pass by my desk and suddenly remember that the energy company expects to have a check in their hot little hands by tomorrow. Ugh. I mentally try to subtract this week's groceries, the boys' field trip money, and the check I had to write to the vet from last week's balance. Hmm – wonder how much is in savings? If only Bill was working regular hours like he used to. But his employer has taken a hit with the economy, too. Once again, the idea of maybe having to look for some part-time work runs through my head.
I sigh - I'm tired. But it's more than that, really. It's this bone-deep weariness that has crept into my soul. Where's the rest? Where's the peace? This chaos and upset is not what I dreamed of when I used to envision my future life. Maybe it's just called "reality." Whatever it is, though, sometimes I feel like I'm coming apart.
I see that some child has drunk exactly two-thirds of a can of soda and left the remainder on the counter. I pour the rest into a mug and add some ice. Slipping outside, I sit down on the porch swing. Creak…creak…I am reminded that I need to ask Bill to oil that thing.
Closing my eyes, I drink and attempt to enjoy the last little bit of daylight. I know the kids will find me eventually, but for now I enjoy the quiet. I hear the ducks greeting each other down by the pond and the rustle in the grass of – well, I really don't want to know what's rustling in the grass! Maybe I just need to take more moments like these throughout the day – to relax, to de-stress.
"Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."
The Scripture learned long-ago pops into my mind. Can it be that easy? I know that when I go back in the house I'll still have a surly teenager, boys that fight better than they get along, a dog intent on destroying every good piece of furniture we own, and bills we can't pay. But if there's some rest along the way for my fatigue, then maybe that's all I need for now. And if that rest can come from Jesus, then so much the better. I think He probably understood heart - weariness as much as anyone during His time on earth.
Crunching over the gravel, Bill's truck pulls into the driveway. As he gets out, I can tell by the slump of his shoulders that it's been another rough day. I scoot over and pat the swing beside me. Bill slowly eases his body down. We don't say anything, but watch as the brilliant sun disappears over the horizon. Bill's calloused hand slides under mine and we lace fingers.
I feel my heart begin to lighten. Perhaps life isn't so terrible after all. Sometimes a weary heart just needs the chance to come apart and rest for a little bit, that's all.
Somewhere in the distance, I hear a mother duck, quacking to her little ones, calling them close for the night.
It's time to rest.
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You don't have to be on a Forbes list to enjoy the cinema experience in your own 4 walls – these clever gadgets can turn any room into an enviable home theatre
Deep, complex and celestial – call indigo a trend colour if you want, but it never goes out of style. We've rounded up a variety of items to please any blue-loving palette
Not all pencils are created equal. We present a selection of the very best pencils you could ever put to paper – many of which are surprisingly affordable
Carnival is full of parades, costumes and merrymaking – but also unique customs, traditions and history. Test how much you know about Carnival around the world
The days are long, the landscapes are gorgeous, and stress evaporates in Sedona. Leave your worries behind – here's how to spend a laid-back weekend in Red Rock Country
Sensuous yet secretive – is there anything more alluring than a beautiful robe? Just in time for Valentine's, we present 30 stunning dressing gowns for all shapes and tastes
These Tokyoites have "flare" – street style photographer captures stylish guys sporting a very '90s vibe…
What separates foodies from food snobs is their hunger for new tastes and experiences. Satisfy your inner foodie with inspiration for a year of unexpected food adventures
No more tossing out "sad" scraps and "lousy" leftovers: These cookbook authors and food bloggers show you how to turn yesterday's dinner into a leftover lollapalooza
From robot art to drunken drawing and "forced empathy", these one-of-a-kind workshops, exhibitions and experiences will expand your artistic horizons in 2019
Whether you're striking a yoga pose in Bali or quaffing "strong beer" with new friends in Munich, these festivals promise to make March your most adventurous month yet...
They're healthy, versatile and yummy – so why not give leafy greens, cabbage and root vegetables a chance to shine this winter? We explain how
All the single ladies (and gents) looking to escape the V-Day love fest: how about a change of scenery? Explore, discover and reconnect with yourself at these destinations
Radio is an important medium for sharing information and exchanging dialogue around the world: that's why UNESCO has dedicated an entire day to celebrating it
With flavours as rich, complex and diverse as Belgian beer or French wine, Japan's most famous drink never ceases to amaze – and it all starts with a humble grain of rice...
With the 91st Academy Awards on the horizon, we take a look at the best movies in history that deserved – but never won – a gold statuette
You use them every day, but how much do you know about hashtags past and present? Take our test and find out. #knowyourstuff
Gentlemen, drop your razors: the bearded look is back. We show you how to embrace your natural facial fuzz without looking like you've never seen a mirror...
Love the bold look of a deep-hued accent wall, but not sure you can pull it off? We show you how
Travellers often mistake Johannesburg as a place only worth passing through. Local blogger Heather Mason makes a case for treating the City of Gold as the main destination
From pilgrimages to sewer tours and beekeeping courses, we offer ways to broaden your horizons and re-evaluate your position in the universe by daring to try something new


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Virginia Beach, VA – Studio Center announces Chris Karvellas as the new Creative Director/Director of Photography for Studio Center. He will be overseeing all aspects of direction and photography for the film and video division.
Karvellas has over 25 years in experience in Film and Television working as a Director and Director of Photography. Having been a part of award winning efforts for programming such as: HBO's Real Sports, New York Yankees feature work for their network, "Madison Square Garden Network" and the "YES Network" (Yankees Entertainment and Sports) as well as feature work for the New York Mets; he brings a wide scope of knowledge and talent to the Studio Center table.
His work has been seen on Biography, History Channel, MTV, VH1, Discovery, Lifetime, Food Network, Speed Channel, Fox Sunday Night Hoops, Major League Baseball, NBC, ABC and he's done feature work for CBS National News. He spent three years producing and directing national commercials and image features for the Ladies Professional Golf Association.
He's directed and DP'd both film and video commercials nationally and regionally. Most recently he's completed DP duties on the independent film, "House of Fallen", shot in Hampton Roads—soon to be headed to a variety of film festivals and later released to the public.
"We can't tell you how pleased—and fortunate--we are to have Chris join us at this time in Studio Center's growth. His creativity, talent and skill raise the game for our film/video division and will make us stronger in the marketplace. He brings so much to our Studio Center family and we're excited to say the least", says William "Woody" Prettyman, CEO of Studio Center Total Production.
Chris is a native of Baltimore and attended University of Maryland. He played professional soccer for two years (Kansas City Comets and the Buffalo Stallions) and in between he worked as a dresser on Broadway for the Tony award-winning actor, Len Cariou.
Studio Center produces radio, film & video TV commercials, documentaries, CD-ROMS, in addition to in-flight entertainment, computer games, toys, corporate training programs and in-store announcements for clients in all 50 states and provides foreign voice-overs for 23 countries around the world.


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This week, I'm blogging on behalf of Belly. Home kitty is too emo to send me a post. I called my neighbor last week and got a chance to talk to Belly, who was so excited to hear my voice that he licked the phone. I miss that fuzzy face and his morning breath when he tried to wake me up so early in the morning. Belly is such a dear to me and I just want to squeeze him up.
Before I left, we did an impromptu photo session. As usual, Belly was poise but somehow, his poses were different this time.
Belly's classic stank eyed look
|"What? You still takin' pitchur?"
|I lol-ed whenever I saw this picture. Do you see what he did?
Belly covered his sensitive parts before giving the eyes. As if I would grope him while he was sleeping!
|Soft kitty :)
That's all for now. I'm travelling this weekend and will be back on Monday. Therefore, we are going to have a late V-Day post. Stay tuned for that, will you?
|P.S: If you like my blog, please subscribe to my feed. Thanks a lot!