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Wednesday, May 30
It's All Gaard's Fault
Yes, the man with too many vowels offended Clay Bennett by stating to an Oklahoma City station "nobody cares about whether the Sonics stay in Seattle." (The quote is courtesy of the The Oklahoman, a paper owned by Mr. Bennett's wife, with a tip from a commenter). Mr. Swanson's quote was held up by Mr. Bennett as an illustration of how the Seattle area is apathetic about retaining the Sonics.
You know how when you pull up to a four-way stop and there's no one else around, and you just kind of slow down but never come to a complete stop? In the Northwest it's called a "California" stop, but I've also heard it called an "Oklahoma" stop.
I guess when Mr. Bennett said he intended to use 12 months to explore the situation here and look for alternatives, he meant an "Oklahoma" 12 months, which is really 7 or 8 months.
I suppose I should reserve judgement and toss aside this rhetoric as just, well, rhetoric. And that Mr. Bennett is just saying all of this to ratchet up negotiations with the state so that an arena deal gets done in time for October. And, if all of that comes to pass, most of this talk will be water under the bridge when we're sitting in our $125 seats in the third level with binoculars watching Kevin Durant dunk on Greg Oden as the Sonics cruise past the Blazers for their sixth straight NW Division Title.
And I suppose that continuing to berate Clay Bennett serves no purpose than to irritate his seemingly thin skin. After all, it is difficult at this point to determine where the truth lies - is he truly this frustrated, or is it just posturing?
But I can't help but being a little bothered by Mr. Bennett's continual complaining about the situation here. Yes, the city and state are obstinate in getting a deal done, but he had to have known how difficult the situation was when he entered into it, did he not? Did he really think that Howard Schultz was an oveslick city incompetent and that all this situation needed was a shrewd cowboy from Oklahoma to git 'er done? That the region would just rubber-stamp whatever proposal he threw at them in slobbering love-fest to honor a team that had just held them up for a similar ransom 10 short years ago?
Sorry, but I just do not buy it. I'll wait to reserve judgement until the situation is resolved one way or another, but at the moment, it sure appears that Mr. Bennett's trip to Seattle was truly an "Oklahoma" stop.
18 comments:
You forgot one thing there, "That the region would just rubber-stamp whatever proposal he threw at them in slobbering love-fest to honor a team that had just held them up for a similar ransom 10 short years ago?"
You should have added "and hasn't done anything of merit on anything remotely resembling a consistent basis since."
Let's be honest here, a HUGE reason for the lack of public support/outrage/etc is the consistent mediocrity of the product that has been put in front of the Seattle fans.
Is it any wonder there is little support? It wasn't that long ago the Mariners and Seahawks both faced a similar public apathy. In fact, the teams essentially switched roles. The Sonics rocked the 90's, the M's the first half of the 2000's and the Seahawks now pack a rabid base of fans-- more than a few of which would love to see the Sonics rise back out of lethargy and mediocrity...
A legitimate and intelligent businessman would take that into consideration and look to create a product worthy of attention, adulation and monetary consideration, knowing full well if he did, the city and state would eventually come around.
The key, of course, is that the potential gains in Seattle are much MUCH higher than in OK City, or even KC.
How this doesn't merit consideration from Bennett means to me either he A) doesn't believe he will ever put out a good product and he just wants to make as much short term money as he can or B) he completely lacks foresight, or C) he never intended for anything other than bringing a franchise back to the midwest, and decided ours was the one to steal.
None speak well of him as a businessman... and all piss me off to no end as a Sonic fan.
^^^ I'm starting to lean toward option C
anyone have this guys email so people can harrass him?
- Drastic said...
*this guy = Gaard Swanson
This whole thing has lacked logic from the beginning. Seriously, taking the Seattle green-n-gold glasses off and really looking at it from the outside, who in their right mind would want to pull out of this market, when it outranks OKC in, well, basically every possible way? The only answer that does make sense is he's been hell-bent on taking the NBA to OKC, and the Seattle opportunity was too great to pass up. He's made this half-assed effort that was doomed to fail, yet he's done just enough to where in a court of law, the term "good faith" will stand up.
Anyway, I think "C" above is correct. He'll lose a lot of money up-front when they move, but that's part of the hit that his group is willing to take, obviously, to get this thing home. It's clear now that this guy is not only determined to move to OKC, he's obsessed. That's the one lure we can't fully comprehend, the idea of being a "GOD" in his homeland. Who knows, maybe he's got the desire to be a mini-Paul-Allen in OKC? To be the guy who when he walks into a room of millionaires and billionaires, he's the one they want to talk to because he's the one that brought the NBA to OKC? There's no other answer. Logic has taken a vacation on this one.
- Sonics Man said...
I have pulled my support for Clay Bennett and have written an article about it on my blog. Check it out and tell me what you think.
has anyone discussed the fact that when the first arena deal was done, it was touted as a win win for both the sonics and the city? the construction costs were split and the profits were split. sure, it was based on selling out the luxury boxes but that was easy before the mariners and seahawks had luxury boxes to sell as well.
the city basically sabotaged this deal by giving away stadiums to both the seahawks and the mariners. how could anyone expect the sonics to compete with two stadiums full of luxury boxes the city paid for?
I'm not for public funding of pro franchises and voted no on both the seahawk and mariner stadiums. but I will never forgive the city/state government if the sonics leave town.
the sonics built their stadium the right way with no public financing. and then the city changed the playing field. all three stadiums should have the same lease arrangement. seattle basketball fans deserve much better treatment.
- PN said...
I don't know that I would blame the city or state all that much for the Sonics' situation. They gave in public opinion for the Mariners, and the Seahawks' deal had a lot of private money. The Sonics are just in the position of being the 3rd of 3 teams looking for a handout, and they picked a rotten time to do it - they've had losing seasons more often than not in this century, so people aren't too keen on giving them a big pile of money.
as I recall, the public vote for the mariners stadium failed. even with the incredible finish to the '95 season. the state called an emergency legislative session and passed it anyway using public money while retaining no profit.
the seahawks stadium vote and marketing campaign was financed by allen. but the stadium was built with public money with all profits going to the seahwks.
I still think the city/state screwed the sonics with these giveaways. with a little foresight, they could have seen it would sabotage their own investment in the key arena deal.
The Kingdome was falling apart.
Key Arena has a bad lease.
I hate Howard Bennett & Clayton Schultz!
dude. anybody got this guys email so we can spam the hell out of him???
Listen, if it's only about money then "Sonics go, get out of here." Yes, I know it's always about the money. That's why I don't want or am willing to spend money on professional sports in my hometown. I'll watch college sports until that is only about "GREED."
the above comment sounds like this gaard guy. hes definitely tryin to defend his point and trying to make it appeal to us. yeah, the nba is a business and is about the money but isnt it also about the entertainment. lebron scoring 29 of the last 30 to win game 5 of the eastern conference finals, michael pushin off byron russell and sinkin the j, and hopefully soon, luke ridnour dishin it over to ray allen who swings to rashard lewis who passes to kevin durant who lobs it to chris wilcox for the alley oop with time expiring in game 7 of the nba finals. notice the word soon. this does not mean next year or even the year after that. just soon. unless they are the oklahoma city bombers by then. then you can scratch everything i just said.
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Toyota is concerned dealers are selling used cars without conducting recall-related repairs, according to an internal email leaked to Jalopnik. The same email also warns of Inside Edition conducting "ambush interviews." Why is Toyota worried?
In the last year, Toyota's recalled more than 5 million U.S. vehicles, covering a majority of the models they sell. The problems range from bad floormats to sticky accelerator pedals and involve various complex repair schemes.
Many of these repairs took a while to implement as Toyota had to refine the process. Those with a sticking pedal were offered two possible repairs: metal Chicklets or full replacement, althought you'd only get the later if you complained about it.
Any of the more than a dozen Toyota models being sold used on a dealer lot could have potentially any number of repairs necessary, and a new email from a regional dealership service manager for Toyota Motor Sales USA raises the question of how quickly they're being fixed.
In the email, the representative says the issue came up during a PR conference call:
During our field PR conference call today we learned that the CBS "TV news magazine" Inside Edition has been going to the NHTSA and Toyota websites to identify VINs of used cars in dealer inventory that have not yet had the recall repairs made, then attempting to buy them."
This seems to indicate there are cars on dealer lots without the repairs, although so far there's no proof they've sold any.
The email goes on to warn against even letting someone test drive a car without a repair and says a pre-delivery check should assure against anyone taking an unrepaired car home. Given Toyota's often adversarial relationship with the media it appears the company is attempting to prevent another "gotcha moment."
At two points in the email the representative lets some contempt for the media slip in, saying "They are obviously working on a negative scare story" and putting quotation marks around the word "investigation."
We've sought a comment from Toyota and are awaiting a response.

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Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day 2019: What happened during fateful attack 78 years ago?
"December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy," President Franklin D. Roosevelt famously proclaimed.
On Saturday, Americans will mark the 78th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.
The surprise raid on the major U.S. Navy base near Honolulu killed more than 2,400 Americans and, in short, brought the United States into World War II.
According to the National Park Service, Congress designated Dec. 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day in August 1994. Remembrance events are held every year at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.
Here are some facts surrounding that fateful day in U.S. history:
What happened during the attack on Pearl Harbor?
Just before 8 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, hundreds of Japanese planes made the surprise raid on Pearl Harbor. During the attack, which was launched from aircraft carriers, nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, were damaged or destroyed, as well as more than 300 aircraft, according to the History Channel.
How many people were killed at Pearl Harbor?
The official death toll was 2,403, according to the Pearl Harbor Visitors Bureau, including 2,008 Navy personnel, 109 Marines, 218 Army service members and 68 civilians. Of the dead, 1,177 were from the USS Arizona, the wreckage of which now serves as the main memorial to the incident. Fifty-five Japanese also were killed.
The total number of wounded was 1,143, including 710 Navy, 69 Marines, 364 Army and 103 civilians, the Visitors Bureau says.
More on Pearl Harbor:Pearl Harbor veteran's interment to be the last on the sunken USS Arizona
Why was Pearl Harbor a pivotal moment in WWII and U.S. history?
Until the raid, the U.S. had hesitated to join World War II, which had started on Sept. 1, 1939, after Germany invaded Poland.
In those nearly 2 1/2 years, the U.S. had extensively aided the United Kingdom, virtually the sole source of resistance to the Nazis in Europe, but a general mood of isolationism – brought on, according to the State Department's Office of the Historian, by the Great Depression and the memory of huge losses during World War I – led Roosevelt and Congress to be wary of intervention.
Pearl Harbor reversed that in a day, with Congress issuing a declaration of war after Roosevelt's speech on Dec. 8, 1941.
How does the Pearl Harbor attack compare with 9/11?
In comparison to the 2,403 dead at Pearl harbor, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, led to 2,977 deaths, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Of those, 2,753 died in New York City, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 people were killed on Flight 93. Many first responders have since died of illnesses caused by the dust at the World Trade Center site, meaning the official total could rise further.
Where are remembrance ceremonies taking place at Pearl Harbor?
The main ceremony will take place at the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center, hosted by the National Park Service and the United States Navy.
According to a press release, the observance will begin at 7:50 a.m. local time and a moment of silence will occur at 7:55 a.m., the time the attack began.
"A ship will render pass-in-review honors to the USS Arizona and all Pearl Harbor Survivors. A missing man flyover conducted by the 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawai'i Air National Guard and the 19th Fighter Squadron, U.S. Air Force will follow," the release says.
How many survivors remain?
The exact number of survivors is unclear. Only three survivors of the USS Arizona, the ship most heavily hit in the raid, are still alive. The Pearl Harbor Survivors Association disbanded years ago as numbers dwindled.
Editor's note: A previous version of this story published in 2017. Contributing: Ryan Miller.


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Katie Ledecky reacts after winning the Women's 800-meter freestyle on Day 7 of the London 2012 Olympic Games
LONDON -- Katie Ledecky got good luck wishes from Missy Franklin and a high-five from Michael Phelps on her way to the pool deck for her first Olympic swimming final at 15.
Then the high school sophomore-to-be from Bethesda, Md., won her own gold medal.
Ledecky touched first in the 800-meter freestyle with a time of 8 minutes, 15.63 seconds on Friday night, beating a field that included defending Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington of Britain and 2008 bronze medalist Lotte Friis of Denmark.
"I didn't really expect gold, but I'll take it," she said, smiling.
She lowered Janet Evans' American record of 8:16.22 set on Aug. 20, 1989 -- eight years before Ledecky was born. Already the youngest swimmer on the U.S. team, Ledecky became the second-youngest American woman to win an individual gold medal.
Beth Botsford was 15 years and 62 days when she won the 100 backstroke at the 1996 Atlanta Games; Ledecky is 15 years and 139 days.
"To break that record is really cool and really special," she said about Evans' mark.
Evans tweeted out her congratulations to Ledecky after the race: "Amazing swim, so proud of her for bringing distance gold back to the US!"
Ledecky described Evans as someone she's looked up to, having watched her races on the Internet. Evans won the 800 free at the 1988 Seoul Olympics -- as a 16-year-old -- and again in 1992 in Barcelona.
"They're really neat to watch," she said.
Ledecky is the first U.S. woman to win the event since Brooke Bennett picked up where Evans left off in winning back-to-back titles in 1996 and 2000.
"Welcome to the gold medal club," Bennett tweeted to Ledecky. "That was incredible to watch."
Ledecky seemingly came out of nowhere to claim a spot on the U.S. team, and she nearly took out a world record in her first Olympics. She was ahead of Adlington's record pace (8:14.10) from the Beijing Games until the last 15 meters of a race she thoroughly dominated.
"She was absolutely amazing," said Adlington, who settled for bronze in 8:20.32. "That time is unbelievable. She has got a bright career ahead of her."
Mireia Belmonte Garcia of Spain took the silver in 8:18.76.
Ledecky watched Franklin and Phelps win gold medals before her only race of the games.
"I got really pumped up when I saw that Missy and Michael had really good swims," the youngster said. "I was ready to scream when I saw Missy's race, but I kept it to myself and used it as extra energy."
Ledecky dropped 5.15 seconds from her time of 8.19.78 at last month's U.S. trials, when she broke the trials record and won by 2.09 seconds. She just missed making the team in the 400 free, having broken Evans' national age group record while finishing third.
"My game plan has always been go out fast but not too fast because it'll affect me later on in the race," Ledecky said about her Olympic win. "I tried to go out a little more controlled, but I just got so excited and started racing. I've been working on that back half so I was able to come home hard."
Ledecky's big time drop combined with questions about the use of performance-enhancing drugs directed at 16-year-old Ye Shiwen of China after she won two golds at these games prompted a reporter to ask the American if she was cheating.
"It's totally false," Ledecky answered calmly. "I just put in a lot of hard work this past year. Just progressively setting short-term and long-term goals. I've been dropping time progressively."
She trains with Curl-Burke Swim Club based in the northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., area. Ledecky attends Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda.
"I'm really excited to get back there," she said. "They had a little Olympic viewing party there. I can't imagine how excited they are. I'm really thankful for their support."


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Debt/Fixed Income: currently 146 jobs.The latest job was posted on 24 Mar 23.
Debt / Fixed Income
This sector covers all our debt jobs in capital markets. Also known as fixed income, debt usually refers to bonds, which like equities, are issued by a company or government in order to raise money. Only instead of selling investments in the company, the company sells bonds which are loans with promises to pay the bond holders back their principal plus interest at some designated time in the future. In the meantime, the bonds can be sold to other investors in the secondary bond markets. Typically, the bondholder who is eventually reimbursed is rarely the original buyer. As with equities, investment banks act as the bond underwriters to create bonds and bring them to market.
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If you work in structuring, you tend to be desk bound, creating debt products to suit a company's financial needs. Then it's up to the people on the syndication desk to get the market ready for sale. They calculate the best interest range, assess demand, and make sure the correct documents are in place.
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The Pearl Brewery complex in downtown San Antonio, Texas, repurposes a long-neglected site, preserving its historic character while incorporating new sustainable technology. (Click here for a related story.) The creative reuse of this 26-acre brownfield site encompasses a spectrum of live–work spaces, a 150-room hotel, and restaurants. As part of the project, Lake|Flato Architects, working with Durand-Hollis Rupe Architects, expanded the Full Goods Warehouse from one to two floors, maximizing density and providing spaces for local businesses connected by a series of catwalks. Offering lectures, culinary events, outdoor movies, musical performances, and a weekly farmer's market, the formerly neglected buildings have become a vibrant destination for tourists and locals.
Key to this vision was the strategic repositioning of cars to concentrated parking lots in order to create a pedestrian-focused development that reflects the unique character and culture of San Antonio. The project's central location, bicycle storage, bike share program, showers, and nearby bus stops encourage fewer single-passenger trips.
Jury: "The key here is adaptive reuse—this project is a really strong model for inserting something new into an otherwise derelict neighborhood of abandoned buildings and turning it into something that could revitalize the neighborhood. It also has a really nice use of indoor/outdoor space in what's really a pretty aggressive climate. Of all the winners, it's substantially more cost effective, $141 a square foot, and to accomplish this on that kind of a budget is really impressive."
The project boasts the state's largest roof-mounted solar array, a 200.6kW PV system that provides 26.8 percent of the building's power requirement. To help cut down on energy use, highly efficient ductless minisplit systems serve multiple zones using only one outdoor unit, and allow individual control of the air conditioning in each room. This provides precision temperature control for individual rooms, allowing building users to tune their thermal zone according to individual preferences. Visitors can watch the building's solar energy being generated in real time at an interactive kiosk and website, which also highlights other sustainable features of Full Goods and Pearl.
As part of the sustainable upgrade, a variety of objects salvaged during demolition were retrofitted to accommodate new functions. Beer vats from the original Pearl Brewery Cellars were refurbished into rainwater cisterns, while the beer cans that clad the studio doors were recovered from the crawlspace of the brewery. Machinery footings from the brewhouse interior became bollards, and portions of the pre-existing concrete foundation were crushed and reused for an adjacent river improvements project. In total, 27.4 percent of the total building materials content, by value, was manufactured using recycled materials.
David Lake, FAIA, principal and Full Goods project designer, Lake|Flato Architects: "We are passionate about adaptive reuse; it is the spirit of our firm. We feel breathing new life into existing structures and repurposing old buildings is the most sustainable thing you can do. In many ways, adaptive reuse frees you of the constraints of new construction and allows you to be more imaginative. The Full Goods Warehouse was a perfect example of how we were able to creatively solve a challenging design problem—how to repurpose an unused warehouse into the central building of this new, mixed-use development."
In adherence to the area's aggressive water conservation practices, the project team transformed the 99-percent impervious site with extensive stormwater-mitigation features, including the use of pervious surfaces, bioswales, and water-cleansing wetlands. One-hundred percent of the rainwater captured from roofs is used to irrigate the drought-tolerant landscaping, eliminating the need for potable irrigation water. This captured rainwater is supplemented by San Antonio Water System's recycled water program.
Building gross floor area: 63,481 square feet
Estimated percent of occupants using public transit, cycling, or walking: 50
Percent of views to the outdoors: 88
Percent of spaces within 15 feet of an operable window: 15
Percent reduction of regulated potable water: 74
Potable water used for irrigation: No
Percent of rainwater from maximum anticipated 24-hour, two-year storm event that can be managed on site: 100
Total EUI (kBtu per square foot per year): 56
Net EUI (kBtu per square foot per year): 42
Percent reduction from national average EUI for building type: 72
Lighting power density (watts per square foot): 1.22
Third-party rating: LEED Gold
Total project cost at time of completion (land excluded): $9 million
Data and project information provided by Lake|Flato Architects via AIA COTE Top Ten entry documents.


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Arthur Bryant and John May met in London in November 1940. Both young men were assigned to the PCU – the Peculiar Crimes Unit – to deal with the strangest of crimes and, though they were young and had little experience, they found themselves pretty much running the place while so many resources and so many men were caught up in the war.
Years later, when they were both quite elderly and much had changed they were still working together at the PCU. They were very different men but they worked together well, with Bryant's blatant eccentricities and lateral thinking balanced by May's people skills, common sense and logical thought processes.
I loved 'Full Dark House', the book where they made their first appearance, I have no idea why it has taken me so long to pick up this second book, but I loved this book even more and I am eager to pick up the next book.
But I told myself that I had to write about this book first.
In that first book the PCU's offices destroyed by an explosion and this story begins not long after that, with the unit re-staffed, under new management and settling into new premises. Bryant and May have no officially designated cases, but they are quickly drawn into unofficial investigations.
Benjamin Singh, an old friend of Bryant's, persuades him to come to the home of his sister, Ruth Singh. He had found her dead in the basement of her Victorian home on Balaklava Street, dressed to go out, and sitting on a chair with her hands calmly folded . He knew that something was wrong, and he was right, At first Bryant thought that the scene was simply odd, but it quickly became clear that natural causes could be ruled out. Her mouth and throat were full of river water, even though the room, and her clothes and hair, were dry and showed show no signs of having been wet.
Ruth rarely left her home and there were suggestions that she had suffered racist abuse, and so the investigation was focused on her neighbours. Balaclava Street was a Victorian terrace set on top of one of the seven forgotten rivers that flow beneath London.
Meanwhile, at the request of an old flame, May is looking into the activities of her husband, Gareth Greenwood, an academic whose special interest those forgotten rivers. He finds that a particularly dangerous villain, Jackson Ubeda, appears to have hired Greenwood to exploit his expertise, for purposes as yet unknown.
Model Kallie Owen and her boyfriend, Paul Garrow, had been evicted – not entirely legally – from their rented flat and they were looking for a new home. When she went to see her old school friend, Heather Allen of Balaclava Street, she learned that Benjamin Singh hoped to sell his sister's house quickly, and she put in an offer. It seemed like a stroke of luck, but as Kallie set about creating her dream home she was troubled by the constant sound of rushing water, swollen doors and windows, and damp patches that appear and disappear on the walls. And then Paul left her – to find himself he said – and she had to deal with everything alone.
There would be more strange deaths on Balaklava Street, and all of the residents of that street would be pulled into the storm as the rain fell on and on and water levels grew higher and higher.
'The Water Room' works brilliantly as a crime story, with those different storylines coming together beautifully. The plotting is very clever, I suspected a great many characters at different points in the story, but the ending came as and it works at so many levels.
The story considers the eternal and inevitably struggle between the four ancient elements, fire, air, earth, and water. Water brings the first death but other elements will bring the deaths that follow. Maybe Shakespeare's story of 'The Tempest' played out on Balaclava Street ….
It considers the significance of home, through the diverse community in Baklava Street, and as Arthur Bryant leaves his long-suffering landlady behind and moves to a new flat.
You could think about those things as you read, but there is such a lovely wealth of detail in the story and there is such richness in the characters and their relationships that you could easily let those things sail by as you simply enjoy the story.
There were so many different aspects, the story could have flown off in so many different directions. They might have been interesting, but I was glad that it stayed on track.
Arthur Bryant, his long term partnership with May and their long association with DS Janice Longbright, bring such humanity to the story. Their interactions, rooted in a back story about which a little is known but much has to be revealed, are wonderful and make it clear that though they often aggravate each other they will always be comrades and they will always be professional
You could also think about London. There is a wealth of knowledge about London and its rivers underpinning this story; in some hands I would find that dry but here I was fascinated, because Christopher Fowler's love of everything he was writing about was clear on every page.
He made an extraordinary story believable and so very engaging.
I was sorry to come to the end, but I am looking forward to the next book and to the books that come after that ….


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Already have a reservation? Manage Reservation
Clean The World
Peppermill Resort Spa Casino embraces sustainability and appreciates the importance of socially responsible programs to help save lives and protect our planet. That's why we've partnered with Clean the World to recycle soaps and bottled amenities from our guest rooms and distribute them to children and families around the world in an effort to stop the spread of preventable diseases.
Our hotel features a bounty of amenities to soothe and comfort our guests during their stay. Now, in partnership with Clean the World, our guests may enjoy these amenities with the full knowledge that their stay at the Peppermill may lead to similar comfort for children and families in the United States, Canada, and in more than 45 countries where Clean the World distributes hygiene supplies.


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Create a Budget in 5 Simple Steps.
Watch the video for creating a budget
Do you ever get to the end of the month and think: "Where did all my money go?" You're not alone!
Creating and following a budget is a great way to get a handle on how much money is coming in and going out each month. Here's how you can do it in five simple steps.
Step 1: Figure out what you take home each month (after taxes).
Step 2: Subtract the amount you're putting toward saving and investing.
Step 3: Figure out and then subtract your essential, or "must-have," expenses—things like your rent or mortgage, utilities, food and even a car or student loan payment.
Step 4: Subtract how much you spend monthly on discretionary, or "nice to have," expenses, like entertainment, clothes, going out and traveling.
Not sure how much you're spending? Track these expenses for at least three months to get a clearer picture.
Step 5: Now compare what you're spending to where you should be.
A good rule of thumb to follow is 20/60/20. At least 20 percent of your income should be put toward saving and investing. At most, 60 percent should be spent on essential expenses. And finally, no more than 20 percent of your income should be spent on discretionary expenses.
So … are you saving enough? Are you spending more than you have? Do you need to find places to cut costs? Commit to a budget that allows you to save for the future, afford the things you need and still have money left for what you want.
Once you've finalized your budget, set it—but don't forget it. Life happens. You get a raise, lose your job, get married or divorced or have kids. That's why it's important to track your expenses monthly and adjust your budget along the way, so you'll be in a better place to reach your goals.
Need help getting started? Talk to a Northwestern Mutual financial advisor to help you live life differently.


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Egyptian doctor is first Arab to be cited as righteous gentile
Published September 30, 2013
JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Egyptian doctor was recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations for helping to save a Jewish family during the Holocaust — the first Arab to be so recognized.
Dr. Mohamed Helmy was recognized by the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial, the institution announced Monday. The memorial also cited Frieda Szturmann, a German woman, for working with Helmy to rescue the family.
Yad Vashem is searching for the rescuers' next of kin to posthumously honor their relatives in a ceremony and present them with the certificate and medal of the righteous.
Until the next of kin is identified, the certificates and medals will be on display in the "I am My Brother's Keeper: 50 Years of Honoring Righteous Among the Nations" exhibition at Yad Vashem.
Helmy settled in Berlin after completing his medical studies there. He suffered discrimination and was forbidden to work under the Nazi regime. He spoke out against Nazi policies and hid a Jewish friend at a cabin he owned and arranged to hide other members of her family at Szturmann's home, according to Yad Vashem.
Letters written decades ago by the Jewish Holocaust survivors on behalf of their rescuers were discovered in the archives of the Berlin Senate and recently submitted to Yad Vashem.
Helmy died in 1982; Szturmann died in 1962.


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Flip through a few vintage copies of Good Housekeeping — mostly from the '60s and '70s — and you'll see lots of dishes made with edible flowers. But a scattering of pansies on a plate might as well have been a neon sign blinking, "Look at me, I'm fancy!"
So it's understandable that flower-infused meals lost their appeal. But they're on their way back, and here's why: The right edible flower (especially fruit, herb, and vegetable blossoms) can add flavor to a recipe in a more colorful, and texturally interesting way.
Where to Buy
The best place to find them is your local farmers' market. Not only are the options more interesting than what's available at grocery stores, but you can also talk to vendors to make sure their crops are safe for you to eat (note: avoid flowers that have been sprayed with pesticides or other chemicals).
If you don't have a farmers' market nearby, look for edible flowers in the produce section (not the florist section!) of your grocery store. You can also order them online. Shops like Gourmet Sweet Botanicals, Marx Foods, and Melissa's will ship to you overnight so they're as fresh as possible.
How to Clean and Store
1. Shake flowers to remove any insects or excess dirt.
2. Gently wash in a large bowl of cold water; drain.
3. Let flowers air-dry on a paper towel–lined tray.
4. Use immediately or store in an airtight container, lined with damp paper towels, in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Flowers to Try
For the most part, edible flowers taste like they smell. Our advice: Buy a few different kinds and experiment! That's the only real way to decide what you like. Just keep in mind that not every flower is edible. Only buy ones you can identify and know are 100% safe to eat. Here are some of our favorites for cooking, but you can visit the The Chef's Garden for more options:
• Arugula Flowers: Peppery flavor, just like arugula leaves. Use in salads or other savory dishes.
• Chive Blossoms: Delicate, oniony flavor. Use whole flowers or separate the individual petals.
• Hibiscus: Tart and sweet. Often used in teas, cocktails, and salads.
• Jasmine: Very sweet, floral fragrance and flavor. Use in teas or desserts.
• Johnny-Jump-Ups: Minty, almost bubblegum-y flavor. Serve on cakes or with soft mild cheese, like goat cheese.
• Lavender: Floral flavor that's perfume-y and faintly citrusy. Use in cocktails, teas, desserts, or other baked goods.
• Lemon Verbena: Light lemon flavor that's well-suited for sweet or savory cooking.
• Marigold: Faint citrus flavor. Try it in a salad.
• Nasturtiums: Peppery flavor and golden hue. Try them on crostini with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
• Pansies: Use these as garnish — they're so pretty! Faint grassy flavor.
• Squash Blossoms: Mild raw squash taste. Usually cooked before eaten. Lightly dust with cornstarch and deep fry.
• Violets: Sweet and floral. Use in dessert or freeze into ice cubes for decorative drinking.
TELL US: Have you ever eaten flowers?
Photo: Foodcollection RF/Getty


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Tuesday, August 21
Happy Tuesday, TexMessagers! Roger Clemens is back in baseball. And Todd Akin is STILL in the Missouri Senate race. We'll see which lasts longer.
With Missouri congressman Todd Akin refusing to bow to Texas Sen. John Cornyn's pressure to leave the U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, the Lone Star State's senior senator reinforced the message today.
"Like many Americans, I was deeply troubled by the comments made this weekend by Missouri congressman Todd Akin," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said in a statement just released by her office. "I can think of no justification for the remarks."
As the entire political world knows, Akin created a political firestorm by talking about "legitimate rape" and how rape victims were unlikely to get pregnant because of certain secretions, etc., etc.
Cornyn, as chairman of the Senate Republicans' campaign committee, has seen his party's chances of capturing the Missouri seat dim significantly — if Akin remains in the race.
Hutchison, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of the year, used wording similar to Cornyn's to pressure Akin to drop his candidacy and allow the party to replace him with an untainted alternative.
"I urge the congressman to reconsider whether his continued candidacy for the U.S. Senate is in the best interest of his constituents," she said.
Thus far, Akin is keeping quiet.
Akin faces a 5 p.m. CST deadline today him to withdraw from the race without hurting his party's chances of replacing him on the Nov. 6 ballot.
Headlines from TxPotomac's 2012 presidential campaign coverage
★ The Week Ahead: Countdown to the Republican convention
★ Six reasons why Todd Akin's 'legitimate rape' remark could haunt the GOP
★ John Cornyn gives Todd Akin a 24-hour ultimatum: We want you out!
★ Reader Poll: Are you more offended by Joe Biden's suggestion that Mitt Romney's policies would put African Americans "back in chains" or by Todd Akin's remark that rape victims are unlikely to get pregnant?
★ Rep. Quico Canseco gets speaking role at Republican convention
Reader Comment of the Day
In response to our post entitled John Cornyn gives Todd Akin a 24-hour ultimatum: We want you out! "CaptainDog" wrote in the comments forum:
Cornyn, and all other Republicans calling for Akin to step off the ticket might as well hold their breath. He's not going away.
Texas Watch
TxPotomac lets you know what stories to look out for.
★ Texas on the Potomac creator Rick Dunham teaches a class the National Press Club Journalism Institute's Bloomberg Classroom on writing concisely.
★ After winning an acquittal on charges of lying to Congress, Texas pitching legend Roger Clemens is announcing his return to baseball with the Sugar Land Skeeters. Live coverage on UltimateAstros blog.
★ Congress remains on summer vacation. Have you seen your local lawmaker recently?
Tomorrow and beyond:
★ Aug. 26. Texas Rep. Ron Paul has a rally with supporters in Tampa the day before the opening of the Republican National Convention.
★ Aug. 27 to 30. Republican National Convention, Tampa, Fla.
★ Sept. 3 to 6. Democratic National Convention, Charlotte, N.C.
★ Nov. 6. Election Day.
Today in Texas Politics
On August 21, 1928, antisuffragist Pauline Wells died of heart disease in Marlin a decade after failing to prevent women from winning the right to vote. More>>>


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Olympia, WA
about the artist
byAmy Payne
Olympia, WA
I am a loving wife and mother of four cute kids. I am a lifetime resident of the Pacific Northwest. Before falling in love with stationery design, I studied and worked as a food scientist making ice c... moreVisit Amy Payne's store


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Writing Saved Zizek's Life
Reply by Kotzabasis
No wonder that "texting" saves you from your "suicidal mood" emanating from your perpetual troubling love for Lenin. No "texting" however, will save you from a revolution that eats its own children. It would be wiser, therefore, Zizek, to commit suicide, rather than being eaten, like Thyestes's children.


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Wahl, Ritson and Ammann, the authors of two rejected comments on MM05 to GRL – see here and here for our Replies to the rejected comments – have joined forces and pulished a critical comment on Von Storch et al [2004] in Science, to which von Storch et al have issued a Reply. realclimate has issued an editorial here.
There's quite a bit of back story to cover on this exchange, which I'll cover in more detail on another occasion. For now, here are a few quick observations. I've pointed out on this site for a long time both (1) that VZGT had not correctly implemented MBH procedures; (2) that I did not think that VZGT had correctly diagnosed the problems with MBH98.
I had identified at least 3 different problems with VZGT implementation of MBH: (1) they did not appear to implement a re-scaling step unreported in the original MBH98 article. As I pointed out in my AGU05 presentation, the variance differences alleged by VZGT empirically did not exist; (2) in the GRL Comment on MM, VZ did not accurately implement the goofy MBH principal components method, seemingly not fully comprehending just how bad the method was; [Update -May 4, 2006: I've reconciled code with Eduardo. Their description in GRL of what they did certainly suggested otherwise, but they did implement the key features of the Mannian PC method – so the differences with us lie either are probably due to the next item.] (3) relying on Jones and Mann 2004, the VZ (and the VZGT) pseudoproxies wildly over-estimated the temperature signal content of MBH proxies and did not allow for "bad apples".
I don't blame (and didn't blame) VZGT for any of these "problems"; the fault lies entirely with Mann et al. (1) How could VZGT replicate a re-scaling step that was never mentioned in the oriignal article? (2) While I think that we provided enough information in our articles to decode the MBH principal components method, I can readily understand how people would assume that the method was more reasonable than it really was and think that it wasn't possible that MBH used such a weird method; but it was possible and it did happen. (3) absent a detailed investigation of MBH98 proxies of the type that we've carried out, anyone relying on MBH information would assign much better behavior to the proxies than is justified.
To the above three points, Wahl et al add a fourth: that VZGT calibrated on detrended proxies rather than non-detrended proxies. In reply, VZGT argue that Wahl et al overstated the impact of this methodological difference on their results, which they claim to be valid even with calibration on non-detrended proxies. Both Wahl et al., and especially realclimate, gloat over this seeming "error" in VZGT implementation. However, to the extent that VZGT have incorrectly implemented this MBH procedure, then one can certainly see some basis for the misunderstanding. In a criticism of MM03, Mann et al said:
The use of gridpoint standardization factors based on undetrended data (MM) to unnormalize EOFs that had been normalized by standardization factors of detrended data (MBH98) implies a pattern of bias in the projection of an eigenvector onto the surface temperature field that is increasingly large in regions where the 20th century is large.
Similarly in the Corrigendum SI, MBH stated:
Standard deviations were calculated from the linearly detrended gridpoint series, to avoid leverage by non-stationary 20th century trends. The results are not sensitive to this step.
While neither of these points specifically refer to proxies, MBH procedures are so poorly and inaccurately described that one can see why VZGT might innocently assume that if detrending was the"correct" MBH method in standardizing gridcell standard deviations, then it might very well be what MBH did with proxies. In the Original Supplementary Information to MBH at Nature (now deleted but presered in a University of Massachusetts mirror), MBH report results from a detrended (DET) run. So even if VZ have inadequately modeled one MBH variant, one could see why they might at least think that they had modeled the DET alternative.
I must confess to feeling a certain amusement at Mann savaging VZGT for allegedly "incorrectly" implementing his precious methodology. Back in 2003, when we sought clarification of MBH methodology, Mann refused, on the basis that von Storch and Zorita had found his existing disclosure sufficient to implement his methodology (see Mann correspondence). In the Corrigendum SI, Zorita et al 2003 is cited on 2 different occasions as an accurate implementation of MBH methodology. In summer 2004, we advised Nature that the Corrigendum SI remained insufficient; Nature said that anything further was up to the authors. So if VZ subsequently misinterpreted MBH, surely Mann has only himself to blame. All in all, surely it proves a point we've been making for a long time: code should be archived so that this sort of confusion is avoided. Even now, code archived by MBH is incomplete – how do they calculate confidence intervals? This mystery would be resolved in 2 seconds by looking at code. Likewise their supposed Preisendorfer calculations. Neither was archived last summer.
Realclimate completely mischaracterizes the handling of the detrending issue by Bürger and Cubasch, accusing them of following VZGT in using detrended calibration. In fact, Bürger and Cubasch carefully distinguish between trended and detrended calibration, analyzing each as separate "flavors". Nothing wrong with that.
The closing paragraph of the VZGT response raises two important issues, which are familiar to readers of this site. They state:
It is commonly accepted that proxy indicators may contain nonclimatic trends. This is particularly true with tree-ring data (8), which were intensively used in the study by MBH98. The calibration and validation of any statistical method using nondetrended data are dangerous, because the nonclimatic trends are interpreted as a climate signal. Only in the case that the trend in the proxy indicators can be ascertained to be of climate origin is a nondetrended calibration and validation permissible.
Does this sound to anyone like they are coming around to recognizing the impact of bristlecones on MBH? They go on:
In the validation period, in contrast, the correlation between the (5-year-smoothed) reconstructed and observed NHT in the validation period 1856 to 1900 is 0.23. This low correlation skill in the validation period has been recently acknowledged (9 – citing Wahl and Ammann, submitted to Climatic Change).
They do not cite M&M – unfairly under the circumstances, since these are points that we originally made and have dragged out of Wahl and Ammann, kicking and screaming. Citing the verification r (correlation), which is not mentioned in Wahl and Ammann, rather than the verification r2 , which is so directly associated with our critique seems a little sly. However, on balance, I'm happy to see them coming round to the points that we made.
I think that Mann's going to regret that Wahl et al have put all of this back on the table. It's pretty amazing how they complain on the one hand about people criticizing a "10 year old paper" – with Mann, arithmetic within 25% is pretty good – and then continually pick at scabs by publishing stuff like Wahl and Ammann [Climatic Change] and Wahl et al [Science]. Without Wahl and Ammann, I'd have "moved on" to other long overdue studies. However, as long as they keep contesting things – and especially when they do so with misrepresentations and withheld data – then I'm content to keep returning the ball from my side of the court.


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Dr. Mortimer Neufville, a veteran higher education administrator, was named president of Coppin State University president July 9 by William E. Kirwan, chancellor of University System of Maryland.
Neufville has been serving as interim president of the historically Black institution since Jan. 23 following the resignation of Reginald Avery. Previously he served as executive vice president of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (APLU).
Neufville's background includes 13 years at University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), where he was vice president for academic affairs, dean of agricultural science and research director before serving as UMES interim president from 2011 to 2012.
"We are very fortunate that Dr. Newville has accepted this appointment," Kirwan said in a statement. "With a history of serving higher education with distinction and effectiveness, he is well positioned to serve Coppin well during this critical transition period."
Neufville earned a bachelor's degree in agriculture from Tuskegee University and master's and doctoral degrees in animal science from the University of Florida. In 2001, he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science degree from Tuskegee University.


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Artificial grass (also known as synthetic turf/fake grass) was first introduced back in the 1950s, but it gained its reputation and popularity in the next decade when Houston's Astrodome expressed the need to replace the natural grass. Shortly after, artificial grass – lawn started becoming more and more present on sports grounds. And today, artificial grass represents irreplaceable equipment at not only many stadiums, but at private yards as well. Due to low requirements for lawn maintenance when artificial grass used, artificial grass is becoming a more popular option for household owners. Its durability – the lifespan of 20 years, combined with always green and fresh appearance, makes the artificial lawn useful equipment and cost-effective investment.
Although there are numerous manuals on how one can install artificial grass, it is always the best option to delegate the task of artificial grass - lawn installation to professionals. This article aims to emphasize the most important things you should know about artificial grass, lawn installation and lawn maintenance services.
Artificial grass is synthetic fiber designed with the idea of substituting natural grass since the latter is dependent on many factors. While the natural grass can bring a vivid refreshment to one's yard, artificial grass - lawn will do the same, but it also has both ecological and financial advantages when compared to the natural grass.
Artificial grass is eco-friendly which means that it helps with the conservation of multiple environmental factors. One of the best examples is water conservation whose importance is being more visible with every dry year. It estimated that only one square foot of artificial grass could save up to 190 liters of water annually. Regarding lawn maintenance, pesticides not required for the maintenance of artificial grass, which is a huge advantage considering all the health concerns related to pesticide usage. Maintenance of natural grass lawns involves the use of gas-powered machines, while maintenance of artificial grass - lawns do not. This aspect impacts carbon emissions and, consequently, air pollution in which mowing takes a remarkable place. It estimated that almost 5% of global carbon emissions happen because of mowing.
Lawn - artificial grass installation is a long-term investment. Some surveys show that artificial grass lawns will pay for themselves a lot before their expiration date. Low costs of artificial grass lawn maintenance secure additional savings of time, money, equipment and water. It is calculated that artificial grass will end up cheaper than the natural grass in less than three years since installment.
It is of high importance to get artificial grass lawn installation done adequately since the poor artificial grass lawn installation can influence the overall visual appearance of the ground where the synthetic grass installed. Depending on the nature of a project where artificial grass and lawn installation are required, several things must not be overlooked.
The first step, in any case, is size estimation, as this factor is determining a lot of other aspects of artificial grass lawn installation.
After this task completed, one would have to clear the area where the artificial grass lawn will be installed, since the clear base is one of the most important things for a proper artificial grass lawn installation. If there already is a lawn that will be replaced, the process of ground clearing should include the removal of sod, rocks, roots, etc.
The next step is removing the top layer of soil, to make space for the new artificial grass installation base.
Proper drainage is essential since it affects the lifespan of an artificial grass lawn. The amount of drainage gaps depends on the amount of rainfall in the area where artificial grass lawn installation is taking place.
It is important also to install a border at the edges of the artificial grass lawn area. It should prevent the lawn from getting slumped. A weed barrier can be added as well, as weed removal is one of the most common activities when it comes to artificial grass lawn maintenance.
Other necessary steps include considering base height, gravel sub-base, grading, compacting the base, cutting the grass, seaming and generally accommodating artificial grass lawn to one's preferences. These actions can perform in a DIY manner, but it is usually advised to hire any of the lawn installation and maintenance services out there.
The most significant advantage of a synthetic grass lawn is maintenance. Artificial grass lawn requires a lot of attention but maintaining the process itself is not hard or expensive to afford. Also, it is essential to understand that some artificial grass lawn involves work, and some need less – this depends on such factors as environment, size, etc.
Whether an artificial grass lawn maintenance and installation service are engaged in this task or whether one decides to do it alone, these things should be done or considered:
For the best results, you should hire the artificial grass lawn maintenance and installation services. No matter the fact that maintenance of the artificial grass lawn is a way more comfortable than the maintenance of the natural grass lawn, upkeep essentially must be done correctly. Artificial lawn maintenance and installation services offer full maintenance service with their equipment, so avoiding them in the maintaining process is instead an unwise move.
Almost every artificial grass lawn maintenance and installation service provider can perform the tasks mentioned above but is not limited to them. If, for example, a leveling of low and high spots required, the artificial grass lawn maintenance and installation services should also help. Hiring professionals are always one of the best things to do since they will do the job efficiently and correctly. Also, lawn maintenance services offer individual plans so that one can choose between monthly, quarterly or yearly maintenance. Bringing a decision about the interval of maintaining service should be determined by environmental conditions.
Artificial grass can sustain up to twenty years, and it will stay green and good looking throughout a whole year. It makes synthetic grass lawns favorite amongst household owners, sports clubs, schools. However, since artificial grass lawn is made of synthetic fibers, it requires installation instead of planting, and specialized maintenance. Artificial grass lawn has effects on the eco-system, since it conserves a lot of water, and maintaining it need not require the use of gas-powered equipment which participates in air pollution. The artificial grass lawn is pesticide-free as well, which makes them free of any toxic chemicals. That makes them also pet-friendly. Some extra care should be taken when dealing with fire, snow and heavy objects. These are some of the rare disadvantages when comparing artificial and natural grass.
Equipment such as plate compactor, water roller, and a power broom are necessary tools for artificial grass lawn installation. Let the artificial grass lawn installation, maintenance services do a lawn installation and maintenance job to guarantee the job will be carried out appropriately. For simple, frequent maintenance tasks, such as brushing and rinsing, one does not have to hire professional lawn maintenance services.


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Known by fans as "The lady with the veil"
Former co-owner of Prentiss Industries with Lance
The Prentiss estate in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, until her death
Single at time of death
Unnamed man who was the father of Lance and Lucas
Brooks Lucas Prentiss (grandson; son of Lance and Leslie; born 1979)
None known
Horribly scarred with facial burns from a fire
Underwent plastic surgery to remove the scars (1978)
Shot Lance two times (never discovered by anyone but Lorie)
Lance Prentiss, wealthy eligible bachelor and co-owner of Prentiss Industries, lived in an estate not far from Genoa City on Lake Geneva with his mother, Vanessa.
Lance was intrigued by Genoa City concert pianist, Leslie Brooks, but because Leslie was married to Brad Eliot, the two were just friends. Leslie would often spot Lance in the audience as she toured the world performing, and he would meet her afterward for dinner. Lance finally revealed to Leslie that he was in love with her. But although their marriage was occasionally rocky, Leslie demurred, saying her heart belonged to Brad.
So Leslie set Lance up with her younger sister, Lorie, who unlike the sedate and serious Leslie, was a headstrong novelist. After being lavishly romanced by Lance with intimate dinners all around the country and the world, Lorie gave in to his charms. Lorie, however, was confused by Lance's estate. There were locked rooms that Lorie had never seen, and she never understood why she kept finding scarves monogrammed with the initial "V."
Eventually when things began to get serious between them, Lance explained that his mother Vanessa lived at the estate, and was a recluse who wore a veil over the lower part of her face. The veil hid the scars incurred years ago when she had rescued Lance from a fire which had been accidentally started by his younger brother Lucas. Vanessa had been peering through peepholes in the walls of the mansion for years, and had observed Lance with Lorie and other women before her, including her sister Leslie.
Vanessa was displeased by Lance's involvement with Lorie, whom she viewed as she did all young women in Lance's life, as a potential threat to her having her son all to herself. Lance and Lorie were married on the spur of the moment during a trip to Lake Tahoe, and Lorie moved in with Lance and Vanessa. Although Vanessa was always gracious in front of Lance, she was spiteful to Lorie when he was not around. Not easily dissuaded, Lorie attempted to build a relationship with Vanessa and even suggested that Vanessa have plastic surgery to remove her scars. But Vanessa lied, and told her that she had a heart condition which had made plastic surgery too risky.
While Lance and Lorie were honeymooning, Vanessa invited Leslie to visit her. Vanessa let Leslie know that she would have preferred the more refined Leslie for her son, but Leslie defended Lorie. Leslie pointed out that Lorie was really a good person who had even scrapped her second novel, In my Sister's Shadow, in deference to Leslie, because it told the story of Leslie's recent nervous breakdown. Vanessa hired a private detective who discovered that Lorie's book had not been scrapped, but instead it had just been published. During one of their many altercations, Lorie told Vanessa that she had learned that Vanessa had no heart condition and accused her not being scarred at all. To which Vanessa lifted her veil and revealed her horribly scarred face. Lorie then accused her of only refusing plastic surgery to hang onto Lance. Vanessa countered that she would tell Lance of Lorie's new book, if that accusation ever got back to Lance.
Vanessa plotted that while Lance was out of town on business, she would shoot Lorie and claim that she had mistaken her for an intruder. But when he returned unexpectedly, it turned out to be Lance that Vanessa shot twice instead. Lorie realized what had happened and made a deal with the horrified Vanessa that Lorie would take the blame for the shooting if Vanessa would move out. But although Lance later forgave Lorie for shooting him, he forbade Vanessa from moving out.
Lorie tracked down Lance's brother, Lucas, in Hong Kong and persuaded him to return home, hoping the diversion would stop Vanessa's obsession with Lance. Lucas had disappeared shortly after the fire, once he knew that his mother would survive, because he felt guilty for causing the fire and her disfigurement. Vanessa welcomed Lucas home with open arms and gratitude to Lorie. Vanessa assured Lucas that she had never held him responsible, and he was able to convince her to finally have the plastic surgery that removed her scars.
Leslie's father, Stuart, found out that Lorie's book had been published. He berated Lorie, then broke the news to Leslie who was devastated and swore that she would never forgive Lorie. Leslie, later while on a concert tour, found herself hounded by reporters anxiously seeking the tawdry details about her nervous breakdown and time spent in a sanitarium. Leslie became so upset that she nearly suffered a second breakdown. When Lance heard what his wife had done, he lashed out at Lorie, and then flew to Denver to meet Leslie to give her emotional support. Leslie had decided to cancel the remainder of her tour, but with Lance there at her side, she went on to her next concert. But when Leslie surveyed the audience, imagining them all knowing about her past, she froze, and then ran off the stage. Lance comforted Leslie, and they returned to her hotel suite, where they ended up making love. The following morning, Leslie felt so guilty that she encouraged Lance to patch things up with Lorie. They kissed goodbye, and Lorie witnessed it. Thinking that Lance was now committed to Leslie, Lorie immediately went on the road to promote her new book.
Leslie discovered that she was pregnant, but just as she was about to tell Lance that he was going to be a father, Lance told her that he was going to reconcile with Lori. Reeling from Lance's decision, Leslie went on to her next concert date in Seattle. Lucas followed, who by then had fallen in love with Leslie. After Leslie confessed that she was carrying Lance's child, Lucas sympathized and proposed. Leslie and Lucas declared that they would never tell Lance that the baby was his, and they were married. Leslie's mentor, Maestro Fautsch, let them live in his villa in Switzerland to keep the baby's birth date a secret. Leslie gave birth to a healthy baby boy, whom she named Brooks Lucas Prentiss.
Meanwhile, Vanessa, as part of her latest scheme to break up Lance and Lorie, invited Lucas to join Prentiss Industries. Once her baby had been born, Leslie offered Lucas his freedom, but Lucas wanted to stay married to her. They returned to Genoa City, and Lucas went to work with his mother. Vanessa had been transferring stock into Lucas' name until they were able to remove Lance as president, and Lucas took his place. Lucas felt guilty, and offered Lance the position of heading the European office in Paris. Lance refused, and he and Lorie moved from the estate to a penthouse in Genoa City. Before they left, Vanessa confided to Lorie that the only way Lance would be reinstated was if Lorie divorced him.
Lucas went to join Leslie and Brooks on her concert stop in Australia. But Lance was already there visiting Leslie. Lucas spotted them together having dinner, and assumed they were in love again. But Lance had actually been telling Leslie that he intended to commit to Lorie and accept Lucas' job offer in Paris. So when Lance later accepted the Paris job, Lucas rescinded it and offered him a job heading up their dangerous Santa Domingo office instead.
Although Leslie appreciated the support that Lucas gave her, she realized that she didn't really love him, and they divorced. Lance convinced Leslie and Brooks to live at the penthouse with him and Lorie. But after an upsetting confrontation with Lorie, who correctly guessed that Lance was really Brooks' father, Leslie suffered another nervous breakdown, lost her memory again, and disappeared, leaving Brooks behind.
As Lance became more and more depressed without his work, Lorie decided to get him to divorce her so that Vanessa would let him come back to Prentiss Industries. Lance and Lorie ended up divorced, and Vanessa gave Lance the European division office to run from Paris.
Leslie returned to Genoa City months later as "Pricilla" and met Lorie, but did not recognize her. Lorie and Lucas told Leslie who she was and who they were, but Leslie became confused and overwhelmed. Lorie worried that Leslie would soon regain her memory and demand custody of Brooks. But Leslie explained that she couldn't be a proper mother to a child she did not remember, and she gave full custody of Brooks to Lorie.
As Leslie was about to leave town, she encountered Maestro Fautsch who persuaded her to play for him. Leslie was amazed as classical music flowed from her fingertips. When she realized how truly gifted she was, she decided to stay in Genoa City. After falling and hitting her head, Leslie regained her memory and recalled her love for Lance and that he was the father of her son. Leslie filed for custody of Brooks, but lost him to Lorie because she was the only mother he had ever known. Vanessa suggested to Leslie that she and Lance unite to gain custody, but Leslie didn't want Lance to know that he was Brooks' father.
Meanwhile, Lorie had given her Prentiss Industries proxies to Victor Newman, who was interested in taking control of the profitable company. When Lorie later asked for them back, Victor assured her that he had burned them.
When Vanessa learned that she was dying from a terminal illness, she masterminded a vicious plot to frame Lorie for her own murder. Vanessa typed a blackmail note on Lorie's typewriter, and left it behind while she lured Lorie to the penthouse balcony. Vanessa then jumped off as a horrified Lorie looked on. Lorie hired attorney Robert Laurence who defended her for the murder of Vanessa. The blackmail note was read in court and it revealed that Lorie had known that Brooks was Lance's son. Lance was shocked, and that ended their relationship. In the end, young Brooks took the stand and testified that he had seen Vanessa typing the blackmail note on Lorie's typewriter with gloves on, and Lance found a prescription bottle that led him to discover that Vanessa was dying. With that and Leslie's testimony that Vanessa indeed hated Lorie, Lorie's version of what had happened was believed, and Lorie regained her freedom. In the end, when Lance discovered that Brooks was his son, he rejected both Lorie and Leslie for keeping it from him.
During the trial, Victor used Lorie's proxies to seize control of Prentiss. Lorie was unable to convince Lance that she had had nothing to do with it, and that Victor was a cheat. Then when Brooks refused to have anything to do with Lance, he returned to Paris alone, and was never seen onscreen again.
Victor claimed that he had taken over Prentiss for Lorie's sake, and to teach Lance a lesson. Victor hired Lorie to write a biography of him to change his image, which led to them seeing each other romantically. Victor proposed to Lorie with a huge engagement ring, and she accepted. Before the ceremony, as a show of good faith, Victor handed Lorie a wedding gift of the papers that would give her Prentiss Industries. But Lorie stood Victor up at the altar. Victor found a letter from her with his engagement ring, informing him that she had what she wanted, and that wasn't marrying him. As Lorie left town to be with Lance, she announced to Lucas that she had won control of Prentiss Industries from Victor and was returning the company to Lance.
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Winter Olympics: Olympic luger's death triggers memories
KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - Everyone knew the danger. An uneasiness hung in the frosted Canadian air four years ago. Nerves were on edge.
For good reason.
Just hours before the flame was ignited on Feb. 12, 2010 in Vancouver, an otherwise typical morning in the picture-perfect Blackcomb Mountains turned tragic.
Back in Lake Placid, N.Y., Aidan Kelly was on his computer in study hall monitoring the luge competitors as they took their final training runs on the Whistler track before the start of the Winter Olympics.
Without warning, the screen went dark. Disaster, as some feared would happen, came in an unimaginable flash.
In one moment, the sport of luge was forever changed.
"I was that nerd kid who watched everything about luge," said Kelly, a U.S. luger who was just 15 at the time and dreaming of competing in the Olympics. "The guy on the track was going and going and then ... ."
And then Nodar Kumaritashvili, the slider Kelly was watching, was dead.
The worst-case scenario, the one foretold by startling speeds, experienced champions crashing during practice, even private predictions from sliding officials, had occurred. Kumaritashvili, an easygoing 21-year-old from a tiny skiing village in war-torn Georgia where his father and uncle raised him to slide, was thrown from his sled traveling at nearly 90 mph, faster than he had ever gone before.
Unable to navigate the last turn of the treacherous track, Kumaritashvili, who had escaped injury during an earlier wreck, went feet-first into one wall, the impact somehow ricocheting his body off the track and the back of his head struck an exposed steel pole within sight of the finish line.
He died instantly.
His death sapped joy from the games, and raised questions about safety and whether the sliding sports - bobsled, skeleton and luge - had pushed the threshold of human performance too far in trying to see how fast highly trained athletes on wind-tunnel-tested, state-of-the-art equipment could go on ice.
"What happened in Vancouver, people can term it as a freak accident but I think it taught a lesson to a lot of people in the sport to take a lot more care when it comes to safety issues," said Indian luger Shiva Keshavan. "That's what they've done here."
To help prevent another serious mishap, organizers for the Sochi Games designed a slower track, but one they believe will still challenge the world's top sliders and drivers.
The Sanki Sliding Center's course, where competition begins Saturday, includes three "uphill" sections that will reduce speeds up to 10 mph.
The inclines will put a premium on racers minimizing their mistakes or risk losing even more speed.
Despite the modifications, it's plenty fast and will provide speed-craving athletes the rush they need.
"I do it for the speed and the adrenaline and the G force," said USA-1 bobsled driver Steven Holcomb. "It's fun. You don't get on a rollercoaster because you like the big safety harness. You do it because you like the speed and the adrenaline."
Because that mix can be catastrophic or fatal, Sanki's facility includes a heliport landing pad with an ambulance at the ready in case there's a medical emergency.
Even before the tragedy, Whistler's track had many fearing it might be too dangerous.
Documents showed that Vancouver and international luge officials debated the track's safety for several years.
Those concerns grew early in practice sessions when several athletes crashed on the snaking speedway, where the most difficult curve is nicknamed "50-50" for the odds a slider would emerge unscathed.
The day before Kumaritashvili's horrifying crash, a Romanian luger was knocked unconscious and had to be strapped to a backboard and taken to an onsite medical facility.
Something wasn't right, and athletes worried.
"I think they are pushing it a little too much," a shaken Hannah Campbell-Pegg of Australia said after leaving the track following a harrowing practice run. "To what extent are we just little lemmings that they just throw down a track and we're crash-test dummies? I mean, this is our lives."
The next morning, Italy's Armin Zoeggeler, a five-time Olympic medalist back in Sochi at age 40, flipped his sled.
Kumaritashvili's deadly descent soon followed.
As he emerged from Curve 15, Kumaritashvili was moving too fast to handle the sweeping final bend and he was propelled outside the track and struck the beam, which was not padded and may not have protected him even if it had been. The next day, when sliding resumed, padding was there.
In the rush to assess blame, some pointed to Kumaritashvili's inexperience. However, that argument was weakened by some of sliding's superstars.
"It was challenging because the corners were so close together and it was so fast you couldn't process them quick enough," said Holcomb, who enters the Sochi Games favored to defend his gold medal in four-man. "Drivers were like, 'Holy cow,' and a lot of drivers who are really experienced crashed and had a hard time."
As sports like snowboarding and BMX became more mainstream, there seemed to be push inside sliding circles to make the three sports more extreme. The track built for the 2006 Turin Games produced higher speeds - and serious crashes - and Vancouver officials raised the bar further.
Many sliding competitors wore black armbands to Vancouver's opening ceremonies in tribute to Kumarishtavili. While there are no formal plans to remember him at these games, and his family declined an invitation to attend, he hasn't been forgotten.
Earlier this week, Canada's luge team, unintentionally pulled into the controversy surrounding the tragedy on their home ice, walked the length of Sochi's track. The group inspected every curve and corner, touching the pristine surface while making mental notes before their runs.
As they took the tour, there was no mention of the past or Kumaritashvili.
Reflection was done in silence.
"We all move forward with Nodar in our minds and heart and with respect to his memory," said Alex Gough, a medal contender in women's luge. "Four years later, it's really time to move on from that and focus on what is in front of us. It's about these games and the future and where the sport is going."


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Be still, our hearts! While tweeting at a celeb is certainly the easiest way to get in touch with your fave stars, it turns out a thoughtful handwritten letter is much more likely to catch hottie Austin Mahone's eye. The singer posted a super adorable vid of him reading through some of his fan mail, rocking gifts Mahomies sent him, and even leaving a "wake up" voicemail for one lucky lady. Hey Austin, can we get a New Year's Eve phone call please?
Check out the completely sweet video below, then tell us which celeb you'd want to have as your alarm in the comments!


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You know, if one of my parents could photographed me like this, at this age, i'd think it was kinda cool. My kids? They've had a camera in their faces their whole life. The final photos impress them NOT at all!
Have camera, must shoot. This is my soon to be senior in high school daughter. She is brilliant with mathematics (Europeans hate the USA calling it math) and is talking about going into finance. She is brilliant, sweet, empathetic, generous…i love her.


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Economist Kevin Hassett has taken to assessing NFL teams' draft choices based on the Thaler-Massey strategy, which emphasizes a player's value (based on performance and salary).
Hassett identifies four winners: New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Detroit Lions Lions, and New York Giants.
New England's coach, Bill Belichick,…ditched his first-round pick altogether and loaded up on four second-rounders. In addition, he traded some of his later picks for other teams' second-round picks next year. The big news is that the Giants maneuvered to get two second-round and two third-round picks, elevating their final scores.
The big losers were the Washington Redskins, the New York Jets, and the San Francisco 49ers.
The Redskins once again revealed their extreme economic ignorance, trading away their second-round and fourth-round picks…The Jets made a classic error, falling in love with University of Southern California quarterback Mark Sanchez and virtually guaranteeing they will have a large number of undrafted scrubs on their roster. Given the high salaries at the top of the draft, Sanchez will probably not generate much value above that demanded by his salary, even if he becomes a superstar.
Thaler loves the Patriots draft and also gives a positive review to the Cleveland Browns. After entering the draft with the 5th pick overall, the Browns traded down three times to take center Alex Mack with the 21st pick, plus defensive end Kenyon Coleman, quarterback Brett Ratliff, safety Abram Elam, a second round pick from the Jets, and sixth round picks from the Buccaneers and the Eagles. That's a lot of chances to pick up some solid starting players. Football pundits didn't think so highly of the Browns draft, but none of them are economists.