text:
And ... action: Draft Diary XIV
One night before the 2010 NBA draft, I was reading mock drafts and Googling various prospects when the Sports Gal casually asked, "You care if I pay-per-view something?"
Before I knew it, she was ordering Robert Pattinson's movie "Remember Me." She loves Pattinson. So does my daughter, who brings a "Twilight" lunchbox to school every day with his face on it. My house is all Pattinson all the time. When I'm away, my wife and daughter lie in bed and fall asleep to "Twilight" every night. I stay out of it. I'm in six fantasy leagues; it's not like I can make fun of someone else's obsessions.
Just know that I'd never seen Pattinson act until "Remember Me." He's like a cross between Keanu Reeves, Tommy Wiseau and every athlete who ever made an "Entourage" cameo. He's fantastically, historically, mesmerizingly bad. He's so bad at acting that I couldn't stop watching the movie. I found myself rooting for him. Come on, Pattinson, you can pull this off -- just give us one scene. When the movie mercifully ended, I had the following exchange with my wife.
-- Me: "You realize how terrible an actor he is, right?"
-- Her: "He's young. He'll get better. He has potential. He's like one of your NBA picks."
Not a far-fetched analogy. According to her logic, Pattinson is like Derrick Favors: young, raw, all the physical tools, no polish at all. I see him more like Wesley Johnson: a fourth-year junior who can't get much better than he already is. Only one of us is right. You don't know for sure. You can't know for sure. That's the beauty of the NBA draft. If only she had said that Pattinson had tremendous upside. Without further ado, Draft Diary XIV.
4:30 p.m. PT: We're coming to you live from the New and Improved Man Cave. I'm joined by my pooch Rufus, a bottle of SmartWater and a bag of stale Baked Lays. My favorite moment from the pregame show with Stu Scott, Jon Barry, Jeff Van Gundy and Jay Bilas: Bilas ran down his "Best 15 Available Players" in the following order: 5, 4, 3, 2, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11. I'm still confused. Also confusing: ESPN using Michael Buble's romantic swing music as the theme for tonight's telecast. I can't tell if we're drafting players or trying to roofie them.
4:31: Our first four GMs on the clock: Ernie Grunfeld (Washington), Ed Stefanski (Philly), Rod Thorn (Jersey), David Kahn (Minnesota) or, as they're better known, "Mount Duncemore." Here's how the picks should go: John Wall, Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, DeMarcus Cousins. We'll see. Kahn is the wild card. The man fell out of the comedy sky. I'm excited about another draft with him. Titillated, even.
4:32: David Stern is booed by the New York crowd, calls the fans unruly, then cups his ears for boos after reminding everyone that the Lakers won the 2010 Finals by beating the Celtics. He's slowly morphing into the Mr. McMahon of the NBA. I love it. We might see him make a catty "By the way, I hope LeBron signs with Chicago" joke before the night's over.
4:34: ESPN whets Washington fans' excitement for their No. 1 pick by showing highlights of the Kwame Brown pick in 2001. That was downright cruel. Speaking of cruel, Portland fired GM Kevin Pritchard an hour before the draft. Hey, he's only a top-seven GM -- there are plenty of those. Does anyone else think Al Davis died a year ago and took over Paul Allen's body?
4:37: Bilas uses the word "tremendous" three times in a minute. I think he likes Wall. I'm almost positive. By the way, Washington's draft room had so many people in it that they may have had to hire a bouncer.
4:40: Mark Jones asks Wall what it means to be the first Kentucky player picked No. 1 overall. Um, I'm pretty sure it means nothing. He was there for eight months. We've had "Bachelor" relationships last longer than John Wall lasted at Kentucky.
4:43: The Sixers are on their fifth coach in five years (a guy who hasn't coached a playoff game since 1997); they never fired the GM who gave Andre Iguodala and Elton Brand a combined $160 million; they don't have a single trade chip; they won't have cap space for three more years; and the last time they picked second in an NBA draft they took Keith Van Horn. Needless to say, their fans are pumped. They take Evan Turner. Phew. Smart pick. Not as much potential as Favors or Cousins, but he'll be better in the pros than people realize because he can play multiple positions. He even wore a gray suit with a bright red tie that goes nicely with his blue and red Sixers hat. I like him.
4:45: Stern's microphone is being left on when he greets every draft pick. Who else is hoping for a "mike stays on when he takes a leak" moment, a la Leslie Nielsen in "The Naked Gun"? Would that be the funniest moment in NBA draft history?
(The answer? No. It's still when Darius Miles gave Stern a full-body, belt-to-belt, genitals-to-genitals hug during the 2000 draft. That's the funniest draft moment ever. And also the funniest moment ever.)
4:49: Our first draft for Mutant Russian Mark Cuban and the Nyets! They grab Derrick Favors, the Georgia Tech freshman who might be the best 2010 rookie when everything's said and done. (Think Antonio McDyess pre-ACL surgery.) He played for a poorly coached team with bad guards, he's ambidextrous (or, as Mike Tyson would say, "amphibious") and as the 2010 Finals just showed, you need size to win titles. Favors and Brook Lopez are a nice start. My big concern: Does anyone else worry that Avery Johnson could single-handedly turn Favors into Kwame Brown 2.0 just by screaming at him in a squeaky voice for eight straight months?
4:49: Hold on, Josh Howard and Devin Harris are still nodding intently.
4:50: Mark Jones asks Favors about his "mentorship/pupil" relationship with Chris Bosh. This could be a long night.
4:53: On the clock: Our featured speaker for "Atrocious GM Summit II" next February, the one, the only, David Kahn! He's giving a lecture titled "How To Drive A Potential Franchise Guy To Europe For Three Years, Pass On Stephen Curry For An Undersized Point Guard Who Can't Guard Anyone, Then Convince Your Fans That Everything's Fine." We're delighted to have him.
I asked Mark Titus (Evan Turner's former OSU teammate, creator of the Club Trillion blog and a recent Globetrotters pick) to review Turner's draft night performance. Here's what he wrote:
Heading into last night's NBA draft, I was certain of two things about my former teammate: He has by far the best nickname of anyone in the draft (The Villain), and he is an avid fan of Lady Gaga. Knowing this made me uncontrollably excited about what he might wear, because a great nickname always comes with a little bit of swagger and any serious Lady Gaga fan just might be crazy enough to try to dress like her. Then I realized there was virtually no chance of Evan going over the top with his wardrobe, because pretty much nothing about Evan could be described as "flashy." On the court, the bread and butter of his game is his midrange jump shot (unexciting yet effective). Off the court, he's a well-mannered and respectful kid who can be found reading books, watching film, or working on his game in the gym on weekend nights. This substance-over-style attitude was reflected last night in demeanor and dress.
Evan only got flashy with his watch and custom Ohio State cufflinks, but virtually nobody saw them because his long sleeves and suit jacket covered them. He pushed the Ohio State theme by wearing a gray suit with a scarlet red tie, but to all non-Ohio State fans, it looked boring compared to Wesley Johnson's suit. While Al-Farouq Aminu regrettably wore glasses that made him look like Squints from "The Sandlot," Evan wore the same prescription glasses that he's worn for years. These glasses paired with this year's atrocious draft hats made Evan quite possibly the first top 2 pick in NBA history to also look like the draft's biggest dweeb. Sure it wasn't the Gaga-esque look I was hoping for, but Evan will probably tell you that he dressed that way because he didn't want to try to make the draft about him. One thing's for sure: He's come a long way from the hot-headed college freshman who, when told to wear dress clothes to team events, would show up in Jordans and blue jeans.
4:54: Minnesota's pick: Wesley Johnson, the Syracuse star and owner of tonight's best look (a blue blazer with checkered pants). The good news: He fills a need for the Wolves (a small forward who can rebound, shoot 3s and play right away) and puts every Syracuse fan on the sparsely filled Minnesota bandwagon (since they have Jonny Flynn as well). The bad news: For a team that's rebuilding and playing the "We're waiting for Rubio" card, he turns 23 in July and averaged just 16 points a game as a 22-year-old junior. He will never, ever make an All-Star team. So I don't know. You're telling me that Cousins (age 19) isn't going to be a better player in 2014 than Johnson is right now? Safe pick. A little too safe.
4:56: Highlight of the draft so far:
-- Mark Jones: "What did [Jonny Flynn] tell you about Minnesota?"
-- Johnson: "I mean, he loved it."
(Translation: "He loved running the triangle offense on a 17-win team that has no direction and plays in freezing cold weather! He kept telling me, 'I wish it were colder and we were winning even less!'")
5:00: The case for Cousins dropping to No. 5: He's so immature that (A) he's been most compared to Rasheed Wallace and Derrick Coleman; (B) Cousins and Minnesota would have been a worse match than Cisco Adler and Mischa Barton; and (C) John Thompson defended him as a top-five pick by saying, "You can calm down a fool before you can resurrect a corpse." Any time someone uses the word "fool" as he's defending you, there are probably some major red flags.
The case for Cousins haunting Philly, Jersey and especially Minnesota: He's the draft's most polished big man and a guaranteed 20/10 guy in the pros if his head's right. And also, in 2010: (A) Zach Randolph made an All-Star team; (B) Lamar Odom won his second straight title; and (C) Ron Artest made the biggest shot in Game 7 of the Finals. If there was ever a year to roll the dice with Cousins, it's 2010. We have a crapload of head-case momentum right now.
5:00: The Kings smartly grab him at No. 5. Cousins and Tyreke Evans in back-to-back drafts? Yikes. Major talent haul for a small-market team. I wish the Stern/Cousins handshake could have lasted for 25 minutes. Stern sized him up the way a lion looks at a potentially troublesome cub. That was great.
5:02: ESPN's graphics guy gives Cousins "MUST IMPROVE: MATURITY." Knew that was coming and it still made me laugh. That was like giving Ben Roethlisberger "MUST IMPROVE: OFF-FIELD CONDUCT."
5:04: John Calipari tries to claim with a straight face that, since Kentucky might have five first-round picks, it's the biggest day in the history of Kentucky basketball. Yeah, I'm sure it beats winning the title in 1996 or 1998. Go away.
5:05: Cousins on the general public's biggest misconception about him: "They think I'm a monster off the floor, I'm nothing like that. I'm just a kid that likes to have fun." I mean, he does have the nickname "Boogie." He might be right. By the way, I love whenever someone defends a head case (like we've seen with Cousins this past year) with the "He doesn't drink or do drugs" defense. Oh, even better so he's NATURALLY a head case?
5:06: Van Gundy sums up the Cousins conundrum perfectly: "You need to rebound the ball, you need an interior presence to win in this league. You can get a guy in shape. If he loves the game, he'll get in shape. If he loves to play, he'll be a good teammate. And you can't find guys who can rebound the ball like this guy does." Translation: In the right situation, with the right coach and supporting cast, this guy could be a monster. Maybe Minnesota passing on him was a blessing.
(PS: Sorry to spend so much time on Cousins, but he's the most important 2010 rookie. If he makes it -- a big if, but IF he makes it -- that's the home run pick. I like John Wall, but you can count the impact under-30 bigs like Cousins on one hand. And you wouldn't need to use all five fingers. I mean, Andrew Bogut made an All-NBA team last season. So yeah.)
5:07: Golden State grabs Baylor shot-blocker Ekpe Udoh. It's going to be fun when Don Nelson plays him for three weeks, Udoh puts up huge rebounding/blocks stats, there's a fantasy hoops stampede for him and then Nellie inexplicably benches him for the next three months.
5:09: Just found out that Rasheed Wallace is definitely retiring. Gotta say, I respect Sheed for knowing when to call it quits and then waiting two more years, getting two more paychecks, and finally calling it quits.
(Follow-up note: Apparently he's doing one last noble act, not filing his retirement papers right away so the Celtics can trade his cap figure for another player which, ironically, gives him real value to teams looking to dump payroll and/or get under the tax. This reminds me of a dying Darth Vader being nice to Luke Skywalker at the end of "Return of the Jedi." I don't know where this is coming from, but thank you, Darth!)
5:12: Nice pick at No. 7: Georgetown's Greg Monroe (a quality passing big man) to Detroit (which desperately needed a power forward). Match.com made that pick. That's followed by a Flip Saunders interview that almost made me flatline. We're on pace for the most boring draft I can remember. Can you give me a drunk dad, a bad suit, a pithy Stern comment anything???
5:18: Here come the Clippers at No. 8! Whose ACL is getting blown out this year??? And it's Al-Farouq Aminu, the Wake Forest forward who kinda looks like Urkel. He sure seems happy for someone who's about to end up in a full-body cast. Nice pick for the Clips; they could use energy legs off the bench. As long as they're not dangling in the air over a hospital bed. And yes, if you're talking about the No. 7 pick in a draft being "a good energy guy off the bench," it's a pretty good bet that the draft sucks.
5:19: E-mail exchange with my buddy JackO:
-- Me: Did you know Al-Farouq Aminu means "the chief has arrived" in Nigerian?
-- JackO: "I'm screaming 'Al-Farouq Aminu!!!' during my next 25 orgasms."
5:26: Bilas says Hayward reminds him of "Luke Jackson coming out a couple of years ago." According to my Jay Bilas Thesaurus, that means "I think he'll be out of the league in three years."
5:31: I present two athletic perimeter guys for you, both freshmen:
• Xavier Henry (born March 1991), 2-guard: a top-3 college recruit in 2009, started on the No. 1 college team (regular season), averaged 13.4 ppg (27.5 mpg), shot 45.5 percent and 41.8 percent on 3s, didn't get a ton of touches on a veteran team, did everything he could to fit in.
• Paul George (born May 1990), small forward: not a top-100 college recruit, best player on a 15-18 team in the WAC, averaged 16.8 ppg (33.2 mpg), shot 42 percent and 35 percent on 3s, played inferior competition.
Whom did the Pacers take? Naturally, George. Did I mention that their best player (Danny Granger) is a small forward? I love the NBA.
5:32: Bilas just mentioned that George was 6-foot-8 with a 6-11 wingspan. According to the Google search I just did, the human wingspan is normally 1.07 times a person's height. So if George is 80 inches, and his wingspan is 83 inches, actually, that's a wingspan about 2½ inches smaller than it should be. I'm glad I'm here.
5:36: New Orleans picks Kansas center Cole Aldrich at No. 11, then deals him to Oklahoma City (our first trade!) with Mo Peterson's expiring contract for the No. 21 and No. 26 picks. I would have loved that move for OKC if Aldrich didn't measure 6-9 in street clothes during the combines; that triples the potential that he's just a shorter Joel Przybilla. On the bright side, he can bang the boards, set some picks, make a jump hook and give you six fouls. I know, I know try to contain your excitement. Even the trades are boring in this draft. The fans are so zoned out they can't even remember to boo David Stern anymore.
5:42: First funny line of the night from Van Gundy (after Aldrich's interview): "[The Hornets] needed to trade him, he just compared Sherron Collins to Chris Paul."
5:44: Memphis happily takes Henry at No. 12. That was like last year's Hasheem Thabeet pick, only the complete opposite. Heather Cox quickly interviews Henry's dad under the NBA's little-known "If any lottery pick has a dad at the draft, you have to interview him" rule. By the way, Memphis is close to realizing a dream of mine: They could start three lefties next season (Zach Randolph, Mike Conley and Henry). I've always wanted to see an all-lefty crunch-time five; we're 60 percent there.
5:45: Forgot to mention, it's an emotional day: the 25th anniversary of Karl Malone's draft-day outfit!
5:48: Our "draft capologist" Tom Penn (the former assistant Blazers GM) explains how New Orleans got under the cap by dumping Peterson's body. Er, contract. I'm pretty sure I could have been our draft capologist while doing this diary and wearing jogging pants in my house. Why wasn't this job posted by HR? I would have applied!
5:49: Power forwards for the past two picks: Ed Davis to Toronto (decent value this late) and Patrick Patterson to Houston (liked that one). Patterson needed only three years to graduate from Kentucky. As someone who barely graduated college in four years, I'm always impressed when someone does it in three. I see him trying to learn Chinese from Yao Ming on team charters and stuff. Always fun to have smart guys on a team.
6:01: Stern blesses Milwaukee's pick of Larry Sanders by saying "Larry is not here." Hey, now.
6:03: Just saw a shot of the Minnesota draft room. How much would you pay for a live feed of Portland's draft room? Do you think Kevin Pritchard looks like the two guys tied to the pipes in "Saw" by now?
6:05: The T-Wolves take a second forward (Nevada's Luke Babbitt) at No. 16. On the plus side: He was a 50-40-90 guy in college. On the minus side: They're already horrible defensively, and now they're taking someone who can't guard anyone and putting him in front of two undersized big guys who can't block shots or protect him. I'm feeling a trade. Kahn's been quiet. He's like an earthquake -- he hits when you least expect it.
6:09: So Chicago traded No. 17 to Washington with Kirk Hinrich in return for the cap space to pursue LeBron and Bosh. This was funny because just four months ago the Knicks traded Jordan Hill (last year's No. 8 pick) and their 2012 No. 1, and agreed to swap No. 1s with Houston in 2011 so the Rockets would take Jared Jeffries off their hands (who makes less money than Hinrich, by the way) so they could also pursue LeBron and Bosh. Might be time to take Donnie Walsh to the GM vet and put him down.
6:10: I had my "Fitting that his year's Token French First-Rounder (Kevin Seraphin) didn't show up for the draft during the same week France didn't show up for the World Cup" joke all ready to go, but he actually showed up (Chicago picked him for Washington). Too bad.
6:11: I can't decide if I should be writing down Stu's obscure statistics or not. Is there a quiz after the telecast? Let me know. By the way, you know this draft sucks because I'm now irrationally excited that the Celtics (picking 19th) might get either Eric Bledsoe (my favorite remaining prospect) or Avery Bradley (ESPNU's No. 1 college recruit just 12 months ago) as Rondo insurance. I thought we'd have dreck left in this spot. This almost makes up for blowing a double-digit lead in the second half of Game 7 of the 2010 Finals against the NBA team I hate the most. Oh, wait, it doesn't at all. Not even a little.
6:15: Somebody could splice a pretty nice compilation on YouTube of Van Gundy (clearly bored by the lack of excitement tonight, and I don't blame him even a little) staring vacantly at Stu or Jon Barry after every one of their points. It's my favorite running subplot. This should be a game show: "Say Something Interesting Enough During A Deadly Boring Draft To Get Jeff Van Gundy To Blink."
6:16: Bledsoe's off the board. Damn. OKC just took him. Typically smart move by them. I'm starting to hate Sam Presti. Make a mistake already, Sam. If there were 30 GMs like you, I'd have nothing to write about. Meanwhile, Ric Bucher reports on another deal: Martell Webster to Minnesota, Ryan Gomes and Luke Babbitt to Portland. I knew it! Gotta say, nice move by Kahn! I'm a Webster fan. Good character guy, good defender, type of guy Minnesota needed.
6:17: Did I just compliment a Chris Wallace pick and a David Kahn trade in the last 30 minutes? I think I need some coffee.
6:19: Come on Celtics Avery Bradley Avery Bradley Avery Bradley.
6:20: YES! Good value. And by the way, if you're betting on a No. 1 overall high school prospect whose stock dropped a little after one college year, you want it to be for a reason like, "Yeah, he played at Texas for Rick Barnes, OF COURSE his stock dropped!"
6:22: Just called my dad for his Bradley take. "Did you hear them say he was ranked higher than John Wall heading into college last year?" he asks. Dad and I are moving on. We're totally over that Game 7 loss. As far as you know.
6:30: Buch reports on another trade: OKC traded the rights to Bledsoe to the Clippers for a future No. 1 because of the "any time you can trade for a future No. 1 from the Clips, you have to do it" rule. It's just the rule. Perfect third guard for the Clips. I'm a fan. By the way, the biggest upset tonight: Andy Katz (a +600 underdog) used more hair gel tonight than Bucher.
6:33: Weird one for me: I've learned never to doubt San Antonio's picks, but it just took someone I had penciled in as a bust (Oklahoma State's James Anderson). This is awkward.
6:38: As if Portland fans weren't bummed out enough about their owner losing his mind and firing an excellent GM, the ESPN guys just had an extended "What the hell is happening in Portland?" and "Will Greg Oden ever be healthy?" conversation. This is why they don't allow me on studio shows -- because I absolutely would have made the "If the NBA doesn't work out for Oden, he can always go into porn I mean, did you SEE that thing, Jeff?" joke, followed by an unblinking Van Gundy staring at me for 20 solid seconds.
6:43: Our past three picks: Craig Brackins to New Orleans (some slight Carl Landry sleeper potential); Elliot Williams to Portland (blah), Trevor Booker to Minnesota (our first senior!). Can't get over the fact that Pritchard -- fired earlier in the day -- is still running Portland's draft. If I were him, I'd be in Portland's war room loudly calling other GMs and saying things like, "I have an offer for you: I'll trade you our No. 23 pick, and in return, YOU HELP ME PULL THE F****** KNIFE OUT OF MY BACK!!!!! Do we have a deal????"
6:45: Atlanta takes Damion James, the Texas scorer who has a hygiene fetish and showers four times a day. (Not making that up.) He's the Bizarro Pau Gasol. In other news, I went 6-for-24 in my mock draft. Where's my Finals MVP trophy?
6:53: Just had our sixth commercial for "Knight And Day" in less than 2½ hours. Always funny when studios do that -- instead of convincing you to see the movie, they convince you to actively hate it.
7:00: Our past three picks: Dominique Jones (Memphis), Quincy Pondexter (OKC for New Orleans) and Jordan Crawford (picked by Nets and swapped to Atlanta for Damion James and No. 31). Crawford was my last "I think that guy could be in a nine-man rotation on a good team" pick. Really like him. Scorer, gamer, head case I'll put up with the last one if I'm getting the first two. And now that he's off the board, I'd take the 6-foot-9 tennis player who just won a 70-68 fifth set at Wimbledon over any of the remaining guys on the board. I'm not even kidding.
7:11: The Vasquez interview cheered me up. Unlike just about everyone we've seen, he was delighted/giddy/candid and basically reminded us that, yeah, it's a big freaking deal to get drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. Highlight of a fairly tedious night.
7:12: Orlando takes Daniel Orton 29th so Kentucky can break the "five guys in the first round" record. So if you're scoring at home, the Magic took Kentucky's second-string center to be their third-string center. Their scouts loved the way he applauded teammates, played in garbage time and handled layup lines.
7:18: With the last pick, the Wizards selected swingman Lazar Hayward and, of course, traded him right to Minnesota. So after drafting three point guards in 2009, David Kahn upped the ante by adding small forwards (Wes Johnson, Martell Webster and Hayward) in 2010. I continue to be glad he's in the league.
Something I'm not as glad about: what's happening to the NBA draft. Safe suits, safe interviews, safe analysis, safe everything. I've been typing, pausing, rewinding and fast-forwarding for the past six hours and the only three things I can remember are the "Knight and Day" commercials, Vasquez coming out of the stands and poor Van Gundy struggling to stay excited. My four suggestions to spruce it up:
Suggestion No. 1: Have real NBA players conduct the interviews with the rookies after they get picked. I'd pick three of the league's most gregarious stars (I'm thinking Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant and Grant Hill) and have them do it for every pick, almost like an NBA version of "The View." Wouldn't that loosen up the rookies a little?
Suggestion No. 2: Have two funny NBA players (I'm thinking Jared Dudley and Chris Kaman) rate the outfits of each pick as the draft goes along. Yeah, like you'd change the channel.
Suggestion No. 3: A David Stern cam. Put a camera on his tie and let's see where he goes between picks. I've always wanted to know.
Suggestion No. 4: We don't need a real sideline reporter for the draft. We're not breaking real news here. So what about Ron Artest? You're telling me he wouldn't want to prowl the crowd and interview parents, fans and coaches? Who's a bigger attention hog than him? More importantly, didn't we learn from the 2010 Finals that you can never have enough of this formula: "Ron Artest + live microphone"?
Here's the thing: It's not 1993 anymore. It's not even 2003. All the things that used to make the draft so entertaining (uncertainty of picks, bad wardrobes, lack of hard information, embarrassing interviews) have been slowly beaten out of the draft by wily agents, enterprising Internet reporting, 24/7 news coverage and an acquired sophistication among prospects who watched the previous generation of prospects shatter the unintentional-comedy scale every June. We need to keep pushing the envelope. We need to create the comedy. We need to make this a fun night again. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Until next year.
Bill Simmons is a columnist for ESPN.com and the author of the recent New York Times best-seller "The Book of Basketball." For every Simmons column and podcast, check out Sports Guy's World. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/sportsguy33.
Bill Simmons | emailThe Sports Guy
2010 NBA Draft
- Ford's draft grades: Team evaluations
- Ford: Pick-by-pick, Round 1 | Round 2
- Bill Simmons' 2010 NBA draft diary
- Adande: Will draft be lessened by FAs?
- Katz: Five Kentucky players go in Round 1
- Hollinger: Analyzing the draft night deals
- TrueHoop: Watching powerbroker in action
- O'Connor: Wiz deal hurts Knicks' LBJ chase
- Sheridan: Knicks still feel good about LBJ
- Draft debate: Ford, Simmons live mock draft
- Doug Gottlieb's take on draft night
- TrueHoop Draft Reports: Latest draft buzz
- In Wall's words: PG on dad's death, more
- NBA players mock draft | Draftee poll
- Katz: Teams questioning Cousins | Watch
- Wall, Turner, Favors drafted 1-2-3
- Nova's Reynolds first All-America undrafted
- Heat make history by taking Williams
- Roundup: Recap of draft-night deals
- Sources: Bulls swap Hinrich for cap relief
- Bucks get Maggette from Warriors for a pair
- Ford: Nets send Douglas-Roberts to Bucks
- Grizzlies close to picks swap with Wolves
- 2010 NBA Draft Index: Latest draft info
- Draft Machine: You choose the order
- Hollinger's Draft Rater: Most pro potential
- Chad Ford's Top 100 players: Who's No. 1?
- NBA Draft Blog: Scouting reports, more
- Daily Dime TV: Draft recap, analysis
- John Wall becomes first No. 1 UK player
- Sixers take Turner | Favors to Nets
- Affect on free agency | D'Antoni
- Perception vs. Reality: Cousins questions
- Sport Science: Wall's vision, finishing
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All Chevrolet and GMC trucks with 6.2 EcoTec3 V8 engines will come standard with an 8-speed Hydra-Matic automatic transmission to replace the current 6-speed for 2015. I imagine the 2015 Cadillac Escalade will be joining that list.
The 2015 Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra pickups, as well as GMC Yukon Denali and Yukon XL Denali models have the 6.2 with 420 horsepower, 460 lb-of torque as standard or optional.
So far it looks like the 8-speed automatic will not be going into GM's smaller 5.3 V8s, but that might change to strengthen the Suburban's position against the 2015 Ford Expedition.
Dewalt 20V Max Cordless Drill & Driver Kit
#1 Best-seller
Comes equipped with an LED which goes on when the trigger is pulled. You'll a clear view of whatever you are drilling or screwing with minimal shadows.
From GM's briefing:
The GM-developed Hydra-Matic 8L90 eight-speed is approximately the same size and weight as the Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed automatic. Its 7.0 overall gear ratio spread is wider than GM's six-speed automatic transmissions, providing a numerically higher first gear ratio to help drivers start off more confidently with a heavy load or when trailering. The 8L90 also enables numerically lower rear axle ratios, which reduce engine rpm on the highway.
GM is promising fuel economy figures in "the fourth quarter" of this year, hopefully this transmission helps those big V8s make a little more mileage.
Image: Andrew P. Collins, with a six-speed GM truck. But the eight-speeds will look the same, so, you get the idea.

subset: commoncrawl


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Fox Fall Schedule: New Tuesday Comedy Lineup; Bones Eventually Moves to Friday
TV Guide
Fox unveiled its fall and midseason schedules Monday, adding new series Dads and Brooklyn Nine-Nine to its Tuesday night comedy block and giving Sleepy Hollow the post-Bones timeslot on Mondays. The Following will return midseason.
Other Links From TVGuide.com


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Earlham has been accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) since 1915. In 2014, Earlham received a full 10-year renewal of its accreditation.
The association is one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States, granting membership to a 19-state north central region.
In 2024, Earlham is scheduled for a HLC re-accreditation visit. Please consult the FAQs page linked below for information about what to expect leading up to this visit.
Accreditation process
During the year preceding the 2014 accreditation visit, a faculty committee led by the provost conducted a thorough and critical study of Earlham's academic, student life and administrative processes. This study identified the strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and strategic plans for the future.
Widely consultative in nature, the committee reviewed extensive empirical data and evaluative reports from each academic department and administrative unit. The resulting Institutional Self-Study summarized Earlham's progress toward fulfilling its mission since its 2004 accreditation review.
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Accreditation
An excerpt from the team's report that sums up their reasoning and their conclusions:
"Earlham College's resources, structures, and processes are mature and are effectively and sufficiently directed toward the fulfillment of its mission and the improvement of the quality of its educational offerings. While the college has had a couple of years of enrollments and associated revenues below anticipated levels, strong and responsible fiscal management combined with an inherently stable fiscal foundation has allowed the College to make 'an investment' in its future by sustaining annual operating deficits so that resources can be directed at repositioning and strengthening the College's enrollment and market position as a selective national liberal arts college. This decision and action is being done intentionally and with forethought and involvement of the board, president, administration, and campus community. The college's demonstrated ability to do so, without incurring a significant crisis, illustrates the strength and effectiveness of its resources, organizational structures, and processes in support of its mission and educational offerings.
The college recognizes that to operate for a number of years with successive operating deficits, increased draws from unrestricted endowment, increased capital spending, and increased debt all carry significant risk of eroding the institution's fiscal health. The board and senior administration acknowledge this risk and are taking steps to continuously monitor progress and have stated a willingness to alter plans as needed to both ensure long-term fiscal health and to optimize the mission of the college. The team commends the college for building a strong fiscal foundation from which a plan such as this could be possible and strongly encourages the college to closely monitor progress and to sustain or alter plans as appropriate to both ensure long-term fiscal health and to optimize its mission.
The college has a history of robust and effective comprehensive planning which is effectively integrated with the allocation of resources and institutional action. This allows for an effective response to future challenges and opportunities. The new plan and direction for the college is broadly understood and embraced and now guides effective institutional action and the realignment of resources toward optimal support of the college's mission and educational programs."
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools Accreditation
The Accreditation Report
The North Central Association assigned a team to conduct a Comprehensive Evaluation Visit on March 3-5, 2014. While on campus, the Evaluation Team reviewed many documents and interviewed many members of the College community.
In general, the Evaluation Team's 2014 accreditation report is very complimentary of Earlham. The strengths noted by the team are significant. Earlham's mission is clear and woven throughout the academic and co-curricular life of the community. Our Quaker and liberal arts identity is well reflected in current programs and practices as well as in the 2012 strategic plan. The College follows ethical principles in its governance policies, academic practices, and co-curricular life. Earlham has a strong faculty that creates a rich academic program with an effective infrastructure to support learning and teaching. A variety of student organizations serve student interests and institutional values.
The College has built a solid foundation for the assessment of student learning in relation to goals that reflect the mission of the institution. There are some strategies in place that should lead to improved retention, including enhanced admissions selectivity and more integrated efforts to help enrolled students to succeed. Earlham has created and employed a variety of reviews of personnel and programs to promote continuous improvement. Earlham has a solid resource base that includes financial, physical and human resources and engages in systematic planning to guide the institution into the future.


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This product is no longer available. All good things come to an end.
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I still have plenty of photos from Lamma Island & other islands yet to be posted
She was in Hong Kong University for exchange. Therefore, we met up for holiday together. She wore short that day not knowing that there were so many sand flies. The following day she got to wear long pants to cover up the scars on her legs.
Chow Yun Fat (周潤發) was born in Lamma island...
The hut maybe is in dilapidated conditions, but did you survey the feng shui ??
Shinjuku nightlife:- Kabukicho is a red-light district north off Yasukuni-dori Avenue.
There are various forms of entertainment....just name them, you can find them.
For example, tiger shows, most joints have separate sections for males and females.
If not, as have happened times and again, over-excited-patrons end up freely love-making in the room.
Of course, there are also sections where males & females watch the shows together.


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Andrew Breitbart's Legacy "Just Stunts and Demagoguery," Suggests NYTimes Editor Headlam
New York Times media editor Bruce Headlam was less than gracious after the sudden death of conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart, citing in a Times webcast "his willingness to push the limits of what he saw as journalism, what a lot of other people saw as just stunts and demagoguery."
Media reporter Jeremy Peters wrote the official Times obituary Friday for Breitbart, who died suddenly at age 43 after collapsing while walking outside his home in Los Angeles: "Andrew Breitbart, Conservative Blogger, Dies at 43." As a news story it was balanced, but compared to the usual Times obituary it was certainly critical, starting in the third paragraph:
Mr. Breitbart was as polarizing as he was popular. On the political right he was hailed in the same breath with Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge as a truth-teller who exposed bias and corruption. On the left, he was derided by many as a provocateur who played fast and loose with the facts to further his agenda.
That line also served as the text box to the story, harsh words for an obituary: "An online presence who was as polarizing as he was popular."
Still, the Times gave Breitbart his due as a media revolutionary: "What Mr. Limbaugh was to radio and what Mr. Drudge was to the Internet, Mr. Breitbart was to online video and images." The paper noted he helped Arianna Huffington launch the Huffington Post and gave him a backhanded compliment for being a "more complex figure" than his liberal critics allowed because he "supported gay rights."
Media editor Bruce Headlam was less sympathetic in a webcast posted Thursday, which opened: "Andrew Breitbart was controversial, not for his polemics, which weren't different than you'd find in a lot of other right-wing blogs, but his willingness to push the limits of what he saw as journalism, what a lot of other people saw as just stunts and demagoguery."


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BMT360· Administrator
14,304 Posts
FITD Auckland 2015
Here's what YOU need to know:
Previous Winners
2014: nolesfan2011
2013: EnriqueIG8
2012: Bashak
2011: Fat Camel
2010: mcarvalho
2009: KarlyM
2008: diego36arg
Previous Winners
2014: nolesfan2011
2013: EnriqueIG8
2012: Bashak
2011: Fat Camel
2010: mcarvalho
2009: KarlyM
2008: diego36arg
1) No commitments are necessary for the tournaments. Simply post your picks in the thread. You may play more than one event per week.
2) To play this game, you will post a full predicted draw for the tournament, including all winners in all matches of all rounds.
3) You must post your full prediction before the first ball of the first main draw match is struck.
4) Every player can replace his/her draw only once per tournament whatever the reason of replacement.
If you are changing picks, you must post your picks in a new post. No editing posts under any circumstances.
5) As far as qualifiers are concerned, you may post just "Q" in you predictions if you wish to make them before the qualifiers are placed, or you may wait until they are placed to predict, but remember that you must post before the first match begins. If two qualifiers play each other, and you are predicting before they are placed, you must predict based on their placement in the draw. For instance, you may say "Qualifier 1" which would indicate a prediction that the qualifier who is listed first in the draw would win, or you may say "Qualifier 2" which means that you predict the other qualifier to win.
If you didn't determine Qualifier 1 or 2, your pick will not be counted.
6) If a player receives a bye, you do not get points for predicting them into the second round.
7) Scoring goes as follows:
The points you receive will be based on the round points for the tournament. For each player you predict correctly into the second round, you receive the round points for a first round victory, and so on.
8) The tiebreak rule is to go by how many correct picks the players had in each round, (for example)
1. # of correct Final picks
2. # of correct SF picks
3. # of correct QF picks
4. # of correct R16 picks, etc.
and if the players are still tied after counting each round, they will remain tied.
-When you post your picks, please list ONLY the winners of each round. DO NOT have 'Player A d. Player B' as it will make the manager's job (me) much easier
-Also, please do not use smilies in your picks, there is really no need for it.
For more info, please feel free to visit the FITD forum in the games section.


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Burger Time with the Programming Team
I'm sure it's the same in offices across the country, but this week in the Food Network Programming department, you can quietly work and watch the tumbleweeds roll by. Holiday gift giving is over, everyone is on vacation, and only the few of us who are truly - truly - dedicated are holding down the fort, here at the Chelsea Market.
So how do the professionally food obsessed spend a quiet holiday week? Burgers! There are food perks at FN, food perks being in the Chelsea Market, and then there are food perks just being in this neighborhood.
In that spirit, here's a quick tour of the burger offerings in our lovely hood that will make any carnivore happy. Note: it doesn't hurt that we border the Meatpacking District.
Across the street is the legendary Old Homestead Steakhouse with the famous cow above the door. Next door to O.H.S. is Pop Burger, when you only need a small slider. One block down is The Diner, a rather more upscale version of it's name. A few blocks away is Cafeteria, Tyler Florence's old haunt, and in the other direction there's Corner Bistro, a truly old school tavern. Also in walking distance is the now mega-famous Spotted Pig, gastropub to the stars. You can find nearly any kind of food in the world in Chelsea, but it's clearly a burger kind of town. You may not want to hit all of them in the same week though...


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Up to 50% off as part of our Archive Sale! Discount is reflected in cart.
**Please note that shoes purchased as part of our Archive Sale are not eligible for refunds (exchange or store credit only). For full sale details, click here.
About Our Sumak Kilim Slippers
Sample Sale items may be lightly scuffed, or one-off samples that differ from our standard products. All sale items are considered FINAL SALE.
A backless version of our Smoking Shoe, our Women's Slipper has become an all-around favorite for its comfortable fit and slip-on style.
- Upper made from hand-sourced Sumak Carpet .
- Leather sole with 3/4 inch heel.
- Handmade in Istanbul in a small, family-owned workshop.
Product Care
If you plan on using your shoes for daily walks or throughout city streets, you may extend the life of the soles by asking your local cobbler to attach a rubber sole to them.
The textile and leather sole are very durable and will age well with time. Avoid heavy rain or snow, but if your shoes do become a little bit wet, that's ok; just let them dry out completely and continue wearing as usual.
To clean small stains, blot with a warm washcloth. Let heavier dirt or mud stains dry, and once dried, brush them off with a bristle brush.
Most orders placed before 11am EST will ship that same business day; orders placed later in the day will ship on the next business day.
Standard US orders typically arrive within 1-4 business days via USPS Priority Mail. We also offer UPS Ground for those who prefer it, or whose address isn't served by USPS. Expedited shipping options are UPS Next Day and Second Day Air; these are a calculated rate that will show at checkout.
Returns & Exchanges
If something doesn't work out, we will gladly accept the return of full-priced items in their original, unworn condition within 30 days of receiving your order. Exchanges and returns for store credit are free, but a $7.50 shipping fee will be deducted from refunds to the original form of payment.
International orders and sale items are considered final sale.
Please find our full return policy here.
About our Oriental Carpet Products
As opposed to flat-woven kilims, hand-knotted oriental carpets are known for their "pile," the small, raised fibers that give it a fuzzy texture and a soft, velvety hand. That quality has made oriental carpets more difficult to work with in the past, but our clever cobblers have found a way to gently shave down the pile while preserving its lush feel and appearance.
Each of our Carpet pieces is handmade from vintage, one-of-a-kind Turkish carpets, which means that no two will ever be alike. We photograph each item individually, so what you see on the product page is exactly what you'll receive.
About our Kilim Products
Kilims are a style of textile traditionally crafted on Turkey's Anatolian peninsula, primarily woven from wool on a cotton ground. Kilims are flat-woven, featuring a thin, tight weave that make them a perfect textile for crafting shoes. Every symbol, color, and pattern woven into the Kilim has meaning and represents a hope, a dream, or a story from the life of the weaver.
Each of our Kilim pieces is handmade from vintage, one-of-a-kind Turkish carpets, which means that no two will ever be alike. We photograph each item individually, so what you see on the product page is exactly what you'll receive.
About our Sumak Kilim Products
Sumak (also spelled Soumak, Soumakh, Sumac, and Soumac) kilims are crafted from a mixture of wool and silk, and have a stronger weave and a more textural hand than other types of kilim carpets. They are known for their intricate designs that incorporate finely detailed symbols, figures, and representations of animals. The crisp and boldly contrasting blues, reds, and whites often featured in Sumak kilims make them a favorite among our community.
Each of our Sumak Kilim pieces is handmade from one-of-a-kind Turkish carpets, which means that no two will ever be alike. We photograph each item individually, so what you see on the product page is exactly what you'll receive.
The Sumak textile is more structured than the Kilim or Oriental Carpet, which generally translates to a longer break-in period for shoes.
The Difference between our Women's Styles
Our Kilim Loafer might be considered the "classic" Artemis shoe. The shape of our Kilim Loafer fits narrow or medium-width feet best, but they will stretch over time to accommodate most widths. Runs true to size.
Smoking Shoes
Inspired by menswear, our classic Smoking Shoe for women features a high vamp and a slightly wider width. If your feet are of medium-width or on the wider side, you may find that the Kilim Smoking Shoe provides the best fit.
A backless version of our Smoking Shoe, this style is evocative of classic menswear, featuring a high vamp and a slightly wider width. This style runs a half-size smaller than our closed-back styles, so if you wear a half size, order the next size up (example, a 38.5 should take a 39).
Inspired by the ease of a classic clog, but with a more feminine shape and a sleeker profile. The heel of this style is twice as high as our other styles, giving the wearer a flattering little lift. This style runs a half-size smaller than our closed-back styles, so if you wear a half size, order the next size up (example, a 38.5 should take a 39).
The Difference between our Men's Styles
Our Men's Kilim Loafers are inspired by classical formalwear. In particular, the velvet slippers sometimes known as "Prince Albert Slippers" that men wore with smoking jackets in their studies while partaking in after-dinner cigars. We recommend that gentlemen size down in this style to ensure a snug fit.
A backless version of our Men's Kilim Loafer. If you enjoy the look of our Kilim Loafer but want to have something a bit more casual, the Kilim Slipper is an excellent choice. This style runs small, so we recommend ordering the European equivalent of your US size, or going one size larger than your Men's Kilim Loafer size.


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Sustainability Cost-Reduction
Companies are increasingly looking for ways to manage their costs to be able to meet customer expectations and gain a competitive edge.
Taking into account spiraling commodity prices, key elements in your total costs are your raw materials and energy resources. It is becoming increasingly important to manage and control these elements in order to help you meet financial as well as environmental goals.
At SGS, our experts can assist you with every stage of design and production to help you minimize resource use and reduce waste. Our innovative solutions can help you to create sustainable products and improve your cost efficiency. Take advantage of our global network of eco-design experts and state-of-the-art testing facilities – we can work with you to examine cost-reduction ideas around green procurement and business process improvement plans.
By partnering with us, you will have access to global best practices which can help you meet your sustainability and financial objectives. Call us today to find out more.
Discover Our Sustainability Solutions
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In the summer of 1967, at 20 years old, I boarded a bus in Philadelphia and headed to New York City. Only moments before, I had found a battered copy of Love on the Left Bank sitting on a sale table outside a used-book stall, across from the bus station. Attracted to anything French, I opened it and was greeted by a dark and intriguing café scene on the grittier side of the City of Light. It was Jack Kerouac, Parisian-style. I was especially captivated by the image of a girl, the likes of whom I had never seen before. She was Vali Myers, the Beatnik gypsy mystical witch who reigned over the rain-soaked streets. With her wild hair, kohl-rimmed eyes, loose raincoat, and cigarette, she offered herself with abandon and self-containment. She mirrored what I aspired to aesthetically—to be unconscious of style, yet style itself. Her subterranean world seemed emblematic of all I hoped to attain: in a word, freedom. These images, shot in the 50s by Ed van der Elsken, melded the documentary with art. I carried them within me as I ventured into new territory and a new life.
In 1971 the same Vali Myers, with a live fox on her shoulder, entered the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel, in New York, where I lived with Robert Mapplethorpe. She was then a tattooist, among other things. Recognizing the girl in the rain-pitted mirror, I gathered my courage and asked her to tattoo a lightning bolt on my knee, and she consented. And so she touched me first as an image and then as a human being, and I am happily branded for life. I still have my tattoo, and those images of an unobtainable but brutally familiar nightlife. They have always been with me, for they are, like Vali herself, unforgettable.
The facsimile edition of Love On the Left Bank is published by Dewi Lewis on April 11, 2011.


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Kelly Esguerra
Finance Director
Kelly invokes her passion for all things numbers as EFF's Finance Director. Prior to joining the staff, she was a frequent volunteer at EFF events while honing her finance and accounting skills at a large public accounting firm. When her head is not buried deep in spreadsheets, she enjoys puzzles and games of most varieties, and attends local sporting events.
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Behavioral advertising, in which users are fed ads based on the interests revealed by their Web browsing habits, has an obvious appeal to advertisers, as it will ostensibly allow them to serve ads to the most relevant audiences. It also raises a host of privacy concerns—to work effectively, the Web surfing histories of consumers have to be aggregated and analyzed by those providing the ads.
Both the Federal Trade Commission and Congress have asked questions about whether advertisers were doing enough to protect and inform consumers, raising the prospect that regulation of behavioral advertising was only a matter of time. In an attempt to head off the government, a coalition of advertising groups that includes Google has now issued a series of principles that will guide their self-regulation.
The industry didn't need to look far to see the downsides of a failure to respond to public concerns. One of the more aggressive approaches to behavioral advertising, the deep packet inspection used by NebuAd, saw the company's CEO dragged before Congress, and the resulting bad publicity turned the company into a pariah. It ultimately closed its doors last month.
Most current behavioral ad schemes are far less obtrusive, relying on things like browser cookies to track users and providing an opt-out mechanism. Still, they raise a host of issues regarding retention and anonymization of personal information, the tracking of underage computer users, and the balance between opt-in and opt-out defaults. The FTC had initially favored some form of industry self-regulation that would establish a clear set of rules on these issues, but, in the absence of any clear industry movement to provide them, had turned to issuing dire warnings that regulation would be imposed if the industry didn't get its act together.
The industry, after months of promises, has finally responded by releasing a series of principles for self-regulation of behavioral advertising. In a positive sign, they got quite a number of significant trade organizations to sign on: the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers, the Direct Marketing Association, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Compliance with the principles will be policed by the Better Business Bureau.
The principles are all laudable, so far as they go. Transparency requires that data collection practices are spelled out clearly on the site where collection is taking place, and consumers will be given control over whether their data will be collected, including opting in to collection through software like Web browsers and toolbars. Best practices for data security will be used, and sensitive personal data will be subject to a higher level of protection. The advertising groups will ensure that, once the rules are formalized, the public will see 500 million ad impressions linking to educational material about them.
All of that sounds great when spelled out in the first part of the document, but diving past the generalized statements reveals just how tricky this is all going to be. Most modern websites are a mixture of content from various sources, and many have little control over the advertising that gets embedded in the site. As a result, defining who should be doing what disclosure quickly gets bogged down in legalese. For instance: "The situation where this occurs most frequently today is where an entity through a 'widget' or 'video player' enables content on a Web site and it is clear that such content is not an advertisement and that portion of the Web site is provided by the other entity and not the First Party Web site."
There are some considered solutions here. One of the more compelling is to embed a graphical indication of when an ad is being served based on behavioral data. Clicking the icon would result in a display of the relevant disclosures, along with the ability to opt-out of the data gathering entirely. Given that advertising is evolving as rapidly as Web technologies in general, however, specific solutions are likely to be temporary.
There are other complications as well; it's possible for an entity to collect user data for an individual in two different contexts, and these could include a mix of sensitive personal information. How the advertiser handles mingling of that information and disclosure to the user is obviously not a simple task.
Google lawyer Pablo Chavez praised the new rules today, saying that "we can help ensure that Internet users are active participants in their online experience by providing them with more information and more control." Google's own behavioral ad product was launched in beta back in March, and the company refers to it as "interest-based advertising."
Despite the fact that the translation from principles to implementation is likely to be a bumpy ride, the rough outline the principles provide is definitely more aggressive than some in the industry might be expected to advocate—the rules would definitely rule out NebuAd's business model, for example. Now it's up to the FTC to decide if they go far enough.


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"You don't have to get a job that makes others feel comfortable about what they perceive as your success. You don't have to explain what you plan to do with your life. You don't have to justify your education by demonstrating its financial rewards. You don't have to maintain an impeccable credit score. Anyone who expects you to do any of those things has no sense of history or economics or science or the arts.You have to pay your electric bill. You have to be kind. You have to give it all you got. You have to find people who love you truly and love them back with the same truth. But that's all."
– Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar


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Editor's Note: CNN Contributor Bob Greene is a bestselling author whose books include "Late Edition: A Love Story" and "When We Get to Surf City: A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship, and Dreams." He appears on "CNN Newsroom" during the 5 p.m. ET hour Sundays.
Story highlights
Bob Greene learned the story behind Rock-ola jukeboxes' name; got curious about others
He found Snickers candy was named after a favorite horse of the Mars family
He learned how Conway Twitty picked a new name because the real one wasn't as exciting
Greene: First there are products, then they need names; and behind them some good stories
A very nice married couple from Canada struck up a conversation in a restaurant where we were having dinner. At one point the husband said that, earlier in his life, he had played with some buddies in a rock band.
The name of the band, he said, was the Rock-Olas.
"Like the jukebox," I said.
"Of course," he said.
Rock-Ola jukeboxes were gorgeous; they were icons of the early days of rock and roll.
"Where do you think those jukeboxes got their name?" I asked him.
He assumed the same thing most people always assumed: "Rock-Ola" was a combination of "rock and roll" and "Victrola," the storied brand of early phonograph-record players.
"Nope," I said.
I had always thought the same thing. But then, years ago, I spoke with the founder of Rock-Ola.
His name was David C. Rockola. The whole thing was a total coincidence. Even before he started manufacturing jukeboxes, he had put the hyphen between the two parts of his name when he was selling coin-operated machines. He just wanted customers to be able to pronounce his name – and the company's – correctly.
The couple to whom I told the story laughed, and later it occurred to me that many products we take for granted – products so famous that they and their names are synonymous – once started out nameless. There was the thing – the product – and then there was a need to call it something.
Take Snickers, the candy bar. When you hear "Snickers," you immediately see the candy, almost taste it.
But how did it become Snickers?
Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter and Facebook.com/cnnopinion.
Well, the Mars family, who introduced the candy bar, had a favorite horse they owned. Snickers. So when they needed to call the candy bar something…
Cheerios – the cereal? It was originally named Cheerioats, because of its main ingredient. But there was a problem – a competitor was producing an oat cereal with a similar name. Thus: Cheerios. It hasn't done badly.
How about Q-tips? Everyone knows what they are, but what does the name mean?
A man named Leo Gerstenzang, in the 1920s, saw his wife applying cotton swabs to toothpicks. This gave him the idea to come up with a pre-made cotton swab for use with infants.
The product's original name – intended to connote gentle care of happy newborns (this was in a different American era, with a different lexicon) – was Baby Gays. But that didn't adequately describe the product, so it was changed to Q-tips. Q for quality; tips for the cotton swab at either end.
What about Conway Twitty, the late singer? (I know we're getting a little far afield here – Twitty was a person, not a product – but he was terrific, and his name begs the question.)
He was Harold Jenkins in the 1950s, trying to make it big in the recording industry, and finding that "Harold Jenkins" didn't exactly translate to thrills and excitement.
So the story went, he and his manager took a map of the United States and put their fingers on it. On Arkansas and Texas, to be precise. Conway, Arkansas. Twitty, Texas.
Soon his records were enormous hits in Rock-Ola jukeboxes from coast to coast.
Next up: Weejuns, the classic penny loafers made by the G. H. Bass shoe company.
You know those shoes on sight. But the name?
It refers to a similar kind of shoe that was worn by Norwegian farmers. Norwegians: Weejuns, for short.
You still along for the ride? Let's pull over to the Holiday Inn. One of the most recognizable brands on the planet.
When Kemmons Wilson first came up with the idea for standardized, affordable highway motels, he didn't have a name for it. His architect, Eddie Bluestein, as an in-joke, wrote, across the bottom of his diagrams, "Holiday Inn," after the Bing Crosby movie about a country lodge. Some joke. Wilson liked the sound, which turned out to be a spectacular business decision.
Haagen-Dazs? A made-up combination of make-believe words to make a brand of ice cream sound Scandinavian and inviting. The words mean nothing at all. Except huge profits.
Popsicles, on the other hand, started out as Epsicles, named for their inventor, Frank Epperson. When he applied for a patent, the product was officially titled the Epsicle ice pop. His children, though, called this confection dreamed up by their dad – their pop – a Popsicle. Pop's sicle.
Taco Bell? In California after World War II, a fellow named Glen Bell decided to sell hamburgers from a stand. He called his store Bell's Burgers.
He had some competitors nearby: a couple of brothers with their own stand. Last name McDonald. The brothers had a splendid hamburger product.
Bell arrived at the conclusion that, when it came to burgers, he probably could not outcook and outsell McDonald's. So he chose another food specialty: tacos. He tried a few names before settling on a variation of Bell's Burgers, altered to connote Mexican cuisine: Taco Bell.
Space is growing short here, and there's probably an outside chance that somewhere in the world today there is more important news than this. Quickly:
Nehi soda pop.
The founder wanted customers to understand that his soda pop came in tall bottles, offering good value for the money. Knee-high bottles, to be hyperbolic. In marketing, hyperbolic is good. Thus: Nehi.
May we slip just one more in?
Dairy Queen.
Its founder, John F. McCullough, liked to proudly proclaim to all who would listen that the cow was "the queen of the dairy business."
As a parting note, let's give the last word to David Rockola himself.
He died in 1993; when I spoke with him, six years earlier, he was 90. I told him that it must be really cool to be able to have a jukebox in his home – especially one with his name on it.
No, he said. No jukebox in the Rockola home:
"I had speakers installed in the ceilings of every room, and I had the wiring put in. But at the last minute, Mrs. Rockola said no. She said, 'You get enough of jukeboxes at the factory. We don't need one here.' "
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Bob Greene.


text: College notebook: Mackin helps Trinity win squash title Mathew Mackin (Brunswick) defeated Kai Graham (Darien\/Choate) 11-7, 11-8, 11-7 at No. 8 as the Trinity men's squash team defeated Williams 8-1 to capture its seventh straight NESCAC Men's Squash Championship. Kelsey Shea (Greenwich) won singles and doubles competition against Manhattan and Hartford with the Colgate women's tennis team while Katie Grant (Greenwich Academy) won her first collegiate match against Manhattan and also won singles and doubles against Hartford. Emily Jensen (Greenwich\/Suffield) won the 50 free (25.95) was with the second place 400 medley relay and was third in the 100 free and 500 free as the Trinity women's swim team defeated Roger Williams. Morgan Karetnick (Greenwich) was with Princeton's third place 200 medley team and also had points in the 100 butterfly in a tri-meet with Harvard and Yale. Jared Nowell (Brunswick) was a member of the Williams 400 meter relay that took second place and also had points in the 200 as the Ephs finished second in the Tufts Stampede. Local golf: Bruce Park women The Bruce Women's Golf Association will kick off its 2013 season at the Griffith E. Harris Golf Course on Tuesday April 9 at 8:30 a.m. A continental breakfast will be served followed by open golf. Nine and 18 hole players are welcome. Dues for 2013 remain at $75 for all members. For information about joining the BWGA, contact Roni Tiedemann at 203-661-6868 or Beverly Jomo 203-324-9960. Holiday program: Boys basketball The Greenwich Department of Parks and Recreation announced the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center is registering boys and girls in 1st through 4th grades for a basketball clinic during the school break winter recess Monday Feb. 11-Friday Feb. 15. It will run from 9 a.m. to noon and space is limited. Players will be split up according to ability and age, and taught basketball fundamentals and skills. The program will be under the direction of John Czarnecki. The cost for the five-day program is $225. For more information please call the Bendheim Western Greenwich Civic Center at 203-532-1259 or visit www.greenwichct.org Recreational soccer OGRCC Winter programs The OGRCC is offering Recreational Soccer programs for children of all ages (3 and up). Programs include: Soccer for Tots (age 3 only) Tue. 1:45-2:30 p.m., Little Stars (ages 4-5) Thurs. 2-3 p.m. and Fri. 2-3 p.m.; Kiddy Kick (Kindergarteners only) Fri. 3:40-4:40 p.m., Co-ed (Grades 1 to 2) Tue. 3:40- 4:40 p.m. and Fri. 4:50- 5:50 p.m., (Co-ed grades 3 to 4) Tue. 4:50-5:50 p.m. Mickey Kydes Soccer (MKS) curriculums are customized taking in to consideration the developmental stages of each age group, and with an emphasis on soccer skills, responsibility, sportsmanship and fun. MKS has over 19 years of on field experience and is the Coaching Director for our recreational soccer program. For information go to www.myogrcc.org, or contact the office via email @myogrcc.org, or call 203-637-3659. Fitness: Greenwich Track Club The Snowflake Fitness program for children in grade 2-12 will be held Tuesdays and Thursdays until March 7 at the Greenwich Family YMCA. Greenwich Cup Series: New events scheduled The Betteridge Greenwich Cup 2013 series of races has added several events while expanding from 10 to 12 this year and registration is now available for the first two new events. The YMCA of Greenwich Mile Swim & Pool Party will take place from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. on March 3 at the Greenwich YMCA. Registration is also available for the Greenwich Half Marathon (13.1 miles) that begins at 7 a.m. April 7 at Greenwich Point. The third event of the series is the Cancer Care Walk\/Run for Hope (5K Run\/Walk, Kids Half Mile) at 9 a.m. on May 5 at Greenwich Point. More information may be obtained at the www.threadsandtreads.com website or by calling 203-661-0142. The other nine events are: the 49th annual Jim Fixx Memorial Day Run (5-mile run, Kids Half Mile) at 8:15 a.m. May 27 on Greenwich Ave.; the Whole Foods Cook Your Buns (3-mile run, Kids Mile) at 6:30 p.m. June 7 at Greenwich Point; the Greenwich Point Mile Swim at 7:30 a.m. July 20; the Betteridge Greenwich Cup Triathlon (half-mile swim, 15-mile bike, 3-mile run) at 6:30 a.m. July 28 at Greenwich Point; and the HSS Tour de Greenwich XXIX (20 miles) at 7:30 a.m. Sept. 15 at Greenwich High School. Also, the Muddy Up 4 Kids II (5K Mud Run) at 9:30 a.m. on Sept. 29 at Camp Simmons; Susannah's Run (3-mile run, Kids Half Mile) at 9 a.m. on Oct. 13 at Greenwich Point; the Back Country Bushwhack (4-mile run, Kids Mile) at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 10 at Camp Simmons; and the Jingle Bell Jog for Pathways (3-mile run) at 9 a.m. Dec. 8 at Threads and Treads. The Betteridge Greenwich Cup 2013 is presented by Hospital for Special Surgery and hosted by Threads and Treads. To submit an item for the local sports roundup, send information to email@example.com


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All hail DOOM! The tyrant has arrived in all his un-caped glory with this Secret Wars Dr Doom custom Marvel Legends figures based upon his comic book/vintage toy appearance. He was created using a DC Universe Sportsmaster upper body, Cyborg limbs and waist, and custom cast Dr Doom head. All his armor parts were sculpted on and I created a double-barreled ray gun for him like the original had. He also gets a beam-blast to take down his enemies. Sorry but there's no lenticular shield this time! Doctor Doom was painted using Testors Model Master Acrylic, Formula P3, and Citadel metallics.
More pictures here---> Secret Wars Dr Doom cusrtom figure


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Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip celebrate 70th anniversary
LONDON – Britain is marking the 70th wedding anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip with a peal of bells, a set of portraits and some commemorative stamps.
The then-Princess Elizabeth married naval Lt. Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey on Nov. 20, 1947. Now 91, she is the first British monarch to reach a platinum anniversary.
The royal family is reportedly holding a gathering at Windsor Castle to celebrate Monday's anniversary.
Buckingham Palace marked the occasion by releasing several new portraits of the couple, taken in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle by photographer Matt Holyoak.
The Royal Mail has issued a series of commemorative stamps. And at Westminster Abbey, bell-ringers will sound a full celebratory peal — lasting more than three hours — in tribute.
Source: usatoday com
Tags: Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip


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◆ Super ability in against electrosurgical interference. Neither in cutting nor in burning, ECG waveform and HR can be influenced, very short recovering time after defibrillation, especially suitable for use in emergency or operating room.
◆ Unique thoracic impedance & nasal tube double model respiration test method (when patient can not lie quietly, only nasal tube respiration can detect the right respiration waveform and respiration rate).
◆ 12.1'' color TFT LCD screen, High brightness, Wide viewing, 8 waveforms can be displayed on the same screen . lightness and volume are adjustable independently.
◆ Streamlined outline design with sense of the times & foldable handle.
◆ Multi-language interface selection: Chinese, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Arabic, Russian, Italian, Turkish, etc.
◆ User-friendly and man-machine dialogue interface with pop-up menus, dialogue boxes, rotary mouse and etc.
◆ Low-power consumption design with standby mode, rechargeable high-energy built-in battery.
◆ blood pressure measurement fast and accuratly, with venipuncture function.
◆ Advanced digital technology, accurately measure SpO2 in low perfusion situation.
◆ Drug calculation, ST-segment detection, pace maker and arrhythmia analysis.
◆ display format include OxyCRG diagram, 7-lead ECG waveform, big-font mode simultaneously ; can store 5 kinds of user-defined display format;
◆ Sound and light integrated alarm, Alarm parameters can be adjusted to upper or lower.
◆ Suitable for adults, pediatrics and neonates
◆ Applications in bedside and delivery monitoring; Widely used in patient room, emergency room, operation room, PACU, ICU, CCU, etc.
◆ WAN communication function to network with central monitoring system and make long-distance monitoring, diagnosis, maintenance and software upgrade possible.
◆ Printing of data, waveform, trend tables and trend diagram.
◆ Optional CO2 detection function


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Here's How Much Bacon and Sausage You Can Eat Without Getting Cancer
People who consume lots of processed meat run a greater risk of a premature death and are more likely to develop cancer and heart disease, according to a new study. But don't worry! Scientists still say you can eat meat—just no more than one tiny sausage a day.
A new study examining data from nearly 500,000 people living in 10 European countries discovered that consumers of processed meat (like ham, bacon, sausages, and burgers) are 44 percent more likely to die prematurely than people who eat little or none of the stuff. Processed meat consumption increased the risk of death from heart disease by 72 percent and cancer by 11 percent. They estimate one in thirty early deaths can be blamed on processed meats.
Though the study is new, the results fall in line with previous research on the subject. The World Cancer Research Fund came to similar conclusions regarding processed meats in 2007, and was disputed by the meat industry at the time.
Meats like bacon, ham, hot dogs, salami, and some sausages heighten the risk of bowel cancer. The study estimates that 4,100 fewer people in the UK would have the disease if they ate no more than 0.35 ounces a day.
This comes just a few weeks after it was discovered that a straight-up bacon sandwich is Britain's most popular snack. The study also revealed entertaining terms used by British people to describe various meat snacks: rasher (a strip of bacon), chipolata sausage (a "fresh" sausage), and bacon butty (the aforementioned straight-up bacon sandwich).
The University of Zurich researchers who published their findings in the BMC medicine journal aren't totally against consuming some good old, delicious red meat. The study even notes that there are some health benefits, like important nutrients and minerals, only available in red meats.
So what's the guideline here? Good thing the researchers also suggest a solution—they're not just dropping this information on you and clearing out. Professor Sabine Rohrmann estimates that if everyone ate no more than 0.7 ounces of meat a day, 3 percent of premature deaths could be avoided. To note, 0.7 ounces of meat is about:
- a strip of bacon
- a sausage the size of a baby carrot
- a thin slice of ham
- 1/5th of a burger


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August 19, 2013
The world's wine grape vines are dying — falling domino style to the inexorable spread of bug or bacteria or unknown disease agent.
Not true of course — there is no wine grape apocalypse. But what if there were a disease agent sweeping plague-style across the vine world?
Mitch Frank has written a razor sharp column at Wine Spectator: How Would You Stop a Vineyard Apocalypse? He references greening disease, the scourge of the citrus industry, and the possibility of genetically modified fruit as a solution. If a GM orange proves viable, how will the public react to GM orange juice on the breakfast table?
Frank extends the question to wine. "Would I drink wine from a genetically modified vine? GMOs are controversial, and wine has not been spared. In 2010, activists tore apart an experimental vineyard in Alsace, destroying 70 vines modified to resist fanleaf virus, a widespread affliction in Burgundy and Champagne."
The Alsace incident was the standard storming of a GM field. An over-the-top assault on a fenced GM test plot in which about 60 protestors, under cover of night, destroyed 70 vines planted to withstand grapevine fanleaf virus — of which there is still no cure today. (Ripping up GM crops is standard fare for GM opponents — the latest example took place Aug. 8, as 400 activists took just 15 minutes to uproot 1,000 square meters of Golden rice at a test plot in the Philippines that was weeks away from evaluation. A daily bowl can provide over half of recommended Vitamin A intake. Golden rice, despite offering a potential lifeline to several million children that die or go blind every year from Vitamin A deficiency, has become a crusade for anti-GMO campaigners.)
Forget standard GM crops (corn and soybeans) — the GM question is just around the corner for crops that have direct appeal to consumers in the aisle: apples, bananas, lettuce, plums, and more. Frank rolls out the question for grapes: "We don't pick oranges from wild trees or crush grapes from wild vines. We cultivate them. For better or worse, our work has produced corn and oranges and grapes extremely different from what nature would have produced on its own. Would GMO vines be vastly different than the vines we have produced by spending centuries selecting our favorite vines, cutting off branches and propagating them? Man has fundamentally shaped the evolution of the Vitis vinifera we treasure today … What if a GMO vine saved wine from extinction?"
A pressing question
Frank's last question regarding extinction is pressing. He references the phylloxera wine grape battle that was lost and won over 100 years ago in France. Arriving in France via a case of American vines from New York in 1862, phylloxera, a wine grape assassin, was unleashed in France's vineyards and delivered a wine grape holocaust. The tiny creature bred with freakish speed, disrupting root function and opening the door for a host of secondary fungal pathogens — almost wiping out the French wine industry from 1860-1900. By 1884, growers had been forced to destroy 2.5 million vineyard acres. The end-times tale, filled with champions and charlatans, saw blame and solutions thrown together in a pell-mell panic (divine judgement, urine baths, iron contamination, volcanic ash applications, and scores more).
After decades of building futility, a solution was found: American rootstock, which had escorted phylloxera into France, was resistant to the aphid-like pest. Grafting of U.S. phylloxera-resistant rootstock to French vines put an end to the wine blight. The poison was the cure.
Frank closes with a fitting question: "If a modern-day phylloxera emerged, and nothing else worked, shouldn't GMOs be an option?"
(See here for Mitch Frank's complete column.)
Follow me on Twitter: @CBennett71
Blog archive
Moonshining loses the bootlegger label
Water the commodity gold of 21st century?
Vile dog meat markets still thriving in China
Bull market, bitter legacy for opium farmers
Buffalo bone fertilizer — forgotten days of agriculture
Agriculture waiting on Silicon Valley moment
Brad Kelley, the farm boy with 1 million acres
Meteorite find a golden harvest for farmer
Wild dog plague crushing livestock industry
Days of wine auctions and gay marriage
Cliff Young — the farmer who outran the field
PETA drones a trophy prize for US hunters
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Says the service singles out developing countries for high-resolution images that can aid terrorists.
"Developing countries, which are already in danger of terrorist attacks, have been singularly chosen," Kalam said.
Kalam, who is also the supreme commander of India's armed forces, made the comment over the weekend while addressing the nation's top police officers at the Vallabhabhai Patel National Police Academy at Hyderabad. Google has an engineering center in Hyderabad and another in Bangalore.
Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Government officials in other countries, including South Korea and the Netherlands, have made similar complaints about the Google Earth application.
High-resolution pictures are freely available on the Internet and are provided by many sites in addition to Google Earth, Kalam said. He cautioned officers during his speech to be aware of emerging "open-source intelligence." He also showed the audience aerial pictures of some of the sensitive locations in India.
"When you look deeper into it, you would realize that the specific laws in some countries, regarding spatial observations over their territory and UN recommendations about the display of spatial observations, are inadequate," he noted.
An intelligent mining of the data available on the Internet, according to Kalam, could give "indicators of preformation activities of terrorists groups and their origins and their supporters."
Kalam has been a vocal supporter of open-source software and has not refrained from criticizing Microsoft.


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Thanks to Sandhill Cranes, Canada Geese, and various ducks, our Fat Finch photo/bird walk last Saturday was a success. Four of us took out a group of twenty people for hints and tips on bird photography and we thought you'd like to see some of the results. For this post we've selected three photos that illustrate some of the suggestions we made last time in Eight Steps to Great Bird Photography.
First up is a crane in flight, taken by one of the leaders, Tomas Spross.
For those of you interested in the finer points of photography, that photo was taken with a 300mm f-4 lenses set at f-11 and 1/2000th of a second. Notice the diagonal created in the photo by the bird's body. Diagonal compositions often create a dynamic sense of movement in photographs and this photograph conveys the energy and speed of flight. Triangles have the same effect, illustrated here by the triangle created by the bird's wings that leads your eyes directly to the bird's eye which is at one of the Rule of thirds intersections. (More on that below.)
Next up is a fine photo of a Green-winged Teal taken by another of the leaders, Bosque Bill, as he likes to be known. This horizontal composition conveys the calmness of the duck. Note that the duck's eyes are not at either side of the photo, so the viewers' eyes aren't led out of the photo before they notice the blue-green reflection on the water of the duck's head .
The other two leaders of the group, Linda Rockwell and Kent Winchester, never got around to taking any photos. We are waiting for participants to send us examples of their photos.
We end today's post with a photo made by Matt Bruno, a participant who is ten years old. Matt was unable to go with us after the introductory talk at the Fat Finch store but he sent along three photographs he made earlier in the month. We're using only one today, a shot of an American Kestrel that perfectly illustrates another point about composition.
We have here another diagonal composition, the tree limbs beginning in the lower left and ending with the kestrel. Although the kestrel is perched in this photo, the diagonal gives you a sense of its kinetic energy, waiting for release when it swoops down on its next bit of food.
Note the location of the kestrel's eyes – precisely on one of the intersecting points resulting from the Rule of Thirds. (A subset of the Golden Ratio used by artists and architects since at least the time of ancient Egypt.)
Thanks to all who participated. It was a great morning of wild birds and photographers.


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Theater review: Pioneer Theatre Company's "A Few Good Men"
It will come as no surprise to fans of writer Aaron Sorkin's work on television like The West Wing, or in movies like The Social Network, that the man's way with words truly shines in a live theater environment.
Pioneer Theatre Company's current production of Sorkin's A Few Good Men flies by in a blaze of witty one-liners, dramatic speeches and courtroom dramatics. Sorkin's dialogue is delivered by a consistently stellar cast led by Joe Tapper as Lt. J.G. Daniel Kaffee and Kate Middleton as Lt. Comdr. Joanne Galloway–two military lawyers trying to get to the bottom of an apparent murder of a Marine stationed in Cuba by members of his own unit.
Most audience members are probably familiar with the Oscar-nominated 1992 film version of A Few Good Men starring Tom Cruise, Demi Moore and Jack Nicholson, but the live production quickly pushes memories of that to the side thanks to a creative set full of shifting chain-link fences, intricate lighting and fluid direction by Pioneer Artistic Director Karen Azenberg. All told, the stage design was minimalist compared to many of the ornate productions at Pioneer, giving even more emphasis to Sorkin's words.
Those words are in good hands with the cast. In addition to the appropriately smarmy Tapper and self-serious Middleton's characters, who bicker their way into finding common ground in the search for justice, several others shine in Pioneer's production. Torsten Hillhouse's take on Lt. Col. Nathan Jessep (Nicholson's role in the film) is an emphatic demonstration of the career military man with a warped sense of priorities. Max Robinson (as Capt. Markinson) and Amos Omer as Lt. Kendrick–two superiors of the accused soldiers–both delivery vivid performances, while Corey Allen and Austin Archer as the accused fighting for freedom are solid as pawns in the game being played by their superiors.
A Few Good Men remains a strong theater experience decades after its debut, and seeing it post-9/11 gives some added resonance. It's well worth seeing for a mid-winter dash of drama.
Pioneer Theatre Company's A Few Good Men runs through Feb. 8; tickets and showtimes are available at the theater website. Photos courtesy of Pioneer Theatre Company.
Comments are closed.


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Washington (CNN) - House Speaker John Boehner and President Barack Obama spoke on the phone Tuesday evening after House Republican leaders sent a new offer on a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff on Tuesday.
"We sent the White House a counter-offer that would achieve tax and entitlement reform to solve our looming debt crisis and create more American jobs," Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker Boehner, told CNN.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
Steel confirmed the speaker and the president spoke on the phone but declined to give any further detail about the call or the new GOP proposal.
The latest Republican plan comes in response to a proposal that the administration sent to Boehner on Monday, a senior GOP aide told CNN, following Sunday's meeting between the speaker and the president–their first face-to-face meeting in over a year.
The offer that came Monday included a new revenue number of $1.4 trillion, down from the $1.6 trillion that the Obama administration originally proposed, according a Democratic source. The source also said the offer was paired with "a serious spending cut number with real entitlement reform."
But a House GOP aide told CNN of the White House's offer that "$1.4 isn't really progress this late in the game."
Steel echoed remarks that Boehner made on the House floor earlier Tuesday, saying Republicans await further specifics from the president on what kind of spending cuts he would include in a deal.
"As the Speaker said today, we're still waiting for the White House to identify what spending cuts the president is willing to make as part of the 'balanced approach' he promised the American people. The longer the White House slow-walks this process, the closer our economy gets to the fiscal cliff," Steel said.
The exchange of new proposals signals that despite public statements by Boehner and top Congressional Democrats that talks are stalled on the major issues of revenue and significant cuts to entitlement programs like Medicare, negotiations behind the scenes have picked up.
- CNN Congressional Correspondent Kate Bolduan contributed to this report.


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Apple chief executive Tim Cook plans to propose a "dramatic simplification" of corporate tax laws when he testifies for the first time before Congress next week, just as lawmakers are considering an overhaul of the tax code.
In an interview with The Washington Post, Cook said he will present specific proposals aimed at encouraging companies to bring back foreign earnings to the United States and invest that money injob creation, as well as research and development. He will speak at a Senate hearing Tuesday that is taking aim at companies that shift profits overseas to lower their tax bills.
More than 1,000 U.S. companies hold an estimated $1.7 trillion in earnings overseas, according to a JPMorgan report. And Apple, which has built up one of the biggest cash piles in corporate history, holds massive amounts in foreign countries.
Some companies, especially large multinationals, have argued that U.S. rates are too high and out of step with other developed economies.
"If you look at it today, to repatriate cash to the U.S., you need to pay 35 percent of that cash. And that is a very high number," Cook said in an interview Thursday. "We are not proposing that it be zero. I know many of our peers believe that. But I don't view that. But I think it has to be reasonable."
But some tax analysts doubt whether merely lowering rates would work, given the sophisticated techniques companies employ to lower their tax bills.
Cook will appear before the Senate permanent subcommittee on investigations, which has grilled companies such as Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on the ways they moved profits overseas to lower their tax bills. Cook, who will be the only corporate executive testifying at the hearing, is likely to face questions along these lines from the chairman, Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.).
Apple has $145 billion in cash, but analysts estimate it has only $45 billion available in the United States. The company surprised global investors last month when it launched one of the biggest corporate debt offerings in history to help fund payouts to shareholders. Analysts viewed that move as a tactic to borrow against its cash to pay dividends to investors and avoid U.S. taxes.
Cook, who declined to lay out his recommendations in detail, will make his first appearance at a congressional hearing since taking over as chief executive in 2011. Apple, one of the most valuable companies in the world by market value, does not have a large staff in Washington, nor does it often engage in policy matters.
The executive's appearance before lawmakers signals a shift by the company to be more involved in inside-the-Beltway matters.
"Apple has a very strong moral compass, and we believe in really good corporate citizenship," Cook said. "You can see this in the number of jobs we create in the U.S. and how much we invest in the U.S."
As it has experienced massive growth, Apple has faced greater scrutiny of its business practices, especially the way it manufactures electronics in China. Recently, the company has been touting its contributions to the U.S. economy.
Cook said Apple aims to create more jobs in the United States. When manufacturing begins later this year on a $100 million project for a line of Mac computers, components will be made in Arizona and the final assembly will take place in Texas.
The announcement earned Cook acknowledgment during Obama's State of the Union speech early this year and a seat next to first lady Michelle Obama.
This year, Cook said, the company is on track to pay $7 billion in federal taxes.
"When you combine state and federal, Apple is paying approximately $1 million an hour in just domestic income taxes," he said.
"You may not know this, but Apple likely is the largest corporate taxpayer in the U.S.," Cook added.
Tech companies often have an easier time shifting profits across national borders because much of their assets are intellectual property, rather than equipment or factories. Apple was able to cut its federal bill by "billions of dollars" in 2011 through income shifting, according to calculations by Martin Sullivan, chief economist at the nonprofit group Tax Analysts.
Jia Lynn Yang contributed to this report.
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