text:
NEW YORK (AP) — There were lies told to parents, a car with five seats carrying eight teens, and an unlicensed driver. The car was speeding. No seat belts were used.
If parents of teenagers need a real-life cautionary tale to sum up all their warnings and fears, surely the crash of a stolen car in Warren, Ohio that killed six teenagers is it.
"You heard about that story?" Daniel Flannery, an Ohio father of three teens, asked his kids.. "This could happen to you. It's horrible. These kids are not coming home. I don't want you to be that person."
Mario Almonte of Queens, N.Y., said he and his wife talked to their teenage son — who's on the verge of getting his driver's license — about it, too. "We pointed to this tragedy and mentioned that he shouldn't think something like this can never happen to him," said Almonte. "Sometimes it just takes one bad decision to end in tragedy."
Unfortunately, car crashes with multiple teen deaths are not uncommon. Five teens died in a Texas crash Tuesday; three died in Indiana last week, and four died in a California crash last month. But one aspect of the Ohio story may be especially compelling to parents involved in the usual battles with teens about where they're going, who they're with, and when they're coming home: Some of the kids misled their parents as to their whereabouts.
The father of one of the dead said the teenagers were coming home from a sleepover at a friend's house, but the mother of another boy killed said that her son and his best friend had lied about staying over at each other's homes that evening. She said she thinks they went to a party. "If only he had listened," said Lisa Williamson, mother of 14-year-old Brandon Murray.
"It's an age-old thing for teens to tell their folks they're going to do one thing and they're doing another," said Daniel Flannery, a psychologist who teaches at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. He even admits that his own children, "while very good kids and excellent students, sometimes do things they know we won't approve of and they mislead us." But while teenagers lying to parents is nothing new, the deadly outcome in this case is drawing attention.
"Any time a tragedy like this occurs, while you don't want to go overboard on the sensationalism, it is a teachable moment. It has to be," said Flannery.
who also runs Case Western's Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education.
Emily Cappo, a mom in suburban Westchester, N.Y., who writes a blog about raising three sons at OhBoyMom.com, says she's just starting to deal with teen issues among her older boys' peers. "All these high school parties are going on now," she said. "And parents really don't know what's going on. You don't want to think that your own child is involved in it."
Older parents may think it was worse before the era of cell phones, because if your kid was out of touch, you had no way to reach them. But Cappo thinks cell phones may "give a false sense of security that you can contact your kid at any time. That probably contributes to things like this happening."
And some teens are expert at cell phone subterfuge. They turn phones off, ignore them or let them run out of juice. When they do call home, a cell provides less information about location than landlines at physical addresses. Sure, you can put a GPS locator on a cell, but kids can disable those, or leave their phones in an approved location and head off.
While it's not easy to stay on top of what teens are up to, the one thing parents shouldn't do is back off, says Vincent Guilamo-Ramos, a professor at New York University's Silver School of Social Work. He says research shows that "at the very point when adolescents are most likely to get involved in risk-taking behaviors, many parents monitor less than they had previously. It's at this point where young people are trying to develop a level of healthy independence that they most need parental guidance."
He said monitoring is different from the controls associated with overly protective "helicopter parenting"; this is more about "parents weighing in on important decisions." Knowing the activities and whereabouts of teens is key, along with making expectations clear and following through with discipline when rules aren't honored, he said.
Guilamos-Ramos co-authored a book called "Parental Monitoring of Adolescents" that has been adapted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control as an online resource for parents, and he says the research shows that most parents overestimate how much they're supervising. "It's pretty classic for parents to say, 'I did check on my teen, I feel like I was clear about the rules' and for teens to say, 'We never talked about that,'" he said.
And while teens may complain about parents checking on them, "parents don't realize that teens actually want that structure — they actually feel comforted by it," he said.
Cappo likes the policy some parents have of telling kids they can always call home for a ride, no matter what, so they're not tempted to lie: "If you're at a party, I never want you to get in a car with someone who's been drinking; if you've been drinking, call me, I won't ask questions, I just want you safe." But not all parents "want to go that far because they don't want to give their kids permission to drink. The kid feels like they can't make that call because 'my parents will kill me.' It's hard because we don't want to sit there and give them the green light," Cappo said.
Whatever rules parents come up with, Guilamos-Ramos said, they need to emphasize "there is only one goal: We want to make sure you are safe."
U.S. Centers for Disease Control advice on parental monitoring: http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/adolescenthealth/pdf/parental_monitoring_factsheet.pdf
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
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text:
Angels determined to shed slow starts
TEMPE, Ariz. -- If the Angels are to finally get off to a good start, and ultimately end their rut of four consecutive playoff absences, then, as C.J. Wilson said, "We have to start here."
"Here" is the 14 days of workouts that ended Thursday and the 29-game Cactus League schedule that starts Friday, with a 12:05 p.m. PT home game against the Cubs that can be seen on MLB.TV and heard via Gameday Audio.
TEMPE, Ariz. -- If the Angels are to finally get off to a good start, and ultimately end their rut of four consecutive playoff absences, then, as C.J. Wilson said, "We have to start here."
"Here" is the 14 days of workouts that ended Thursday and the 29-game Cactus League schedule that starts Friday, with a 12:05 p.m. PT home game against the Cubs that can be seen on MLB.TV and heard via Gameday Audio.
"We need to start being competitive in here," Wilson added, "like taking some pride out there even if it's just a Spring Training game."
The Angels are a combined 15 games below .500 over their last two Aprils, starts that have put them in holes they were never able to climb out of, and finished Spring Training last year with the worst winning percentage (.333) and ERA (6.56) in all of baseball.
It's no coincidence that they've been pushed harder than ever in camp.
Hitters have taken more swings, integrating a lot of their situational hitting early on. Live batting practice has been re-introduced after a one-year hiatus. Each starting pitcher has thrown the equivalent of a two-inning simulated game. And relievers have been told to attack their bullpen sessions more aggressively.
Jered Weaver, the Angels' ace and probable Opening Day starter, will take the ball for Friday's contest at Tempe Diablo Stadium with the hope of throwing three full innings -- unlike the customary one or two that starters would pitch the first time around.
Seven everyday players will be on the field behind him, including catcher Chris Iannetta, first baseman Albert Pujols, second baseman Howie Kendrick, shortstop Erick Aybar, third baseman David Freese and outfielders Mike Trout, Kole Calhoun and J.B. Shuck. The only one missing is Josh Hamilton, and he'd be there if he weren't nursing a strained left calf that will keep him out at least two weeks.
It's the earliest manager Mike Scioscia remembers integrating the everyday players.
"These last three days of spring, we've been really evaluating these guys' arms and legs," said Scioscia, who will pitch relievers Ernesto Frieri, Fernando Salas and Cory Rasmus behind Weaver.
"On the hitting side, they've hit off a live pitcher for four days. So they've seen a little velocity, but they still have to find that timing. Most guys are going to struggle a little bit. You want to see the basic fundamentals, whether it's right-side defense or how your infield interacts, to make sure there aren't a lot of things slipping through the cracks. And basically we'll get some times on guys running and just get a baseline of where they are, and along the way hopefully win a game. That's what you want to work towards."
Aside from Weaver, starting Spring Training games will be Wilson -- cleared to pitch Saturday after taking a comebacker to the head on Tuesday -- Garrett Richards, Hector Santiago and Tyler Skaggs, with Joe Blanton likely starting in the three occasions the Angels have a split-squad game.
Minor League starters Wade LeBlanc, Matt Shoemaker, Michael Roth, Justin Thomas, Yeiper Castillo and Jarrett Grube will also be stretched out, piggy-backing off a starter or throwing in some of the Minor League games.
"They're in good shape," Angels pitching coach Mike Butcher said of his pitchers. "Their arms are in shape, their bodies are in shape. There's a really good mentality going on; very nice vibe going on right now."
After all the wait and anticipation, Angels coaches and front-office execs will finally get to see how the newcomers (Freese, Santiago, Joe Smith, Raul Ibanez) blend in. They'll get to see just how healthy Pujols feels after a season lost to plantar fasciitis. They'll get to see if the 22-year-old Skaggs is ready to take the rotation's fifth spot. They'll get to see how the bench will unfold, with an assortment of veterans (John McDonald, Carlos Pena, Chad Tracy, Ian Stewart) fighting for spots. And, hopefully soon, they'll get to see what Hamilton is like at 240 pounds.
Most of all, they hope to set themselves up for a better start, which they hope will lead to a better finish.
"Our starts the last two years have killed us," Trout said. "We have to figure out a way to prepare ourselves to get out on a hot streak. I always told myself and told everybody that the first couple weeks can make or break your season. Last two years, we came out and struggled a little bit. We have to improve on that."
Alden Gonzalez is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Gonzo and "The Show", and follow him on Twitter @Alden_Gonzalez.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - At the Purple Valley Classic on Saturday afternoon, the MIT women's cross country team defeated 19 other highly ranked teams to finish in second place behind host Williams College. Freshman Sarah Quinn (Watchung, N.J.) was the Engineers' highest finisher in the 6k when she crossed the line in fourth place with a time of 22:30.
Less than 20 second later, senior Brooke Johnson (Shoreham, N.Y.) broke the tape in 22:49, finishing in eighth place. Sophomore Elaine McVay (San Ramon, Calif.) and junior Kaitlin Allen (Bedford, N.H.) followed in 14th and 25th place respectively.
MIT will have a bit of a break before taking part in the NEICAAA Championships on Oct. 7.


text:
Charts and Gauges: The Chart Save Fails
From DocWiki
Charts and Gauges: The Chart Save Fails
|Problem Summary
|Your "save" of a chart view fails.
|Error Message
|The error message says that the Save operation failed but does not provide a reason.
|Possible Cause
|While you were working on the chart view for a report, another user updated or changed the report itself. By the time you saved the chart, the report version had changed and you were not working with the most current version of the report.
|Recommended Action
|Refresh the report from the Available Reports page and recreate the chart.
|Release 8.0(1)
|Associated CDETS #


text:
Here is a plugin that provides clipboard history for sublime: github.com/ajpalkovic/SublimePl ... History.py
The plugin defines seven new commands that can be used in place of cut/copy/paste.Four are the obvious ones (cut/copy/paste/paste_indent).Two are used for navigating up and down the clipboard history.The last is the coolest by far. clipboard_history_visualize lets you edit the clipboard contents! It will open a new buffer that contains each entry of the clipboard history on a line. From here, you can do whatever you want. Edit any line, remove lines, move lines around. Whatever you change, when you close the buffer it will set the clipboard history to the contents of the buffer. In order to make this work, the newlines had to be escaped which also means backslashes must be escaped. Essentially, you should treat the line as a python string and escape as appropriate. Additionally, the first letter of the line must be either a space or asterisk. If it is an asterisk, then that will be the new contents of the clipboard when this is done.
After you install the plugin, you should define some new keybindings:
{ "keys": "ctrl+x"], "command": "clipboard_history_cut" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+c"], "command": "clipboard_history_copy" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+v"], "command": "clipboard_history_paste" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+v"], "command": "clipboard_history_paste_and_indent" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+pagedown"], "command": "clipboard_history_next" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+pageup"], "command": "clipboard_history_previous" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+pageup"], "command": "clipboard_history_visualize" }
Actually, I should have mentioned this earlier, but I ran into a race condition with this plugin. The problem was with accessing the clipboard history. On my desktop (Win 7 x64), it works fine, but on my laptop, (same os, same sublime version, build 2064), it produced random behavior. Sometimes sublime.get_clipboard would return the 'old' value of the clipboard. I don't really know why, but a small time.sleep(0.1) made the problem go away. It's not a huge deal, I probably only ran into it because I was setting and getting the clipboard in the same command.
Unfortunately I've found a bug in this.Since there is no way to 'hook' an existing command, I create new cut/copy/paste commands and changed my key bindings. That works fine when I use key bindings inside of a view.
There are two problems though. If I use the menus to cut/copy/paste, it just uses the original cut/copy/paste commands (so it works, it just doesn't add it to the history immediately).The bigger problem is if I cut/copy/paste inside of the console. In those kinds of situations, it execute the clipboard_history_* command. Internally, that command executes sublime's existing cut/copy/paste commands (by calling view.run_command()). Since that runs in the context of a view though, the cut/copy/paste is performed on the view, and not on the console.
I don't have a good way to work around this so I changed my key bindings to expose the 'default' cut/copy/paste commands instead of overwriting them. It works for the most part.
{ "keys": "ctrl+x"], "command": "clipboard_history_cut" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+c"], "command": "clipboard_history_copy" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+v"], "command": "clipboard_history_paste" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+alt+v"], "command": "clipboard_history_paste" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+x"], "command": "cut" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+c"], "command": "copy" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+v"], "command": "paste" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+alt+shift+v"], "command": "clipboard_history_paste" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+pagedown"], "command": "clipboard_history_next" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+pageup"], "command": "clipboard_history_previous" },
{ "keys": "ctrl+shift+pageup"], "command": "clipboard_history_visualize" },
It might be nice to add a new context to the key bindings, something like inView that way the clipboard_history_* commands can only be triggered in a view, and not in the console or other dialogs.
If you make your plugin a TextCommand, and access the view via self.view, instead of an ApplicationCommand accessing the view via active_window().active_view(), then your command object will get instantiated on the widget views too, so everything should just work.
Thanks for the reply. I pushed an update so it extends TextCommand. If I have the console open, I can cut/copy/paste in the input field of the console, but I can't copy the console output. Still an improvement though, I can always use Ctrl+Shift+C to do the 'normal' copy.
I made a slight tweak to this that works more like TextMate's paste buffer. The main difference is that I can press Cmd+Shift+V to do "paste previous", cycling through the buffer.
See gist.github.com/1132507
Note, the gist above now contains a plugin that is (hopefully) thread-safe without using a 0.1 second time delay, as well as a TextMate-style pop-up list of values to select which item to paste. There is a max size to the paste buffer, so that it doesn't grow without bounds and uses a lot of memory if you keep Sublime Text running for a long time.
I've taken away the 'visualisation' paste buffer editor, mostly because I didn't use it and was too lazy to make it work with the new list implementation.
fancy. what does your lock actually do? it looks like it just prevents two clipboard commands from running at the same time which seems like a fairly rare thing?
It was in response to this:
def run_command(self, command):
# I know this is hideous, and I sincerely apologize, but it works
# I was getting non deterministic behavior in which the clipboard seemingly randomly returned stale data.
I suspect this was happening because of thread safety issues. You had a single global list and a single global index integer which you need to keep in sync through all the commands. That's not thread safe. You don't actually know how your OS schedules the execution of your threads. Whenever you have global state like this, you need some way to make it threadsafe, locks being an obvious approach. The time.sleep(0.1) approach is not really a solution, but it decreases the probability of two threads trying access the same variables at the same time.
Yea, I agree, but the chances of two commands running at the same time are pretty rare. That's the only way a threading problem could have occurred. I would have to like cut and paste at the same time, that hardly every happens, there is always a delay of at least .1 or .2 seconds as my finger switches keys, idk. O well, doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things.
I think no matter how likely or unlikely, you never know. You should always program for thread safety when code is executed in a multi-threaded environment. Python makes it pretty easy, thankfully.
Actually, now that I think about it, that is not the source of the problem.
The only way a threading issue can occur is if two commands are run at the same time. But that cannot happen in sublime. Sublime is still effectively single threaded for plugins. Jon more or less has said as much in the forums. In other words, sublime will never allow the cut and paste commands to run at the same time.
Even if my fingers magically instantaneously trigger both commands at the same time, sublime will still have a queue or something to execute one, then the other. Otherwise, EVERY SINGLE plugin would need to be updated to have a lock on their global data, which I know most don't do right now.
I've forked and tweaked the gist above. I would like to publish it to Package Control as ClipboardManager (to differentiate it from the existing ClipboardHistory, which doesn't do all that aptitude's plugin does).
I actually stopped using the plugin a while back. I would love for it to work, but it didn't play well with yank in vi mode for instance so it became useless for me.
Sublime really needs an on_before_command and on_after_command callbacks that plugins can implement.
OMG, Clipboard Manager's readme leads to this topic. I've spent 30 minutes trying to understand why *clipboard_history_** doesn't work. I should use *clipboard_manager_** instead...
I'll update the README to be a little clearer on that difference.


text:
Open House/Fundraiser — Saturday, June 18!
We'll auction off designer doghouses and have a terrific silent auction in this kid-friendly event! 100% of the proceeds will go to Bee Meadow Farm to assist in their rescue operations!
Saturday, June 18th, 2016
1:00 to 4:00 P.M.
Bee Meadow Farm
19558 County Road 25
Apple Hill, Ontario
Directions and GPSFrom Ottawa, take Highway 17 east to Highway 20, take the exit to Maxville (highway 20) and stay on highway 20 to Apple Hill. There is a short jog east on Highway 43, then turn right (south) again on Highway 20 and left (east) on Highway 25. The farm is on the right. GPS: 45.223568, -74.655700
Homes with Woofs!
in 2014, it was a charity event and silent auction to raise money for the Ottawa Humane Society by auctioning off designer doghouses and other great items!
In 2016, we'll be raising money for a rescue farm in Apple Hill and it won't just be doghouses this time, but great stuff for cats!
Blog Stats
- 22,551 hits
Want to help? Contact us. (We promise; we won't bite!)
Our Guest Celebrity Doghouse Judges!
Carol Anne Meehan, News & local affairs, 1310 Radio
Alan Neal, CBC Host of All in a Day
Sloppy kisses to our 2016 Doghouse builders!
Algonquin College
Rochelle Anderson
Luc Lavoie
Dan Maxwell, JDX Maintenance and Painting
Ross McLean
Jake Morgan
Dave Robertson
Happy Tail Wags to our live & silent auction donors!
Gail Benjamin
Wendy Blais/QB Collars
Dar Blue
Blue Gypsy Wines
Penny Bolton
Lana Burnley (Arbonne)
Amanda Desrosiers
Denise Gwinn
Cheryl Henry
Ian Highway
Pierre Houle
LoveLove Foods, Cornwall
Cathy Macdonald, Mortgage Brokers Ottawa
Mondus Distinction Garden Decor
Linda Nesrallah
Mark Prest
Natalie Rowe
Royal Oak Pubs
Seaway Express
Simon and Schuster Canada
Sharon VanStarkenburg
Frank Van Boxtel
Smokie Ridge Vineyard
The Works
Three Dog Winery
Deborah Wilson, Photographer
Michelle Wietbrock (CoversZ)
Our Volunteers and Supporters!
Alexandria Moulding
Robert Allard
Peggy Blair
John Bennett
Cedarstone Acres
Chloe Benoit (Chloe B. Design)
Erica Cadogan
Gordon Campbell
Colour By Design
Marthe Diguer
Bernie Grenier
Virginia Haddad
Michael Holland (Cake and Shake)
Pierre Houle
Rose Huxted-Morrison
Pam Jackman
Eric Kalbfleisch
Kimberley Lapointe
Luc Lavoie
Joanne Lefebvre
Dotti MacNeil
Jackie Maye
Bethany McDonnell
Catherine McDonnell
Shawn McGregor
Ross McLean
Laurie Pilon
Natalie Rowe
Christina Russell
Sinix Printing
Vicky Tyo-Grenier
Debbie Wightman
Paula Wilson
Peggy Blair
Sales Representative
Royal LePage Team Realty
1335 Carling Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario K1Z 8N8
613 725-1171
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Monthly Archives: July 2016
Some pics from #HomesWithWoofs #BeeMeadowFarm
Sorry for the delay in getting these pics up; they were taken by Ian Highway, who has kindly agreed to let me share them here! Very pleased to say that the Bee Meadow Farm Open House/Fundraiser was a success — … Continue reading


text:
TLP implements advanced power management for Linux. TLP is a pure command line tool with automated background tasks. It does not contain a GUI. The default configuration provides optimized power saving out of the box.
tlpAUR is available in the AUR. Read the the full documentation at the project homepage.
Settings depending on the power source ac/bat:
- Kernel laptop mode and dirty buffer params
- CPU scaling governor and mix/max frequencies
- Power aware process scheduler for multi-core/hyper-threading
- Hard disk advanced power magement level and spin down timeout (per disk)
- SATA aggressive link power management (ALPM)
- PCIe active state power management (PCIe ASPM) - Kernel 2.6.35 and above
- Runtime power management for PCI(e) bus devices - Kernel 2.6.35 and above
- Radeon graphics KMS power management - Kernel 2.6.35 and above, not fglrx
- Wifi power saving mode - depending on kernel/driver
- Power off optical drive in drive bay (on battery)
Additional functions:
- I/O scheduler (per disk)
- USB autosuspend with blacklist (input devices excluded automatically)
- Audio power saving mode - hda_intel, ac97
- Enable or disable integrated radio devices upon system startup and shutdown
- Restore radio device state on system startup (from previous shutdown).
- Radio device wizard: switch radios upon network connect/disconnect and dock/undock
- Disable Wake On LAN
- Integrated wwan state is restored after suspend/hibernate
- Untervolting of Intel processors - requires kernel with PHC-Patch
- Battery charge thresholds - ThinkPads only
- Recalibrate battery - ThinkPads only
Just install it from the AUR. After successful installation, you can start TLP by typing as root/with sudo:
tlp start
To run TLP automatically upon system startup, add tlp to the DAEMONS section in
DAEMONS=( ... tlp ...)
The config-file is located at
/etc/default/tlp. A full list of options is documented here: TLP Configuration. To make use of the battery-related options, install and configure Tp_smapi.
Kernel 2.6.39
According to this thread, the kernel 2.6.39 does not allow user-settings to
You can use PCIe ASPM settings by starting the kernel with
External Links
- TLP - Linux Advanced Power Management - Project homepage & documentation


text:
The story begins in 1919 with Erle Halliburton sitting up late one night with his wife, Vida, worrying about money. Squeezed together in their one-room home in the Oklahoma dustbowl town of Wilson, the couple were trying to work out how to meet the next payment on Halliburton's fledgling business, the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company.
At about 1am, so the story goes, the pale light from a small lamp reflected off his wife's wedding ring. "I sat there admiring it when the thought came to me," Vida would later tell Jeffrey Rodengen, author of The Legend of Halliburton. "Here is the money we need. At first hubby would not listen to me... but I argued we could get it back. So we went to sleep all thrilled with the new idea of cementing, the new means of getting jobs, and the money."
The rest, as is so often said, is history. Halliburton pawned his wife's wedding ring and set to work servicing drilling operations not just on the Healdton oilfield close to where they lived in Oklahoma, but also in Louisiana and Texas. The following year he changed the company's name to the Halliburton Oil Well Cementing Company.
Today, almost 90 years after Vida Halliburton's eyes glanced upon the gold band around her finger, the company that took the family name is now a vast multinational with operations in more than 120 countries. It enjoys a remarkably close relationship with the Bush administration whose Vice-President, Dick Cheney, was its CEO between 1995 and 2000, and holds no-bid contracts worth billions of dollars. Last year it made $2.6bn (£1.3bn) in profits from revenues of $22.6bn.
But Halliburton also comes with plenty of controversy and the company has been at the centre of numerous inquiries over alleged accounting malpractice, suspicious payments to officials and overcharging. It has been accused of breaching US sanctions that prohibit companies from operating in places such as Iran and was also blamed for damaging the historic Iraqi site of Babylon, where it helped establish a US base. Currently the company is being investigated by the Justice Department and the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of improper dealings in Kuwait, Nigeria and Iraq. And this week the company fuelled even more controversy when it announced that it was moving its chief executive and its corporate headquarters from Houston, Texas, to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. It has insisted that it would remain incorporated in the US - actually in the state of Delaware - and that its move would not affect its tax position. It also emphasised that it would retain a corporate office in Houston from where most of its executives would continue to operate.
But news of the proposed move, announced at the weekend, has brought an immediate and bitter backlash. A number of senior Democrats have accused the company of nothing less than a blatant attempt to avoid both paying US taxes and the heat of the ongoing federal investigations into its business operations. How could a company that had benefited from so many government contracts, they asked, simply up and leave? There were vows that Congress would launch new investigations.
The outrage was led by no one less than Senator Hillary Clinton, one of the leading contenders for the Democratic nomination for president. "I think it's disgraceful that American companies are more than happy to try and get no-bid contracts, like Halliburton has, and then turn around and say 'But you know, we're not going to stay with our chief executive officer, the president of our company, in the United States any more'," she said at a press conference in New York.
"Does this mean they're going to quit paying taxes in America? Is this going to affect the investigations that are going on? Because we have a lot of evidence about their misuse of government contracts and how they have cheated the American soldier, cheated the American taxpayer. They have taken money and not provided the services."
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont said the move was "an example of corporate greed at its worst". He added: "This is an insult to the US soldiers and taxpayers who paid the tab for their no-bid contracts and endured their overcharges all these years. At the same time that they're avoiding US taxes, I'm sure they won't stop insisting on taking their profits in cold, hard US cash."
Halliburton dismisses the criticisms. Announcing the company's decision at a regional energy conference in Bahrain, the company's president, chairman and CEO, Dave Lesar, said the move reflected the growing importance of the Middle East and the Asian energy markets. Last year more than 38 per cent of Halliburton's $13bn oil field services revenue came from the eastern hemisphere.
"As we invest more heavily in our eastern hemisphere presence, we will continue to build upon our leading position in the North American gas-focused market through our excellent mix of technology, reservoir knowledge and an experienced workforce," he said. "The eastern hemisphere is a market that is more heavily weighted toward oil exploration and production opportunities and growing our business here will bring more balance to Halliburton's overall portfolio." The company also insists that it will gain no tax advantage from the move, as it will remain legally incorporated in the US.
In a statement to The Independent, a company spokeswoman, Melissa Norcross, said: "These assumptions and suppositions are absolutely untrue and unfounded. Halliburton is, and will remain, a US corporation, incorporated in Delaware, with its principal executive office in Houston, Texas. As such, we anticipate absolutely no tax benefits from this decision."
Halliburton, which is in the process of spinning off its KBR arm, has long enjoyed a close relationship with the Bush administration, and indeed, with previous US governments. It has most recently been in the public eye for its contracts in Iraq - the Logcap (or Logistics Civilian Augmentation Programme) under which it provides military support services such as meals, laundry and fuel supplies and the Restore Iraqi Oil (RIO) contract. Reports say the estimated value of the contracts stands at more than $25bn. A number of its contracts were awarded on a no-bid basis - which drew criticism not just from watchdogs but from other companies seeking their share of the spoils of the so-called Iraqi "reconstruction" projects.
Industry observers say Halliburton enjoys a near unique position within the US corporate world. "People always look at Dick Cheney and say he is the poster-boy of cronyism but at a bureaucratic level there has also been a lot of revolving doors from the Army Corps of Engineers to Halliburton or else consultants to Halliburton," said Charlie Cray of HalliburtonWatch.Org, a project of the Centre for Corporate Policy, a non-profit group based in Washington. He added: "Given the multiple ongoing investigations into Halliburton's alleged wrongdoing, policy-makers should closely scrutinise Halliburton's latest move, and whether it will allow the company to further elude accountability. Moreover, this underscores the need for Congress to bar companies that have broken the law, or avoided paying taxes, from receiving federal contracts."
Pratap Chatterjee, director of CorpWatch, another watchdog organisation, agreed that Halliburton's position was remarkable. But he said the company was not simply close to the Bush administration - to which it has been a sizeable political donor - but that it had enjoyed a relationship with previous US administrations. He pointed out that KBR's predecessor, Brown and Root, had operated in Vietnam and had faced similar accusations of over-charging and corruption as well as allegations that it was too close to President Lyndon Johnson. Indeed, a young Illinois congressman called Donald Rumsfeld travelled to Vietnam to investigate such allegations. Brown and Root also won contracts from President Bill Clinton for work in the Balkans. Long before that, Erle Halliburton, who died in 1957, had loaned his yacht to the US military during the Second World War.
"They are somewhat unique in that their former CEO is now the Vice-President," said Mr Chatterjee. "They are somewhat unique in that they have a long relationship with US governments. It's not limited to the Bush administration." Mr Chatterjee, along with some industry analysts, believes the move to Dubai could make sense from a business point of view alone. "There's not much oil in Texas any more," Dalton Garis, a US energy economist at the Petroleum Institute in Abu Dhabi, told the Associated Press. "Halliburton is in the oil and gas industry and guess what? Sixty per cent of the world's oil and gas is right here. If they didn't move now, they'd have to do it later."
Yet others have pointed out that even if the company remains incorporated in the US and eligible to pay some US taxes there are likely to be financial benefits of moving to Dubai, a boom city, whose tax-free zones have lured around a quarter of the Fortune 500 top companies to establish corporate headquarters there. Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies, said: "With today's technologies, there's no real reason to have to physically relocate. Those that have are trying to evade US oversight and tax authorities. And Dubai is a tax-free haven - no corporate or employee taxes. Halliburton claims this is not a big deal, but I can't imagine Lesar will be working over there alone in a little cubicle. This will be a much-expanded operation in Dubai." She added: "Despite the billions in US government contracts Halliburton has received, it has no loyalty or sense of obligation to US troops or taxpayers. I find it ironic that Lesar is going to the same place as one of the only other individuals who's received even more bad publicity in recent years - Michael Jackson."
The controversy is not going to go away any time soon. Congressman Henry Waxman, the Democrat who heads the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is poised to announce that he will hold an inquiry into the proposed move.
Independent: Halliburton: From Bush's favourite to a national disgrace
The story begins in 1919 with Erle Halliburton sitting up late one night with his wife, Vida, worrying about money. Squeezed together in their one-room home in the Oklahoma dustbowl town of Wilson, the couple were trying to work out how to meet the next payment on Halliburton's fledgling business, the New Method Oil Well Cementing Company.


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I found a couple of letters in the Rocky Mountain News that describe the mining at Cache Creek or "Cash Creek" in 1862. The writer claims it is one of the best mining regions in the country. He says he saw a nugget taken from the area that weighs "27 dollars." And "the gold is very coarse, the mines easily worked and pay certain. You can depend on the truth of these statements; they are not exaggerated."
What is so great about finding these letters (besides the great descriptions) is that the writer became a partner in a mining company with Wilburn Christison and others a couple of years later.


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Blue Shield of California Foundation helps domestic violence organizations form strategic partnerships.
AARP and Experience Corps merge to take a national senior volunteer and student literacy program to scale
Louisiana SPCA uses strategic planning to affirm priorities and strengthen core services in animal welfare
Colorado AIDS Project merger creates a unified voice for HIV/AIDS services statewide
NAACP's strategic plan creates a powerful vision to honor its legacy and guide its work in the 21st Century
La Piana Consulting is proud to field a diverse team of seasoned professionals, each of whom has a deep understanding of the social sector and expertly blends the process and analytical skills required to help clients achieve their goals. Our consulting team is comprised of senior-level consultants who bring the wisdom of experience to every engagement. Our high-touch, collaborative approach yields powerful results. We are committed to providing clients with lasting value and strive to continually develop new and more effective ways to help you move your organization forward.
David La Piana, Managing Partner
Jo DeBolt, Partner
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Lester Olmstead-Rose, Partner
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Luis Vergara, Senior Manager
Doug Green, Senior Consultant
Makiyah Moody, Senior Consultant
Lara Jakubowski, Senior Consultant
Onuka Ibe, Senior Consultant
Amia Grashin, Associate Consultant & Operations Manager
Shaquile Coonce, Associate Consultant
Trish Fisher, Associate Consultant
Dec, 17 2018 | Blog
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Nov, 6 2018 | Events
Sep, 18 2018 | News


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LEXINGTON, Va. — The Washington and Lee baseball team opened the 2013 season with a doubleheader sweep of Rochester (Mich.) on Saturday at Cap'n Dick Smith Field.
The Generals (2-0) used eight runs in the first inning on their way to a 12-0 win in the opener. In the second game, back-to-back home runs by senior center fielder Joe Scalzo (Ridgefield, Conn./Brunswick) and junior left fielder Keegan Dolan (Bethesda, Md./Landon) in the second and a steal of home by Dolan in the sixth carried the team to a 5-2 victory.
The eight runs in the first inning were the most W&L has totaled in an inning since registering 10 in the seventh against Whitworth to open the 2009 season.
Against the Warriors (0-4), the Blue and White scored in a variety of ways. Senior designated hitter Mike Savas (Bernardsville, N.J./Dearborn) scored on a wild pitch, senior catcher Alex Mait (Chesterfield, Va./Clover Hill) crossed home on an error by sophomore second baseman Chaz Hill (Imlay City, Mich./Dakota), sophomore shortstop Taylor Rowe (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) scored on a second error by Hill, senior third baseman Chris Nault (Atlanta, Ga./Riverwood) had an RBI single and senior right fielder Will Salley (Augusta, Ga./Westside) hit a three-run double.
The Generals added their four other runs on a RBI double by Dolan in the second, another RBI double by Dolan in the fourth, an RBI single by Nault in the fourth and an RBI groundout by sophomore second baseman Nick Biumi (Cummings, Ga./Lambert) in the fourth.
While the offense was doing its part, senior Ian Shaw (Atlanta, Ga./Riverwood) pitched 5.0 scoreless innings of three-hit ball to earn his first victory of the year. Shaw only allowed one batter to advance to second base while he was on the mound. Hill connected on a one-out double in the first, and advanced to third on a fly out to center. Shaw got out of the jam by striking out senior designated hitter Ray Yesh (Dearborn, Mich./Allen Park Cabrini), one of Shaw's four of the game.
Sophomore Cory Smith (Roanoke, Va./Hidden Valley) pitched the final two innings for the Generals. He walked one with one strike out, while facing the minimum.
After a scoreless first inning in the second game, Scalzo hit a one-out home run to left on the first pitch he saw from sophomore pitcher Ryan Balazy (Fowlerville, Mich./Fowlerville). Dolan followed him with a shot to left on a 1-2 count to give the Generals a 2-0 lead.
W&L extended its lead in a wild fourth inning. Following a bunt single by Scalzo, who advanced to third on a throwing error, Dolan hit his third double of the day to push the Blue and White ahead, 3-0. Dolan then advanced to third on a fly out, and next attempted to score on a squeeze play. He looked to be out, but was awarded home on a catcher's balk to stretch the lead to 4-0. A catcher's balk is when a catcher is out of his box when a pitch is thrown.
The Warriors scored their only two runs of the game in the top of the sixth. First-year shortstop Josh Meyers (Waterville, Ohio/Anthony Wayne) hit a RBI single through the right side of the infield, and senior center fielder Eric Ramirez (San Antonio, Texas/Catholic Central) recorded an RBI on a groundout to first.
The Generals tallied their final run in the bottom of the sixth. Dolan hit his fourth double of the game to lead off the inning. He advanced to third on a fly out, and then could not score on a ground out to the pitcher. On a 0-2 count to Mait, Dolan took off for home again, but this time earned the stolen base to reach the final score of 5-2.
Junior Nate Plein (El Cajon, Calif./St. Augustine) earned the victory after throwing 5.0 scoreless innings. He allowed six hits, while striking out five. He did not walk a batter, while hitting one. Sophomore Matt Hedberg (Charlotte, N.C./Myers Park) allowed both runs in relief, before senior Eric Wisotsky (West Windsor, N.J./Plainsboro North) pitched the final 1.1 innings to record the save. Wisotsky struck out two without giving up a hit.
Dolan finished the two games 5-for-6 with four doubles, four RBIs, four runs scored, a home run and a steal. Salley went 3-for-5 with three RBIs, a double and a triple. Scalzo ended 3-for-6 with five runs, one RBI and one homer.
The Generals return to action next Saturday, February 16, at home against New Jersey City for a doubleheader at 12:00 pm.
-- www.generalssports.com --


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What began as a tragic and troubling season for climbing on North America's tallest mountain took a turn for the worse on Friday with the revelation that a second team of guided climbers had fallen near Denali Pass at 18,000 feet leaving two people dead -- including the guide -- and two seriously injured.
Mount McKinley guides, who operate on permits issued and carefully monitored by the U.S. National Park Service, have long had a stellar reputation on the 20,320-foot peak. Clients have died on expeditions in previous years, but usually only in ways well beyond the control of the guides -- heart attack, altitude sickness, and a bizarre and unexpected rock fall near 13,000 feet in 2004 that some think might have been linked to global warming.
Never in anyone's memory has there been a year like this with two guided rope teams of four people each tumbling off the mountain between the summit and high camp at 17,200 feet.
"I think people are pretty shocked, trying to figure out what's going on," retired guide Brian Okonek said from Talkeetna Saturday. "It's terrible. I really feel for the families. I feel for the guides, the companies."
Talkeetna, a town of 750 to 800 people just off the George Parks Highway 115 miles north of Anchorage, is the jumping off point for McKinley. The air above the community throbs this time of year with the sound of single-engine aircraft ferrying climbers from the local airstrip to the Kahiltna Glacier base camp at 7,200-feet on McKinley, or hauling tourists around the McKinley massif on sightseeing tours. The streets are full of tourists and climbers coming and going, and what is happening on the mountain is usually the talk of town.
The talk started this year with a freak accident that left a Texas executive dead in the Ruth Gorge on McKinley's southern flank. Chris Lackey, a guided climber, had successfully completed a tricky route of snow and ice up the side of the 10,300-foot Moose's Tooth and was safely back in camp -- or so everyone thought -- when the camp was buried by an ice fall coming off the Tooth.
Four other climbers in camp with Lackey survived the accident largely unscathed, but he was mortally injured and died on a National Park Service helicopter while being rushed to a waiting air ambulance. Less than two weeks after Lackey died, there was another accident, this one involving a guided group of climbers below McKinley's summit ridge, which left one client dead, two injured and the guide himself badly frostbitten.
That accident began with a slip, a fall and a broken leg. Fifty-six-year-old Dave Staeheli, one of the oldest and most experienced climbing guide in the Alaska Range, managed the initial accident well. He got 40-year-old Irishman Jeremiah O'Sullivan into a bivy bag and gave O'Sullivan his parka to keep him warm. While he was doing that, however, two other clients who had been with him when all four climbers fell headed off toward high camp. One of them -- 38-year-old Swiss Beat Niederer -- never made it. He became separated from 45-year-old New Yorker Lawrence Cutler and perished. Cutler was later spotted near high camp and helped in by climbers who were there. A badly frostbitten Staeheli also stumbled in.
O'Sullivan was rescued the next day by the Park Service's high altitude rescue helicopter, which also found and recovered Niederer's body. Cutler and Staeheli were evacuated from 17,200-feet by the helicopter as well.
"It's just a very hard, very unforgiving environment up there," Okonek noted. "Where Dave's (party) fell is not very steep, and it's not very exposed (but) with crampons, you don't have to slide very far to break a leg."
Crampon points are prone to catching in ice when someone falls and starts to slide. If the foot suddenly stops and the body keeps going, something has to give. Climbers wear crampons high on McKinley because they offer the only safe way to walk across even relatively gentle pitches of snow mixed with slick ice. Crampons are a wonderful tool, but they are not without their own danger.
"It is incredibly easy to stumble on your crampon points," Okonek said. There is a sad history of this happening to climbers descending McKinley as was the Staeheli party.
In the book "Surviving Denali: A study of accidents on Mount McKinley 1903-1990," author Jonathon Waterman noted that most of the fatal falls in McKinley climbing history have come at or near Denali Pass on the descent. He warned of the dangers there, in particular extreme cold and altitude on slopes that might not appear dangerous under other conditions. "Altitude, arctic conditions and heavy packs make 35-degree snow slopes subjectively 55 degrees," Waterman wrote.
Nothing has changed since the book was published. A 55-degree slope might as well be a cliff. For reference, expert ski runs usually end at 35 degrees. Double-black-diamond runs go up to 40 degrees. Anything beyond that is classified "extreme skiing." And yet many still descend from Denali Pass thinking it not that steep.
It is easy, Okonek said, to get lost in a "total summit fog on the way down."
That appears to be what happened to 67-year-old Luciano Colombo less than a week after the climbers in the Staeheli-led team fell. Colombo was descending unroped near Denali Pass when he slipped and then fell an estimated 1,000 feet to his death. Unroped climbers who slip must save themselves with an instantaneous ice-axe self-arrest when they go down, or they are usually doomed. There is, however, no risk they will take roped teammates down with them.
The danger with roped groups is that if someone slips, and the rest of the team isn't somehow tied to the mountain, everyone can go down. That is what happened to the Mountain Trip group led by Staeheli early in the month and to the Alpine Ascents International team being led down the mountain earlier this week by 34-year-old Suzanne Allen, a Seattle-based guide. Allen died in the fall along with client Peter Bullard, 45, from Shanghai, China.
Allen is the first guide to die on the mountain in more than a decade. The last to perish was assistant guide Chris Hooyman in 1998. The 21-year-old Hooyman fell after unclipping from a fixed line to go to the aid of a client struggling on the descent from high camp to the McKinley medical camp at 14,200 feet.
The only other guide to die in the past 20 years is the legendary Terrence "Mugs" Stump, who ventured ahead of clients on the descent of McKinley's South Buttress in 1992 to check the route across a glacial crevasse. He left an unfortunate amount of slack in the rope connecting him to his clients. Because of that, when the crevasse collapsed beneath him, he fell in deep and was then buried by additional ice and snow. His body is still on the mountain. The clients managed to make their way safely back to McKinley base camp.
As Okonek noted, it doesn't take much of a mistake to die on McKinley. Eleven people perished the year Stumps died. That year, 1992, was the worst year in McKinley climbing history. A national news magazine †questioned "is mountaineering on Mount McKinley a sport, or has it become a kind of athletic Russian roulette?"
Two years later, Denali National Park and Preserve begin requiring that climbers pre-register months in advance of climbing and amped up both educational efforts and rescue operations. The guide services provided a lot of assistance. Since the early 1990s, they have come to the aid of park service rangers involved in all sorts of rescues. The unfortunate death of Hooyman was considered by most a freak accident in what had become a pretty safe business.
"Guiding's a whole different ball game than climbing," Okonek said. "The whole name of the game is risk management. Over the years, it's been pretty safe. Clients have been killed, guides have been killed, but overall, it's all been pretty safe."
But he wonders if the odds are just now catching up to the many climbers making their way up McKinley every year: "is there some complacency because it's been so safe?"
Nick Parker of Anchorage, another retired guide who noq helps train pararescue specialists for the Alaska Air National Guard, wonders if there isn't more to it than that. "People primarily used to hire guides for safety in the mountains, he said in i an e-mail. "SAFETY. (But) I noticed a shift to quicker ascents , fewer guide staff as i was leaving the AK range."
Some of the people Park helps train -- specialists from the Guard's 212th Rescue Squadron in Anchorage who were at high camp on McKinley this week -- helped with the rescue of the two survivors after the Allen party's fall. They are credited with keeping the most seriously injured climb alive overnight. He is now fighting for his life in an Anchorage hospital while many in the climbing community ponder what happened.
Full investigations of both of the accidents involving guided parties are underway. Chief mountaineering ranger John Leonard wants to get answers to what went wrong, but that is likely to take months. It appears the group Allen was leading was not using any protection against a fall in an area where it is common to clip into safety pickets. There is speculation the climbers might have wandered off route, which is easy to do.
On the descent, the guide is usually at the back of the rope with the lead client more than 100 feet out in front. It falls to the client to stay with the route and find the first of the safety pickets onto which to clip the rope to protect everyone behind. If the client misses the first of those pickets, the whole rope team can wander unprotected into dangerous terrain.
"That traverse of Denali Pass is always treacherous," Okonek said. "If you get out there, and you've missed the beginning of the traverse, and they're not hitting the first pickets, and if nobody's yelled, 'I'm going to clip into the picket!' Some red flags have to go off," because if somebody falls there before the team is clipped into the pickets, the fall is likely to set off "a terrible chain of events."
That is what appears to have happened in the latest accident, although what exactly the events were preceding the fall remain unclear. Neither of the climbers involved have been interviewed as of yet, according to the Park Service.
"It's easy to sit here in the comforts of home and analyze things," Okonek said, but it's a whole different world on the mountain where people are tired, cold and struggling with the altitude.
Bullard is only the 10th climber in history to die while on a guided McKinley expedition. Ten times as many climbers have died on unguided expeditions. About a quarter of all climbs are guided. The park service said Allen's team had originally been accompanied by two guides, a standard practice, but one had descended earlier with two ailing clients.
Allen had three times summited McKinley as a guide, according to Alpine Ascents International, the company she had worked for in the last seven or eight years.
"She was a stellar guide from day one," company spokesman Gordon Janow told the Anchorage Daily News. "She was very education-oriented. She was teaching constantly what she knew about the mountains. It's very difficult but we all understand what it's like to love something so much you want to be involved in it, even if it comes with risks."
Allen and Bullard bring to seven the number dead so far this climbing season in the Alaska Range. The May to July climbing season saw only four deaths on and around McKinley last year.
Contact Craig Medred at craig(at)alaskadispatch.com.


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This a new gadget design trend that can you use as special holiday gift in this 2011 Valentine's Day. If your girlfriend or boyfriend are a major geek, this absolutely perfect gift ideas for her or for him. Presently such as every Valentine's Day, 'New House Of Art' team have gathered various cool electronic gift ideas which absolutely show the Geeky side of love. This new Valentine's Day gift collection contains gadgets, hearts, shirts, books and a small number of more simple gift that are sure to grant some last minute ideas. Just in case you require a few additional Valentine's Day inspiration check this here, or take a look at the previous post, if you want to make handmade gift.
Apple iPod nano 8 GB Graphite
The newest gadget in this year 2011 iPod Nano is small, modern and sleek and packs plenty of music with 8GB internal memory storage space worth. It is a handy and convenient gift for every music lover who is a lover of Apple iPod gadgets.
Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7
New digital camera from Panasonic Company! A cool, convenient and powerful Digital camera, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS7 has 12MP and a 12x Optical zoom. It is very portable, gives fantastic action and with the color Red schemes, certainly ideal for Valentines Day.
8 Bit Flower Bouquet
Classic geeks able to never forget 8 Bit games, and through this flower bouquet, they could share the classic days with their loved ones. The unique Bouquet design wills not at all need watering arrives by a stand and runs. Very nice!
USB Tulip Hub
Geeky girls otherwise boys possibly will love affection, but it seems such as regular flowers are neither useful nor Geeky enough. For those only some, here is the USB Tulip Hub that offers extra USB ports on your desktop in natural colorful themes and Valentine such way.
RED Macbook mCover® Hard Shell Case
Those who own a Apple Macbook Laptop and desire to decorate it for Valentine's Day, the Red mCover creates for a wonderful accessory to add some creative color and protection.
Ghirardelli Valentine's Premium Chocolate Squares
Ghirardelli is a perfect option for chocolate for this 2011 Valentine's Day, and when arriving in a good-looking pink gift box color, they are even sweeter.
Heart Shaped Truffle Assortment
Yummy Chocolate, Hearts and Valentine's Day…look like a perfect combo..:)


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Nike USATF Women's Miler Short Sleeve Running Shirt
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The lightweight Nike USATF Women's Miler Running Shirt offers both sun protection and reflective elements, making it ideal for running any time of day.
Color Green
No refunds will be issued on clearance items. All of these sales are final.
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The debate over the world's greatest player will always exist – the difference in generations, leagues, positions and nationalities means it's ultimately unsolvable. Who is to say that it requires less skill being a defender than by being a striker? None can say for sure, yet Fabio Cannavaro is the only defender to have won the Ballon D'or in this century. In this random meandering of thoughts, I will propose a different player to the usual Messi, Maradona, Pele debate. Bare with me, make some tea, and don't judge me quite yet – I think the greatest player who has ever lived is Zinedine Zidane.
Now most of you would probably say that whilst you acknowledge Zidane was a great player, he isn't comparable to those three footballing gods. The problem however is that the regular judgements made are based on goals and assists. If you look at what a footballer is judged on ultimately though, Zidane's achievements, but more his performances especially in the key matches, provide (I hope!) a compelling argument for his rightful place on top of the footballing world.
The importance of this second factor cannot be overestimated – the ability to play well and dictate the big matches is something that only the very best players can do. Leagues and trophies are decided on the big matches. It was Zidane's ability to dominate in these games which makes him so exceptional – even in a match against the world's best, he would be a class above. Look at the World Cup finals in 1998 and 2006, the 2001 Champions League final, the quarter final against Brazil in 2006 against the tournament favourites and defending champions, and numerous others besides.
Amongst the many adulating quotes about Zidane, one stands out. Not just because of who said it, but also because what they said emphasises exactly his memorising ability to stand out amongst the world's best, and inspire his team – "Zidane was from another planet. When Zidane stepped onto the pitch, the 10 other guys just got suddenly better. It is that simple" (Zlatan Ibrahimovic). Zidane, perhaps more than any other player, performed on the big occasion, and that is the mark of the greatest player.
Aside from this ability to dominate in big games, there is another string to my argument. Zidane was also the only player who has achieved the greatest success possible on both the club and national level, something that neither Messi, Ronaldo, Pele nor Maradona did.
It is unquestionable that Zidane achieved huge success on the international stage having been the fulcrum of the greatest French side in history. The success of the team between 1998 and 2006 was spearheaded and created by Zidane, the epitome of French flair on the pitch; the best description from his teammates -"In France, everybody realized that God exists, and that he is back in the French international team" (Thierry Henry). Prepare yourself for a barrage of examples, and if you don't think they show a great international career, just give up.
In the 1998 World Cup final, Zidane was man of the match, player of the tournament, and scored twice. In Euro 2000, Zidane scored an exquisite freekick in the quarter final and the winning golden goal in the semi final, before being named player of the tournament again. Whilst injury prevented full participation in the 2002 World Cup, in Euro 2004 he saved his side in the opening match with a brace against England and they went on to reach the quarter finals. Finally, in the 2006 World Cup, Zidane scored goals in the last 16, semi final, and final, and was again named player of the tournament.
Leaving behind what can only be described as a breathtaking international career making him an icon throughout his nation, Zidane's ability in the domestic game was equally entrancing. Zidane is rightly revered as a real Madrid legend, having signed for the world record fee of £42m before making 225 appearances for the club. As the face of the infamous Galacticos, Zidane showed his ability in the big games yet again with a spectacular goal in the 2001 Champions League final. The stunning volley with his wrong foot personified Zidane's ability – a glorious piece of skill, based on phenomenal natural ability but crucially delivered on the biggest stage in club football.
On a small sidenote, another argument for Zidane's status as the world's best is his performances in different leagues. He won trophies in France, Italy and Spain – best known as the face of Madrid for six years, Zidane had before won World Player of the Year at Juventus alongside two Scudetto's and two Champions League finals.
It is worth noting in the furore following Messi's fourth straight Ballon D'or, (which Ronaldo should have won!), that Zidane not only won three World Player of the Year awards but has appeared on the shortlist more times than any other player (three wins, one second place, two third places). This signifies Zidane's greatest quality – his consistent ability to perform in the biggest matches every year. Standing out amongst the best is what defined Zidane, crucially on the club and international level. This is the crux of my argument, what I have been sliding my way slowly towards, the final rationale – Zidane, unlike Pele, Maradona, Ronaldo or Messi, achieved the ultimate success on both the club and the international level.
His ability is comparable to the greats listed above, but his big game mentality sets him apart. There are numerous great strikers, who could be on this list, but Zidane was something else – the one player you wanted in the big game. That quality, that rarity, makes him special. If (like me), you value that natural gift, then it's simple – Zizou simply was the greatest ever.


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IPG Photonics Q2 2017 revenue increases 46%--another record
laserfocusworld | Posted: 04 Aug 2017, 09:58
NASA's ICESat-2 preps for laser tests
Lasers that will fly on NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, are about to be put to the test at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Newly upgraded laser peers further into the extreme universe at SLAC's LCLS
Scientists at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory recently upgraded a powerful optical laser system used to create shockwaves that generate high-pressure conditions like those found within planetary interiors.
Breakthrough ink discovery could transform the production of new laser and optoelectronic devices
A breakthrough 'recipe' for inkjet printing, which could enable high-volume manufacturing of next-generation laser and optoelectronic technologies, has been uncovered by Cambridge researchers.
Anapole Lasers Generate Ultrafast Pulses for Managing Nanoscale Optics
Anapole lasers made from semiconductors shaped into energy-storing nanodisks could be useful as an energy source for nanoscale optics in silicon-compatible platforms.
Sparkle Optics successfully delivers illuminator laser to AFRL
Sparkle Optics received a Phase III Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the High Energy Laboratory Joint Technology Office (HEL-JTO) in 2012 to develop, optimize, and test illuminator lasers based on Sparkle Optics Rotary Disk Laser (RDL) technology.
New research initiative turns laser focus on high-energy-density physics
New research initiative turns laser focus on high-energy-density physics.
TRUMPF's sales increase by almost 11% in 2016/2017
TRUMPF generated a significant 10.8% increase in sales in the 2016/2017 fiscal year ending June 30, 2017.
Riddell Joins NKT Photonics as COO
Fiber provider NKT Photonics AS has appointed Don Riddell as COO, taking responsibility for the company's three manufacturing sites.
BLM Group USA opens new headquarters and tech center
Laser tube cutting equipment supplier BLM Group USA (Novi, MI) has opened its new 75,000-sq-ft. headquarters.
TRUMPF demonstrates 4kW high-brilliance direct-diode laser
Laser and laser system manufacturer TRUMPF unveiled its TruDiode 4001.5 technology demonstrator at the LASER World of PHOTONICS 2017 trade fair.
Laser cutting provider Prescient relocates headquarters to North Carolina
Prescient, whose manufacturing solutions include laser cutting for the construction industry, is moving the company's headquarters from Arvada, CO, to Durham, NC, as well as opening a second manufacturing facility in nearby Mebane, NC.
Integrated-photonics laser has record-narrow chip-based linewidth of 290 Hz
Researchers from the University of Twente's MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology and chipmaking company LioniX International have developed the world's most-narrowband laser diode on a chip.
Strengthening material processing business, NKT Photonics to acquire Onefive
NKT Photonics, which supplies fiber lasers and photonic-crystal fibers, has entered into an agreement to acquire ultrafast laser maker Onefive.
VI Systems offers 56-Gbps NRZ laser driver and transimpedance amplifier for CEI-56G applications
VI Systems GmbH says its sampling a vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) driver and limiting transimpedance amplifier (TIA) for 56-Gbps non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulation.
Nonlinear optical crystal changes the color of laser light on the femtosecond time scale
Nonlinear optical crystal changes the color of laser light on the femtosecond time scale.
Diamond lenses make materials-processing laser optics lighter
Diamond lenses make materials-processing laser optics lighter.
IPG Photonics to acquire Innovative Laser Technologies
Laser systems maker IPG Photonics has signed an agreement to acquire Innovative Laser Technologies (ILT) for $40 million in cash.
Clemson Receives Funding from DoD for Laser Weaponry Research
Two researchers at Clemson University are taking different but complementary approaches to creating a high-energy laser that could be used as a weapon. The engineers are receiving a combined $3.2 million from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to help fund the research.
Power-scalable semiconductor laser is focus of UTA research grant
Conventional high-power lasers are bulky and require equipment that makes them difficult to use in portable platforms, but a University of Texas at Arlington engineer is working to develop a semiconductor laser that addresses these issues.
IPG Photonics acquires volume Bragg gratings maker OptiGrate
IPG Photonics has acquired OptiGrate, whose volume Bragg grating (VBG)-based components improve performance, miniaturization, and cost reduction of ultrafast lasers for micromachining, medical, and other applications.
Graphene may serve as fast saturable absorber
Graphene may serve as fast saturable absorber.
XFEL Generates First Laser Light
The European X-ray Free-Electron Laser (XFEL), the largest x-ray laser in the world, has generated its first laser light, reaching the last major milestone before its official opening in September.
Focuslight completes acquisition of micro-optics maker LIMO
High-power laser diode maker Focuslight Technologies has completed its acquisition of LIMO Lissotschenko Mikrooptik (Dortmund, Germany), a supplier of micro-optics and beam shaping systems. The transaction was funded by issuing shares of stock to investors.
University of Strathclyde acquires 350 TW laser from Thales
One of the world's most powerful lasers--capable of bursts of light equivalent to twenty times all the power consumed on Earth, captured in fraction of a second--has been acquired by the University of Strathclyde.
LaserBond ships first laser cladding system to China
LaserBond has shipped its first customized laser cladding system to China in a AU$1.4 million (US$1.03 million) deal.
Researchers develop automated laser process for cutting sheet piling underwater
Researchers at Laser Zentrum Hannover (LZH), in collaboration with the Institute of Materials Science at the Leibniz University of Hannover (both in Hannover, Germany), is developing a laser-based, automated process for cutting sheet piling underwater.
MicroVision Signs Laser Beam Scanning System Contract
Display and sensor developer MicroVision Inc. has signed a contract with a major technology company to develop a laser beam scanning (LBS) display system and produce specific components.
LightFab to introduce selective laser etching to US market
PhotoMachining and LightFab have begun a collaborative effort to promote selective laser etching (SLE) using femtosecond lasers in the US market.
Research team develops visible light-activatable drug to treat pain
A team of researchers at the Institute of Neurosciences of the University of Barcelona (Spain) and colleagues has developed a light-activated drug for pain treatment.
Necsel Acquires NGI Assets
Laser developer Necsel IP Inc. has acquired the assets of Nathaniel Group Inc. (NGI), a medical illuminator manufacturer.
Fixed Focal Length Lenses
The TECHSPEC Compact Ruggedized (Cr) series of fixed focal length lenses from Edmund Optics Inc. includes stability...
Sapphire and Ruby Balls
A line of sapphire and ruby balls from Meller Optics is designed for use as ball check valves, stylus tips, fiber optic lens...
UV Lamp
The Model 629 hollow cathode UV lamp from McPherson Inc. is a flow-controlled, windowless broad-spectrum source that emits...
UV and Green Lasers
Coherent Inc. has added the 355-55 UV and 532-80 green models to its AVIA line of industrial lasers.


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The Guna Yala Comarca is located on the Caribbean coast of Panama. It covers a strip of land 230 kilometers long and from 10 to 20 kilometers wide. The inland area is approximately 3,220 km2. There is also the offshore marine area, including reefs, keys, islands (more than 360), and fishing areas. All together, the indigenous territory has a total area of over 5,400 km2.
How to arrive
- Plane: A flight from the Marcos A. Gelabert airport in Albrook to the runway in the region takes about 30 to 35 minutes.
- Car: A 4x4 vehicle should be used for this trip, taking the Pan-American Highway from Panama City towards the province of Darién. At the village of El Llano, turn left and northwards to ascend the mountain range and then back down on the other side until you reach the Caribbean Sea. Here the Guna will be waiting with their boats to take you to the different islands.
What to bring
- Insect repellent
- Sunscreen
- Swimming suit
- Water bottle
- Snorkeling gear
- Snorkeling
- Observation of flora and fauna


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Friday, February 03, 2012 - Honza and Danek - FULL CONTACT
Honza and Danek - FULL CONTACT
Two of the cutest guys imaginable come together for a duo. Honza Forst and Danek Rovny are both great looking guys. Danek is asleep on the sofa, naked and barely covered by the duvet. Honza creeps into the room and tries to remove the duvet, but as he does so Danek stirs and almost awakes. Honza tries again and still doesn't succeed as Honza moves again. Finall Honza is able to pull the duvet down and off Danke, revealing his full nakedness. Honza then creeps around to the back of the sofa and starts to caress the sleeping Honza, and finally taking hold of his cock and beginning to wank it. Honza doesn't wake up as he is played with so Honza feels bolder and rubs Honza's foot against his jeans, and then pulls his own cock out and rubs it against Honza's foot. Honza then moves Danek's leg and goes down and sucks on his hard cock. The feeling of mouth on his cock is enough to wake Danek, who reaches down to caress Honza, encouraging him to suck more. Honza then stands and removes his jeans, as Danek sits up, his throbbing cock sticking right up. Honza's dick is rock hard too as he gets naked. He steps astride Danek, presenting that big dick right in front of his face. Danek responds by licking at Honza's balls and then sucking the cock into his mouth. He sucks and Honza's cock and licks his balls, all the time wanking his own erect dick. Honza loves the feeling as his cock is in Danek's mouth and starts to fuck his face. he then moves down to Honza's ass, which is presented for his delectation. He spits on the hole and then licks and fingers it in turns. His finger goes deep into Honza's ass and we just know that something else will soon be in there. Sure enough, Honza's big fat cock is soon slipped into that eager ass, with Danek moaning as he feels his hole stretched. Honza fucks him nice and deep, with long thrusts before changing position so that Danek can sit on the dick and ride it. His own cock is rock hard as he rides Honza's throbbing member. Honza then starts to fuck the ass, real fast with Danek maintaining a huge stiffy as he is fucked. He moans as his ass is deep-dicked and the guys move again, with Danek on his back, legs in the air so that Honza can fuck him even harder. Honza wants to cum and lays down with Danek's head positioned to catch the cum. Honza blows is load which shoots over Danek's mouth, who sucks the cock into his mouth to drain it. The guys then kiss and Honza is keen to reciprocate and duly takes Danek's cum over his lips and sucks the sticky dick into his mouth too. Danek pulls Honza to his feet and kisses him tasting his own cum from Honza's mouth. What a great scene with two very good guys doing what comes naturally.
... more about Honza and Danek - FULL CONTACT further in this newsletter
Our Coming Soon Set Preview
Daniel Benda is a handsome well built guy who we paired with the equally handsome Zdenek Zimola for a wonderful scene. Daniel does a quick interview with Zdenek and then reaches over and feels him up, while he kisses him. Zdenek is already rock hard and Daniel begins to wank that hard cock as he kisses. He then takes the cock in his mouth, at the samem time removing Zdenek's underwear. Sucking on Zdenek's throbbing cock Daniel's head is guided by Zdenek. He licks and sucks while Zdenek reaches over and wanks Daniel in his underwear. Then Daniel's underwear comes off, revealing his big fat cock, hard and ready. He kneels so that Zdenek can suck him. Daniel is a real cock-hound, he loves to suck almost as much as he enjoys being fucked. So he sucks Daniel real well before they move to 69. They suck each other's dicks, with Daniel's big balls hanging over Zdenek's face as he also licks up and down the shaft. Daniel pulls Zdenek's legs up, exposing his hole and starts to rim it. His tongue finds the hole, tasting it, as he slurps all over it. We next get a great view of Daniels ass as well, his hairy crack looking so inviting as his balls swing against Zdenek's face. Daniel is hot for Zdenek's ass and begins to finger it as he lick his balls too. Then two fingers slip into that ass and very soon Zdenek is ready for more. He gets on his knees and Daniel slides his big, throbbing dick deep into that eager hole. Fucking him doggy-style Daniel really works that hole. Zdenek loves to get fucked and is really feeling that dick deep in his hole, wanking himself as he takes it all. They change position, with Zdenek turning over, but still with Daniel ramming his cock deep in that ass. As he fucks Zdenek Daniel takes time to lean over and kiss him, before resuming the hard pounding fuck. This time with Zdenek's legs hooked over Daniel's shoulders, giving easy access to his fuck-chute. Daniel really knows how to fuck and pounds Zdenek's hole, inducing him to shoot a big load all over his belly as his ass is filled real deep with cock. What a lovely creamy load it is too. Daniel is not to be outdone though and he soon shoots his big load over Zdenek's face, with Zdenek immediately sucking the cock into his mouth to drain it completely. What a fabulous scene they gave us, both guys looked great and performed really well for us.
Update from Bill: Well, improvement is coming along better than I expected. I can now hobble around short distances on only one crutch. Yesterday, I attended the shoot of our next Wank Party for about an hour. Hopefully, over the weekend I'll feel good enough to knock out a Preview Video. So, knock on wood, only three and a half weeks more before the wires come out. I don't want to jinx the recovery, but it's beginning to feel like the operation was successful.
I've greatly cut down on the amount of pain pills I'm taking. And haven't taken any of the prescription pain killers for days. All in all things are looking up. I'm sitting at my main computer desk as I write this and have been spending hour here each day. And there's no way to elevate my foot. My main bugaboo right now is those wires.
Hi Everybody, Geoff here again today, from a rather cold England, though not nearly as severe as the cold and snow that has hit the rest of Europe in the past week. Bill has already updated you, above on his recovery progress so I shall get right on with the rest of the newsletter.
Today we have some excellent updates to report. Starting with Honza Forst and Danek Rovny in a wonderful duo, and then Honza Solar, Robert Nenadal, Tomek Sirnad and a nice backstage video of Roman Lysacek and Rudy Bodlak in Broke Czech Boys.
Our castings today are: Johan Simsa, Petr Hein and Pavel Smidl. No contest for me today, Pavel Smidl gets my vote for that beautiful face.
MESSAGE ABOUT LINKS TO THE OLD WH WEBSITE - WILLIAMHIGGINS.com ARCHIVES:
Please be aware that the link www.williamhiggins.com takes you to this brand new website now. If you bookmarked our old website in the past and you want to keep the bookmark as a shortest way to access the old WH website you need to change the link in the bookmark to:
You do not need to remember this link, you can conveniently get to the old WH Website - WilliamHiggins.com Archives anytime you need through the "WH 2001-2010" in the top menu of the new WilliamHiggins.com website.
Today's Weather in Prague
We have launched our all new Kink only site with no solos. It's not for the feint hearted. Do take a look (if you dare):
At present, Members of CzechGuysNextDoor will be able to access the new site with their user information. If you have problems, write email@example.com
Latest Sets At Our NEW STR8HELL.com Website
Open Set "Mattias and Artur - RAUNCHY"
Open Set "Rudy Bodlak - SPANKING"
Members of CzechGuysnextDoor.com - to log in the member's section of the new STR8HELL website use your present username and password, if you forgot your password or encounter a log in problem please feel free to contact us at: firstname.lastname@example.com
Non-members - you are welcome to browse our complete content - each regular set contains free video preview and free photos, if you decide not to become a member of our website you can also buy sets separately (we huge, well organized and easy to search library of models - there is always few models you may like) you can pay only for what you really want see ;-). You are always welcome to come back.
All members of www.CzechGuysNextDoor.com get a free access to STR8HELL.com till the end of November 2011!
Please use your present CzechGuysNextDoor username and password to log into the members area.
We have terminated updates to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website. CzechGuysNextDoor.com website will stay online, but now only as an archive of all CzechGuysNextdoor.com sets. Anyone who wants to access CzechGuysNextDoor.com Archives needs to have a STR8HELL.com membership. STR8HELL.com will continue with most of the czechguysnextdoor.com projects. Anyone who joins STR8HELL.com will gain access to two websites STR8HELL.com and CzechGuyNextDoor.com Archives which contain 2500+ sets. STR8HELL.com has exactly same features and controls as NEW WilliamHiggins.com website.
Direct access to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website is now through the link: archive.czechguysnextdoor.com or through "Archive Sets 2004-2011" links on the new STR8HELL website.
Thank you for your loyalty to CzechGuysNextDoor.com website,
William Higgins
BurnDVD.tv Website Latest Updates
Starting today you can download our videos in Full HD quality 1920x1080px!
Please remember that most of the videos available on BurnDVD are easily able to be downloaded with a single link, but some of the very large files, such as the newsletter DVDs have to be split into three separate links, as detailed below.
The videos with very large file sizes are now split into more than one part, using a program called HJSplit. If you wish to buy one of these larger videos to Burn to DVD, you will receive a link for file and then it is a simple process to join the downloaded files together to make the .iso file for Burning to DVD.
You can see all the available videos at www.burndvd.tv
Before downloading any videos to burn to DVD I advise you to read the BURNDVD Manual, which explains how you can burn the file to DVD. The file is an ISO file which contains all the required DVD files. The process for burning to DVD is fully explained.
The BurnDVD manual is easy to follow, with a step by step guide. Burning a DVD is easy to do, though it is helpful if you have previously burned DVDs or CDs.
The manual can be viewed here: BURNDVD Manual
Anyone who has any problems understanding the manual, or burning their download to DVD, or indeed any questions about this service please email firstname.lastname@example.com . Geoff will be happy to assist you.
You can view all the available downloads at www.burndvd.tv, by clicking the on the categories. A direct link to the latest files available will be published in each newsletter.
Our Latest Sets at www.BurnDVD.tv
Today we have Honza Forst and Danek Rovny and Robert Nenedal's Erotic Solo and Mattias Solich and Artur Lafek in a Raunchy Duo and Backstage video of Roman Lysacek with Rudy Bodlak in Broke Czech Boys:
The direct link to "Honza and Danek"
The direct link to "Robert Nanadal"
The direct link to "Mattias and Artur"
The direct link to "Roman and Rudy"
Special Offer for William Higgins Newsletter Readers
William Higgins Newsletter readers are able to obtain a discount on the price of BURNDVD downloads by using the coupons that we will be publishing in each Members Newsletter. The coupon published in each newsletter will be valid for a period of 7 days.
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Posted in Babes on Sep 3, 2014 featuring Alanna Anderson
This free gallery is brought to you by Babes. These are only low resolution samples of what you get access to in their members area. As a subscriber, you have unlimited access to download full photo sets with zip files and full length HD videos right to your computer or mobile device. If you like what you see, you can help support Erotic Beauties by visiting Babes today, memberships are inexpensive and start as low as $0.27 cents/day.
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I need to change the form background color and picture , the first "from proprietes" changes but it doesn't dispaly any results , and the second -putting a picture- doesn't exists in proprietes so how to put it and how to change colores ? thanks !
p.s. I'm using netbeans 5.5 .


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As far as I know Dr. Stevenson never asserted that he had proof of reincarnation. Even in this same interview:cooran wrote:Scientific Proof of Reincarnation - Dr. Ian Stevenson's Life Work
- Omni: In your new book you speak reprovingly of people easily persuaded by your evidence. Is your position that reincarnation can never really be demonstrated?
Stevenson: I don't think I rebuke anybody for being convinced by the evidence. All I say is that maybe they shouldn't believe on the basis of what's in that particular book, because the detailed case reports are in my other books. Essentially I say that the idea of reincarnation permits but doesn't compel belief. All the cases I've investigated so far have shortcomings. Even taken together, they do not offer anything like proof. But as the body of evidence accumulates, it's more likely that more and more people will see its relevance.