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You can never guess what will offend someone
April 6, 2008 at 11:46 am Karen Klapperstuck 6 comments
While in Minneapolis for PLA I had an opportunity to visit the Minneapolis Public Library and I picked up one of their t-shirts. The back of the one that I bought reads: "If a public library is doing its job, it has something in it that offends every single person."
What are the first things you think about when you think about "offending" someone in the library? Popular controversies are things like Harry Potter, comics and graphic novels in libraries, unfiltered internet access, etc. The usual intellectual freedom issues.
Each year we have a Dr. Seuss story time at the beginning of March, in conjunction with Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday. This year we had 2 elephant shaped pinatas, to go with our "Horton Hears A Who" theme. The kids had a great, if sometimes difficult, time getting into the darn things!
However, I recently heard from a board member that a parent who attended with their child mentioned that they were disturbed by the pinatas. Because we were
"teaching children that its ok to hit animals with sticks."
Who knew that of all things in my library what would offend someone would be pinata?!?! Of course, I have the usual fears that I really did misstep with this one. I'm not a parent and I don't think I would be offended by something like this. I talked to number of other parents who attended and they told me they were not offended, nor would have even thought about being offended. But I recognize that not everyone has the same outlook!
Its a great reminder that it isn't always the most obvious thing that will offend your library users or the public you serve . . . it really can what you thought was the most innocuous thing. It could be a pinata!
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Every single birthday party that my 4 year old attends these days has a pinata — I really can't think of a birthday party without one recently. We never did pinatas when I was growing up in Canada, but this year I caved and got him one for his party because he insisted (we beat up on Mickey Mouse).
I just thought that pinatas were an accepted part of celebrations in this region of the U.S. and I too would never have imagined that this could offend someone. I respect this persons right to be offended, but I just never would have imagined it either.
Go Fug Yourself yesterday had this awesome laundry list of pinata characteristics. They were describing Chinese starlet Bai Ling, but it was both accurate and funny.
Sorry you had such a boob of a patron. Any child who can't distinguish between a crepe paper elephant and a real one probably already hits everything with a stick.
I never meant to imply that the patron was a "boob"!!
I was simply surprised and my post was a reminder to all of us who do any kind of public service or programming.
I am not saying that we should worry all the time about being offensive. If we did, we would be paralyzed and we'd never get an opportunity to do really cool and innovative things.
But we do have to keep in mind that everyone can be offended by SOMETHING. And its not the same thing for every person!
We just have to be sensitive to those differences!
A colleague tells the story of when a parent complained because she sang 'how much is that doggie in the window' at storytime. Apparently, that is a blantant promotion of puppy mills. Who knew?
The doggie in the window song is absolutely offensive since pets should NEVER be purchased from pet stores – go to a shelter or a breeder. Most people though don't think pinatas lead to animal abuse.
people who are offended by the doggie in the window song are in need of some serious therapy…and are completely missing the point of the song anyway


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17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, October 10, 1912:
So here comes the month of October.
Arrayed in a many hued gown
Trimmed with the tints of bright Autumn,
The purple, the orange, the red and the brown.
This is Fair week, and I hope that the weather will be that also. I long to go, but I do not know whether we'll get a day off or not. Must try and find out tomorrow.
Her middle-aged granddaughter's comments 100 years later:
My life has a routine with a predictable seasonal ebb and flow, with recurring events that occur at predictable times.
Today marks the beginning of my 22nd month posting Grandma's diary entries—and I find that I'm also beginning to get a sense of the ebb and flow of her routine a hundred years ago.
Grandma began each month with a poem that either gave her perspective of the upcoming month—or mourned the passing of the previous month. She also talked about harvesting crops and watching cows with amazing regularly across the two years, and in early autumn each year she wrote about Fair Week in the nearby town of Milton.
On September 20, 1911 she wrote:
Papa and Mamma and Jimsey went to the fair this afternoon. I expect to go tomorrow if the weather is favorable. We have Thursday and Friday off for the fair.
And, I'm starting to notice exceptions to patterns. The fair held about two weeks later 1912 than in 1911. I wonder why.

subset: commoncrawl


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As millions of americans begin their annual migration home for the holidays, there's one group that will escape the indignities of airports and the soaring cost of gas: budget-minded, tech-crazed, urban-dwelling young people. They will make Thanksgiving one of the busiest days of the year for Megabus and BoltBus. Living in cities with heavy traffic and limited transportation alternatives beyond cars, 20- and 30-something riders have emerged as the core constituency for this new breed of curbside buses, which are becoming the JetBlue of U.S. highways—fun, cheap and efficient.
Initially launched in Chicago and then operating along the East Coast's I-95 corridor, curbside-bus companies are expanding across the country. Megabus, owned by U.K.-based Stagecoach Group, started service in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas in June, just six years after its U.S. debut. BoltBus, its main competitor, opened routes in Seattle, Vancouver and Portland, Ore., this year.
By embracing technology, the new companies are trying to freshen the seedy image of bus travel. They ticket online and offer free wi-fi and plug-in capabilities at every seat. They realized that young consumers feel unembarrassed about bus travel—as long as they can stay online. "It's no longer about my new fancy car," says Lauren Ames Fischer, a Columbia University researcher in urban planning who studies the industry. "It's more, 'Look at the iPad in my hands.'" Bolt has also tried to rebrand bus travel by hiring drivers who can build a rapport with customers. "We try to hire folks that have a quick smile or a little twinkle in their eyes," says BoltBus general manager David Hall. "It creates a fun image of the brand."
Even more than high-tech amenities, cost is driving the bus business: prices of gas and train and air travel are near record highs. Drivers pay $25 to $50 in fuel costs to drive from New York City to Washington, D.C. The same trip averages $19 on Bolt and $22 on Megabus. Like JetBlue, curbside-bus companies have cut costs by drastically reducing rent and labor expenses, eschewing bus terminals for city-center curbside pickup. The strategy seems to be working: while traditional bus companies are still growing, curbside companies are booming. Megabus' North American division doubled its revenue over the past two years to more than $160 million and reported an operating profit of $6.3 million this fiscal year. Bolt, whose Northwestern operations are owned by Greyhound and which is jointly operated by Greyhound and Peter Pan Lines in the Northeast, doesn't release separate financials. Despite Bolt's growth, Greyhound is reluctant to adopt the Bolt model entirely, fearing it would lose riders who are used to showing up at the terminal and paying cash for tickets.
Some riders have raised fears that no-frills lines might stint on safety after a spate of accidents involving smaller discount bus lines and the fatal crash of a Megabus outside Chicago in August. Megabus responded by giving its drivers additional training and says its ridership has continued to grow. "We're bringing the bus industry into the 21st century," says Megabus spokesman Mike Alvich. And the industry has taken notice. While Greyhound continues to serve longtime customers, the bus company launched Greyhound Express two years ago and has since expanded to more than a dozen cities in the U.S. Its basic amenities? Free wi-fi and power outlets at every seat.


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Harvoni is a fixed-dose combination tablet containing Ledipasvir and Sofosbuvir for oral administration. Harvoni manufactured by Gilead Sciences comes in a pack of 28 tablets. It is a prescription medicine that can be purchased by a patient only against a valid prescription of a healthcare professional. Do not share this hepatitis medicine with others because it can cause serious side effects to people until the condition is not monitored by a pharmacist.
When is Harvoni Tablet prescribed ?
Harvoni (Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir) is a very effective HCV drug that is used to treat chronic hepatitis C (an ongoing viral infection that damages the liver). This drug is used in a combination with another drug, to prevent the spread of HCV throughout the body.
How Does Harvoni (Ledipasvir / Sofosbuvir) Tablet Work ?
Harvoni is a direct-acting antiviral (DAA) medication. DAAs are a group of medications that directly block the ability of the hepatitis C virus to make copies of itself.
It is a combination of two direct-acting antiviral drugs that target different steps of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) life cycle. One is Sofosbuvir, which is a nucleotide polymerase inhibitor, and the other is Ledipasvir, which is an NS5A inhibitor. Sofosbuvir interferes with the reproduction of the virus's genetic material, stopping the production of new Hep C virus. Ledipasvir works by interfering with a protein needed to complete the Hep C virus life cycle in the liver cell.
What are the adverse effects of Harvoni Tablets ?
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Serious Side Effects of Harvoni Tablets : Chest pain or discomfort ; Shortness of breath ; slow or irregular heartbeat ; Unconsciousness ; Lightheadedness ; Dizziness or fainting ; Unusual tiredness etc.
These are not all the side effects with Ledipasvir 90 mg/Sofosbuvir 400 mg. Tell your healthcare provider about any side effect that bothers you or does not go away.
What are the storage instructions for Harvoni 90 mg/400 mg?
Patients must properly store the drug to retain its quality and efficacy. Following storage instructions will be helpful in storing the drug in the best of manner.
• Store Ledipasvir/Sofosbuvir below 30°C (86°F).
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Prescription Required:
In order to legally purchase this medicine from DrugsSquare, you'll require a prescription from your Registered Medical Practitioner.
The information provided here is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute medical or pharmaceutical advice which should be sought from qualified medical and pharmaceutical advisers.
Remember, keep this and all other medicines out of the reach of children and away from pets, never share your medicines with others, and use this medication only for the indication prescribed.
The information contained herein is not intended to cover all possible uses, directions, precautions, warnings, drug interactions, allergic reactions, or adverse effects. If you have questions about the drugs you are taking, check with your doctor, nurse or pharmacist.


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Interview With Garrison Keillor on 'Good Poems: American Places'
Radio host to retire, says he's 'in denial'
Garrison Keillor occupies such a special place in American letters that the writer to whom he is most frequently compared is the legendary Mark Twain. A rangy man with a sonorous voice, Keillor, 68, is a humorist, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, radio personality and, lately, the editor of a new poetry anthology.
Perhaps best known as the droll host of American Public Media's A Prairie Home Companion, which he created in 1974 in his native Minnesota, he is now heard on some 590 public radio stations across the country. Each week, more than 4 million listeners hear Keillor delivering "The News from Lake Woebegon," his trademark monologue about a fictional Minnesota town where time stands blissfully still. A Prairie Home Companion became a movie in 2006, directed by Robert Altman and written by Keillor, who appeared in the movie as himself.
Keillor has a way of reconciling seeming contradictions. A purveyor of all things folksy and down-home, he is a highly cultivated, worldly man (he and his third wife, violinist Jenny Lind Nilsson, have homes in St. Paul and Manhattan). He was a writer for the New Yorker magazine, in fact, doing a piece on the Grand Ole Opry, when he got the idea for A Prairie Home Companion. And his "News from Lake Wobegon" remains both a paean to small-town life and a send-up of it.
Q. How do you go about finding the poems you read on The Writer's Almanac and collect in these anthologies?
A. I look at several hundred books of poetry a month, though for most of them it only takes a couple minutes to see that they won't work for the Almanac. Poets seem to want to be elusive and opaque, and pose mysterious riddles, and that's fine for them, but our radio listeners are busy doing other things and need to be able to get the message in one hearing, no smoke, no mirrors. And when you come upon a fine, surprising, readable poem, it is thrilling.
Q. Reading a few of the selections in Good Poems: American Places, I had the feeling you defined "place" rather loosely. One example: "Why I Have a Crush on You, UPS Man," by Alice N. Persons.
A. UPS goes everywhere in America, so the Persons poem could be in Minnesota or Maine or Malibu, but it's definitely in America somewhere.
Q. In the introduction, you refer to poetry as the "truest form of journalism we have." Can you explain?
A. Poetry is a record of the life around us and in us, and you'll get a better idea from poetry what it was like to be alive in 2011 than you will from the New York Times.
Q. Your daughter is 13. Does she like poetry? Do you read poetry to her?
A. I make up little rhyming poems for her as we fix breakfast or walk to church. Sometimes I write her a limerick, such as: There was a young lady named Maia / Who said to her daddy, "Hey, hiya / Could you tie my shoes / And read me the news / And while you're up, peel a papaya." She's more interested in songs than in poetry, and it isn't my job to try to redirect her; I just want her to remember "I've Been Working on the Railroad" and "The Minnesota Rouser" and "You're a Grand Old Flag," which we've been singing together since she was 4.
Q. What were the first poems you read, and who were your favorite poets?
A. I loved Frost, of course, the good grandpa of poetry, and tried to imitate Ogden Nash and somehow got my hands on an LP of Lawrence Ferlinghetti reciting poetry to jazz, which seemed utterly cool to me. In school they were pushing Shakespeare and Wordsworth, which I didn't warm to because we had to listen to recordings of Sir John Gielgud, and he struck me as girlish and simpering. I was very jingoistic about poetry, and still am. The Spanish and South American poets who've been so influential on American writers don't interest me at all. Rimbaud, Rilke, Ted Hughes, they all leave me cold. Give me a poem set in Pittsburgh, and I am happy.
Q. Why would you say we need poetry? Why should we read it?
A. I would never tell you you need poetry, but if we were eating dinner together and you said something disparaging about poetry, I might look you in the eye and recite "A Blessing" by James Wright or "Wild Geese" by Mary Oliver or "Since Feeling Is First" by E.E. Cummings, and you would be moved by the straightforward musicality of it. Composers keep trying to set these things to music, and there's absolutely no need to — true poetry IS music. You would be touched by the music of our ordinary American English.
Q. Does age give you an advantage in writing it? Finding meaning in it?
A. Good Lord, no. The advantage is with youth, as in most things. They have the energy and bravery and pizzazz, they go slamming around, and we old coots tiptoe along the edge. But we have high hopes. And there are exceptions to the rule. I'm reading Edward Hoagland's latest book, Sex and the River Styx. He is one of the greatest prose stylists of our time, he is 78, and this is his best book — great God, I am stunned at this accomplishment. And Robert Bly, closing in on 90 and writing beautifully and more humorously than ever. And Donald Hall, likewise. I'm 68, and I am cheering for my elders.
Q. What are your favorite places to visit, apart from St. Paul and New York City, where you have homes?
A. Everyone of course loves San Francisco — I adore the Inner Sunset district along Irving Avenue and Golden Gate Park, so fresh and unpretentious, lively, multiracial, easy-going. I love Austin, Texas, and New Orleans and odd places like Mackinac Island and Plainfield, Vt., and Washburn, Wis. And for sheer friendliness, there's no place like North Dakota. I never sat down with North Dakotans but what I felt … I was with family, and politics never mattered to us at all.
Q. You own a bookstore in St. Paul. How do you feel about the Kindle and other digital reading devices versus printed books?
A. I favor people reading by whatever technology seems hospitable to them. My wife takes her Kindle on trips, I pack books in my suitcase. Either is fine. I happen to love the sensual experience of walking into a bookstore and examining the wares, picking up books, smelling them, admiring the covers, reading the first page or two. In 15 minutes, I can always find at least five books that really deeply interest me. I can't do that online. It just doesn't excite my viscera the way physical books do. This is a learned pleasure going back to when I was 10 and rode my bike downtown and walked into the reading rooms of the Minneapolis Public Library. It's not a pleasure I can transfer to a digital image on a screen, just as I can't get as excited about a picture of a naked woman as I do about one who is walking across the floor toward me.
Q. You take A Prairie Home Companion all over the country. Are the audiences different in different places?
A. Quite different. More reserved in the Midwest, more lighthearted on the coasts, which is partly a function of transportation. In the Midwest, it's too easy to get to the theater: You just drive and park and walk in the door. In New York or L.A., it's a big struggle; you have to plot your course and have alternate routes in mind and be prepared to deal with unforeseen harrowing developments. Coming in from Westchester or Montclair or Hartford to Town Hall on West 43rd in Manhattan can try men's souls, as does the trip from Ventura or Manhattan Beach to the Greek Theater in Griffith Park in L.A., and when you finally get to your seat, you're just so darned grateful, you're giddy before the show even starts. And then if you should have a beer or two … well, that audience is a pushover. In the Midwest, they are stone-cold sober. I know those people. A tough crowd.
Q. Can you recall the most unexpected/outlandish thing that ever happened during one of your live shows?
A. It's always the exact same thing — I walk down to the front of the stage and say, "It's been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon," and the audience gets very quiet and I can't remember a single thing. Not a thing. Terrifying. Happens over and over. I think, "Damn, I have got to get me a teleprompter." My heart about stops. But you start talking about the weather and the special in the Chatterbox Café and it starts coming back to you, like rocks looming in the fog, whatever it was you thought you were going to talk about. And sometimes something better comes to you, some new startling thing. That's the reason not to use a script.
Q. You've written novels, essays, a screenplay or two, even an advice column (for Salon). Is there anything you haven't done but would like to do?
A. A play. That's my dream.
Q. Tell us about what you're working on now.
A. I'm working on a screenplay about a son of Lake Wobegon coming home for a funeral and finding out that, despite his long years of exile in distant cities, he still belongs to these people. It's scary how much he still belongs here. These people have the power to make him ashamed, which distant cities do not. His conscience resides here. The next novel is a Guy Noir mystery in which the old detective is all lined up to become a multimillionaire thanks to his friendship with a brilliant woman, Naomi Fallopian, who has come up with the perfect weight-loss scheme.
Q. Do you have any advice for older folks who might want to explore writing as a second career?
A. Write whatever is in your heart to write, but have a trusted friend on hand who is prepared to tell you that it's no good if it is no good. Very important to avoid vanity work at this stage of life. Vanity is for people in their 30s.
Q. What do you want your legacy to be?
A. I just want people in St. Paul and Minneapolis to feel that I was some sort of community asset and not a big embarrassment. It may be a close call.
Q. You've said most adults and children don't read poetry. Is there anything to be done about that?
A. Life is a carnival, people are wildly busy, there are love affairs to be pursued, arguments to be waged, omelets to be made, gardens to be tended, plus ballgames, movies, auctions, bike trips, and poetry is very patient. Emily Dickinson has waited 120-some years for you to read "Success is counted sweetest by those who ne'er succeed," and she can wait a few more years. Same with Walt Whitman, same with Dorianne Laux, Billy Collins, Philip Booth, Maxine Kumin, May Swenson, and all the others. They'll be around. You will catch up with them eventually.
Evelyn Renold is a writer and editor who lives in New York.


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(CNN) - Three days after the Democratic convention wrapped up, President Barack Obama opened up his largest margin over Mitt Romney since early July in Gallup's daily tracking poll.
According to the poll released Sunday, Obama has 49% among registered voters nationwide, while Romney has 44%.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
- Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November.
The survey was conducted September 2-8, a time window that included the entirety of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina-as well as two days before and two days after the event.
During the party gathering, major leaders, including former President Bill Clinton, gave prime time speeches on why voters should elect Obama to a second term. The president himself capped off the week Thursday night with a final address.
"If you turn away now - if you buy into the cynicism that the change we fought for isn't possible, well, change will not happen," Obama said, depicting a scenario in which special interests and conservative politicians run Washington and the country. "... Only you can make sure that doesn't happen. Only you have the power to move us forward."
The same poll showed Obama with only a one-point margin (47%-46%) one week ago as he headed into the convention, which came a week after the Republican convention in Tampa, Florida.
Responding to the new numbers, Romney's pollster Neil Newhouse warned against getting "too worked up about the latest polling."
"While some voters will feel a bit of a sugar-high from the conventions, the basic structure of the race has not changed significantly. The reality of the Obama economy will reassert itself as the ultimate downfall of the Obama Presidency, and Mitt Romney will win this race," Newhouse said in a statement.
According to a CNN/ORC International Poll released Tuesday, Romney received a one point bounce after the GOP event, going from 47% to 48% compared to Obama's 49%.
The last time Obama held a five-point margin over Romney occurred on July 1, when the president had 48% and Romney had 43%.
While it's not unusual for a candidate to get a modest boost in the polls after a convention, a senior Obama campaign official said last week that big swings are becoming less common due to conventions now falling so late in the election year.
Speaking with CNN reporters in Charlotte, the official said candidates no longer get double-digit bounces, like the 16-point bump Clinton received after the 1992 convention in New York. Because of higher interest early on and long primary seasons, the "process is fundamentally different" now so that voters get exposed to the candidates much sooner and form their opinions before the conventions.
For the poll, Gallup surveyed approximately 3,050 registered voters by telephone. The sampling error is plus or minus two percentage points.
- CNN's Tom Cohen contributed to this report.
I love it when republicans ask "Are you better off now then 4 years ago?" if you say no, then you want to go back to a country on the brink of a depression? The answer is if course not. So why would you even think you're worse off now then you were back then?
Obama so loved the poor, he created millions more.
No surprise here. We have a media that loved the DNC while mocking the RNC. Every time our media see a threat to Pres. Obama they attack them. Think Sarah Palin. Think Marco Rubio. Think Bobby Jindal. Think Clint Eastwood.
We not only got around a depression that could have been worse than the one in 1929 but some of us forget than even though the President had a Democratic congress in his first two years the fillibustering by the party of heck no went on for every bill that came their way. The teapublikkklans have also made a majority of 100 an unheard of 60 instead of 51.
They are back starting today. Must be nice to be able to take five weeks vacation when so many can't get any. The same people the rethugs are trying to keep from voting early in states like Ohio.
Romney the camellion flip flops again! Thanks Mittens for bring your true color into focus... at least until it changes again! Do ya think U might be able to find your tax returns while you're at it??? At the present rate of your campaign"s deterioration U should be irrelevant by Nov!!.
I hope the gap keeps increasing. WE cannot afford Romney, do we want another BUSH!!!? Obama has done good things lets give him 4 more years. It takes time people....
Romney is now running against the Republican Party. Maybe he should ask Biden to step aside, so he can join Obama as Vice-President.
i guess there are more people on government assistance than i thought, who don't want the gravy train to stop
How pitiful!
Yeah I m sure, he has a lead when pigs can fly thats when Obama will lead.
Not really surprising. What most forget is demographics favor Obama. More women generally vote than men; Obama will get the women's vote. He will also get the minority vote. He will also likely get white voters who are union.
The key demographics are who will win the younger voters and the middle class. Will recent unemployed college grads still believe in Obama? Will the middle class fear Romney's support of big business and money?
Romney's only clear advantage would be in the middle age white male demographic.
In my opinion, a small voter turnout would favor Romney, with disenfranchised young voters and apathetic middle class either abstaining or switching over to Romney.
Yeah...we'll see what happens after the debates...that's going to separate the candidates like nothing else. Obama's sleaze won't go over very well.
There was virtually NO chance that I would have voted for Romney from the outset. His flip/flopping on practically every issue showed him to be about winning MUCH more than about values. AND, where he SAYS he stands now goes against most of my core beliefs...
I said that to say that I watched both conventions, pretty carefully to see what else they might add to my knowledge and understanding.
The Republicans had some good speakers with faulty "facts" that they hopes would sway the unintelligent among us. I don't think they did.
Democrats had history on their side, better speakers (by a long shot) and MANY more ACTUAL facts.
Unless both Obama and Biden COMPLETELY blow the debates and/or get caught up in some magnificent scandal, their margins will almost certainly widen as election day approaches.
Obama gets an incomplete because he's still trying to clean up the mess left to him by the last Republican. Mitt gets an incomplete because he won't or can't tell us what he'd do about ANYTHING. Unless he's running with Ryan's plan, then it's obvious that what he wants to do is take us back to a bygone era – like the Industrial Revolution before all of those inconvenient labor regulations came into play. Whaadya mean no six year olds working in the coal mines? Sheesh!!
Sure people are disappointed in Obama, but he's a hell of lot better than Romney. People just don't trust Romney. He's a corporate sales guy who will say anything to get what he wants. At least you know what the President stands for. Romney is such a flip flopper. What Romney said in interviews this weekend. OMG. He is such a flip-flopper. I've never seen a politician change their positions and hedge their answers so much in my whole life!!!!!
The poll is of "registered voters." Poll "likely voters" and get back to me. Thanks.
For the sake of argument, Obama can blame Bush for causing it, but Obama can't blame Bush for why he can't fix the economy or get it better. Another smoke and mirror to deflect the real discussion.
That was what Bill Clinton was implying...... yeah, no President can fully fix the economy, but a President can make it better.... and Obama failed miserably, he made it worse; look at the numbers.....
Obama will sue you if the polling data makes him look bad. Just ask Gallup. Also, Carter was up 6 to 9 pts in the polls when Reagan won.
As somone who votes Democrat, I will say the same thing that I say when the Republicans are up in these polls – I will not be at peace until the election is over, no matter what they say. Also, this is amongst registered voters, not amongst likely voters. The amount of money that Mr. "Corporations are people, my friend" has to smear Obama is not to be underestimated.
Romney will continue to lose ground because he refuses to tell the American people exactly what he wants to do and how he will do it. It doesn't help him that after the RNC convention, his running mate is now known as LYIN RYAN. The only way Romney can win is if votes are suppressed and the republicans know it, hence the voter ID laws and limiting polling time attempts in Ohio and Florida. Here in Pennsylvania, we can only wonder what Governor Corbett and the boys will come up with to suppress votes. Rumors have ranged from them secretly keeping polls open longer in Republican dominated areas, but not in Democratic dominated ones to having their people challenge as many democratic voters at the polling places as they can thereby creating long lines and hoping the polls can close without everyone getting a chance to vote.


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Warm Audio WA273-EQ 1073-Style Two-Channel Microphone Preamp and EQ
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Warm Audio WA73 1073-Style Single-Channel Microphone Preamplifier
Hand-wired with custom UK-made Carnhill transformers, Warm Audio's 1073-clone mic preamp gives you 80 dB of gain and boatloads of vintage British character.


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You may have spotted these hors d'oeuvres at a garden party when you were young. What are they?
Salmon mousse was very popular in the Midwest during the 1950s and '60s. The mousse was usually served on or with crackers, but it could also be found on cucumbers for a refreshing crunch.


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PHP 5.3 introduced the concept of anonymous functions, often called closures. These have been present in languages like JavaScript for a long time, and have been incorporated into PHP as part of its ongoing transformation into a first-class web programming language.
Simply put, they allow you to assign the workings of a function to a variable. For example:
$myFunction = function() {
return true;
This simplifies a lot of common programming tasks. For example, prior to PHP 5.3, you might have used the
array_walk function to perform operations on the entities in an array as follows:
function processEntity(&$entity) {
// perform some action on $entity
$myArray = array('one','two','three','foo','bar');
array_walk($myArray, 'processEntity');
Whereas now you can go ahead and perform your entire processing step in one statement:
$myArray = array('one','two','three','foo','bar');
array_walk($myArray, function(&$entity) {
// perform some action on $entity
This works because in PHP, an anonymous function is a callable: it can be included wherever the name of a function was previously requested, without any further modifications to your code.
This is handy in itself for many uses, but it comes into its own when you combine it with the observer pattern. Here, observer methods listen for an event to be triggered, and may alter the subject of the event (where appropriate). I'm a big user of observers: Elgg's architecture has depended on them since 2004, and in every project I've worked on since, observers have been called on system events (for example to run code when an object is saved or updated), and actions (for example to run code when a form action is fired, to log the user on, post some content, or some other action). They allow you to create simple object-based architectures where the components are logically separate but each section can communicate with each other section.
While I used to roll my own observer code, lately I've fallen in love with Symfony's Event Dispatcher component (not least because it does pretty much what I was doing before, with richer functionality and code I don't have to maintain myself!).
Events and actions are referenced with a unique string. For this example, I'll use
unique.event.name, and attach a listener callable that will be triggered whenever the event is dispatched, as follows:
$eventDispatcher->addListener('unique.event.name', $callable);
(There's also an optional third parameter,
$priority, which is an integer that indicates priority. Higher integers have a higher priority.)
Remember that a callable can be a string containing a function name, an array referencing a class method, or an object with an
__invoke method. But because an anonymous function is also a callable, we can stick a function right there in the listener call:
$eventDispatcher->addListener('unique.event.name', function($event) {
// Do something with $event
Invoking the event is as simple as calling:
$eventDispatcher->dispatch('unique.event.name', $event);
$event here is an object of class
Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\Event, so you could make your life easy and create subclasses for different kinds of events that carry payloads of useful data:
class exampleEvent extends Symfony\Component\EventDispatcher\Event {
public $simplePayload;
function __construct($simplePayload) {
$this->simplePayload = $simplePayload;
Then you can trigger the event and attach some payload data in one line:
$eventDispatcher->dispatch('unique.event.name', new exampleEvent($someData));
Each listener callable has direct access to this event object, and can modify it in turn. The object also provides access to the event dispatcher via
$event->getDispatcher(), which can launch more nested events, or halt propagation to the next listener in the chain.
By creating different subclasses of
Event for different event types, you can easily attach special event functionality or payload support for those instances. I can easily imagine defining
UserLogoutEvent and
UserSaveEvent, for example. Event listeners can then check for event type (if they need to) by checking the class of the event.
By using anonymous functions for this process, you get to keep your listener and logic code in the same place, and write fewer lines of code overall, while making the most of a very powerful software development pattern.


text:
Peachford Hospital is searching for experienced psychiatric Registered Nurses (RN) for the evening, nights and weekend shifts on our Crisis Stabilization unit.
What Role Will You Play?
Registered Nurses (RNs) on the Crisis Stabilization Unit at Peachford deliver quality nursing care to patients with varying psychiatric, behavioral and mental health diagnoses, ensuring their safety and continued care.
What Will You Get To Do?
Registered Nurses (RN) are responsible for completing the following duties and tasks:
- Assess patients through a systematic process of interacting with the patient, the patient's significant others, and the appropriate health care providers.
- Administer medications in a safe, accurate, and timely manner utilizing the "Five Rights" of medication administration.
- Collect and analyze data regarding the patient's physical, psychosocial, environmental, self-care, educational, and anticipated discharge planning needs.
- Determine patients' alcohol or drug toxicity and identify signs of withdrawal.
- Develop a comprehensive outline of care and specific goals and interventions to be included in treatment planning. Prepare interdisciplinary treatment plans for assigned patients and monitor patient's progress toward meeting treatment plan objectives.
- Monitor patients following nursing unit policies and procedures.
What Does Peachford Require for this Role?
A valid State of Georgia Nursing (RN) (Registered Nurse) License or eNLC License from a participating state is required. Previous psychiatric, behavioral or mental health nursing experience is helpful but not required.
Wait! There's More….
Peachford Hospital offers full time employees a comprehensive benefits package including:
- Health, Dental and Vision Plans
- 401k Retirement Plan with company match
- Tuition Reimbursement
- Short Term and Long Term Disability
- Life Insurance
- 23-days of Paid Time Off
What Happens Next?
After you apply online and submit your resume, a member of our recruiting team will review your qualifications and experience. If we are interested in scheduling an interview, someone will give a you call. You may log back on to this website to check the status of your application at any time.
Peachford Hospital: Bringing Life Into Balance.
Peachford Hospital is the Southeast's premiere behavioral health and addictive disease treatment facility and has been providing compassionate care to children, adolescents, adults and seniors since 1973. Located in the beautiful Dunwoody neighborhood of Atlanta, Peachford offers inpatient acute care, as well as partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient programs.
For more information on our hospital, follow us on online:
Universal Health Services (UHS): Healthcare Delivered with Compassion
At UHS, we're looking for exceptional people who share our vision and values, who share our focus on hard work, enthusiasm, teamwork, loyalty, trust and cooperation. We've embraced these traits and built a team of employees who consistently work to achieve the highest level of service excellence. People are our most valuable resource at UHS as we are committed to providing high quality acute care and behavioral health services to residents of the communities we serve. We are equally committed to offering our employees unlimited opportunity in an environment that encourages professional development.
One of the nation's largest and most respected hospital companies, Universal Health Services, Inc. (UHS) has built an impressive record of achievement and performance. Steadily growing from a startup to an esteemed Fortune 500 corporation, UHS today has annual revenue nearing $10 billion. In 2017, UHS was recognized as one of the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune; ranked #276 on the Fortune 500, and listed #275 in Forbes inaugural ranking of America's Top 500 Public Companies.
Our operating philosophy is as effective today as it was 40 years ago: Build or acquire high quality hospitals in rapidly growing markets, invest in the people and equipment needed to allow each facility to thrive, and become the leading healthcare provider in each community we serve.
Headquartered in King of Prussia, PA, UHS has more than 81,000 employees and through its subsidiaries operates more than 320 acute care hospitals, behavioral health facilities and ambulatory centers in the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the United Kingdom.
UHS is a registered trademark of UHS of Delaware, Inc., the management company for Universal Health Services, Inc. and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Universal Health Services, Inc. Universal Health Services, Inc. is a holding company and operates through its subsidiaries including its management company, UHS of Delaware, Inc. All healthcare and management operations are conducted by subsidiaries of Universal Health Services, Inc. To the extent any reference to "UHS or UHS facilities" on this website including any statements, articles or other publications contained herein relates to our healthcare or management operations it is referring to Universal Health Services' subsidiaries including UHS of Delaware. Further, the terms "we," "us," "our" or "the company" in such context similarly refer to the operations of Universal Health Services' subsidiaries including UHS of Delaware. Any employment referenced in this website is not with Universal Health Services, Inc. but solely with one of its subsidiaries including but not limited to UHS of Delaware, Inc.
UHS is not accepting unsolicited assistance from search firms for this employment opportunity. Please, no phone calls or emails. All resumes submitted by search firms to any employee at UHS via-email, the Internet or in any form and/or method without a valid written search agreement in place for this position will be deemed the sole property of UHS. No fee will be paid in the event the candidate is hired by UHS as a result of the referral or through other means.
To Apply to this Job, Please go to the website address given in the source.
Source: https://www.careerbuilder.com/job/J3T5RL616ZH3JWVXK4Y?ipath=rss


text:
Overturning the ObamaCare mandate polls well. [Full poll.]
THIS I BELIEVE: Right now someone is working on updating the video of Hitler learning that ObamaCare has been repealed. I say they may as well release it tonight so that we can enjoy it right now even if a new dawn brings, well, a new dawn for ObamaCare.
I SUPPOSE I ALSO BELIEVE... Someone somewhere must be working on Hitler learning that ObamaCare has been upheld. I don't think I will find that one quite as amusing. No, in fact, I am sure I won't.


text:
Save: $108.00
Marine Q Series
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text:
NH woman finishes second in Iditarod sled dog race
Aliy Zirkle loses by 2 minutes 22 seconds
Dallas Seavey ran a blistering pace to rally from third place and win his second Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race early Tuesday in a record-breaking finish, after a sudden storm blew the front-runner out of the competition and kept another musher minutes away from her first win.
Seavey, 27, was the first musher under the famed burled arch finish line in Nome. He flew through the last 77 miles to catch the two mushers in front of him, four-time champion Jeff King and Aliy Zirkle, who finished in second.
Seavey finished the race in eight days, 13 hours, 4 minutes and 19 seconds, easily breaking the previous record set in 2011. Zirkle was 2 minutes 22 seconds behind him.
Zirkle also finished second in 2012 and 2013.
King was cruising to a record-tying fifth win when a gust of wind blew him off course, effectively taking him out of the mix just miles from Nome. Until then, he had a safe lead of an hour.
Seavey holds the record for being the youngest champion ever; he was 25 when he won in 2012.
Seavey comes from a mushing family. His grandfather, Dan Seavey, helped organize the first Iditarod in 1973.
His father, Mitch Seavey, has twice won the nearly thousand-mile race across Alaska. Mitch won in 2006 and last year became the race's oldest champion at age 53.
Dallas Seavey was also a champion wrestler. In 2003, he became Alaska's first ever junior champion, winning the 125-pound title.
He's also a participant on the reality television series "Ultimate Survival Alaska."
Seavey admits he's somewhat of a hermit, and doesn't own a television. The only time he sees an episode of the show is when he downloads it on his computer.
"I don't leave my training compound if I can help it," said Dallas. "If I leave, it's by dog team, not by vehicle."
The trail this year has been marked by poor conditions because of a lack of snow after a warm winter by Alaska standards.
A number of mushers were injured at the beginning of the race as their sleds ran on gravel near the Dalzell Gorge. One musher, Scott Janssen of Anchorage, had to be rescued by a National Guard helicopter crew after breaking an ankle.
Snowless conditions again greeted mushers as they reached the western coast of the nation's largest state.
The race began March 2 in Willow with 69 teams. As of Tuesday morning, 17 mushers had dropped out and one was withdrawn.
The Iditarod winner receives $50,000 and a new truck. The 29 teams after that get cash prizes decreasing on a sliding scale. All other teams finishing the race receive $1,049.
John Baker had held the fastest finish in Iditarod history, covering the trail from Anchorage to Nome in eight days, 18 hours and 46 minutes in 2011.


text:
Invoice (Timeless design)
Use this standard invoice to bill for sales or services. Works with themes and can be personalized by adding your company logo. This invoice matches other templates in the Timeless design set to assist you in putting together a coordinated set of professional documents. Search for Timeless design to find additional matching templates. This is an accessible template.


text:
From outdoor festivals and live concerts to hiking and biking, there's a lot to see and do in the outdoors in Rogers, Arkansas.
Rogers, Arkansas provides the perfect opportunity to make unforgettable adventures in the Ozarks.
An unforgettable bike tour through Arkansas Delta country.
Covering more than 12,000 acres, Hobbs State Park in Arkansas offers hiking, biking and water adventures on Beaver Lake making it the perfect spot for a wild escape.


text:
Got a scoop request? An anonymous tip you're dying to share? Just want to say hi? You can send any/all of the above to email@example.com
Question: Any Glee spoilers? — Randall
Ausiello: The Grim Reaper, of all people, will be crashing Regionals! Rumor has it someone will sing their swan song just prior to the big competish. And to say the tragedy has a significant impact on the long-awaited event is big freakin' understatement.
Question: Got any scoop on The Vampire Diaries? —Ellie
Ausiello: Thursday's episode is not to be missed. It boasts two deaths, one super-romantic Matt/Caroline scene, and — in the hour's final minutes — a doozy of a twist.
Question: I know you're not at liberty to divulge the song list for the Grey's Anatomy musical episode, but could you possibly confirm to us often-disappointed Meredith fans that she does have a solo in the episode? —Jackson
Ausiello: While Sara Ramirez, Kevin McKidd, Chandra Wilson and Chyler Leigh are the episode's primary songbirds, Ellen Pompeo does do some warbling. My guess? Meredith serenades Derek in the "super-cute" elevator scene EP Shona Rhimes recently teased via Twitter.
Question: Please tell me they're not writing Jasmine off Parenthood! I so want to see her with Crosby. Any scoop on their relationship? —Lisa
Ausiello: Crosby will realize that the key to winning back his fiancée lies inside that vision-of-the-future doodle she presented to him at their marriage prep session a few weeks back. (You know, the one with the dream house with bars on the windows and the half-dozen demon spawns running around the yard.) Well, he'll bring that horrific picture to life in a last-ditch attempt to salvage their relationship. Now that's love.
Question: Got any scoop on the March 7 series finale of Greek?! —@TurboMeg via Twitter
Ausiello: Stock up on Puffs Plus Lotion (with the scent of Vicks) 'cause you're going to be bawling till your tear ducts dry out and your nose falls off. I screened the episode over the weekend and I have to give props to the creative team for ending on an emotionally satisfying high note. Highlights: There's one (or is it two?) long overdue hookup, a pitch perfect bookend-y scene between sibs Rusty and Casey, and an answer to one of the show's biggest mysteries: What the hell is Cappie's real name? (If you guessed ******* **** **** *****, congrats, you were right!)
Question: Will Frannie appear on Greek before the show ends? —Amy
Ausiello: Yes, the witch (played once again by Tiffany Dupont) touches down in the penultimate episode on Feb. 28 and immediately extends an olive branch to her still-steaming-mad ZBZ sisters. And this particular olive branch has a name: Justin Bieber. (BTW, Cappie's reaction to seeing Frannie again is priceless.)
Question: What's the latest on Brothers & Sisters' chances for a sixth season? —Anthony
Ausiello: In what can only be viewed as encouraging news, producers are treating the May closer as a season finale as opposed to a series finale. Still, it probably couldn't hurt to add your name to the Save B&S campaign on Facebook.
Question: Any news on what's coming up on The Good Wife? —Marissa
Ausiello: The best hour of the series to date, that's what. According to a really Good insider, next Tuesday's episode is all that and a bag of Baked Lays. Not only does it showcase a memorable guest turn by Lost's Ken Leung (playing a man who was tortured after he made disparaging remarks about the Chinese government on a Facebook-like site), but it also features a dramatic development in the race for state's attorney. Oh, and I almost forgot: A pivotal character makes his/her final appearance (and it's not the person I mentioned in last week's AA).
Question: Very happy to hear Michael J. Fox will be returning to The Good Wife later this season. Any intel on what brings him back? —Richard
Ausiello: I hear it involves the firm's ousted founding partner, Jonas Stern, which can only mean one thing: Trouble.
Question: Can you confirm reports that NCIS will be introducing Ziva's secret CIA boyfriend Ray later this season? —Rose
Ausiello: Not only can I confirm those reports, but I can toss in a few extra details as well. Ray arrives in this season's 20th episode and is described as a handsome, charming, intelligent federal agent of Mediterranean or Latin American descent. He has a strong, nice-guy demeanor but — I'm quoting from the casting notice here — "there's a hint of a mystery behind his smile." The role is currently up for grabs, so if you've got suggestions drop 'em in the comments!
Question: Been getting the vibe from NCIS that they're going to be leading up to something big for the finale. Any scoop on what's to come? —Kerin
Ausiello: I hear the season will end with a big, splashy serial killer arc.
Question: How many episodes of How I Met Your Mother is John Lithgow (a.k.a. Barney's pa) scheduled to be in? —Chris
Ausiello: Initially, it was just supposed to be the one (airing March 21). But EP Carter Bays says the erstwhile Trinity Killer "had such a fun time we booked him for another episode," this one slated to run in May. And whereas his first episode was emotional (it features the big father-son reunion after all), his follow-up will be "a fun little story of him spending a night in Barney's world. He'll get to experience the world of Barney Stinson."
Question: I need some Law & Order: SVU scoop! Benson needs some love! Anything good coming up in her future? — Heather
Ausiello: Depends on how you define "good." She at least has a juicy case coming up. Does that count? She and her partners in crime fighting will soon be trying to solve the murder of a Richie Rich who's made it his mission in (his abbreviated) life to impregnate as many women as humanly possible. The method behind his madness? Hole-y condoms!
Question: Any scoop on Justified? —Brandon
Ausiello: Now that they're living under the same roof together, Boyd and Ava will begin to grow closer. "I think that they end up really getting to know who each other is," says Ava's portrayer, Joelle Carter, "and respecting that, and being there for each other." Annnnd…? "Annnnd…. I'm not sure what happens after that!" she hedges. (No worries. Walton Goggins recently painted a pretty graphic picture for us!)
Question: Can you give us any scoops on Hellcats? —Maria
Ausiello: Marti sets out to find her long-lost dad, only to discover that he's Lauren Graham's ex on Parenthood! At least he sounds like John Corbett's deadbeat dad character. Rex Perkins is described as an aging rocker with a long history of alcohol and drug abuse. MIA for Marti's entire life, the now-clean-and-sober ex-con reconnects with his daughter in Hellcats' season finale.
Question: I am patiently waiting for any Drop Dead Diva news. Is Grayson dead? —Diana
Ausiello: Nah, but the nasty run-in he had with that car in the final seconds of the season 2 finale left him with a major headache — and I mean that literally and figuratively. (Pssst: The dude's got retrograde amnesia!)
Question: OK, I'll bite: Who's tying the knot on 90210 later this season? —Jeremy
Ausiello: The bride is Ivy and the groom is… a spoiler.
Question: I'm officially on board with Dan/Blair on Gossip Girl. Any scoop? —Sam
Ausiello: This Just In: The unlikely pair have scored yet another high-profile endorsement (mine being the first, natch). "I'm all for it," raves costar Connor Paolo (Eric). "Penn [Badgley] and Leighton [Meester] are very talented actors, so once you put them in a scene together you're going to get a lot of chemistry. People were all up in arms about the prospect of a Dan/Blair relationship just because they have such loyalty to Chuck and Blair. However, now after seeing them together on screen people are being won over." Couldn't have said it better myself.
That's a wrap! Please send questions, comments, and anonymous tips to firstname.lastname@example.com. Also, you can keep track of my scoops on Twitter via @MichaelAusiello. Thanks for playing!


text:
I wonder about the term "micro-aggressions," because they're neither. They seem to me to be prejudice leaks, neither aggressive nor — because they reveal an entire worldview — micro.*
We all have internal worldviews that are full of prejudices and assumptions. Some true, some false; some examined, some unexamined; some praiseworthy, some benign, some offensive. Then we encase the whole mess in the persona we are presenting to the world. A thick exoskeleton of personality that is all most people ever see.
Many people choose to encase themselves in an open-minded persona. Maybe it helps them fit in to a liberal social circle or workplace. Or maybe they genuinely believe they are open-minded. It's important to their self-image. Or maybe it's important to you to believe they're open-minded. They're your friend, teacher, colleague, doctor, pastor. You want to believe they see you as you are.
Then they say:
"I'm so sorry your husband uses a wheelchair" ::furrowed eyebrows concerned face:: or
"are you the nanny?" or
"where are you really from?" or
"you must be the first person in your family to go to college." or
"you're so articulate!" or
"is the father still in the picture?" or
"I know your kid has two moms, but who's the real father?"
and a little fissure forms in the exoskeleton and the prejudice leaks out.**
Suddenly you can see, in that small leak, the entire worldview that sits inside the protective exoskeleton. That they view disability through a lens of pity. That they have seen your skin color or facial features and constructed an entire narrative that has nothing to do with you. That their views of LGBTQ families are stuck somewhere around 1950.
In many cases, it's not aggressive,*** but it's not micro. It's an inadvertent glimpse of an entire worldview you didn't know existed, or didn't want to know existed, or hoped against hope and experience did not exist, or perhaps they didn't know existed or had been suppressing or had never stopped to think about or didn't even have the framework to understand.
Prejudice leaks.
It doesn't sound as cool as micro-aggression. It sounds like something that requires padded undergarments. But I honestly think it's a more accurate description.
*I realize I'm wading into an arena that has been the subject of a good deal of academic thought, research, and writing, and that I have 0.00 qualifications to take on that analysis. This is a strictly non-academic view, from someone who has witnessed many real-life prejudice leaks that seemed neither micro nor aggressive.
**Not bad for someone who can't draw, eh?
***There are plenty of cases where comments like these are aggressive, but in that case I wouldn't call them "micro-aggressions," I'd call them "prejudice" and perhaps also "being an asshole."


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Family's fatal flaw leads to Del. courthouse shooting
- Thomas Matusiewicz%2C wife driven by unsubstantiated fear that former daughter-in-law was abuser
- Son%2C wife abducted the grandchildren for 18 months%3B he was never prosecuted in the crime
- He plotted courthouse killing%3B son%2C wife now are being investigated for their roles in it
WILMINGTON, Del. — Before his wife and son took his three granddaughters to Central America, before he amassed a small cache of firearms, before he shot dead his former daughter-in-law and another woman in a Wilmington courthouse this month, Thomas Matusiewicz was a quiet family man with a government job, some overdue bills and dogs.
He found steady work. He fished on weekends. Doctors had detected a tumor in his head but declared it benign. His family was the center of his universe.
He would give his life for them, he said.
Then six years ago, a custody dispute between his son, David, and former daughter-in-law mushroomed into an obsession, threatening to overtake his life and that of his wife, Lenore. Though authorities never endorsed their concerns, the couple had become convinced that Christine Belford was endangering her daughters, now ages 7, 9 and 10.
So Lenore and David Matusiewicz hatched a scheme to take the children and get away from Belford. Even after they were captured and Belford was awarded full custody, the Matusiewiczes spent years urging child-protective services, family court, lawyers, psychologists and others to act.
"We tried using the system. It was such a big letdown. It was pathetic," Thomas told a Texas radio show in 2011. "The government keeps putting them right back in the same spot — with an abusive mother. And the state says it can't do anything."
It was his love for his granddaughters and his hatred of their mother that led him Feb. 11 to the lobby of the New Castle County Courthouse.
Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz had accompanied their son from Texas to here, where the courts had summoned David Matusiewicz and Belford for a child-support hearing.
Father and son arrived around 7:40 a.m. in a rush, tailgating the car in front of them, then hurrying into a parking garage and the first open space, a handicapped spot. They backed in.
In the courthouse lobby, they embraced. David Matusiewicz joined the growing security line and disappeared into the building.
Thomas Matusiewicz hung back. He was waiting for someone.
Jersey days
Born in Bayonne, N.J., Thomas Stanley Matusiewicz grew up in the 1950s, fishing with cousins on a branch of the Raritan River. As a boy, he bought a young turtle at the 5 & 10 and raised it at home, among the racing pigeons, golden pheasants and exotic birds his father kept.
He met his future wife in school, and they married. He joined the Navy. He rescued a St. Bernard and cherished the dog. Relatives thought he would become a cook or photographer. Instead, shy, reserved "Tommy" in 1974 got a job with the police force in Vineland, N.J., one of about 60 officers. He was 29.
"We never called him 'Tom' or 'Thomas,'" said sister-in-law Lorraine Matusiewicz. "He was 'Tommy.' The kid brother."
An old friend, Robert Romano got to know Thomas Matusiewicz while carpooling to the police academy in Burlington, N.J.
"I always got along good with Tom. I met his family, his wife," said Romano, who visited the family home. "I remember it was a small house for the amount of people," the couple and their three children.
On weekends, the men went target shooting at the sandpits — huge sand walls dug out by miners to supply South Jersey's glass-making industry. The lead sunk right into the dirt.
A gun collector, Thomas Matusiewicz was one of the better shots in his class. Inspired by Clint Eastwood's character in the "Dirty Harry" films, he bought himself the iconic revolver with a .44 Magnum cartridge and showed it off at the department.
"At that time, that was probably the most powerful handgun in the world," Romano said. "He target-practiced with it because, he was telling us, how much a kick it gave him."
He stuck to his department-issued sidearm while on duty patrolling Vineland's main avenue with Romano. Standing near 6-foot-3, Thomas had an imposing but calm presence on the beat — a hard man to rile. His biggest complaint about the job was the pay, Romano said.
"He was always worried about his family, ... having enough food to feed the kids and pay the bills," Romano said.
After four years on the force, Thomas Matusiewicz resigned in June 1978. The details aren't public record, but his departure stemmed from a violation of department policy — nothing criminal in nature, said Romano, who served 34 years in the department and later as Vineland's mayor.
"They basically gave him the option. They were going to charge him formally or give him the option to resign," he said.
Around this time, Thomas Matusiewicz and his family further isolated themselves, eventually cutting ties with his elder half-brother Stanley Matusiewicz and other relatives, they said. They last saw him at his father's funeral in the early 1980s.
Years later, Stanley Matusiewicz heard secondhand that his 18-year-old nephew Michael Matusiewicz, Thomas Matusiewicz's second son, had died from complications of leukemia in 1986.
A relative of Lenore Matusiewicz told Stanley Matusiewicz's family that Thomas Matusiewicz also had died, and that his wife wanted nothing to do with them.
Meeting the in-laws
David Matusiewicz and his parents were close. He introduced them to Belford at a dinner for his 31st birthday, shortly after the couple began dating in 1998.
"His father was fine — cordial, friendly," Belford said in 2008. "Tom talked with me more than the rest of the family did."
Both David Matusiewicz and Belford had recently divorced. David Matusiewicz, a tall and burly optometrist, had taken over the Newark, Del., optometry practice where he and Belford met as employees.
A former tennis player with light brown hair, Belford, then 24, stayed on as office manager. She had a 2-year-old daughter with her first husband.
The couple married three years later at a former du Pont estate in Montchanin, Del., and honeymooned in Maui. They bought a four-bedroom home northwest of Middletown, N.J., where they installed an in-ground pool.
The newlyweds had two young daughters within two years. Coping with the babies proved difficult for Belford, who sought treatment for postpartum depression.
When their second daughter was 2 months old, her husband's parents moved in unexpectedly. Tom Matusiewicz was then a postal worker, and his wife worked with the disabled. They'd sold their home in Bridgeton, N.J., and needed somewhere to stay until they found one in Delaware.
Having them in the same house overwhelmed the new stay-at-home mother. After 10 months, she asked them to leave. They bought a home near Smyrna, Del., but remained fixtures at their son's home.
Belford said David Matusiewicz adamantly refused to let anyone but his parents babysit the girls.
Custody fight
He and Belford had a third daughter in July 2005, but the marriage was disintegrating. After the divorce, a family court judge considering custody of the girls ordered psychological evaluations of both parties.
Psychologist Samuel Romirowsky, who conducted the evaluations, found that Belford — despite a history of depression — sought family unity and showed no signs of being a threat to her children. The report, which Belford gave to The News Journal in 2008, stated she hoped to eventually "restore their marriage."
In his custody report, the judge referenced Romirowsky's opinion that David Matusiewicz was suffering from stress, anxiety, depression, and was "at risk of losing touch with reality."
The court awarded joint custody. The girls would live with their father but spend every other weekend with Belford and have visits during the week.
Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz slammed the ruling, arguing that Romirowsky didn't know Belford like they did. They had lived with her.
The family says what happened next was prompted by a fear that Belford was sexually abusing one or more of her daughters, according to court documents. Belford denied the claims, which authorities never substantiated.
David Matusiewicz and his mother, who declined to speak for this story, began making plans.
"Maybe he just snapped. Maybe I snapped," Lenore Matusiewicz said later on the radio. "We didn't believe the judges would listen."
Plot emerges
David Matusiewicz quietly sold his optometry business. He forged Belford's signature to obtain a $249,000 bank letter of credit. His mother bought a 33-foot Winnebago.
On Aug. 26, 2007, they picked up the three girls, telling Belford they would spend two weeks at Disney World.
Belford didn't see her daughters for 18 months. Police filed charges after a few days.
While the girls were missing, Belford's father said he didn't trust David Matusiewicz and especially didn't trust Thomas Matusiewicz.
"That's the guy I'm afraid of. He's just nuts. He's one of those guys — big, rough, strong as an ox," Jim Belford said in a 2008 interview.
"He said to my daughter, 'I'm an old man, and I got a problem with my brain. I don't care who I take out because I'm not going to live that long.' She said, 'I got to get out of that house.' The things that Dave and he said to her: 'I'll bury you, and they'll never find a body.'"
Federal marshals caught up with the missing children, their father and grandmother in the tiny Nicaraguan village of Catalina in March 2009. They had parked the Winnebago, now filthy, on a barren lot and called themselves the Blanco family.
They had told the girls that their mother had killed herself.
Back in the United States, David and Lenore Matusiewicz faced criminal charges. David Matusiewicz pleaded guilty and spent nearly three years in federal prison — the last two in Texas, where his parents and sister had moved. Lenore Matusiewicz served 18 months in state prison for endangering the welfare of a child.
Authorities never charged Thomas Matusiewicz in connection with the kidnapping.
In court, David Matusiewicz claimed Christine Belford had sexually abused one or more of the girls. That's why he and his mother took them, he said. His ex-wife denied the allegations.
When sentencing David Matusiewicz in 2010, U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gregory M. Sleet noted the children's father neither raised the alleged abuse in the custody case nor reported it to civilian or criminal authorities.
"It is clear that you prepared for months for the kidnapping of your children," Sleet said. During those months, "you never said a word to the Family Court, Child Protective Services, law enforcement or anyone else about your concerns, the concerns you now claim to have had for the safety of your children."
With David Matusiewicz in prison, his parents appealed to the Delaware Division of Youth and Family Services. Like David Matusiewicz, they emphasized the unsubstantiated claim of abuse.
They walked away feeling the system had failed them.
Lenore Matusiewicz wrote to Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden for help. The legal advocate who investigated concluded the Matusiewiczes made up the story, she said.
"Did it not occur to her that we all lived it, and that's why our stories are the same?" Lenore Matusiewicz wrote. "David is paying the price for trying to protect his children."
Thomas Matusiewicz also wrote pleading letters. To a Superior Court judge, he recalled an encounter with Christine Belford in the parking lot of his doctor's office in 2010. Her youngest, Karen, was in the minivan asking to see her "Pop-Pop."
"I picked her up and gave her a big hug/kiss from Pop-Pop," Thomas wrote. Christine Belford asked, "Did I miss my grandchildren, which I hadn't seen in almost three years. Of course. I would give my life for them."
'A lot of hatred'
After the kidnapping, Christine Belford filed a lawsuit against her ex-husband and his family in Delaware Superior Court, seeking monetary damages to compensate her for the cost of counseling and other expenses. She claimed Thomas Matusiewicz had a role in the kidnapping, according to the complaint, which offered no specifics.
Her lawyer began receiving correspondence directly from Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz — "all kinds of nasty and scandalous stuff" about his client, lawyer James J. Woods Jr. said.
He recounted a letter from Thomas Matusiewicz along the lines of, "I thought you should know what kind of client you are representing."
Woods tossed them all.
"There was just a lot of hatred there," he said. "Venom. It was sad."
Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz's own lawyer quit abruptly in February 2011, telling the court his clients were ignoring his advice and hurting their cases. They also had failed to pay him for his work.
The same month, Thomas and Lenore Matusiewicz filed for federal bankruptcy protection in Texas, claiming, among other debts, thousands in overdue taxes and unpaid fees to law firms. Lenore Matusiewicz complained about the family's financial situation to the Delaware Superior Court later that year.
"We've lost or spent over a million dollars trying to get our granddaughters to safety, and now there is no money left, and they are still in the custody of their mother (who has been in the care of someone in the mental health profession for over 20 years)!" Lenore Matusiewicz wrote.
"Is it true as they say, you only get the amount of justice you can afford? Well, I guess we aren't going to be getting any," she wrote.
When Christine Belford dropped the lawsuit later that year, Thomas Matusiewicz wrote Woods for an explanation.
"Our reasons are our own," Woods said he responded, adding, "Suffice it to say that we are trying to put all this behind us and start the healing process."
Back in court
Earlier this month, Christine Belford and David Matusiewicz were scheduled to appear in Family Court in Wilmington for a child-support arrears hearing.
She asked a friend and neighbor, Laura Elizabeth "Beth" Mulford, to come along.
Meanwhile, Thomas Matusiewicz would accompany his son, who was released from prison last year.
First, Thomas Matusiewicz drove 14 miles to Donna, Texas, and paid in advance on a storage shed he stocked with five firearms, including a 9-mm Uzi submachine gun, court records show. The same records indicate authorities are investigating the son and wife's role in the courthouse shooting.
He tucked the storage key, along with two letters and handwritten instructions, into a white envelope addressed to "Amy," his daughter.
On the morning of Feb. 11, he took with him to Wilmington a gun and two handwritten death certificates naming his former daughter-in-law and her lawyer, not realizing Christine Belford was representing herself. He got there early, and in the lobby of the New Castle County Courthouse, he waited.
Christine Belford and her friend arrived around 8:15 a.m.
A few steps behind the women was Dick Hagan, 69, of North Star, Del., responding to a jury summons. As he leaned into the glass revolving door, he watched a gray-haired man inside the lobby draw a handgun with his right arm.
Thomas Matusiewicz took aim at the two women, and bang, bang, bang!
"It was so quick, she didn't have a chance to run," Hagan said of Christine Belford. He aimed at Mulford and shot again. The women dropped close to one another.
Police radioed for backup. Hagan heard one yell, "Might be a second shooter!"
Thomas turned and exited through the handicap door near Hagan, who scooted into a corner.
Thomas turned to face the building, replacing the clip in his .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol. He shot through doors. Glass bits scattered across the concrete. He noticed Hagan.
"Get inside. Get inside," Thomas ordered him.
Police and Thomas exchanged fire, and he took two bullets. For a moment, Hagan considered jumping the shooter. But he was hulking and tall.
Then Thomas placed the gun to his head and fired one last time, falling face first to the ground. Blood pooled around the body.
"That's when I knew he wasn't getting up," Hagan said.
Contributing: Esteban Parra, Cris Barrish, Ryan Marshall, The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal, and The Associated Press


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Smoking increases the risk of advanced kidney cancer, researchers report.
In a new study, a team from Duke University Medical Center reviewed the cases of 845 patients who had had surgery for kidney cancer — or renal cell carcinoma — between 2000 and 2009. They found that current and former smokers were 1.5 to 1.6 times more likely to have advanced cancer than nonsmokers.
Heavy smoking (smoking for a longer period of time and smoking more) was associated with advanced renal cell carcinoma. Kicking the habit reduced the risk of advanced disease by 9 percent for every 10 years that a former smoker was smoke-free, the investigators found.
The findings were slated for presentation Sunday at a special press conference at the American Urological Association's annual meeting, in Washington, D.C.
Another study scheduled for presentation at the same briefing found that rates of bladder cancer did not fall along with lower rates of smoking in the United States.
The researchers examined a national database and found that lung cancer rates declined along with decreasing per capita consumption of cigarettes between 1973 and 2007, but the same type of consistent decline was not seen in bladder cancer rates.
There may have been a decrease in bladder cancer due to smoking, but that decrease may have been offset by other factors contributing to a rise in bladder cancer over the last few decades, the researchers at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University in Syracuse said in a news release from the American Urological Association.
"These two studies shed new insight into the role that smoking might have for two important urologic cancers," news conference moderator Dr. Toby Kohler said in the news release.
"For kidney cancer, it is true that kidney tumors are more often being detected these days when they are smaller. However, smoking seems to confer a much greater risk that the cancer may be more aggressive. Cessation of smoking seems to lower the risk," Kohler said.
"For bladder cancer on the other hand, the decrease in smoking rates has not impacted the incidence to the same degree that it has for lung cancer, suggesting that there may be other factors which are becoming more important for the development of the disease," he added.
Because these studies are being presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.


text: Entertainment TV 'Biggest Loser' Season 16 Contestants Include a Former NFL Player Twenty former athletes are on the roster, which includes former New York Jets offensive lineman Damien Woody By Mariah Haas Published on August 6, 2014 01:00 PM Share Tweet Pin Email Photo: Trae Patton/NBC The last season of The Biggest Loser may have ended with a controversy, but now a new crop of contestants are getting their chance to lose weight on the NBC reality show – and the season 16 cast includes some familiar faces! "When I told my wife and kids, 'Hey, Biggest Loser wants me to come on,' my kids were like, 'Dad are you serious? You totally got to do this,' " former New York Jets offensive lineman Damien Woody, 36, tells PEOPLE. "I'd never watched The Biggest Loser before but my wife was like, 'Listen, go handle your business. I'd rather lose you for a few months than something happen down the road.' So here I am." And Woody – who also played for the New England Patriots and the Detroit Lions before arriving at the ranch at 388 lbs. – is just one of 20 former athletes competing on the new season of the NBC weight-loss competition. Lori Harrigan-Mack is a three-time Olympic gold medalist in softball and played on the U.S. national team for 12 years. "After I retired in 2004, I met my husband, got married, we had a beautiful boy and after that I suffered eight miscarriages," Harrigan-Mack, 44, explains. "So after that I think I kind of went into, obviously, a depression and I just didn't deal with it at all." "[With] my husband 100 percent behind me, I said [The Biggest Loser] is where I have to change. I have to do this," says Harrigan-Mack, who arrived at the ranch weighing 301 lbs. And while all the contestants have been athletes at some point in their lives, not all of them were professionals at their sports. Andrea Wilamowski was a high school cheerleader before becoming the vice president of operations for the Detroit Pride Cheerleaders. "It's very hard for me in my industry to look the way I look and spend every day of my life telling women how they should look," admits Wilamowski, 43, who weighed 244 lbs. when she arrived at the ranch. "For the last 22 years, I've pretty much lived my life for everybody else. This is the first time I have taken a journey for myself. I just want to be healthy and I want to practice what I preach." Jillian Michaels Reveals Why She Really Left The Biggest Loser Here's the full list of contestants who will be competing against one another when the new season of The Biggest Loser premieres Sept. 11 at 8 p.m. on NBC. • Jordan Alicandro, 32, was a big baseball aficionado growing up who also played football and wrestled. Now at 323 lbs., and with his wife expecting with their first child, Alicandro wants to get healthy so he can be there for his family. • Rondalee Beardslee, 28, currently weighs 280 lbs. but played basketball, volleyball and softball in high school. She says after she stopped playing sports, she got lazy and went through a "deep, dark depression." • Blake Benge, 18, says her problem with her weight began when she went to college and gained the "freshman 50 instead of the freshman 15." At 251 lbs., she's the youngest contestant this season. • Howard "Woody" Carter, 46, played football in a semi-pro league and the Arena Football League. Now 398 lbs., he is on the show to fulfill a promise he made to his wife to get healthy. • Toma Dobrosavljevic, 33, played soccer and has been active all of his life but now weighs 336 lbs. He says his wake-up call came when his life insurance agent told him he was almost uninsurable because of his weight. Alison Sweeney: Life After Days of Our Lives "Feels Crazy" • Zina Garrison, 50, is a retired tennis player who medaled at the 1988 Olympics. Now at 263 lbs., Garrison says she wants to lose weight for herself and be able to try on a nice pair of jeans. • Rob Guiry, 26, has always dealt with weight issues despite his participation in sports. He says he's been the biggest guy on every team he's played on and, at 483 lbs., he's also the biggest guy at the ranch this season. • Gina Haddon, 41, was a cheerleader growing up and became a cheer coach, but she always ate very unhealthily. Now the married mom of two children is 242 lbs. and motivated to lose weight for her family. • Vanessa Johnson, 32, was a former WNBA player, and at 366 lbs., she wants to get fit for her two kids. • Sonya Jones, 39, currently weighs 283 lbs. She was an All-American two consecutive years for semi-professional softball but has been overweight all of her life. She's an avid Biggest Loser fan and says the show has always inspired and motivated her, and now she's a contestant. • Chandra Maple, 26, is a high school girls basketball coach who grew up on the court but now says she can't get up and down the court with her girls. At 341 lbs., she's on the show to fulfill a promise to her grandmother to get healthy. Biggest Loser Winner Rachel Frederickson Debuts a Healthier Look • Matthew Miller, 31, is a former high school athlete who now weighs 386 lbs. He says he wants to be healthy and get back to the same weight he was when his longtime girlfriend fell in love with him. • Scott Mitchell, 46, played 12 seasons in the NFL as a quarterback. He now weighs 366 lbs. and admits that when he retired, he retired "from everything." • Emmy Lou Munoz, 32, is a wife and a mom of two. She has played sports all of her life but has always been overweight. At 260 lbs., her wake-up call was in 2011 when her son – who was 4 years old at the time – started running away from her and she could barely catch him. • Mike Murburg, 58, is the oldest in the competition. At 399 lbs., he is on the show to fulfill a promise he made to his son, who passed away toward the end of hell week in Special Forces training. • John "JJ" O'Malley, 22, played football at Arizona State University but has always struggled with weight. Now at 392 lbs., O'Malley says, "I want to change the perception of myself. I want to drop the 'big.' I just want to be JJ O'Malley." • Jackie Pierson, 36, played several sports in high school. Now at 291 lbs. and a married mom of two young daughters, she wants to be there for her family and help one of her daughters prevent a potential weight problem. Behind The Biggest Loser Controversy Want more stories like this? Sign up for our newsletter and other special offers: sign me up Thank you for signing up!


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The High Cost of Shutting Down One Medical Marijuana Operation
A single prosecution can easily run more than $1 million -- all to send an empty message about federal drug laws and hand the market share over to a less savory purveyor.
When Matthew R. Davies was growing and selling medical marijuana in California, the 34-year-old father of two "hired accountants, compliance lawyers, managers, a staff of 75 and a payroll firm. He paid California sales tax and filed for state and local business permits," the New York Times reports. Unfortunately for him, federal agents raided his business, and "the United States attorney for the Eastern District of California, Benjamin B. Wagner, a 2009 Obama appointee, wants Mr. Davies to agree to a plea that includes a mandatory minimum of five years in prison." Let's set the legal questions aside and think through the costs of this course:
- The opportunity cost of focusing on other crimes
- $235,000 in incarceration costs
- Two young girls with an absent father
- Substantial lost tax revenue from his operation
- Other marijuana sellers going underground
- Less savory drug dealers, including violent cartels, getting more business
- More of a hassle for sick medical marijuana patients to get their prescription filled
Doesn't that seem awfully "expensive" when the only real benefit is sending the message that you can't get away with openly flouting federal drug laws? If that's the biggest benefit you can plausibly claim, isn't that a sign that the law should change? After all, it isn't as if anyone believes that sending Davies to jail is going to make victory in the drug war any more plausible. Or appreciably decrease the number of people smoking marijuana. Or even significantly diminish the supply, since there's always another person growing on the black market.
All casualties are purposeless when you're fighting an unwinnable war.
Later in the article, we learn that "two of Mr. Davies's co-defendants are pleading guilty, agreeing to five-year minimum terms, to avoid stiffer sentences." Wow. So the federal government thinks it's worth investing more than a million dollars to shut down this particular operation. Maybe you're sympathetic to marijuana legalization, or maybe you're against it. Regardless, could you spend that $1 million-plus better? Could you spend it in a way that saved more lives or created more happiness or resulted in more justice meted out than jailing these three?
I could.
One of Davies's employees, who met him after seeking marijuana to help her through ovarian and cervical cancer, gave this quote to the reporter: "I totally trusted them. We're not criminals. I've never been arrested my whole life. I need that medication, and so do a whole lot of people."
How many people, on hearing a story like hers, are going to react in a way that weakens rather than strengthens regard for the rule of law? The Times also quotes a former federal drug prosecutor who says, "It's mind-boggling that there were hundreds of attorneys advising their clients that it was O.K. to do this, only to be bushwhacked by a federal system that most people in California are not even paying attention to." But ignorance of the law or getting bad attorney's advice only keeps you out of jail in America if you're a police officer or elected official.


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British stamp enthusiasts should be lining up with their smart phones at Royal Mail post offices by now. The nearly 500-year-old Royal Mail is the first post office to embed a readable code into one of its stamps. Of course, post offices have been using bar codes and more sophisticated data-matrix codes to help them deliver the mail for years, but no one has linked them to online content via smart phones. Til now.
Once you download the right app, you point your phone's camera at the stamp to see, among other things, a video of actor Bernard Cribbins reading W.H. Auden's poem "The Night Mail." It's full-circle for the poem, since Auden wrote it in 1936 for this short film produced by the Royal Mail. We found it via an old-fashioned process called clicking around YouTube.


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At Photokina today, Leica announced development of a radical new digital SLR system it calls the S-system. The company's concept marries a larger digital sensor and a 35mm-style SLR body to make "a camera that would give the quality of medium format and the handling and flexibility of 35mm," according to Leica UK's David Bell.
UK-based Professional Photographer says the body is somewhere between a Canon EOS 5D and EOS 1D in size. But the camera features a Kodak-developed, 37 megapixel sensor that measures 30 x 45mm. A standard 35mm frame measures 24 x 36mm, while many digital SLRs use a APS-C size of approximately 16 x 24mm. The larger size is comparable to some digital backs designed for medium-format camera bodies.
Leica has a prototype of a model it's calling the S2, and the lens system will include nine different lenses at launch. The camera features a dual shutter system, pairing a focal-plane shutter with an in-lens leaf shutter for some lenses, which allows for high flash sync speeds. It also has a high-precision, single-point autofocusing system, and uses Leica's Maestro image processing system, which is supposed to deliver double the speed of comparable medium-format backs.
Leica S-system lenses and S2 camera. Image from British Journal of Photography's 1854 blog.
"We started from scratch," Leica's product manager Maike Harberts told British Journal of Photography. "All the components that define the quality of the image were designed for each other. We began with a large-format CCD sensor and literally configured the camera around it, rather than adapting existing technologies." Though the working prototype is being displayed at Photokina, the camera isn't expected to be available until next summer. No pricing information is available but, given Leica's reputation for high-end prices, expect the camera and lenses to sell for more than pro Nikon or Canon gear.


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Even more scary good deals
Capcom has slashed prices on the trinity of Resident Evil games for Nintendo platforms, sacrificing the terror-inducing adventures for half off in celebration of Halloween.
For the remainder of the month, horror junkies will be able to acquire Resident Evil Revelations for $20 on the Wii U eShop. Meanwhile, the portable rendition of the extolled title is priced at $10 on Nintendo 3DS.
Also available via the Nintendo 3DS eShop is the middling Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, which admittedly seems much more palatable than it did initially now that it'll set you back just $10.
Capcom is also extending the savings to fans on a number Resident Evil games and Dead Rising 2 Off the Record via the PlayStation Store. Check out the PS Blog for more details.
Resident Evil Revelations, Mercenaries 3D 50% off on eShop for Halloween[Capcom Unity]


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High school roundup: OR's Cole second at wrestling MOC
DOVER — Exeter senior Ross Dannar proved the better wrestler for the third time this year over Oyster River junior Caleb Cole. Dannar bear Cole, 9-2, in the 160-pound final of the Meet of Champions Wrestling Tournament Saturday at Pinkerton Academy.
Dannar was the No. 1 seed going in and Cole was seeded second. Both wrestlers pinned their way into the finals with two falls apiece, and they will represent N.H. at next weekend's New England Wrestling Championships in Providence, R.I.
Timberlane ran away with the team title (241.5 points) to second-place Pinkerton (119) and Nashua North (108.5). Outstanding Wrestler of the MOC was undefeated Dakoda Simula (Plymouth, 220) who is 37-0 on the season with 37 wins by fall.
Other local wrestlers placing at MOCs were Spaulding's Trevor St. Laurent (120, fifth) and Evan Drouin (195, fifth).
Noble/Wells 4, Bonny Eagle 3
GORHAM, Maine — The Noble/Wells boys ice hockey team lost a two-goal lead, but still managed to pick up the program's first playoff win Saturday. The No. 9 Knights edged No. 8 Bonny Eagle, 4-3, at the University of Southern Maine in the first round of the Western Maine Class A tournament. They will meet No. 1 Scarborough (17-1) Tuesday in the quarters.
Dean Pratt had two goals, including the game-winner in the third period, while Mik Ricker added a goal and an assist, and Noah Pease also scored. Connor Pease and Ryer Smith had two assists each, while goalie Wyatt Ricker made 26 saves for Noble/Wells (11-8).
Bonny Eagle finished at 13-6.
Oyster River 1, Spaulding 0
ROCHESTER ― Griffin Sperry scored a power-play goal midway through the second period to lift the Oyster River boys hockey team to a 1-0 win at Spaulding (15-2-1) in Division II Saturday night.
Patrick McDonough and CJ Jerry assisted on the goal. Spaulding goalie Derek Scott made 14 saves.
Both teams will play in the D-II tournament. Oyster River (8-5-5) will play Wednesday night in a first-round game at home, likely as the No. 7 seed and host Pembroke/Campbell. No. 2 Spaulding will get a bye to the quarterfinals next Saturday and will likely host the Oyster River-Pembroke/Campbell winner at the Rochester Arena.
Bow 5, Somersworth/Coe-Brown 1
ROCHESTER — The Somersworth/Coe-Brown boys hockey team lost its season finale Saturday to Bow, 5-1.
William Ohrenberger scored the lone Bearcats' goal from Dakota Hippern and Ben Bailey. Peter Robertson made 37 saves in goal.
The Bearcats finished at 3-15, while Bow is 11-3-4.
Berwick 38, LCA 33
BCDS 49, Berwick 26
NEWTON, Mass ― The Berwick Academy girls basketball team fell in the championship game of the EIL tournament on Saturday. No. 2 Berwick won its semifinal game against No. 3 LCA by a 38-33 score but fell to No. 1 Beaver Country Day by a 49-26 score in the final.
Torie St. Pierre scored 12 points for Berwick in the win over LCA.
Berwick (16-6) now waits to see if it will receive a bid to the NEPSAC tournament.


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Another reason not to buy YSL: The design house's Stefano Pilati says that although hiring black models in the 1970s "was sort of a message of having an open mind", he doesn't much like dark girls on his 21st century runways. In an interview with Washington Post fashion critic Robin Givhan, Pilati says that he tends not to want to put his "cerebral" fashions on black models because of their bodily proportions. "My fit model was a black model," he tells Givhan. "When I wanted to translate what I put on her, it was a disaster. It would need 13 times more work in the atelier to modify it to put on a more Caucasian anatomy."
Sometimes it's not your choice. You can't find [black models] that are beautiful and with the right proportions. I prefer them with lean proportions with no big hips.
Poor Stefano! Sometimes genetics really mess with one's attempts at diversity!
Back In Fashion [Washington Post]
Related: Saartjie Baartman (Hottentot Venus) [Wikipedia]