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CAMDEN, N.J. – The outstanding 2013 York College men's soccer season came to an end with a 3-1 loss to #2 Rutgers-Camden in the Sweet 16 on a cold Saturday night in Camden, N.J.
The Spartans conclude their campaign with a mark of 19-3-1 while the Scarlet Raptors head to the Elite Eight with a record of 21-0-2. The Scarlet Raptors' win gains a measure of revenge after the Spartans dismissed Camden in penalty kicks in last year's NCAA Tournament second round match in York.
The two teams went back and forth in the early, as the momentum seemed to shift fluidly between the teams. The Spartans had ample opportunities as York had eight corner kicks in the opening 38 minutes of the game. Unfortunately for York, the Green and White wouldn't be able to convert any of their eight corner kicks or any of their six shots over the that 38 minute period.
The Raptors cashed in an opportunity in the 40th minute as Keegan Balle scored off a pass from Connor Hurff from 25 yards out, giving the hosts the 1-0 lead. Camden struck again just before the half when Joe Auleta collected a loose ball off a deflection and banged home another 25 yard shot. Auleta's goal was his second of the year and came just 1:57 before the half.
Both teams managed seven first half shots but the Raptors held the two-goal advantage.
The Raptors wasted little time adding to the lead 5:47 into the second half when Balle struck again, this time off a pass from Bobby Foster.
With the three-goal lead, the Raptors sat back and settled in on defense, happy to take a few counters when the opportunities presented themselves. The Spartans pushed forward in attempt to keep the season alive. York broke up the Camden shutout when sophomore standout Brendan Saberton (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) continued is post-season scoring surge with his third NCAA Tournament goal off a pass from fellow All-CAC sophomore Ryan Donahue (York, Pa./York Suburban) in the 58th minute. Donahue fed a long ball into the box that Saberton finished off inside the left post.
Saberton finished his sophomore year with ten goals to lead the Green and White.
York kept pressing but Camden would keep the Spartans off the board the rest of the way as the Raptures captured the Elite Eight berth.
The two teams both had 16 shots with Camden holding a slim 8-7 margin in shots on goal. The Spartans had a 12-4 advantage in corner kicks.
Mike Randall earned the win in net for the Raptors as he notched six saves. Junior Brad Schmidt (Moorestown, N.J./Delran) made five saves for the Green and White.
The Spartans must say goodbye to a eight seniors as Aaron Beale (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley), Chris Weaver (Baltimore, Md./Archbishop Curley), Taylor Brummitt (Annapolis, Md./Annapolis), Jake Hower (Lake Forest, Calif./El Toro), Daniel Baxter (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall College), Austin Johnson (Avalon, N.J./Middle Township), Tobi Iguade (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic), and Tanner Good (Navron, Pa./Pequea Valley) closed out their Spartan careers in the contest. The class combined for four Capital Athletic Conference titles, four NCAA Tournament appearances including a mark of 3-3-2 in the tournament, and 64 total wins, good for an average of 16 victories per year.


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Following the recent release of Microsoft Surface, we were really keen to find out how Surface is working out in an education environment. We interviewed Ian Mills from Bolton Metropolitan Council and Mike Richardson from Stockton Borough Council. Both these guys work in local authority roles that support schools with the use of IT. Here's what they said about using the Surface device:
Surface is a really easy out of the box tablet, the manual is tiny manual and its simple to set up and start using. I was really impressed with the touch interface, having used an iPad in the past, I felt the Surface touch element was really good.
I have other Windows 8 devices including a home laptop and a work laptop. I love the way that Windows 8 brings all those devices together. I really like the remote desktop app, so I was able to use Surface as a primary device. I am working on Surface now in place of my laptop – I haven't used my laptop for days! Initially I was concerned about not having Outlook, but the Mail app allows me to do everything I want across all my email accounts.
I've had some interesting feedback from schools too. The kickstand has been very popular because it means that the pupils don't have to hunch over the device like they did for the iPad, which was causing their posture to suffer. The kickstand is also robust so it's perfect for schools.
Microsoft Office on Surface is a huge advantage for teachers and pupils, as it allows them to easily create all the documents they need to. The battery life was also brilliant, lasting for the whole school day.
I actually gave my Granddad a Surface and a Kindle Fire to play with, to see which would be more suitable for him as a Christmas present. He couldn't understand how to use the Kindle at first, but he was able to start surfing the web immediately with the Surface device.
One of my favourite features of Surface included the ability to print. I connected to my wireless HP printer at home immediately for really quick and easy printing. I also liked the multi-tasking option to ''snap'' to multiple apps running simultaneously to the screen.
Something else I liked that will be key for schools is the flexibility, particularly with the saving to areas. The ability to save work on a school network or Skydrive will be great for schools.
I was able to run my wireless mouse and keyboard straight away using the USB which was really impressive. This will give different working style options for schools, as well as the touch screen option. The solid design of the tablet and the kickstand is also absolutely ideal for the school environment.
I think that OneNote is excellent for the classroom, and I really liked the Skype app too.
I gave Surface to a 6 year old, and she was able to access all the apps and games easily and said the Surface was her favourite device.
Another big deal for schools is the ability to use Flash sites. This means there are hundreds of playable games that can be accessed from Surface. Some sites do need to be ''whitelisted'' by the IE team for them to work though, but most games are easily accessible.
The start screen is something else I really love, it's so simple but displays so much information on the front screen. I like the information that is fed to you from the LiveTiles, which has encouraged me to look further into the live information being displayed on the tiles.
I think overall Surface has a fresh design and the wow factor.
Both Mike and Ian interact with schools on a daily basis regarding IT and so they really understand the benefits that Surface RT can bring to Education. They also mentioned that they are really looking forward to Windows 8 Surface.

subset: commoncrawl


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Chaffey College football standout Marcus Austin is following teammate Jahmel Rover to Division I-AA Idaho State, according to Panthers coach Carl Beach.
Austin, out of Etiwanda High School, was the anchor of the Panthers defensive line the last two years. Austin recorded 37 tackles, seven of those for a loss. He added 4.5 sacks and a recovered fumble. He was a first-team All-Central Conference selection.
He visited the school just before Christmas, after Rover traveled there and signed on.
Beach added that Austin has had no lingering effects of a knee injury that he sustained his senior year of high school that casued him to sit out his first year at Chaffey.
"He has looked very good," Beach said. "It as a little gimpy there for awhile but the problem seems to be behind him."
That gives the Panthers four players who have signed or made committments. Earlier both tight end Ricky Howard and defensive back Durrell Givens decided to attend Iowa State.


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Safety and control in collaborative robotics
Robotics technology is moving at the speed of light, and the standards process is struggling to keep up. New types of collaborative robots can be safely implemented: Do a risk assessment, work with experienced suppliers, and get involved with standards development.
Human collaborative robots are expanding automation possibilities and shedding old barriers. Liberated from their enclosures, these cage-free robots are easier to implement and easier to use. They are making automation more accessible to small and midsized businesses, and allowing manufacturers of all sizes to have more flexibility in automating diverse tasks. With these advantages come new concerns. At the top of the list is the safety of their human coworkers.
New safety standard raises more questions
In May, the Robotic Industries Association (RIA) announced the updated robot safety standard approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). The new ANSI/RIA R15.06-2012 standard is an update to the 1999 edition and is now harmonized with the international ISO 10218:2011 robot safety standard. One of the key updates to the globally harmonized standards addresses human and robot collaboration.
The standard identifies four requirements for collaborative robot operation, which allow humans to be in the vicinity of an operating robot without safety enclosures. Robots in a collaborative scenario must satisfy at least one criterion to meet the standard:
- Safety-rated monitored stop
- Hand guiding
- Speed and separation monitoring
- Power and force limiting.
An international committee has drafted ISO Technical Specification (TS) 15066 to provide guidance on using the new standard for collaborative operation. The subject matter is still under technical development, and an industry consensus needs to be achieved before it can be recognized as an amendment to the ISO 10218 safety standard.
"The international group is working on determining what sort of finite limits we may be able to put into the standard to help provide guidance for both robot manufacturers and end users," said RIA's director of standards development, Pat Davison. "Right now, the standard says that power and force limits need to be enacted, but it doesn't designate what is allowable power and what is allowable force."
ISO TS 15066 will also provide guidance on speed and separation monitoring, including determining the minimum separation distance and establishing maximum safe speed. Adoption of the specification is expected in 2014.
In the meantime, how are users of these new collaborative technologies supposed to ensure safe implementation without specific guidelines? And where does OSHA stand on human and robot collaboration?
"Robot safety falls within OSHA's general duty clause which says that the employer has to provide a safe work environment," said Davison. "OSHA does not specifically address human and robot collaboration. Instead, OSHA references industry standards such as the RIA standard."
Risk assessment helps safeguard the collaborative workspace
Davison notes the importance of identifying and thoroughly analyzing the risks involved with implementing any new robot application.
"The standard mandates that a risk assessment be performed for each new robot application. Risk assessment looks at all the tasks that are going to be associated with that application over its lifecycle. It evaluates all the potential hazards associated with those tasks and determines ways to mitigate those hazards, either by reconfiguring the system so the hazard is eliminated, or adding safeguarding or other mechanisms that reduce hazard exposure."
Gil Dominguez, PE, CMSE, is a safety consultant with Pilz Automation Safety L.P. in Canton, Mich. He is on the R15.06 Subcommittee for Industrial Robot Safety with Davison and is also involved in the international committee working on TS 15066.
Dominguez said that robot manufacturers are using TS 15066, even in its preliminary state, as a guideline for initial collaborative robot designs, and that end users are implementing systems following the recommendations in the draft specification. He has performed risk assessments on collaborative robotic systems and stresses the importance of thoroughly assessing the potential hazards in these scenarios.
"Because you're using robots in a totally different way than we've always done in the past, it becomes even more crucial to perform a detailed risk assessment on the hazards and exposures of the person working adjacent to a live robot," said Dominguez. "And given the complexity of the human body, the interactions and exposures that can occur have to be analyzed more precisely."
Dominguez and Davison acknowledge that the technology is ahead of the standard and that much work still needs to be done to provide specific guidelines to robot manufacturers, integrators, and end users. Ultimately, the onus for providing a safe work environment lies with the end user.
It helps to understand the different modes of collaborative operation and the robotics technologies that are leading the way.
The technology within
Each of the four modes of collaborative operation protects users in different ways," said Dominguez. "In safety-rated monitored stop, you're protecting people by keeping the robot from moving when a human is in the collaborative workspace. In hand guiding, you're protecting people by allowing the robot to move only when the robot's motion is under an operator's control."
"In speed and separation, you're protecting people by monitoring where the person is in relationship to the robot, and slowing down and eventually stopping the robot if the person gets too close, and eventually even altering the robot's path," explained Dominguez. "The biggest challenge we have in collaborative robotics is coming up with control systems that can monitor people and robots in real time to ensure, at a high integrity level, that a collision which could cause injury cannot occur."
"In power and force limiting, you have to make sure that the forces exerted on someone's body if they do come in contact with the robot are low enough that any injury which may occur would be considered minor. But different parts of a person's body are more sensitive than others."
Herein lies the dilemma for the standards writers. Exactly how much power and force is too much? Some robot manufacturers aren't waiting around for the answers.
Baxter's series elastic actuators
Rethink Robotics' Baxter received a lot of attention after it hit the U.S. market in September 2012. An all-purpose shop floor tasker, Baxter is designed to use common sense and work safely alongside human coworkers without the need for costly programming. Baxter is touted as "inherently safe."
The patented technology that gives Baxter its safety prowess was born in the lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "I was doing my master's at MIT with Professor Gill Pratt," said Matthew Williamson, director of technology development at Boston-based Rethink. "Between the two of us, we invented the series elastic actuator (SEA)."
Williamson said he eventually did his doctoral work under the supervision of Rethink's founder and CTO, Rodney Brooks, who was an MIT professor at the time. "Rod used the SEAs in his research robot arms, including the ones I used in my thesis."
"It's the series elastic actuators that make Baxter inherently safe," said Williamson. "They make the robot compliant as opposed to stiff. It's the difference between being hit by a spring and being hit by something rigid."
The SEA consists of a motor, a gearbox, and a spring. Williamson described how the mechanism senses and limits force. "The way the SEA works is that you measure the twist of the spring to control the force output, and that measurement of the twist of the spring gives you a force sensor."
"Electric motors, which are the predominant actuator technology, are very good at position control, but they're not very good at force control," Williamson explained. "A spring is a good way of converting a position to a force, because of Hooke's Law, force = kx. Force control is an enabling feature that is good for working in unstructured environments, which has been our goal with Baxter."
"And then it takes a fair amount of engineering to get that right, in terms of the spring design and the choices of the motors and gearboxes, and so on," added Williamson. "In Rethink's case, the challenge has been making it at an affordable price point." As of late July, Baxter starts at $22,000, including built-in sonar and camera sensors to detect humans when they enter the robot's space, and integrated vision for object detection.
"We have a robot that is lightweight (75 kg) and low power, so the energy in the system is reduced," said Williamson. "But on top of that, the force sensing allows us to do force and position control, which allows us to control the robot's speed to make sure that it won't damage anyone. We also have systems for detecting and responding to collisions and making sure the robot doesn't clamp, compress, or crush a person."
The SEAs in Baxter's flexible, back-drivable joints allow him to achieve power and force limiting collaborative operation under the new safety standard.
Universal's torque sensors, sophisticated software
Universal Robots' UR series sport a lightweight design, as low as 18 kg, and patented sensor technology that contribute to its power and force limiting operation.
"We monitor the current of the motors as well as the position of the encoders, so we've got redundant encoders in every joint. By looking at current and looking at position, we're able to derive force," said Edward Mullen, national sales manager at Universal Robots USA Inc. in Stony Brook, N.Y. "It also keeps our price point lower ($34,000), because we don't have expensive sensors in every single joint."
"The robot knows the required amounts of force to pick up a load and move it. When it recognizes an increase in torque or force required for movement, such as in a collision, the robot arm safely stops without causing harm," said Mullen. The UR's control system is redundant so that any dangerous failure forces the robot to fail in a safe condition.
Whereas Universal's UR series and Rethink's Baxter achieve collaborative operation through power and force limiting, traditional robot manufacturers achieve it by satisfying other criteria.
Next page: see about control-based collaborative operation, photos, video links
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On Saturday, New England fishermen gained more flexibility to fish in ways that make business sense while allowing our ocean ecosystems to recover. But for the new system to work, federal managers need to take critical steps.
The New England Fishery Management Council, consisting of commercial and recreational fishermen, industry representatives and government officials, voted last year to adopt a promising fisheries management system called sector allocation.
Under this plan, groups of fishermen voluntarily form community-based cooperatives known as sectors. Every year, each sector agrees to catch only a certain allocation of groundfish, such as cod, haddock and flounder. The annual catch limit ensures that overfishing does not occur, so stocks can rebuild.
In return for adhering to catch limits, sectors will enjoy more freedom to decide how, when and where to fish. Vessels can work more safely, with increased efficiency, and follow a profitable business plan.
This year, there will be 17 sectors along the New England coast. The vast majority of active, full-time groundfishing vessels, as well as many part-time vessels, have enrolled in the sectors — and represent 98 percent of New England's historic groundfish catches.
The future of New England's 400-year-old cod fishery pivots on the sectors' success, which should therefore become the top priority of the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). Making it work requires several important changes.
First, NMFS needs to implement an enhanced catch monitoring program. Managers must know how many fish are landed or discarded, so fishing can stop once limits are reached — not just for the target species but also for "bycatch," or fish and other animals that happen to get caught with the species being fished for. With better data, scientists can offer improved advice about future catches. Hiring observers will also create more jobs in the regional fishing industry.
Next, measures should also be taken to ensure that fishermen who don't join sectors, known as the common pool, stay within annual catch limits. If the common pool overfishes, fewer fish will be available for the sectors, causing the new program to fail. This requires comprehensive monitoring of all fishing vessels. The federal government has already allocated over $10 million to help New England's fleet transition to the new monitoring system.
Finally, NMFS should quickly employ current fish stock information. Today, it takes far too long from data collection to actual adoption of a plan for management. Managers, in fact, often make decisions with years-old data. In a dynamic, ever-changing marine environment, fishery managers need to base decisions on the most current numbers, to reduce bycatch, end overfishing, rebuild depleted stocks and ensure success of the new sectors.
For example, pollock, a close cousin of the iconic cod, is often caught with other groundfish. Fisheries managers rely on scientific data, which in 2008 showed that pollock stocks were in trouble. This science indicates that the catch must be substantially reduced during 2010 to three thousand tons, down over 70 percent from 11 thousand tons in 2009.
But catch limits are set separately for different species, despite the fact that many groundfish congregate — and are netted — together. If set too low, pollock catch limits may be reached long before those of other species being caught at the same time, forcing the sectors to stop casting nets early. This scenario could jeopardize the success of the new sectors, causing serious problems in New England's fisheries.
New pollock population data will soon be available. Given the potential impact of inaccurate limits on the success of the new sectors, NMFS should redouble efforts to evaluate and incorporate the new data immediately, not next year. If the updated science supports increased catch of pollock, the sectors could be more profitable during this critical first year of operation. For all its stocks, New England's fishery managers should follow the example of the eastern Bering Sea pollock fishery, which uses data only months old to adjust assessments and management.
As New England embarks on sector management, all parties involved need to work to ensure success of the program, so fishermen can make a living, fish stocks can rebuild and our fishing communities can thrive once again.
Read the article Good for Fish, Good for Fishermen, by visiting the Cape Cod Times online.


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"Hey I was the one that called dibs on her, so back...
- by the-tommo-linson
- Rating:
- Published: 3 Sep 2013
- Updated: 8 Oct 2013
- Status: In Progress
What happens when Hannah and her best friend Claire are almost killed and can't remember anything? Can Niall and Harry help them before its too late? Or will other past events come back for them?
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Welcome to everyone!
I've had been looking for perfect (for me) distribution of Linux for a very long time. Then I finally found Linux Mint, decided to try it and I am surprised. To me, Linux Mint is just great!
I think this system is so good I want to thank everyone who helped in creating it. I've decided to contribute the community of Linux Mint.
However, I don't have programming skills so I had to help in some other way. Then I decided to translate Official Manual into my native language - Polish. There are two reasons of this:
1. I really like Official Manual, I think it's well-written and helpful for beginners,
2. I know both English and Polish pretty well.
I please others for feedback and useful hints and tips.
Thank you.
PS. I have already started, done 10 pages so far.
Polish Translation of Official Manual for Felicia
Help make Linux Mint support your language.
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Skip to comments.24/7 Wall St: Ten Brands That Will Disappear In 2012
Posted on 11/29/2011 6:49:07 AM PST by SeekAndFind
24/7 Wall St. has created a new list of brands that will disappear, which includes Sears (NASDAQ:SHLD), Sony Pictures (NYSE:SNE), American Apparel (NYSE:APP), Nokia (NYSE:NOK), Saab, A&W All-American Foods Restaurants, Soap Opera Digest, Sony Ericsson, MySpace (NYSE:NWS.A), and Kellogg's Corn Pops. (NYSE:K).
Each year, 24/7 Wall St. regularly compiles a list of brands that are going to disappear in the near-term. Last year's list proved to be prescient in many instances, predicting the demise of T-Mobile among others. In late May, AT&T (NYSE:T) and Deutsch Telekom announced that AT&T would buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion. The deal would add 34 million customers to the company and create the country's largest wireless operator.
Other 201o nominees – including Blockbuster – bit the dust, while companies, such as Dollar Thrifty are on the road to oblivion. Last September, after finally giving in to competition from Netflix and buckling under nearly $1 billion in debt, Blockbuster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In April of this year, Dish Network acquired the company for $320 million. Car rental chain Dollar Thrifty is still entertaining buyout offers from Avis and Hertz. On June 6, the embattled company recommended that its shareholders not accept Hertzs recent offer, valued at $2.24 billion, or $72 a share. Meanwhile, on June 13th, Avis Budget announced that it had made progress in its discussion with the Federal Trade Commission regarding its potential acquisition of the company. Although Dollar Thrifty can remain choosy, a sale is a matter of when, not if.
We also missed the mark on a few companies. Notably, Kia, Moodys, BP, and Zales appear to be doing better than we expected.
Brands that have stood the test of time for decades are falling by the wayside at an alarming rate. For instance, Pontiac – a major car brand since 1926 – is gone, shut down by a struggling GM. Blockbuster is in the process of dismantling, after it once controlled the VHS and DVD markets. House & Garden folded after 106 years. It succumbed to the advertising downturn, a lot of competition, and the cost of paper and postage. Its demise echoed the 1972 shutdown of what is probably the most famous magazine in history–Life. That was a long time ago, but it serves to demonstrate that no brand is too big to fail if it is overwhelmed by competition, new inventions, costs, or poor management.
This years list of The Ten Brands That Will Disappear takes a methodical approach in deciding which brands will walk the plank. The major criteria were as follows: (1) a rapid fall-off in sales and steep losses; (2) disclosures by the parent of the brand that it might go out of business; (3) rapidly rising costs that are extremely unlikely to be recouped through higher prices; (4) companies which are sold; (5) companies that go into bankruptcy; (6) firms that have lost the great majority of their customers; or (7) operations with rapidly withering market share. Each of the ten brands on the list suffer from one or more of these problems. Each of the ten will be gone, based on our definitions, within 18 months.
1. Sony Pictures
Sony has a studio production arm which has nothing to do with its core businesses of consumer electronics and gaming. Sony bought what was Columbia Tri-Star Picture in 1989 for $3.4 billion. This entertainment operation has done poorly recently. Sonys fiscal year ends in March, and for the period revenue for the group dropped 15% to $7.2 billion and operating income fell by 10% to $466 million. Sony is in trouble. It lost $3.1 billion in its latest fiscal on revenue of $86.5 billion. Sonys gaming system group is under siege by Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Nintendo. Its consumer electronics group faces an overwhelming challenge from Apple. The companys future prospects have been further damaged by the Japan earthquake and the hack of its large PlayStation Network. CEO Howard Stringer is under pressure to do something to increase the value of Sonys shares. The only valuable asset with which he can easily part is Columbia which would attract interest from a number of large media operations. Sony Entertainment will disappear with the sale of its assets.
A&W AllAmerican Food Restaurants. A&W Restaurants is owned by fast food holding company giant Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) which has had the firm for sale since January. There have been no buyers. The chain was founded in 1919. The size of company grew rapidly, and immediately after WWII 450 franchises were opened. The firm pioneered the drive in fast food format. A&W began to sell canned versions of its sodas in 1971 – the part of the business that will survive as a container beverage business which is now owned by Dr. Pepper/Snapple. The A&W Restaurant business is too small to be viable now. It had 322 outlets in the U.S and 317 outside the U.S at the end of last year. All were operated by franchisees. By contrast, Yum!s flagship KFC had 5,055 stories in the U.S. and 11,798 overseas. Two massive global fast food chains are even larger. Subway has 35,000 locations worldwide, and McDonalds has nearly as many. A&W does not have the ability to market itself against these chains and at least a dozen other fast food operators like Burger King. And, A&W does not have the size to efficiently handle food purchase, logistics, and transportation cost compared to competitors many times as large.
3. Saab
The first Saab car was launched in 1949 by Swedish industrial firm Svenska Aeroplan. The firm produced a series of sedans and coupes, the flagship of which was the 900 series, released in 1978. About one million of these would eventually be sold. Saabs engineering reputation and the rise in its international sales attracted GM to buy half the company in 1989 and the balance in 2000. Saabs problem, which grew under the management of the worlds No.1 automobile manufacturer, was that it was never more than a niche brand in an industry dominated by very large players such as Ford and Chevrolet. It did not build very inexpensive cars like VW did, or expensive sports cars as Porsche did. Saabs models were, in price and features, up against models from the worlds largest car companies that sold hundreds of thousands of units each year. Saab also did not have a wide number of models to suit different budgets and driver tastes. GM decided to jettison the brand in late 2008, and the small company quickly became insolvent. Saab finally found a buyer in high-end car maker Spyker which took control of the company last year. Spyker quickly ran low on money because only 32,000 Saabs were sold in 2010. Spyker turned to Chinese industrial investors for money. Pang Da Automobile agreed to take an equity stake in the company. But, the agreement is not binding, and with a potential of global sales which are still below 50,000 a year based on manufacturing and marketing operations and demand, Saab is no longer a financially viable brand.
4. American Apparel
The once-hip retailer reached the brink of bankruptcy earlier this year, and there is no indication that it has gained anything more than a little time with its latest financing. It currently trades as a penny stock. The company had three stores and $82 million in revenue in 2003. Those numbers reached 260 stores and $545 million in 2008. For the first quarter of this year, the retailer had net sales for the quarter of $116.1 million, a 4.7% decline over sales of $121.8 million in the same period a year ago. Comparable store sales declined 8% on a constant currency basis. American Apparel posted a net loss for the period of $21 million. Comparable store sales have flattened, which means the firm likely will continue to post losses. American Apparel is also almost certainly under gross margin pressure because of the rise in cotton prices. The retailer raised $14.9 million in April by selling shares at a discount of 43% to a group of private investors led by Canadian financier Michael Serruya and Delavaco Capital. According to Reuters, the 15.8 million shares sold represented 20.3 percent of the company's outstanding stock on March 31. That sum is not nearly enough to keep American Apparel from going the way of Borders. It is a small, under-funded player in a market with very large competitors with healthy balance sheets. It does not help matters that the company's founder and CEO, Dov Charney, has been a defendant in several lawsuits filed by former employees alleging sexual harassment.
5. Sears
The parent of Sears and Kmart–Sears Holdings-is in a lot of trouble. Total revenue dropped $341 million to $9.7 billion for the quarter which closed April 30, 2011. The company had a net loss of $170 million. Sears Holdings was created by a merger of the parents of the two chains on March 24, 2005. The operation has been a disaster ever since. The company has tried to run 4,000 stores which operate across the US and Canada. Neither Sears nor Kmart have done well recently, but Sears' domestic locations same store numbers were off 5.2% in the first quarter and Kmarts were down 1.6%. Last year domestic comparable store sales declined 1.6% in the total, with an increase at Kmart of .7% and a decline at Sears Domestic of 3.6%. New CEO Lou D'Ambrosio recently said of the last quarter that, we also fell short on executing with excellence. We cannot control the weather or economy or government spending. But we can control how we execute and leverage the potent set of assets we have. D'Ambrosio needs to pull a rabbit out of his hat soon. Shares are down 55% during the last five years. D'Ambrosio only reasonable solution to the firms financial problems is to stop supporting two brands which compete with one another and larger rivals such as Walmart (NYSE: WMT) and Target (NYSE: TGT). The cost to market two brands and maintain stores which overlap one another geographically must be in the hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Employee and supply chain costs are also gigantic. The path D'Ambrosio is likely to take is to consolidate two brand into one–keeping the better performing Kmart and shuttering Sears.
6. Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson was formed by the two large consumer electronics companies to market the handset offerings each had handled separately. The venture started in 2001, before the rise of the smartphone. Early in its history, it was one of the biggest handset manufacturers along with Nokia (NYSE: NOK), Samsung, LG, and Motorola. Sales of Sony Ericsson phones were originally helped by the popularity of other Sony portable devices like the Walkman. Sony Ericssons product development lagged behind those of companies like Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and Research In Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM) which dominated the high end smartphone industry early. Sony Ericsson also relied on the Symbian operating system which was championed by market leader Nokia, but which it has abandoned in favor of Microsofts (NASDAQ: MSFT) Windows mobile operating because of licence costs and difficulty with programmers. In a period when smartphone sales worldwide are rising in the double digits and sales of the iPhone double year over year, Sony Ericssons unit sales dropped from 97 million in 2008 to 43 million last year. New competitors like HTC now outsell Sony Ericsson by widening numbers. Sony Ericsson management expects several more quarters of falling sales and the company has laid off thousands of people. There have been rumors, backed by logic, that Sony will take over the operation, rebrand the handsets with its name, and market them in tandem with its PS3 consoles and VAIO PCs.
7. Kelloggs Corn Pops
The cereal business is not what is used to be, at least for products that are not considered healthy. Among those is Kelloggs Corn Pops ready-to-eat cereal. Sales of the brand dropped 18% over the year that ended in April, down to $74 million. That puts it well behind brands like Cheerios and Frosted Flakes each which have sales of over $200 million a year. Private label sales have also hurt sales of branded cereals. Revenues in this category were $637 million over the same April-end period. There is also profit margin pressure on Corn Pops because of the sharp increase in corn prices. Kelloggs describes the product as being Crispy, glazed, crunchy, sweet. Corn Pops also contain mono- and diglycerides, used to bind saturated fat, and BHT for freshness, which is also used in embalming fluid. None of these are likely to be what mothers want to serve their children in an age in which a healthy breakfast is more likely to be egg whites and a bowl of fresh fruit.
8. MySpace
MySpace, once the worlds largest social network, died a long time ago. It will be buried soon. News Corp (NYSE: NWS) bought MySpace and its parent in 2005 for $580 million which was considered inexpensive at the time based on the web propertys size. MySpace held the top spot among social networks based on visitors from mid-2006 until mid-2008 according to several online research services. It was overtaken by Facebook at that point. Facebook has 700 million members worldwide now and recently passed Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) as the largest website for display advertising based on revenue. News Corp was able to get an exclusive advertising deal worth $900 million shortly after it bought the property, but that was its sales high-water mark. Its audience is currently estimated to be less that 20 million visitors in the US. Why did MySpace fall so far behind Facebook? No one knows for certain. It may be that Facebook had more attractive features for people who wanted to share their identities online. It may have been that it appealed to a younger audience which tends to spend more time online. News Corp announced in February that it would sell MySpace. There were no serious bids. Rumors surfaced recently that a buyer may take the website for $100 million. The brand is worth little if anything. A buyer is likely to kill the name and fold the subscriber base into another brand. News Corp has hinted it will close MySpace if it does not find a buyer.
9. Soap Opera Digest
The magazines future has been ruined by two trends. The first is the number of cancellations of soap operas. Long-lived shows which include "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" have been canceled and replaced by talk show, which are less expensive to air. The other insurmountable challenge is the wide availability of details on soap operas online. Some of the shows even have their own fan sites. News about the industry, in other words, is now distributed and not longer in one place. Soap Opera Digests first quarter advertising pages fell 21% in the first quarter and revenue was down 18% to $4 million. In 2000, the magazines circulation was in excess of 1.1 million readers. By 2005 it fell below 500,000 where it has remained for the last 5 years. Source Interlink Media, the magazines parent, which also owns automotive, truck, and motorcycle publications, has little reason to support a product based on a dying industry.
10. Nokia
Nokia is dead. Shareholders are just waiting for an undertaker. The worlds largest handset company has one asset: Nokia sold 25% of the global total of 428 million units sold in the first quarter. Its problem is that in the industry, the company is viewed as a falling knife. Its market share in the same quarter of 2010 was nearly 31%. The arguments that Nokia will not stay independent are numerous. It has a very modest presence in the rapidly-growing smartphone industry which is dominated by Apple, Research In Motions Blackberry, HTC, and Samsung. Nokia runs the outdated Symbian operating system and is in the process of changing to Microsoft Window mobile OS which has a tiny share of the market. Nokia would be an attractive takeover target to a large extent because the cost to buy 25% of the global handset market would only be $22 billion based on Nokias current market cap. Obviously, a buyer would need to pay a premium, but even $30 billion is within reach of several companies. Potential buyers would start with HTC, the fourth largest smartphone maker in the world. Its sales have doubled in both the last quarter and the last year. HTC will sell as many as 80 million handsets in 2011. The Taiwan-based companys challenge would be whether it could finance such a large deal. The other three likely bidders do not have that problem. Microsoft, which is Nokias primary software partner, could easily buy the company and is often mentioned as a suitor. The worlds largest software company recently moved further into the telecom industry though its purchase of VoIP giant Skype which has 170 million active customers. Two other large firms have many reasons to buy Nokia. Samsung, part of one of the largest conglomerates in Korea, has publicly set a goal to be the No.1 handset company in the world by 2014. The parent company is the largest in South Korea with revenue in 2010 of $134 billion. A buyout of Nokia would launch Samsung into the position as the worlds handset leader. LG Electronics, the 7th largest company in South Korea, with sales of $48 billion, is by most measures the third largest smartphone company. It has the scale and balance sheet to takeover Nokia. The only question about the Finland-based company is whether a buyer would maintain the Microsoft relationship or change to the popular Android OS to power Nokia phones.
Douglas A. McIntyre
They didn't mention the liberal rag The Houston Chronicle Or comical like I call it. This news paper keeps getting smaller and smaller and I keep laughing and laughing.
Toobad we can't put the entire MSM and the Democrat Party on that list.
Why are you advertizing for Obama on this site?
It's a brand that will disappear in 2012.
You really had to ask?
Some of the best phones I ever had were Nokia. I'd still be using them if technology had not advanced.
But alas. New and better features did hit the market. But Nokia kept plugging along with old school phones.
Yes, I really had to ask.
The post does not come across that way.
Who publishes this ?
Daily, weekly ?
I would hate to see Sears close down.
Man, I agree with that 1000%!
RE: I would hate to see Sears close down.
The Sears Tower, America's tallest building, is no longer called the Sears Tower. In March 2009, London-based insurance broker Willis Group Holdings agreed to lease a portion of the building, and obtained the building's naming rights.On July 16, 2009, the building was officially renamed the Willis Tower.
When we were remodeling and shopping for household stuff, we were amazed at how places like Lowe's, Home Depot and others were packed, while Sears had sales people standing around just waiting to serve you... not a good sign.
Oh no, not A&W!!
Near out place in Vermont is an A&W drive-in. Like going right back to the 1950's except the girls on roller skates have piercings and tattoos. You stay in your car, they come to you on roller skates, and the food is served on a tray that hooks over the drivers side window. Root beer and the world's best root beer floats are served in big frosty mugs.
It's been a part of our summer for years!! I'll sure miss the hot dogs and root beer floats.
The Democratic Party brand in 2012.
I am not surprised to read about Sears. We have bought Sears appliances for 40 years and in general found them reliable. When something did go wrong they were quick to respond.
That is past tense, were. Recently I had a problem and called repair. The earliest appointment was seven days. I had no choice so we took it.
They came out fixed the problem, or so we thought. A few days later, the same problem. I called again and was told it would be seven days and if it was something different from what they already did I would have to pay for the call out as well as what ever repair were required.
This made me angry, one the problem was not fix, two I may have to pay more, but mainly three, the seven days I had to wait.
It seems every appoint was seven days out.
Having worked in service for 30 years our response time was always within one business day. It is doable. Our customers would not wait for seven days for a service tech.
I do not understand why they think they could ask this.
I looked up the address of the the Chairman of the Board for Sears Holding and wrote him a letter telling him why after 40 years I would never buy another Sears product.
Got a letter back and a phone call from a someone. They could not promise faster service and told me if I purchased a maintenance agreement I would not have to worry about paying extra. Needless to say I was not happy with the response (although I give them credit for responding).
My take on it is that service is expensive. To provide good service you need enough service techs available to meet the demand or you could ration service. By putting the service time to seven days some customers will say never mind and call someone else. This way they do not have to hire more techs and save money. They made a business decision, one I do not think helped their business and we are going to see the results when Sears goes away for good.
Sears' CEO has set about to loot the company piecemeal. You no longer need to visit Sears to buy their brands, including Craftsman tools.
If A and W would DUMP HFCS and replace it w/ GOOD Old Fashioned White Suger in thier sodas THAT just MAY keep them afloat(get it "afloat", sigh).
Root beer were the first two words my daughter learned to say. We passed an A&W every evening on the way home from where she stayed during the day while I worked. They had those tiny little iced mugs for kiddos for a nickle and it was one of our regular stops. No one has made root beer that is anywhere as near as good as theirs and their floats were to die for.
You guys are a tough crowd! I'm going to have to up my game!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.


text:
For a guy with a reputation for being smooth, Barack Obama stumbled badly when he was pressed, only mildly, by a reporter in a campaign appearance in Pennsylvania yesterday:
It is striking how naive Obama sounds when he talks about foreign policy. He proposes keeping a "strike force" either in Iraq or somewhere nearby–presumably closer than Okinawa–to "deal with potential problems that might take place in the region." But that isn't a policy, it's a fantasy.
Suppose we pull our troops out of Iraq, and al Qaeda starts taking over, say, Mosul, by the simple expedient of chopping the heads off those who oppose them. How would Obama's "strike force" "deal with" that problem? By bombing Mosul? The surge has achieved success over the last few months by doing the exact opposite of what Obama suggests. Our troops have been embedded within local communities, working hand in hand with Iraqi units to preserve order and protect the populace from terrorist threats. Once they are removed, there is no going back. The idea of a "strike force" is mere childishness.
Such is the thin stuff from which Obama conjures his Presidential bid.
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text:
"Summer Fun" is here just in time for the season. A carefree feel good uptempo track which features Banjo, mandolin, acoustic guitar, bass, acoustic drums and is sprinkled with percussion. This track features add lib vocals and adds to the carefree fun vibe. If you would also like a version without any vocals, send me a message and I can send it to you.
Thanks for your purchase and rating!


text:
Aerostat Surveillance:
Tethered Aerostat Radar System
Aerostats are large helium filled fabric envelopes, which can rise up to an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,600 m) while tethered by a cable. The largest lifts a 1000 kg payload to an operating altitude providing low-level, downward-looking radar coverage. The aerostat consists of four major parts or assemblies: the hull and fin, windscreen and radar platform, airborne power generator, and rigging and tether.
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text:
Print Studio
No events currently scheduled
Mezzanine, The Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Education and Research Building
Organized in conjunction with the exhibition Print/Out, Print Studio is an interactive space that explores the evolution of artistic practices relating to the medium of print.
Participation in all Print Studio programs is limited to 25 people. Timed programs and workshops are free, but tickets are required. Please see individual program listings for specific ticketing information regarding ticketing times, location, and pick-up instructions. Open to all ages. Children must be accompanied by an adult.


text:
MicroShift – creating wide stereo tracks from mono sources
Soundtoys has just released Little MicroShift, the latest in their new Boutique plug-in series, and it's free for a limited time.
The company tells us that Little Microshift is based on a simple, but effective studio trick for creating wide stereo tracks from mono sources. Originally done using hardware pitch shifters, as well as the original SoundToys SoundBlender plug-in, this technique has been used in pro studios as a "secret weapon" on countless vocals, guitars and more for a widening, doubling and interesting spatial effect that adds focus or power to tracks run through it. Soundtoys says that, now, three of the most popular versions of this effect are available at the touch of a button.
The Contest
As in years past with Devil-Loc and Little Radiator, Little MicroShift is available free to anyone who can find a friend with a "sharing code". They're all over FaceBook and forums like GearSlutz and KVR Audio. Once you've got Little MicroShift, you can share it with your friends by using your own unique sharing code. The top share-masters win more cool stuff. The grand prize is an autographed original H3000 D/SE Ultra-Harmonizer from our Gear Closet. The promotion ends on March 29th.
Pricing and Availability:
More information here:


text:
Beaumont/Port Arthur
Police arrested 35-year-old Jessica Bush of Orange after a call regarding a shoplifting incident resulted in the discovery of more than 150 prescription pills illegally in the woman's possession, Orange Police Department (OPD) reported.
While we harbor no disrespect for the Wall Street Journal who called us "that scrappy little paper from Southeast Texas," we prefer to think of ourselves as simple seekers of the truth. We're of the opinion that headlines and sound bites never tell the whole story. Our readers demand all the facts, facets and flavors of every story or event. And, they expect to be informed, educated and stirred to action.
For this week's New York Times crossword puzzle, pick up a copy of this week's The Examiner on newsstands now.


text: Hi, Thanks Christoph. Comments below: > There exists a simple hack that reads the raw > acceleration values from the chip and delivers them to userspace using > a sysfs file I've read [0] but could not find it description of this hack. Any pointer and sample strings? The LSM303DLH combines both 3D compass and accelerometer, so is the HMC5883L usefull for this application? So one idea is to put some tilt logic in the code here: http://gitorious.org/vala-compass/vala-compass/trees/master/src Or write a piece of code that takes the raw data and output tilt-corrected magnetic heading. I found out some math and code (for Arduino) that could be re-used. Most interesting are [3] to [5]: [1] Has nice geometric discussion and code, but cannot correct for tilt over 40 degrees. Saysthere are other (more complex) algorithms for tilt > 40°. [2] Give some pointers to scientific articles, including I believe for 360 degrees correction. Note that typical use is keeping the device vertical, so code in [1] is not OK [3] Discusses the LSM303DLH chip included in the GTA04, and gives 2 links for code computing the tilt-corrected heading: [4] Arduino code for LSM303DLH [5] In "Ressources" tab: "library for the ARM mbed development board that interfaces with the LSM303DLH 3D compass and accelerometer carrier and provides the tilt-compensated magnetic heading" Isn't [5] the closest to what would be needed? Could it serve as a basis? Cheers, Mayeul [0] http://projects.goldelico.com/p/gta04-kernel/page/Mainline-Status/#wikititle_27 [1] https://www.loveelectronics.co.uk/Tutorials/13/tilt-compensated-compass-arduino-tutorial [2] http://www.arduino.cc/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1267295038/15 [3] http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1250 [4] https://github.com/pololu/LSM303/blob/master/LSM303/LSM303.cpp#L226 [5] http://mbed.org/users/shimniok/libraries/LSM303DLH/lpk7s5 ----- Mail original ----- De: "Christoph Mair" <christoph.mair at gmail.com> À: "List for communicating with real GTA04 owners" <gta04-owner at goldelico.com> Cc: "List for Openmoko community discussion" <community at lists.openmoko.org> Envoyé: Lundi 19 Mars 2012 08:35:52 Objet: Re: [Gta04-owner] Advance OpenStreetMap surveying with GTA04? / camera & heading On Sun, Mar 18, 2012 at 7:11 PM, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns at goldelico.com> wrote: > Am 18.03.2012 um 19:01 schrieb Mayeul Kauffmann: > >> Thanks! >> So for the moment camera does not work. 8-( >> What about the heading? (including when device is in vertical position) > > There is a HMC5883L 3D compass chip inside. Maybe someone else > can comment on the status of the kernel drivers. AFAIK the driver is not yet includet in the gta04 kernel, but this is a minor problem and can be fixed quite easily. The driver for the accelerometer is also not yet included. You will need it to get tilt-compensation. There exists a simple hack that reads the raw acceleration values from the chip and delivers them to userspace using a sysfs file, but it's not a real driver with a standardized interface. With these two chips working, you need a piece of software to calculate the tilt compensated heading from the raw compass and accelerometer readings. Maybe "valacompass" (http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/ValaCompass) can be modified in order to get the desired results. Regards, Christoph _______________________________________________ Gta04-owner mailing list Gta04-owner at goldelico.com http://lists.goldelico.com/mailman/listinfo/gta04-owner


text:
Eight days after undergoing knee surgery, Marcus Lattimore will return to Williams-Brice Stadium to be honored by Gamecock Nation.
Head Coach Steve Spurrier said Tuesday that Lattimore is expected to be at the stadium when the Gamecocks take on Arkansas.
Spurrier said Lattimore's name will be put on the wall for scoring the most touchdowns and the most rushing touchdowns.
"From what they said, the surgery was successful," said Spurrier. "Now it's rehab and rest and so forth. And however long it takes, I think they wait and see. But he's doing well and he's back in Columbia and I think he'll be at the game Saturday. So we're looking forward to that.
"I think he replaces Harold Green and George Rogers as career touchdown leader," said Spurrier. "That announcement is either going to be right before the game or between the first and second quarter. Something like that. So I think our fans need to know that Marcus will be here and I'm sure he'll get an ovation maybe like there's never been one at Williams-Brice."
Kickoff is set for noon.
Copyright 2012 WIS. All rights reserved. The BigSpur.com contributed to this report.


text:
Hi, back again with more on the Daikin install. This, by the
way, as kind of a sideways comment on the "inverter" thread,
is a 1.5 ton inverter-driven system with an upright air-handler
designed basically as a forced-air furnace replacement. Daikin
was apparently first to market with this sort of thing and the
other makers are *just* starting to get on board with that idea.
As more furnace owners start wanting to move to high-efficiency
heat pumps, I figure there's going to be a huge market for those.
Anyway, today we finally fired the thing up and got it running.
What bothered me is this: the Daikin install manual is up one
side and down the other with a 12-hour leak test at high pressure
with nitrogen, followed by at least a 2 hour vacuum to 500
microns before even *thinking* of cracking the valves to let
the juice out of the condenser. My tech instead hooked up
the vacuum pump and took 'er down to something in the
neighborhood of -13 psig, didn't even have a micron scale
going, and maybe left it there for half an hour. Then, cracked
one valve and then the other to let a little refrigerant in, saying
that just allowing that to come up to 80 PSI or so in the lineset
was "pressure test" enough. Within about ten minutes he had
opened the valves all the way and was trying to start the unit.
I could easily see the "proper procedure" in an install manual
viewed as unnecessary overkill in the real-world industry, but
here the pendulum really seemed to have swung the other way
into very little care given to getting the lineset and evap nice
and clean. Oh, and this was after brazing it onto the AHU
without flowing any nitrogen at all, just put the pipes together
and torched 'em. So does this throw everything I've been reading
about careful startup procedure out the window, or was this guy
genuinely careless on my job? Is it any different with the newer
types of units, i.e. is it okay to leave out what I'd expect to be
normal parts of the procedure for certain types of unit? I don't
think this fella even *owns* a nitrogen bottle.
As a side note, it was clear that he'd never started one of this
particular type of Daikin, as it's got a hard requirement that you
put it through a special test mode once before it will run
normally. Both of us sat there reading the manual and the
paper on the inside of the unit cover until we figured out how
to get the test to run, and all *kinds* of fascinating things
happened in there once it started. Hearing/feeling the compressor
gently ramp itself up and down but really quietly is pretty cool,
and right there's one of the benefits of the inverter systems.


text:
The most attractive piece the Dodgers could make available is Andre Ethier. Ethier is hitting .313/.390/.452, with 6 HR, 34 RBI. It isn't logical for a team that ranks 13th out of 16 National League teams in on-base percentage to trade a guy with a .390 OBP, but it's what's best for the organization.
Ethier is a premiere hitter, despite not being able to hit left-handed pitches nearly as well as righties -- 18-for-75, /240/.289/.347 this season, .246/.309/.368 for his career.
Having said that, he'd still be the most attractive position player on the trade market -- which begs the question: what could the Dodgers get in return for the outfielder?
Ethier has let it be known back in Spring Training -- intentionally or unintentionally -- that he doesn't think he'll be a Dodger long-term.
In seemingly the next breath, he said this to the L.A. Times:
"You don't know," Ethier said. "Six years now is a long (time) to be in one city for one team. There's no inclination now other than going out and playing this year and seeing what we got.
"You don't know if this is your last (year) or not, but you want to enjoy it to its fullest extent and make the most out of it."
"Yeah, as long as the organization is moving in the right direction still, moving in a direction where they're committed to winning … rather than if things don't go good for a year or two here, (then) rebuild and try to figure things out.One thing we know for certain: Ethier will never work in a MLB front office, as he still has one year of arbitration to go before hitting free agency. That, coupled with his production, is precisely why the Dodgers should trade him now -- to maximize the value they could get for him. A team dealing for Ethier would get him for at least 1 1/2 years.
"I just want to be somewhere that gives me the best shot to win. I feel like we got that here. But it's a wait-and-see basis."
So, what teams would be interested in his services and what could the Dodgers be looking for in return? Let's explore those questions.
Boston Red Sox
Ethier's apparent BFF, Dustin Pedroia, plays in Boston and it could use a guy to patrol right field in Fenway Park (J.D. Drew is a free agent following the season). While Drew's time in Boston has produced solid numbers (.268/.376/.468), he's played an average of 131 games per season (not counting 2011). In the same time, Ethier has played an average of 148 games with better overall numbers than Drew (.288/.363/.493). Ethier would add to an already potent Red Sox's lineup.
Who would the Dodgers be interested in?
Daniel Bard, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ryan Kalish, Jed Lowrie, Josh Reddick
To Boston: Ethier
To Los Angeles: Lowrie, Kalish, Bard
- This would be a steep price for Boston to pay, especially with Scutaro in the final year of his deal and Lowrie performing well in his place. The Sox do have Jose Iglesias in the minors and despite his struggles at Triple-A, he is the Red Sox's future at shortstop. Lowrie surely isn't going to bump Pedroia or Kevin Youkilis from their positions, so they might be more willing to move him. Kalish would step in for Ethier in RF and Bard would be a nice setup option for a beleaguered Dodger bullpen. Not sure Boston would be on board with this deal, though.
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds have a three-man rotation in left field in Jonny Gomes, Fred Lewis and Chris Heisey. While Heisey has experienced moderate success in his 287 at-bats (.261/.331/.439), he probably isn't the long-term answer. Gomes and Lewis are platoon players at best. Ethier would look nice in the middle of the Reds' lineup, hitting in front of reigning NL MVP Joey Votto.
Who would the Dodgers be interested in?
Yonder Alonso, Juan Francisco, Yasmani Grandal, Ismael Guillon, Devin Mesoraco, Neftali Soto
To Cincinnati: Ethier
To Los Angeles: Alonso, Mesoraco, Guillon
- The Reds have played better of late, but they're behind both Milwaukee and St. Louis in the division (38-35, 2 GB). They could use a spark. Alonso is blocked by Votto and is the team's best trade chip. Mesoraco is really close to the majors and we all know of the Dodgers' lack of catching prospects. Guillon is a high-upside lefty who is just 19 years old. Ethier would slot right into the middle of the Reds' order and form as dangerous a 1-6 as there is in baseball (Stubbs, Phillips, Ethier, Votto, Rolen, Bruce). Cincinnati has another good catcing prospect in Grandal who is hitting well for Bakersfield. They could possibly afford to deal Mesoraco with Grandal being the team's 2010 first-round pick. If not, the Dodgers could get Grandal (as a player to be named later because of MLB rules) and another prospect to replace Mesoraco.
Cleveland Indians
The Indians have been the biggest surprise team in baseball this season. They have a 39-31 record, good enough (right now) for first place in the American League Central. They're doing all this with Grady Sizemore not giving the team much, Travis Hafner on the DL, Shin-Soo Choo greatly under-performing (.244/.332/.354) and Carlos Santana (oh how I miss thee) hitting .228/.354/.404. The Indians could use a boost to the offense, which is where Ethier would come in. A 3-4-5 of Ethier-Santana-Choo would be quite formidable in the AL Central (provided Choo and Santana get on track).
Who would the Dodgers be interested in?
Chun-Hsiu Chen, Lonnie Chisenhall, Nick Hagadone, Jason Kipnis, Jason Knapp, Lou Marson
To Cleveland: Ethier
To Los Angeles: Kipnis, Knapp, Chen, Hagadone
- The Indians probably wouldn't be too keen on dealing Chisenhall, as he's they're future at the hot corner. Kipnis is performing well at Triple-A and could slide right in as the Dodgers' second baseman for the ineffective Juan Uribe and potentially injured Casey Blake. Knapp is the best prospect the Indians got from the Cliff Lee deal -- a deal in which they spurned the Dodgers' proposal. Chen, a catcher, is performing well at Double-A and would immediately be the team's best catching prospect. Hagadone, whom the Indians got for Victor Martinez, is strictly a left-handed reliever, but he's having success in the role.
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies have yet to adequately replace Jayson Werth and Chase Utley is just coming back from injury. Raul Ibanez is a free agent after the season and the Phillies aren't ready to hand the job to Domonic Brown yet. Ethier would be a fine replacement for Werth and would supplant Placido Polanco as the team's No. 3 hitter.
Who would the Dodgers be interested in?
Brown, Brody Colvin, Jonathan Singleton, Sebastian Valle, Vance Worley
To Philadelphia: Ethier
To Los Angeles: Brown, Singleton, Valle
- Ethier would provide a boost to the Phillies, which is the best team in baseball, even without Utley for most of the year and guys like Ibanez, Shane Victorino and Jimmy Rollins struggling. Brown would come in and be the true right fielder the Dodgers need, while Singleton would be the team's future at first base. Valle is a solid prospect, but is only in High-A and doesn't have the best plate discipline (2 BB, 27 K this season in 31 games).
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays are playing better than most thought they would after losing key pieces to last year's division-winning club. The team has one of the best pitching staffs in baseball, but is pretty pedestrian on the offensive side, despite having Matt Joyce, who is enjoying a breakout season. Ethier would slot in as the No. 3 hitter in front of Evan Longoria and would provide a boost to the Rays' struggling offense.
Who would the Dodgers be interested in?
Tim Beckham, Alex Cobb, Desmond Jennings, Jake McGee, Alexander Torres
To Tampa Bay: Ethier
To Los Angeles: Jennings, Cobb, Torres
- The Rays need a boost offensively. Ethier would bring a consistent hitter to the Rays' lineup and allow them to continue to contend. One stumbling point is the fact that Ethier is a free agent after 2012 and the Rays are highly unlikely to sign him to a long-term deal. The return of Jennings, Cobb and Torres would be the best the Dodgers could do out of any of these deals talent-wise. Jennings would allow Kemp to slide to right field, Cobb is having great success at Triple-A and was recently recalled to the majors and Torres is having a solid season.
I'd rank the deals in order of preference this way: Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Tampa Bay, Boston, Cleveland. It's hard to pass up two Major League-ready players in Alonso and Mesoraco at positions in which the Dodgers need help. Acquiring Alonso would also prompt the Dodgers to deal James Loney. The only problem is, his trade value is non-existent right now, despite his recent hot streak. It'd be nice to get Brown and Singleton from Philly, but they are the team's two best prospects and might not want to trade both. The Tampa deal is nice because Jennings is one of the best CF prospects in baseball and the two pitchers are ML-ready. The Red Sox's deal would be great if they're willing to trade Lowrie and Indians don't have much of a shot unless they want to trade Chisenhall.
I'm not sure if I'm overestimating Ethier's value, but I think two ML-ready prospects and third B-level prospect isn't too much to ask for an All-Star outfielder with a career .853 OPS.
I've always been an Ethier fan, but it's time to sell high on him. The Dodgers need to get cheap, young talent in return for him and look toward 2012.


text:
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text:
|2006-12-03, 12:34
|Link #223
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: event horizon
You not get it O.O tutorials for what purpose?..
Anyhow.. have you tried serching for vectoring tutorials in general.. or tutorials for Illustrator.. even if tools may differ basic concept and technique should be the same ^^
No tutorials on this page.. got-a fix that ^_^ hehe
|2006-12-04, 21:33
|Link #225
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Monterrey N.L. Mexico
|2006-12-05, 16:52
|Link #226
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: event horizon
@ Zakura Angel64
You could also just add some snow to any other font. ^^
Just create a new layer and give it inner shadow, make it somewhat soft and then with a soft brush paint snow aver the text like it would look if it fell from the sky.
Some Basic Tips & Tricks
I won't go too deep, I'll only mention some basic stuff that generally is missed by newbies.
Tip 1 - Your layout is organised in pallets and all your visible pallets are placed in a window. You have 5 options.
Spoiler for Example Layout:
//Note - Please use the default layout for the tutorials here ^^
Tip 2 - To work more freely go into full-screen mode.. and get used to working like that..
Usefull things to know..
Tip 3 - Removing a Character From a pic
Basic Rule: If it takes more then 90 seconds to remove a charcter from a pic (regardless of the complexity of the background or color diffrences) then you are doing it fukin' wrong!!!
Fastest method to remove a charcter is to use the Magic Wand.
Some things that nubies miss:[list=1]A very very important setting for the wand tool is Tolarence, many will just start using the wand too find that it at some point selects too much or too little and then abandon it and go for a more complicated time consumining method. So set low tolerence if you start selecting too much, set high tolarence if your selecting too little.
Also remember to add a 1px to 2px (max) feather to your selection. By doing this you are adding nice little transparency to black gradient, allowing the image to blend perfectly within it's new space, and you are also fixing any posible lighting-generated-error along the way. (for example contrast between super-thik/thin lines etcetera)
Tip 4 - Stamping..
The basic tool for stamping is probably the Clone-Stamp-Tool. But please don't use this if your facing a lighting problem.
So what to use.. the answer is the Healing Brush Tool, don't think of the name, this tool is basicly an Adv. Clone-Stamo tool. It essentially will copy texture and not pixels.. and will also blend them on the spot. Remember that if you come close to edges it will blur them. You can fix them with the Patch-Tool (also the best choise for mass pixel Clone-Stamping..)
Tip 5 - The Diffrence Between Fill and Transparency
Well some people actually don't know..
The diffrence is that Fill affect only the object, so if you have a red circle with a shadow (as a special effect), then if you lower the transparency the circle and shadow start becoming transparency, but if you lower the fill then only the red circle will become more transparent..
Tip 6 - Chanells..
A simple thing that sounds complicated.. I'll just explain it from a down to earth POV
A channel is a very simple thing.. it's basicly a blue-print for intensity (that looks like a Black and White image).. If you open you channel pallet you should see 4 chanells.. they each are a image in blackand white where black means more of that color and white means less. An alpha channel is just a lil diffrent. it's a channel for visibility where black is opac and white invisible.
When you make selections you are making Channels ;)
Same of a layer mask, it's just a alpha chanel..
Now channels are all tech and scifi for the computer but you should just think of them as a black and white image..
So for example lets say you want you pic to go to completly transparent on one side.. simple.. first you create a new alpha channel (so just click the mask tool), now make sure you alpha channel is selected and not your image, it's a lil tricky since it may be hard to imagine it's there.. click on the thumb-nail next to the layer-thumb-nail just to make sure.. now reset your colors to black and white.. and select the gradient tool (it's under the bucket tool). Now, from the edge draw a liniar white to black liniar gradiant.. all done.. ^^
Tip 7 - Warping..
Some people don't notice this option..
Go into Free Transoft Mode using Ctrl+T (or via Edit), now in your tool settings on the right next ot the pallet well you should see a little button called 'Switch between free transofrm and warp mode' click it.. now you may twist or reshape your image as you please, note that you can also modify the vector points as well as add new ones..
Tip 8 - Vanishing Points..
A very powerfull and simple tool.. (oh it's located in the fillter menu btw :P no idea why)
The Vanishing Point tool is basicly a stamping brushing tool.. now you might be wondering what's so special about it.. ^^
Well lets say you have piece of road.. and you want to use the clone stamp to meke it look like it's really long and heading to the horizon... the basic problem you would face is perspective..
What vanishing point allows you to do is set a grid representing basicly the view plane field.. so for our road we first would take the Create Plane tool and draw a square on the ground.. now remember your not drawing a square.. on your monitor it should be a square, more like a trapeaze, but if your were looking at a picture then that would look to you like 'a square on the ground' ^__^.
Now when you clone stamp (for example) the roud will get tighter as it heads to the horizon..
Tip 9 - The Anchor..
First.. how to turn an image.. if you move to the cursor next to a corner of an image you'll notice that it turns to a rounded arrow.. hold and move the mouse.. that's how you turn an image..
When you use the crop tool, for example, you'll notice that there's a little circle in the middle.. now what does that do..
That circle is called the anchor and it marks the center of the image.. for example lets suppose you move that little point to the left corner.. then when you try to turn the image you will notice that it the image turns around the corner..
That's what the anchor does it marks the center..
Tip 10 - Basic Shorcuts..
Some of the most important shorcuts in Photoshop are the Alt, Ctrl and Shift keys.. with these keys you can do lots of neet things..
For exmple if you hold down the Alt key and drag a layer down or up it will create a duplicate of that layer.. or if you hold down the shift key while draging a image into your canvas it will center it.. etcetera..
Other shorcuts you should know:
*getting lazzy tired..*
Ok I'll write some more next time
|2006-12-12, 15:34
|Link #229
of Porsche
I got a lot of smiles from people about my most recent signature. I personally love it more than some of my previous ones. Since we're more or less unanimous that this is truely amazing, I'll disclose the creation method (simply because I want to lol). Go ahead and mash and bash it as much as you like, of course. Everything could use a touch up - mild or serious - and mine's no exception.
Thanks, Kira_Naruto for pointing me to this wonderful thread. = O And thanks to jellybean and Lost for taking unnecessary steps to say "love love". lol
e_Utaware Sig 05.psd Creation Process
Drawing Program: Photoshop 7.0
Creation Time: A little more than 2 hours
Skill Level: Intermediate (You should have some basics skills such as drawing lines and creating layers)
(for the first 3 images below, click on them for a larger version)
I took this wallpaper (one of the 134 Utawarerumono wallpapers I have):
Cropped it:
It was looking a tad dull, so I went to Image > Adjustments > Levels... Those who don't know what this is, this is where you can get the whites to look white and the blacks to look black. All my photoshoping goes through this as step 1. I adjusted the left and right sliders so that the background around their faces had a white RGB (255, 255, 255).
Nice, clean image. Now it's time to create the frame. Go to File > New and enter a width of 500 pixels and height of 120 pixels (the limit for AnimeSuki forums when you want text above or below it). Contents should be Transparent. Press "OK" to generate your frame.
Hit CTRL+R to get the ruler function activated. Make sure it's on pixels for precise accuracy. If not, right click on the ruler and select "pixels". Now, select the Move Tool (important! Must be the Move Tool) and click and hold on one of the rulers to generate a line. This is a reference line when you want to make specific boundries (or points via multiple lines) for future drawing. Drag the line to the center of the frame. Then do the same on the other corner so it should look like a cross intesecting at the center (zoom in if you have to).
With the layer provided, I drew two black lines 5 pixels in weight at the top and bottom of the frame. I call this my signature border since nobody else does it. Plus, I like the movie-esque feel.
Go to View > Snap. Create a new layer. Draw another black line from upper left to bottom right while holding the Shift key in this new layer. This will guarantee that the line is on a 45 degree incline. Once done, move the line to the center of the frame. It will snap in place to where you had the ruler lines intersecting.
Create another new layer and move it behind the other two. Fill it with white.
At this point, go ahead and remove the blue ruler lines by dragging them back to the ruler itself (note this can only be done via the Move Tool). After pulling the cropped wallpaper into my signature frame, I aligned Aruruu to best fit the space on the left (make sure this layer is behind the black lines but in front of the white background).
Create a copy of this layer. Make one of them invisible and with the other layer, create a layer mask. I never, EVER mess with the original image. All my character extractions (extracting them from backgrounds of established images) is done on the layer mask. That way I can erase and undo without harming the original image. Those who don't know, while you're on the layer mask, black erases, white restores. Gray tones will lessen the process. Using the brush/pencil tool, I wipe the area right of the diagonal line with black. This way, only Aruruu is present on the left.
Unlock the layer. If you need to adjust Aruruu's positioning in the frame some more, this will let you move her without moving the layer mask. If moving her get a little jerky, it's probably because the Snap feature is moving the image to the side of the frame. You can disable this feature by going to View > Snap again.
Go ahead and make visible the untouched copy of the layer. For Eruruu on the right, the provided image makes her head look way too big compared to Aruruu. I did Edit > Transform > Scale and shrank her down to best fit the proportions. Move her in place. Once that's done, create a layer mask and wipe away everything left of the diagonal black line. Again, unlock the mask and layer apart and move Eruruu again if you think she's not in the proper positioning.
We're not quite done yet. Something didn't look right to me at this stage. It took me a while to figure it out and finally I saw the problem. Only a sliver of Aruruu's hair is shown on Eruruu's side of the signature (it can't be helped). But there's a mass of Eruruu's hair and a bit of her ear on the left of Aruruu! It's slightly confusing, isn't it? So I had to get that out.
Go to Image > Canvas Size and increase the size of the frame temporarily by 50 pixels both ways extending top left.
This is where the artsy part comes in. With your brush tool, slowly wipe away Eruruu's hair off the canvas on the Aruruu layer mask. If you make a mistake, switch to white (by pressing 'X'), restore the mistakes, and re-erase. It's important to erase a little ways past the upper black line too, so make invisible the black lines layer if you gotta.
Click to enlarge.
Shrinking the canvas back to its original size (500x120), it was time to duplicate the shadows that's cast on Eruruu. On the Aruruu layer (not the layer mask), add a drop shadow. Apply these settings:
- Optimacy 80%
- Angle 50 degrees (Use Global Light)
- Distance 12 pixels
- Spread 9%
- Size 5 pixels
That should properly mimic the shadows on Eruruu. If you didn't erase part of Eruruu's hair past the upper frame, the shadows of the unerased parts will be cast onto the frame and thus your shadows will look all wierd on the left. Add some nice text, and voila. My Christmas sig.
|2006-12-12, 22:14
|Link #230
Kira_Naruto, the ecchi
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: http://www.exciting-tits.com/
@ BC tips (EDIT: Since CG moved Zaris tutorial .. My reply got separated from BC post)
.. took me a couple of time going over .. but very good tips there .. Altho some, I feel, would translate better if you put screenshots.. for example, tip 10
btw, arrow keys .. nudging;
and if you have other tools selected, pressing and holding CTRL button gives you the select/move tool;
Pressing and holding Shift in marquee tool gives perfect square/circle marching ants ... Also in Transform/Resize mode (Alt + T ), pressing Shift will resize both Height and Width simultaneously ... Pressing Alt + SHIFT in Resize will resize both Height and Width while anchoring the pic at its anchor.
Last edited by KiNA; 2006-12-12 at 22:56. Reason: My reply got separated from BC post .. which I replied too =3
|2006-12-15, 06:37
|Link #231
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: event horizon
How to get this:
<?> Why increase the Canvas?
<!> You could eye-ball it right.. but that's very tricky and it's very easy to get fooled.. the general error that happens is that you make the transparency.. but because your not seing 0 fill as a comparison you don't notice that at the edge your sig isn't totaly transparent.. so when you load it on a page.. a little edge appears, where the fill goes from being a lil' transparent to totally transparent.. very ugly..
|2006-12-18, 06:22
|Link #232
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: Australia
Age: 30
Ahhh this is so confusing lol.
I can't even find the 'Black to Transparent' gradiant on mine ><.
Is it possible to make some screenshots?
It makes things alot less confusing... Especially for a newbie like me.
|2006-12-20, 07:37
|Link #238
Kira_Naruto, the ecchi
Graphic Designer
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: http://www.exciting-tits.com/
Found it ^___^
|2006-12-20, 12:42
|Link #239
~ You're dead ^__^* ~
Graphic Designer
ofc i was lazy to wipe off the hair on aruruu's side
|2006-12-20, 20:19
|Link #240
~Nanchatte Renai
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Australia
Age: 24
I dunno if this has been done yet. But this is for better quality images that have pixels that can be very noticeable.
Lets take this picture of Nerine for Shuffle!
See it is a bit blurry? And Don't mind the small size of it
Ok now I use the magic wand since this is just plain white background. I extracted the bg and this is what it looks like now
Ok now I duplicate the layer. Now I go to Filter-Noise-Median 5px
Now click Layer Style-Blending Options-Soft Light
You should then get this
See? it is alot better quality.
Now if there is still some nosey pixels, select the bottom layer and go Blur-Smart Blur- Any Radius and Threshold you want You just keep choosing what the Radius is, the Threshold then you want it high or low quality.
When you finish that go to Layers-Merge Visible
Also another tip I save my extracted backgrounds in PNG. format
Now for the final result
Mind You it is a bit messy
|avatar, graphic, photoshop, signature, tutorial
|Thread Tools


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The most pressing question facing the Somerset school district is clear: How should it choose the role of and financing for its next superintendent?
SOMERSET — The most pressing question facing the Somerset school district is clear: How should it choose the role of and financing for its next superintendent?
The answer is much less certain after two meetings last week.
The first was a joint meeting with the Somerset Berkley Regional District School Committee that failed to reach an approach to hire and share a superintendent in the manner by which the district was established in 2011.
The second meeting the Somerset School Committee held Thursday night included a presentation and discussion for about an hour with the head of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.
MASC Executive Director Glenn Koocher outlined options, models, costs and far-reaching services his agency can provide to Somerset as a member community.
Koocher said there are various models to use, that a timetable for hiring the next district chief is flexible, and the search does not need to cost much money.
What works best is tapping the district's contacts, networking and professional word of mouth, Koocher said.
While K-8 district models "are out there" to show options for superintendent setups, Koocher emphasized two points in the MASC's role: "We never tell you who you should hire and what the structure should be."
His introduction came from School Committee Vice Chairman Jamison Souza, who outlined the role of the state administrator.
Somerset needs to determine "its next step," Souza said.
Souza said he asked Koocher to attend the district's meeting. The School Committee voted in the past month not to continue having a superintendent for its single district and not to extend the contract past June 30 with longtime Superintendent Richard Medeiros.
Koocher said the Somerset district models included combining a superintendent's job with a director of business, personnel, curriculum and special education.
Souza and Committee member Lori Rothwell had indicated their willingness to hire the next superintendent with such a model in lieu of what some members of the Somerset Berkley Regional committee wanted, which would have had the regional and Berkley superintendent, Thomas Lynch, oversee all three districts for one to two years.
That concept lacked sufficient support.
MASC provides a range of services without charge, Koocher said.
They could include designing a brochure to attract superintendent candidates; placing it on the MASC website; furnishing interview questions; furnishing mailing lists; and accepting applications on behalf of the district.
He said hiring a consulting firm can cost from $9,500 to more than $50,000.
"I don't see a need to spend a lot of money at this time," Koocher advised.
On the types of candidates he expected Somerset to see, he said they range in "tiers" from the most serious and prepared candidates who likely have other options, to those who might be ready for the job, to those who apply for every superintendent's job around.
While School Committee members Donald Rebello and Victor Machado at Thursday's meeting criticized Souza and Rothwell for not voting to search for a combined Somerset and regional superintendent immediately, Camara, who also voted for the search, indicated he was on the fence at this point.
"The shared (superintendent) is obviously the best way to go," he said several times.
The biggest priority, Camara said, is "we need someone to focus on this district. We need a fresh start.
"If we go together with the district, fantastic.
"If we need to do it by ourselves, we need to plan for it," Camara said.
He said in addition to two district administrators holding superintendent certifications (Somerset Middle School Principal Pauline Camara and Director of Curriculum Brad Smith) "there are folks (living) in Somerset who have that qualification."
At last Monday night's meeting, Rebello and other committee members criticized unilaterally placing Lynch in charge of Somerset and Somerset Berkley, in addition to his longterm contract with Berkley K-8, without a search.
Camara picked up on that, too. He said the regional committee "likes him so much they'd do anything to keep him. That's not to the benefit for Somerset K-8. Maybe it's beneficial for the region," he said.
Lynch, for his part, recommended maintaining the status quo for an additional year, with Medeiros in charge of the Somerset district and his remaining in charge of the regional district and Berkley. Somerset would still need to find a way to pay Medeiros's full salary without regional help.
As for where Somerset stands now, Camara said, "If the region won't join with us for whatever reason they choose, we need to move ahead."


text:
Cushing signs extension with Texans
HOUSTON (AP) — Houston Texans linebacker Brian Cushing has signed a six-year contract extension.
A person familiar with negotiations confirmed the deal Tuesday night. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team has not made an announcement.
The deal is worth $55.6 million, with $21 million guaranteed.
Cushing was in the last year of the deal he signed as a rookie in 2009. The 26-year-old linebacker returned to the field this summer after sustaining a season-ending knee injury in Week 5 of last season.
"It is a great accomplishment for him to get a top deal coming off the injury last season," agent Drew Rosenhaus said. "It's also a credit to the Texans for recognizing that Brian is special."
Cushing, the Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2009, has had more than 110 tackles in the two seasons when he played each game. The Texans are hoping he is as effected as he was before the injury, when he finished with 114 tackles and four sacks in 2011.
He saw limited action in preseason while easing his way back after surgery to repair the torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee, but the Texans expect him to start in the opener Monday at San Diego.
Houston started 5-0 last season behind a defense that was dominant with both Cushing and eventual Defensive Player of the Year J.J. Watt leading the way. Though Houston finished 12-4 and win its second straight AFC South title, some thought the unit never played as well without Cushing.
His other abbreviated season came when he was suspended for the first four games of 2010 for violating the NFL's policy on performance-enhancing substances and finished with 76 tackles.
The signing is a big move for the Texans, who are looking to contend for a Super Bowl a year after being eliminated in the divisional round of the playoffs for the second straight season.
Watt was excited to learn he'll be playing on a defense with Cushing for a long time.
"Congratulations @briancushing56 on the new deal," Watt tweeted. "Scratch our conversation from today, I think we'll let you cover the dinner bill on Friday."
AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org


text:
Mondray GeeSeattle Seahawks
Assistant Coach
Ht: | Wt:
News | Stats | Stat vs. Team | Targets | Injury | Depth Chart | Roster
|Seahawks | Will hire Gee
Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:17:51 -0800
Pete Dougherty, of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, reports Green Bay Packers assistant strength and conditioning coach Mondray Gee is leaving the team to join the Seattle Seahawks' strength and conditioning staff, according to an NFL source.
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|Packers | Team hires Gee
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 10:42:15 -0800
Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy announced Friday, March 7, that the team hired Mondray Gee as the new strength and conditioning assistant. Gee spent the past six seasons with the Detroit Lions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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posted by Thom Holwerda on Thu 9th Dec 2010 22:20 UTC
An arrest has been made in the case of the DDoS attacks against MasterCard, Visa, PayPal, and others. The Dutch police has arrested a Dutch guy [Dutch] who has already confessed to taking part in the attacks. Most likely, he is not in any way the brains behind the operation, and I'm going out on a limb here stating that these attacks will continue nonetheless. Also, I'm not the guy. Also also, I'm wondering if there's police anywhere looking for the people who are continuously DDoS'ing WikiLeaks.