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Their t-shirts proclaim undying loyalty to long dead brands: Norton. BSA. Vincent. Indian. They tear up at the sight of an Amal carburetor or a Lucas electrical bit. They form a sea of white and grey hair, tattoos long gone green and hands permanently stained by engine grease, lining up like teenagers at a pop concert to get the autographs of men who haven't competed in racing for decades.
They arrive in their own style as well; Harley Knuckleheads with sidecars, four-cylinder Hendersons, 100,000-mile BMWs and motorcycles that look like they haven't been cleaned since they were manufactured in the 1940s. For pit bikes, they ride Honda TL trials motorcycles. Without a doubt, vintage road racers and fans are unlike any other in the world.
For nearly two decades, on Monday and Tuesday of Daytona Bike Week, the infield paddock of the Daytona International Speedway is overrun with vintage racing fans and riders. The American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association (shortened to AHRMA and pronounced "arm-uh"), a member-owned non-profit sanctioning body, is responsible for the vintage racing festivities at Daytona. Formed in 1989, AHRMA has grown to nearly 6,000 members and holds 11 different race events throughout the season. They also sponsor vintage motocross, trials and dirt-track events.
They're reliving their own history by coming here and watching or riding," said Cindy Cowell, AHRMA executive director and road race coordinator, of vintage race fans.
Although not the largest vintage event that AHRMA hosts, the Daytona races are the most popular among both competitors and fans. This year's event had 300 racers. The mystique of racing at Daytona brings AHRMA racers from around the world, including a contingent from the U.K. with their old British iron and Japanese competitors who had crated and shipped their Kawasaki Z1 superbikes and flathead Harleys to Florida to race.
There's nothing quite like the plodding sound of idling flathead engines waiting for the green flag or the roar of open megaphones as British Twins come off the Daytona banking. Indian Scouts to Manx Nortons, bevel-drive Ducatis to Honda CBs, it's hard to find an unrepresented part of motorcycle racing history.
"It's basically everything you'd see in a museum, but here you see them in action," Cowell said.
But "vintage" doesn't mean you can't have overhead cams or fuel injection. AHRMA has become a foster parent to the Battle of the Twins class after the AMA discontinued it. They also host a Sound of Singles class for modern Thumper racers and a Sound of Thunder class, which is a class open to nearly any type of engine. It's AHRMA's attempt to get single- and twin-cylinder classes back into contemporary American road racing in what they call their "post-vintage" classes.
"It's basically everything you'd see in a museum, but here you see them in action"
"Our racing includes bikes from 1939 to 2008," Cowell said. "In AHRMA you can race almost any type of motorcycle."
The range of motorcycles is matched only by the diversity of the riders. On Tuesday, former World Superbike World Champion Doug Polen was there, fresh from his second-place finish in the previous day's Moto-ST event, racing on a Ducati 1098. Some racers were younger than the machines they pilot on the banks. Other competitors were on the same models they had raced at Daytona decades ago.
Ed Sensenig relaxed in a camp chair in front of his garage moments after finishing his first race of the day, his white hair a sharp contrast to his contemporary leathers. A few steps away sat a 175 Ducati Single like the one he raced at Daytona 50 years ago. Most vintage riders have a special connection with the motorcycle they race, a love that is necessary when it comes to keeping their machines running.
"They're high maintenance and you have to expect to put in a new rod every year," Sensenig said of his vintage race bikes.
Sixty-nine-year-old Sensenig made his first trip to Daytona from his home in Pennsylvania in a 1957 Volvo, stopping for 18 cent gas along the way to races that were then held at the airport. He later continued racing at Daytona as an AMA pro on Triumphs and BSAs.
"I love this place," Sensenig said of Daytona. "I've come here for so many years, it feels like my track."
And in this statement, Ed Sensenig speaks for all vintage racing riders and fans who will find the time each year to head south and help AHRMA keep American motorcycle road racing's history alive and well on the banks of Daytona.
For more information about AHRMA vintage racing, see: http://www.ahrma.org/.
Related Reading
Hansen Dam Show and Ride
32nd Annual El Camino Bike Show
2007 MotoClassica


text: On August 3, 2018 by Mike My First Response to Finding a Giant Fossil Egg is to Hit it With a Hammer Too. How does that arm even fit in that egg, let alone whatever it's attached to? (I swear to God, if any of you make some sort of quip about Dr. Who or TARDIS, I will slap you.) Tags:Confounding Comic Covers There Are No Roller Coasters Here At All! Normal Service Will Resume in 2019.

subset: commoncrawl


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INSP - Sorbonne Université - 4 place Jussieu - 75005 Paris - Barre 22-32, 2e étage, salle 201
Anil Murani, post-doctorant au Laboratoire de Physique des Solides à Orsay dans le groupe d'Hélène Bouchiat et Sophie Guéron.
The protection against backscattering provided by topology is a striking property. In two-dimensional insulators, a consequence of this topological protection is the ballistic nature of the one-dimensional helical edge states. One demonstration of ballisticity is the quantized Hall conductance. Here we provide another demonstration of ballistic transport, in the way the edge states carry a supercurrent. The system we have investigated is a micrometer-long monocrystalline bismuth nanowire with topological surfaces [1], that we connect to two superconducting electrodes. We have measured the relation between the Josephson current flowing through the nanowire and the superconducting phase difference at its ends, the current–phase relation. The sharp sawtooth-shaped phase-modulated current–phase relation we find demonstrates that transport occurs selectively along two ballistic edges of the nanowire [2]. I will also present a recent experiment that aims to answer quantitatively about the topological protection against backscattering as well as the lifetime of the metastable Andreev bound states that can be formed in these topological SNS junction [3, 4].
[1] S. Murakami, Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 2006
[2] A. Murani et. al., Nat. Comm, 2017
[3] A. Murani et. al., Phys. Rev. B 96, 2017
[4] A. Murani et. al., in preparation


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I got back to Leah's apartment, where her and The T were waiting. I cuddled with The T a bit, before heading into the bathroom to change into my sexy clothes. I wore my yellow negligee with a black thong. They both told me how sexy I looked. The T and I made out for a bit, then we went to Leah's room. Leah stayed in the living room to finish watching her show.
Things were a little awkward at first, so we started slow by just kissing with some heavy petting. Once I felt comfortable, The T and I got naked. I had never put on a condom before, so he had me do it. I fumbled a bit, but finally I got it.
I wasn't really wet enough, so he decided to go down on me. It felt good, but not quite good enough. Luckily though, that made me wet enough. He slid his cock in slowly, riding on top of me. We kept this position for a bit, until he wanted to fuck me doggy style.
I had a problem keeping my ass higher than my head, but eventually we had the right position. We decided to get the bullet out, to try and make me cum. That is when Leah came in to join us. Before I got the bullet onto my now dripping wet pussy, she asked to go down on me. I said sure, and opened my legs once more.
Unfortunately, she did not last long down there because all she could taste was condom lube. I did not blame her one bit, so I went down on her instead. She was the first girl I went down on, and I hope she won't be the last. I did just as I had always imagined myself doing with a girl, and slowly traced my tongue all along the pussy lips, then around the clit. She moaned, telling me I was doing it just right, but it would not make her cum. She had me stop so that The T and I could continue and she could use her vibrator.
The T had me put on a fresh condom and told me to climb on top. It was my first time on top, so the positioning was very awkward at first. Eventually I had a good hythm going, where I gripped the top of the head board and he used his hips to move me up and down. Sadly, just when I was really enjoying that position, I got a bad cramp in my hip, so we switched to him on top.
This time I had my bullet ready, and I got it on my clit while he fucked me. Leah stopped what she was doing with her vibe to encourage me to cum.
"Oh God, Leah, shes so close, shes so tight," The T moaned.
"Ooo, I can tell shes close, by her breathing," Leah said.
The truth was, I was close, but not close enough. The pressure of needing to cum was building, physically and emotionally. Unfortunately, the emotional pressure to cum outweighed the physical. Leah was so excited that I was gonna cum, I could not disappoint her. I started making the sounds I make when orgasming, and flexing my pussy around The T's cock. They both encouraged me while I was cumming, and talking dirty to me. After a few seconds, I slowed down on the moaning and relaxed.
After I "came," Leah went back to the living room to watch another show of hers. Once she was out of hearing distance, The T asked the dreaded question.
"You didn't really finish, did you?"
I decided to be honest. "No, she was pressuring me so much I just couldn't. I lost the closeness I had to cumming," I said to him quietly.
"I understand completely, and thank you for being honest," he said back.
That was the only time I faked my orgasm. I never really saw the point in faking. I think that if you fake an orgasm with someone, they think they are doing something right, and will never really know how to get you off. The only reason I faked this time was to not disappoint my hostess, who I knew we would never be hooking up again. I was glad The T was so understanding.
We ended up putting on a fresh condom so that he could at least have his orgasm. Leah was right, it was good sex with him. It was easy to turn down Toby after fucking The T. The T and I never got together again, unfortunately, because Leah decided she did not want to share him anymore. She was apparently jealous to see me fucking her "best friend."


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The Madison Review: the Extended Cut no. 2
Hello there!
Welcome to The Madison Review's new series The Extended Cut, where we showcase exceptional work that was not a good fit for the fall spring editions of our journal. The second piece we are sharing is "The Girl Next Door" by Laurie Shiers, a work that explores friendship, betrayal, and self-acceptance through this coming-of-age story.
Laurie Shiers is a late bloomer who, for fifteen years, hid her literary ambitions beneath a successful copywriting career. She is now her own kind of writer and creative development coach. Laurie lives in Los Angeles where she works with artists to connect with the passion and purpose behind their projects. Her work can be found in Corvus Literary and Adoptive Families Magazine.
The Girl Next Door
You don't get to choose your family, and you don't get to choose your neighbors. If Eloise had been given the option, she would have picked a different sort of girl to live right next door. Ideally one who liked tap dancing, making potions, and who also felt a kinship with Tabitha from Bewitched. Instead, she got Noni Martinez. Noni was one month older, eight inches taller, and at age 10, already mad at the world. Her family had lived next door to Eloise's since forever, but no one ever said much beyond an empty hello. "Different," is how Eloise's mom Marilyn described the Martinez family in a tone that made Eloise curious about exactly what she meant. Different how?
It was a Sunday afternoon in May and the San Fernando Valley had not yet begun to feel like the surface of the sun. The end of the school year was near, and the neighborhood kids were playing t-ball in the middle of Lemona Avenue. You might have heard them for miles, if the 405 weren't close enough to drown out the loudest of hollers. Eloise, who had a front row seat from her porch, wasn't asked to play. Sitting on the steps reading Sweet Valley High #14, she pretended not to hear Big Robert yelling "Hey batter, batter, batter!" every fifteen seconds, but Eloise was keeping score. Brooke, the block's blonde pig faced ringleader, managed a home-run and squealed as she ran round the makeshift bases. That's when Eloise noticed Noni in a striped tube top and dolphin shorts speed walking up the asphalt driveway. She was holding something suspicious. Squirmy.
"Do you like guinea pigs?" Noni said, as she approached Eloise, pronouncing it 'gwinnie'. The dogs keep trying to eat this one, and plus, my allergies." Noni sniffed hard and shifted her red, watery eyes back and forth before settling them on Eloise. Her gaze was unnerving. Noni's movements seemed impossible to predict, like a one of those prank peanut cans where a snake would pop out when you least expected it. Before Eloise could answer, Noni shoved the furball into her next-door neighbor's tiny hands. "Meet Oscar," she shouted, and left to join the t-ball game.
Could Noni have heard the begging—no, pleading—for some sort of dog or cat or rabbit—anything cuddly, really, from inside Eloise's house next door? Impossible. Maybe Noni could see into her heart. The idea beyond thrilled Eloise. She held her answered prayer close and went inside to find her mother.
"That shade makes you look like death warmed over," Eloise heard Marilyn declare with conviction from the backyard. The sliding glass doors had been left wide open, giving a trio of flies in and out privileges as Barry Manilow's Copacabana played on the 8-track. On the patio, Marilyn was providing in-depth color analysis to her best friend Marsha when Eloise interrupted. (Marilyn was a spring, which meant she had the good fortune of being able to pull off a Kelly green blazer. Marsha thought she might be a winter but was looking for a second opinion.) Startled by the aliveness in Eloise's arms and ever-so-slightly tipsy, Marilyn jumped, spilling her wine spritzer across the concrete patio slab. "Where did you get that filthy thing?"
Eloise explained, and it was quickly decided that Oscar would not be allowed to stay. Marilyn handed her daughter a paper towel and ordered her to take that overgrown rat back to the Martinez house where it belonged.
Eloise did not take that overgrown rat right back. Instead, she stopped by her room where it occurred to her that she might be able to secretly keep Oscar under her bed in the shiny rose-colored shoebox usually reserved for her tap shoes. Grabbing the box with one hand, she removed her scuffed black Capezios, and gently lowered Oscar into his new home. The tissue at the bottom would make a cozy bed, Eloise thought, but the guinea pig was spooked. He began snorting and circling as his tiny claws decimated the thin paper into shreds. Within seconds, he upended the box and scampered under Eloise's bed. "Fuck a duck," she accidentally said out loud, slamming her door hard enough to shake the wall between her room and her five-year-old brother Nathan's. She feared Oscar might make a run for the kitchen. If that happened, she'd be grounded until high school. Eloise dove under her bed, somehow managing to catch Oscar in her hands without squishing the life out of him, just as her door creaked open.
"Was that an earthquake?" Nathan asked, knowing it was not.
"Shut it," Eloise whisper-yelled from under the bed, hoping he'd do just that. Her brother was practically a genius, but he never managed to catch on that a closed door meant Privacy Please. Nathan closed the door behind him and went to his sister, who sat at the edge of her bed holding something in a paper towel that looked like a live burrito. "Meet Oscar," Eloise said just like Noni, and then softened when she saw her baby brother's delight. She revealed only his tiny ears and snout, still holding him close for safety. Nathan reached out to pet Oscar's furry head. The guinea pig slowly shut its eyes. As Eloise cradled his tiny body, a sticky warmth spread across her chest. Oscar had managed to soak through the 2-ply and onto Eloise's favorite rainbow tank top. The squealing started up again when she held him at arm's length.
"Are we keeping him?" Nathan asked.
There was a bright side. Eloise had technically been granted permission to go over to Noni's. This was possibly even more exciting than hiding a filthy rodent under her bed. She wondered why her mother wanted her to stay away in the first place. And why the Martinez's have a security screen door but no flowers in the front yard. Without even bothering to change her shirt, Eloise ran next door to find out.
The t-ball game had ended and the street was empty again. Eloise headed next door with Oscar, crossing her fingers that the neighborhood kids were gathered elsewhere. Before she could even knock, Noni flung the screen open. She was holding a compress on her eye. "Knew you couldn't keep it," Noni blurted, grabbing the wet burrito from Eloise with her free hand.
"I wanted to," Eloise said, hoping this might matter. That's when she saw the rusty cage in the center of the overstuffed kitchen, with two other guinea pigs squeaking and chortling on top of wet newspaper scraps. From the porch, Eloise watched Noni throw Oscar back in with the others: just another goldfish in the tank. Then she quickly tossed the paper towel and the compress into the trash before rinsing her hands for two seconds in the avocado-colored sink. After wiping wet palms on her jeans, she slammed a disobedient cupboard shut with her calloused heel. When it flung back open, she kicked again, hard.
"What?" Noni asked defensively, zeroing in on Eloise's surprised look. "Rudy does that stuff all the time," she said, tattling on her 15-year-old brother. Eloise looked from the battered cabinet doors to the cardboard square covering a broken pane of glass in the kitchen window. The sound of a muffled bass guitar thumped through the back of the Martinez house: Rudy's room. Still lingering in the doorway and unsure of what to say, Eloise shrugged.
"Come in if you want," Noni said like she couldn't care less. "My mom is at the market." Eloise's own mother never left her alone, not even for five minutes. She debated, leaning awkwardly against the open door frame and biting a ragged cuticle before remembering she had been holding Oscar. Then she shoved her hands in her pockets and passed through the security screen.
As Eloise entered the kitchen, the smell overwhelmed her. Jalapeños and wet animals and bleach. El inhaled the sharp scent as she tried memorizing every detail: shiny wood cabinets with black pine knots that looked like eyes. Mismatched handles up top and scratches down below, probably from the dogs (there were always different dogs). The pattern on the worn linoleum floor that reminded Eloise of the curly cues she had been trying to perfect in her handwriting which made her want to reach down and trace her fingers over the pattern. (She didn't.) Jesus figurines and Lladro-inspired knickknacks in every corner, along with piles of scribbled notes. Milk. Eggs. Church key. Tortillas. Call Marti. An ornate Mi Casa es su Casa plaque adorned one kitchen wall, with "Home is where the Heart is" handwritten on paper and taped up right beneath it. And under that, a quote ripped from a bible magazine: Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases the LORD. Different.
"Have a Coke," Noni said, handing Eloise her very first. It was already opened, bubbles writhing, plotting their escape. Noni tilted her head back and drank right from the bottle, just like in the commercials. Eloise did the same and then whipped her hair around like Farrah Fawcett, just because. The scent in the room seemed to fade and Eloise felt her shoulders relax. Then Noni sat on the curly cue linoleum and belched the entire alphabet for Eloise until she laughed so hard the Coke came out of her nose. None of this would ever happen at Eloise's. Her father only drank Pepsi.
"El? Do I hear you over there?" Marilyn's voice sailed through her laundry room window, less than 200 feet away, and landed in Eloise's lap. She had heard her daughter, and probably saw her too. The laundry room's carefully positioned allowed for a generous view of the Martinez's daily lives, Eloise knew, because once she'd caught her mom accidentally pouring detergent into the dryer as she spied hard on the neighbors. That time, her face was practically pressed up against the window. From Noni's kitchen, Eloise waved in her mother's direction, dying to know what would happen next.
"Dinnertime," her mother sang out, the tension in her voice just barely perceptible. El hesitated, and then stood up to leave.
That afternoon marked the beginning of what would become a daily event: after school at Noni's. Being inside that house felt dangerous, like you might step on a nail, and chances were excellent that it'd be rusty. But the bigger thrill was the game that Noni always wanted to play: Confession. Sharing secrets was the best way to get to know each other, she explained, and insisted that Eloise go first. Aside from her Raggedy Ann doll and her diary with the miniature heart shaped lock, Eloise had never told anyone anything. Still, she barely paused. Revealing her private thoughts was a need Eloise didn't know she had, and once she started, she didn't want to stop.
"I think I might be adopted," she began. There were five reasons why, starting with her palate which was distinctly Asian to their eastern European, and Eloise was revving up to explain them all. Before she could elaborate, Noni interrupted. "Well you look nothing like those people. Next topic." To keep Noni's interest, Eloise told her about the time she sleepwalked to the fridge, opened the crisper and sat down on it to pee. That got an approving laugh. So Eloise kept going, filling Noni up with details about how she wanted to be famous and adored by the world and that her dead grandma visited in her dreams and that she was sometimes jealous of Nathan. It felt good to empty those places inside that had built up from being quiet for so long. The feeling reminded her of the hall closet in her house that kept getting stuffed with old jackets and wrapping paper and umbrellas that only sometimes worked. The closet got so stuffed that one day, when Eloise tried to pull out her roller skates, an avalanche of orphaned items came tumbling to her feet. Seeing the naked back of the wood inside the closet gave her an odd sense of relief. There was an end to how much a space could hold.
It took Noni longer to open up. Her toughness cracked slowly, tentatively, like an egg at the end of its boil. During the following weeks, Eloise learned that Noni once stole a pack of gum and some L'Eggs pantyhose from Dale's Jr. and got caught, that she wished she could fit into a size S and had thrown up trying, and that she had a mole on her stomach that looked like a third nipple. Last, she admitted how much she hated that her friends thought Rudy was cute.
"Why?" asked Eloise, not yet sure how she felt about Noni's mysterious brother.
"He's an animal," Noni said, but then stopped before adding anything more.
"What kind of animal?" is what Eloise wanted to ask, but she knew that wasn't the right question. So she went with, "What does your mom say?"
"Nothing, " Noni said bitterly. "He's the favorite."
"I have a new game for us to play," said Noni as Eloise approached the Martinez's house the following afternoon. The girl next door sat on her porch with a ream of colored markers and paper scraps from her mom's old shopping lists. "Let's write our private thoughts instead of talking them." A thousand tissues lay beside Noni and one was stuck up her nose. We can use this to stash them," she said, sniffling and handing Eloise the empty Kleenex box. " Eloise loved that Noni always came up with some creative way to pass the time. The rules of her new game were:
Whatever you write has to be true
No reading each other's secrets without permission
The box had to be kept somewhere safe
"I know where," Eloise said, already picking up a pen to write. "Oscar's almost bedroom."
"Deal," said Noni, as she picked up a green marker with her left hand even though she was a righty. Moments later, she dropped her first secret into the box. Eloise followed. An hour passed, at least, and Eloise was running out of secrets. Plus, she was craving a Coke.
"Let's go inside."
"Can't," said Noni, still spilling her guts on the back of the paper scrap that had Church key written on it. "Rudy."
Just as summer vacation started, Noni's mother took a new job and changed the house rules. Instead of being allowed to stay home as usual, Noni would have play outside every day until her mom returned from work. Rudy got the run of the house. "Apparently it's for my own good," Noni said mocking her mother as she, broke the news to Eloise. Then under her breath added, "My mom treats me like one of the dogs."
Eloise wanted to put her arm around Noni, but hesitated. "Even they get to come and go through their little door," she said, feeling bad for Noni and worried about what this meant for her too.
"Screw you, El," Noni spat, like she'd thought it a thousand times before. Eloise picked up the Kleenex box and went home for the night.
"Can we come in?" Noni called into Brooke's open garage, her voice an octave higher than usual. Eloise stood beside her, anxiously pointing and flexing her bare feet. She had never been this close to the other kids or the places they played. After Noni forgave Eloise from the night before, she came up with the idea to bring Eloise along. "They don't hate you," she said. "They just don't know you." Eloise was not convinced. In the background, atop old metal bunk beds, she could see the kids playing Baby. Brooke, of course, was the Mommy. Each of her 'babies' sucked candy pacifiers and even the 11-year olds were in diapers. One of them was pretending to cry softly.
"Just you," said Brooke, who stopped mothering long enough to come out of the garage, put her arm around Noni, and led her inside. After a moment, Eloise called after them.
"If you want borrow some of my brother's old baby bottles…." she trailed off, aching for approval. Brooke turned slowly to look at Eloise from top to bottom.
"How about hurry up and get them, then?" She barked in a way that made it sound like she ruled the universe. As Eloise left to follow Brooke's orders, she heard Noni laugh.
That day, after Eloise returned with the old bottles, the unraveling began. As the kids sat down in Brooke's garage for peanut butter and honey sandwiches, Noni said, "You guys, Eloise here pisses in her fridge. Isn't that gross?" That got a laugh, but it didn't feel good to Eloise this time. She started to tell the real story, but Noni cut her off. "Guess we won't be eating at her house."
Eloise was confused at first, but it didn't take long for Noni's intent to become clear.
"Little El talks to ghosts," Noni teased the next day, just when Eloise was starting to trust her again. Brooke cackled at that one.
"Not what I said," Eloise muttered, this time only to herself. Later that weekend, after a game of tag in the hot summer sun followed by belly flops on the Slip n' Slide, she was blindsided again. Brooke brought out her mom's Ouija board, with Noni at her side. "Granny wants to say hi!" Noni joked, before Brooke pretended to channel Grandma Rose.
Like the drive to Disneyland or Pi or the Energizer Bunny, the teasing kept going and going, at least that's how it felt to Eloise who regretted ever opening her mouth at all. Soon after the Ouija board, Big Robert made her sit still on the sidewalk as he inspected her head using a stick. "She's super Jew-y, you know," Noni had said, encouraging Robert to get a closer look at her horns.
"What are you guys doing?" called Nathan from the porch, wearing only his tightie whities. He watched his sister hug her own knees as Big Robert stood over her ominously. "Go inside, Nathan," El said in her best everything's fine voice, not wanting to alert her parents. If they knew, they'd never let her out of the house.
She had nowhere else to go. Her school friends had summer camp, family vacations, picnics, beach parties, and actual lives, Eloise not included. It was as though from June through September, she didn't even exist. There were only two options that Eloise could see: stay home and do nothing or play in the neighborhood. So the next morning after breakfast, Eloise headed back down the block, determined to make the best of it. If Noni came after her again, she'd take it in stride. Be easy breezy. She can't get me, Eloise convinced herself, if I'm expecting it. So it was less shocking when, after a day of running through sprinklers, cartwheeling until dizzy, and spacing out on the itchy green grass, Noni announced, "Guess what, guys? Little Eloise is still afraid of the dark!" Instead of being swallowed by shame, Eloise laughed with the rest of the kids like she wasn't the butt of their joke. It felt good to lift her head up and smile, even if she didn't mean it.
Her reaction did not go unnoticed. There were whispers, followed by a secret meeting behind the old olive tree, during which Eloise practiced her handstands on the grass, alone. After the meeting, the kids regrouped in Brooke's room with the double bed and the BeeGees poster.
"Who wants leftover Halloween candy?" Brooke sang out. She just happened to remember there was some inside her old toy chest, which had been moved to the closet on account of Brooke being practically a teen. "Out of sight, out of mind," she said, and pulled the heavy chest into the middle of the room.
"Bet there are Abba Zabbas," Noni added, and winked. (El had told Noni about when she was 8 and broke her tooth while trying to suck the peanut butter filling out of the taffy of her beloved candy and how she regretted not being able to finish it. Her mother never let her have another.) As Eloise opened the chest expectantly, Big Robert pushed her off balance and she toppled inside. Except for the cobweb in the corner, the chest had been empty. The kids laughed hysterically, then Noni sat on the lid and latched it shut.
Eloise could have been in the chest for ten minutes, maybe fifteen, but it felt like a hundred years. She sucked in air, gulp after gulp, until her breathing became so jagged she could no longer control it. Eloise was underwater, flailing and gasping, smashing the sides of the chest with her fists and feet. Her whimpers turned to screams, guttural, raw and determined to be set free. She wasn't going to let them kill her. She wasn't going to go down like this.
There was no call to 911, no dramatic rescue. Brooke's mother eventually heard screaming coming from her daughter's bedroom, peeked around the corner, and calmly insisted the kids open the chest. Once she saw Big Robert unlock the latch, Brooke's mother went back to her gardening project outside.
It's not that Noni wanted Eloise to die. It's just that she wanted someone besides her to feel pain. Like a boomerang or a too-loyal dog, Eloise kept coming back for more, hoping for better. Not unlike Noni telling her mother again and again about Rudy and hoping to be heard. But after the Abba Zabba incident, Eloise was broken. She peeled herself from the inside of the chest and stood in the middle of Brooke's room, soaking wet and shaking as the kids looked on. "Like an animal" rang through Eloise's head, but she said nothing. Nobody else did either.
Eloise walked back home alone, stepping on every crack in the pavement and trying to catch her breath. "Was Lemona Avenue always this quiet?" she wondered, unlocking her front door using the hide-a-key even though everybody was home. As she walked in, the smell of rotisserie chicken and raisins permeated the air. Shabbat, Eloise remembered.
Marilyn was in the foyer. "Honey…?" she said trying to decode her daughter's distant expression. "How are you feeling?"
"Different," is what Eloise said before curling up on the color swatches in the den and falling asleep. She woke up in the same position the next morning, covered by Nathan's blankie.
Eloise spent the rest of the summer mostly by herself. She watched Bewitched, and invented a new potion called Popular, pouring it into a tiny Tupperware jar as she watched the neighborhood kids from her parent's bathroom window. Sometimes she spied on Noni's house from the laundry room, but most of the time, the blinds were kept all the way shut. No amount of soundproofing could drown out the yelling, though. And what scared Eloise most was not the yelling, but the silence that came after.
Eloise waited weeks before reaching under her bed, past the Capezio box to the Kleenex one. She sat down in her doorway with the box in her lap before reaching in to grab a single folded note. Noni's. I lied about wanting to give Oscar away just to come over and meet you, she had scrawled. Eloise shook her head. Then, even though El promised herself she'd only read one, she reached in for another. This one was hers. I wish I could be more like you, it read. Eloise remembered wishing that, but on the back of the note it said Church key.
The sting of tears came first. The pain of the betrayal and the gulf of loneliness that felt endless, like she was swimming in a bottomless pool, came after. Eloise could not make sense out of why Noni would try to destroy someone she wanted to be like. Did she hate Eloise that much, or did she just hate herself? Maybe both, she thought, and shivered. A longing for something soft and furry and unconditionally loving consumed her. She wanted to be a little baby again, to be held and adored, but it was too late for all that.
Nathan broke the spell. As Eloise closed her eyes, he plopped himself down into her lap and pushed his warm little body closer to hers. She held her answered prayer close. Eloise wrapped her arms around her nuzzly little brother, opened her mouth and sobbed. Nathan reached toward the Kleenex box for a tissue, but she took his hand and put it around her neck instead. "There's nothing left," she said, and held him tight.
The thing was, Eloise no longer wanted to be anything like Noni or Brooke or even her mother (nothing against Marilyn). I just want to be like myself, whoever that is, she wrote in her journal and then tore the entry into pieces so no one could ever read it. She stayed afraid of the dark. She dreamed about deep conversations with Grandma Rose. And though it seemed impossible, Eloise believed that someday, the scars from the summer of 1981 would fade, and she would learn to trust again.
On the day before school started, Eloise watched Noni walk out her kitchen door, looking determined. Her right arm was in a sling. A bruise, deep purple, spread across her thigh, visible from the edges of her long Bermuda shorts. She pulled them down as best she could and walked across her driveway. Before Noni could even knock, Eloise had opened the front door.
"I'm sorry," Noni said. Eloise waited to see if there was more, but 'sorry' was it.
"Me too," said Eloise, after a moment. Then she shut the door. This time, she bolted it.


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Decimal to Fraction Chart and Tips to Download the Chart
In mathematics, you can find various kinds of charts. These charts are so helpful for helping you in mastering certain kinds of theme in this subject. It is more important to know and have the charts because sometimes mathematics is so difficult. In this case, decimal to fraction chart is one of the charts that are so important to have in your bag.
Function of Decimal to Fraction Chart
When it talks about the function, it seems that it is already clear. Specifically, the decimal to fraction chart is necessary when you learn decimal and fraction. This is actually part of the theme to learn in the early phase of learning mathematics. However, it does not mean that you will not need to have the charts.
The charts provide you with complete information of the fraction and its decimal form. This is very helpful when you are not good in dealing with big numbers. When it is only small fraction, it is easy to count and transform it manually. However, when it involves more than two digits of number, this is problematic. In this case, the chart will have its ultimate function to give you shortcut.
Types of Decimal to Fraction Chart
When it talks about the decimal to fraction chart, you can have many kinds of variations of chart. Some of them have the decimal and the transformation into its fraction. Then, there is also fraction and its transformation to the decimal form. These two basically are similar and these become the common charts to find in many sources.
However, you may also find other types of chart. The charts are more sophisticated since this is not only about the decimal and its fraction, you can get the additional column for the millimeter. This will be necessary in the further phase in learning mathematics.
Downloading the Decimal to Fraction Chart
Commonly, you can get the chart from books. Some teachers also have provided you with the necessary chart. However, sometimes you only get the small charts and these are not helpful enough for you in solving certain cases or tests in the mathematics.
In this case, you can download the chart. This is the easiest way to get the chart. Moreover, you can get it for free. Although it is easy and free, you should pay attention to some details, so you can get the suitable charts.
- Type of charts
As what is mentioned above, you can have different types of chart. In this case, you should find the most suitable one based on what you need.
- Scale and order of the chart
This is also important point to consider. You may find different scales of the charts. Some of them only have some tables of charts, yet you can get more complete fraction and decimals, even up to three digits of numbers. Then, the order may also be helpful for you in finding certain fraction or decimal. Commonly, the order is already shorted from the smallest to the biggest.
By paying attention to these details, you will be able to get suitable charts. Since it is free to download, you should find the most trusted sources, and it is good when you can easily download and print decimal to fraction chart without any requirements.
Below are a couple of appointments of choice. This table will be a practical reference tool for solving problems. It will also make it easier for teachers to make students understand calculations better. When you are in a position to know the graphs, you can carefully examine the data and micro-analyze all the latest trends. These tables can be extremely beneficial and save time in the fields of organization, science and engineering. The fraction conversion chart is simple to use.
The output will be a beneficial or negative decimal number. The decimal conversion needs a lot of precision, which is only possible once you have a table of this type in front of you. Your cell application is already in a mature state and allows you to use all the features that you would otherwise be able to use on your site. One of the best applications nowadays is known as cointracking.info. This document is used in educational institutions. The Progress Documents are a really good resource for teachers to supplement their understanding of mathematics. You will then be asked to enter your API key in addition to any additional privacy authorization based on the exchange you are using.
There are some restrictions. If you are the person who handles the calculations during the day, this table can help you get precise benefits instantly. Decimals, fractions and percentages are 3 unique methods to show exactly the same price. Within this character, the most commonly used conversion of fractions to decimals stands out in a larger font. Another crucial aspect that makes the impression of increased cryptographic volatility comes from the simple fact that there is no central authority to govern the cost of cryptocurrencies.
You will have to scroll a little down. It will take a bit of algebra to complete the conversion. Not only is this scary, it is extremely difficult to calculate. In fact, you have to move decimal points. The fact is that 9V would be exactly the ideal volume. The reality is that fiduciary currencies are valued against each other and against merchandise.
The pools will benefit from the fact and start reselling the current hardware. Naturally, pools that offer higher payments to miners will attract more customers. If you scan our table, you will notice that there are only a lot of horrible numbers. You can see that the second and third columns are extremely similar. The great news is that we still have a few decades before the problem is urgent. Many nations with large amounts of mass that allow them to obtain an agricultural industry will never experience this, since they can buy products with local currency and could never have to import certain goods. In the market there are many names.
The disadvantage of not losing in case you fail is that, if you succeed, the agencies receive a minimum fraction of decimals on the positive side. The first stage consists of 25% of the total race laps. Since the two initial stages are exactly the same, once you select that number, there is only 1 chance for the duration of the third stage.


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Daily Archives: November 5, 2013
More Than Everything
Title: More Than Everything
Author: Cardeno C
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Rating: A List
Length: 234 pages
Blurb: A Book in the Family Series
As a teenager, Charlie "Chase" Rhodes meets Scott Boone and falls head over heels in love with the popular, athletic boy next door. Charlie thinks he's living the dream when Scott says he feels the same way. But his dreams are dashed when Scott moves unexpectedly and doesn't return.
Years later, Charlie meets brash and confident Adan Navarro, who claims all he wants is a round between the sheets. When they're still together after eight months, Charlie is convinced Adan returns his love. But then the time comes to be open about their relationship, and Adan walks away instead.
Time heals all wounds but when Charlie runs into Scott and Adan and realizes the only two men he's ever loved are now in love with each other, his heart breaks all over again. Scott and Adan tell Charlie they want him back, but Charlie doesn't know if he can trust two people who have hurt him so deeply. And even if he can, why would Scott and Adan want Charlie when they already have everything with each other?
Beans: More Than Everything is now my second favorite Cardeno C book. After being a crazy Cardeno C fan for most of CC's writing career, I didn't think CC could top what is already written.
Except then CC did it.
I have read hundreds of m/m romances, and quite a few m/m/m both of the menage variety and triad emphasis. This book doesn't fall into either of those categories neat and tidy. It's something different, something new, really something incredibly beautiful.
We meet Charlie as he breaks out the scrapbook and starts from the beginning when he meets Scott. I loved that Charlie was speaking to me. He was telling me the story of his life. Of his loves and then his heartbreaks. He was more than the narrator, he was the entire story. We fall in love with Charlie. He is incredibly beautiful. He is also funny, artistic, and full of life and vibrancy.
Scott is the perfect first love. We meet this young man moving into the flat next door. He never judges Charlie, but becomes an instant friend. Scott is strength. This young man's self confidence, his kindness, his ability to be loving was remarkable. I was overjoyed at the beautiful love developed between Charlie and Scott.
Which made them breaking up incredibly difficult. I knew, from the blurb they would get back together. And I trust this author to give me a satisfying HEA. But it didn't stop me from tearing up and gathering my box of tissues close to my side as I read on.
Enter Adan. Years have gone by and Charlie is a man. He might be a little more jaded, a little more tired. But he is also a little more confident, a little more self-assured, and a lot stronger.
Adan is my favorite character in this story. He is unhealthy, he is uncomfortable in his skin, and he has no idea how to have a relationship. But Charlie's light is bright and he can't resist. Adan enters into a relationship with Charlie. And it's rough. I wanted to laugh, and did sometimes, at their antics. Adan's emotional immaturity and selfishness is interesting. Charlie isn't blind. He sees this man for who he is, but loves him anyway.
Then they break up. And I admit I was in Charlie's corner 100% but it didn't make it easy and it tore at me that Adan hurt Charlie so badly.
Part three is where this story gets brilliant. Most romances are all about the HEA but they never show what that looks like. How a family is built. Everyone says their I love yous and then the book ends and we guess at the rest.
Here we see how a family is built. In this part of the book, three men have to come to a place where they understand, and can build a healthy life as a non-traditional family. There are ups and downs, and major complications, but no one gives up. There is commitment and it felt like I was taken out of a romance novel and plopped right down into a real neighborhood, watching a real family take shape. A family with three men, and so much more.
If you love Cardeno C, if you have never read any of CC's books I highly recommend this book. This book is a must read. It will break your stereotypes down, it will make you laugh until you cry and weep because you mourn. And then when you get to the end you get the joy of starting all over at the beginning again.
Nina: I am a big fan of Cardeno C's writing. I have yet to read anything that I didn't enjoy. One of the best things about having read everything that someone has written, multiple times, is that you know how they write. As I read through this book I kept thinking CC is getting even better. In many ways this book shows a development of an already great talent. This story is smooth, the writing is clear, concise and beautiful. The shifts between times and voices was flawless and creatively done. The plot pulled me in and carried me along on a journey of first loves, loss, second chances, forgiveness, personal growth and what it means to truly love someone and want to create a life with them. I loved everything about this book. There was not one false note.
Charlie "Chase" is an absolute delight. He is the dominant voice, and in many ways person, in this story. Which is awesome because he's the sweetest, bravest, cutest, powerest bottom. He's a dancer and a bit of a dreamer who has had to make his own way in the world and even though Scott and Adan each took a turn at breaking his heart, they could never break him nor forget him.
Scott is great. In many ways he's a lot like Charlie, open, sweet, vulnerable, charming and kind. He's just bigger and his steel is more visually apparent. He is the perfect first love and I fell in love with him right along with Charlie. The way they were together had me tearing up and wishing for their forever together.
Adan was complicated. He was so damaged by his macho culture upbringing with a huge chip on his shoulder and a drive to succeed professionally that left little room for much else in his life. I loved how he was with his men. He saw and remembered everything about them, he understood them. He, of all of them, grew the most in this story. In the most delightful and beautiful ways. He is harder to love, but that love is all the richer for the struggle to get there, and when he finally allows himself to just be he is gorgeous. Some might say he'll even make you fly.
I am always impressed by people who can manage to make a two person relationship work, to successfully include more than that leaves me in awe. Honestly, I was a little nervous going into this triad story. But I trust Cardeno C to get me to a happy ending. I knew CC would make me cry with this one. I cried happy because it was so beautiful and sweet, I cried sad because they were breaking each other's hearts, I laughed long and hard at some of the stories, I rejoiced and hoped and believed. I loved every moment. I want more. These men will be ones that I revisit again and again.


text: Flournoy, Richele Alice DOB: 09-17-91 Height & weight: 5 feet 5 inches, 137 pounds Charge: Aggravated Assault with Deadly Weapon Warrant #F4120328 -- Wanted as of 11\/10\/12 -- $250 Reward to the first person who calls Midland Crime Stoppers this week with information that leads to this fugitive's arrest. -- Call 694-TIPS or 1-800-7-LOCKUP, online at midlandcrimestoppers.com or text TIP247 plus your message to 274637 -- As always you will remain anonymous -- NEVER attempt to apprehend this subject yourself. Subject may be armed or dangerous.


text:
An Explosive Move in XLRN Stock Is Now on the Horizon
XLRN Stock: Expectations of Grandeur
A trade war is now in full effect, but the major market indices are shrugging it off. This is reminiscent of the trading environment last year, wherein the markets would shrug off any potential bad news.
I see this phenomenon as great news, because 2017 was an exceptional year for stocks. If this market is reminiscent of that trading environment, perhaps we will see a repeat of the exceptional performance that 2017 was so famous for.
If the markets are poised for gains, as I believe they are, companies like Acceleron Pharma Inc (NASDAQ:XLRN) stock are poised to significantly outperform.
The basis of my belief is the completion of an extremely large technical price pattern, which is currently suggesting that XLRN stock is set for an explosive move toward higher prices.
This extremely large technical price pattern is captured on the following Acceleron Pharma stock chart.
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
The extremely large technical price pattern highlighted on the above chart is a symmetrical triangle. These patterns are created when the price action is characterized by a series of lower highs and higher lows.
The symmetrical triangle was captured by connecting the peaks and troughs that were created by the price action.
This process creates two converging trend lines, which then create a triangle on the price chart. These trend lines outline where significant levels of price support and resistance reside.
This is important because the implications of this pattern will only come to fruition when XLRN stock either breaks below support or above resistance.
Once one of these events unfold, a powerful move is expected to follow. The reason for this is that the convergence of space between price support and resistance causes energy to build within the pattern as it develops. This stored energy will only be released when the stock exits the pattern.
The size and scope of the pattern is directly related to the move that is likely to follow. For instance, the symmetrical triangle created on the above chart has been in development for five years, making it extremely large, suggesting that an extremely large reaction is expected to follow.
On June 29, Acceleron Pharma stock broke above resistance, completing the symmetrical triangle. This event is currently suggesting that higher stock prices are likely to follow.
This notion of higher XLRN stock prices was already being suggested by the moving average convergence/divergence (MACD) indicator.
MACD is a simple yet effective momentum indicator that distinguishes whether bullish or bearish momentum is influencing the price action in a stock. This is pertinent information because a stock cannot sustain a move in either direction unless the applicable level of momentum is supporting it.
For example, for much of the development of the symmetrical triangle, the MACD indicator was in bearish alignment. This suggested that the price action was corrective, and that the path of least resistance was toward lower prices.
This dynamic changed in June 2017, when a bullish MACD cross was generated, suggesting that Acceleron Pharma stock was likely to appreciate—which it did in the days, weeks, and months that followed.
The MACD indicator has remained in bullish alignment, supporting higher prices and the new implications suggested by the completed symmetrical triangle.
The completion of the symmetrical triangle caught many by surprise because it was brought on by a positive news event that caused the stock price to gap higher. This event is captured on the following chart.
Chart courtesy of StockCharts.com
This XLRN stock chart takes a close look at the price action that surrounded the completion of the symmetrical triangle.
On June 29, Acceleron Pharma stock gapped higher to close the day up 42.8%, on the heels of positive results from a phase 3 clinical study.
The gap on the above price chart is labeled a breakaway gap. Those types of gaps rarely get filled, and they almost always suggest that a new trend has begun. The breakaway gap was accompanied by a surge, reinforcing its significance.
The breakaway gap and the surge in volume are both indications that the breakout that completed the symmetrical triangle is legitimate. This leaves the door wide open for a powerful move toward higher prices.
Analyst Take
I am bullish on Acceleron Pharma stock because I believe that much higher prices are on the horizon.
My bullish beliefs about XLRN stock are based on the implications of a completed price pattern, which have been reinforced by a number of other technical indications.


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By Leighton Ku, Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis
This article originally appeared in The Public Interest, Spring 1999.
In their critical review of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC)
nutrition program ("Is WIC As Good As They Say," The Public Interest, No. 134,
Winter 1999), Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis conclude that WIC is
less effective than commonly believed and that the research evidence is flawed.
They suggest various ways to restructure the program in fashions more to their
liking, although they offer little evidence that their proposals are feasible or
would be more effective. I appreciate the spirit of constructive criticism
brought by Besharov and Germanis, but I disagree with many of their conclusions.
Let me begin by observing that Besharov and Germanis's article is
incomplete and stilted. Public-health research about the WIC program has been
amazingly fertile. A brief search of scientific papers published in health
journals collected by the National Library of Medicine found more than 200
published studies concerning WIC, and there are other excellent papers in
public-policy or economics journals, as well as unpublished reports. Despite its
relatively small size, WIC has been one of the most thoroughly studied federal
programs. Researchers have investigated WIC's effects on: birth weights, infant
mortality, reductions in Medicaid expenditures, nutrient intakes, children's
cognitive development, immunization rates and use of health services, childhood
anemia, and breastfeeding rates. Many of the most interesting papers are not
rigorous evaluations but reports of field studies or descriptive analyses that
help us look at questions just like those that Besharov and Germanis raise: how
to improve breastfeeding rates and nutritional counseling, and how to use WIC to
improve immunization rates or to coordinate WIC with home-visit programs.
Much of their paper discusses flaws in studies about whether WIC
improves birth outcomes. They note methodological problems, like selection bias
in many of the studies, but fail to note that Jack Metcoff of the University of
Oklahoma and his associates conducted a randomized experiment to determine how
WIC affects pregnant women's birth outcomes. This study, published in 1985,
found that WIC increased birth weights by an average of 91 grams and meets most
of their methodological objections.
Growth in the program since then has made it ethically impossible
to replicate this randomized study, but most subsequent studies, conducted using
a plethora of data sources, statistical methods, and outcome measures, generally
reach the same conclusions-that WIC helps low-income pregnant women bear
heavier, healthier babies. Come on guys, how long do we have to study something
to conclude reasonably that it works? Are you acting like the fringe groups who
wonder whether smoking tobacco really causes lung cancer?
BESHAROV and Germanis also understate the strength of the
evidence. For example, they note that Ray Yip and his colleagues at the Center
for Disease Control (CDC) found that decreasing anemia among WIC participants
could be caused by a secular decline in childhood anemia. What they do not
mention is that the CDC also found that fewer WIC children were anemic between
the time they first entered the program and recertification, usually six months
later. These specific and rapid improvements could not be caused by general
secular changes and almost certainly are due to the iron-fortified foods in the
WIC food package. These clinical findings are consistent with results from the
National WIC Evaluation and those from Donald Rose of the Economic Research
Service of USDA and his associates, indicating that WIC children consumed more
key nutrients, including iron. While there have not been definitive, randomized
studies for children, the research findings are consistent and compelling.
Equally important, WIC can improve children's health by boosting
immunization rates. Because WIC is typically located in health clinics and
serves millions of low-income children, it is well-suited to promote
immunization. Mothers and their young children must regularly come to WIC
clinics to be certified or to get food vouchers. The National WIC Evaluation
found that children participating in WIC were more likely to be immunized than
nonparticipating children. Several recent studies, including two published in
the Journal of the American Medical Association, showed how changes in WIC
program operations can further increase immunization rates. State and local WIC
clinics have also formed partnerships with Vaccines for Children, Medicaid, and
local maternal and child health programs to reinforce preventive health care for
children. By increasing immunizations, WIC can indirectly reduce the incidence
of preventable diseases like measles.
Other aspects of the WIC program have been less thoroughly
studied. But contrary to Besharov and Germanis's assertion that they are
unveiling a secret hidden from the American public, these gaps have been
well-known for a long time and publicly discussed by the General Accounting
Office, the National Academy of Sciences, myself, and fellow researchers like
Barbara Devaney of Mathematica Policy Research. And we have made steady gains in
our understanding of the program; the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which
administers WIC, has long funded research about WIC. Do I wish for more and
better evaluations? Of course. I would love to see more research about the
effects of participation in WIC during childhood and whether the current program
design provides the best package of benefits. However, I realize that rigorous
studies are difficult to design, cost a lot, and take many years to complete.
The fiscal reality is this: Research budgets are limited, and evaluation studies
must compete for resources with other priorities.
WHILE the research evidence about WIC's effectiveness is not
perfect, it is hard to think of any public program with so consistent a body of
positive research findings. Further, the federal government continues to invest
in research to better understand and strengthen the program. No doubt this
strong research record accounts for the program's popularity. But the program
also receives high marks for its design. Steering a middle course between the
problem of entitlements and the inherent vagueness of block grants, WIC is a
federal program that allows for local and state administration. This has
satisfied WIC's state and local managers, allowing them to be creative within a
framework of broadly shared goals and a time-tested program structure.
One good example of state or local innovation is WIC's infant
formula rebates, in which competitive bidding reduces the price of WIC infant
formula. Typically, the rebates amount to 80 percent or more of the price of
formula, collectively saving more than $ 1 billion annually. The rebates began
as state initiatives and have become one of the best examples of the power of
competitive bidding within government. Linking WIC to immunization efforts is
another example of creative local initiatives.
WIC incorporates principles shared by conservatives and liberals.
It seeks to prevent problems, not just cure them. It strives for efficiency and
cost-containment in operations. It fosters family responsibility by teaching
parents how to improve their children's diets, as well as by providing healthy
food directly. It is not an unlimited handout but provides specific benefits
during a critical stage in a child's development. Finally, it permits creative
collaboration between program directors at federal, state, and local levels.
BESHAROV and Germanis suggest that WIC should have even more
flexibility and that paying for additional services by providing fewer people
with food benefits would be the right thing to do. In particular, they propose
that WIC should try home visits for pregnant women, based on a model developed
and tested by David Olds at the University of Colorado. There are indeed many
proven merits to home-visit programs, but I am not sure that paying for the
entire range of home-visit services is WIC's mission. Many other programs are
better suited to financing non-nutrition-related services for pregnant women,
including Healthy Start, Title V Maternal and Child Health Block Grants, Title
XX Social Services Block Grants, and Medicaid. Providing WIC nutrition services
through home visits, in coordination with other programs, is an attractive idea,
but this is already permitted under current program rules.
Flexibility for state and local programs is important but does
not, by itself, guarantee success. The Healthy Start program gives communities
great autonomy to design and implement projects to improve birth outcomes,
including home-visit programs, but preliminary, interim evaluations have been
disappointing. Does it make sense to divert resources from WIC's relatively
well-proven model toward one yielding inconclusive results to date?
Besharov and Germanis apparently believe that WIC provides food to
too many mothers and children. For example, they complain that almost half of
the infants in the country get WIC benefits. What they do not mention is that
there is an alarmingly high level of poverty and near poverty among American
families with young children. Mothers with infants are often unable to work full
time and, even when they work, often have low-wage jobs. To qualify for WIC, a
family of four must generally have an annual income of about $ 30,000 or less,
which most of us would agree is a relatively low income. The main reason that
almost half the nation's infants receive WIC benefits is that, sadly, about half
the babies are in poor and low-income families.
Without WIC, a low-income family would need to spend more than $
1,000 a year to feed its baby and purchase the infant formula and other
fortified foods provided by WIC. Few low-income families can afford to spend
this much on their own. WIC ensures that these babies have nutritious foods
available. In addition, competitive purchasing allows the government to purchase
these foods at a fraction of the market cost. Rather than revealing a program
run amuck, the high participation of infants in WIC signals a successful
government policy that helps ensure the nutritional status of millions of
low-income infants.
Overall, however, it has been estimated that only about 80 percent
of those eligible for WIC (including women and preschool children) are able to
get benefits. More health and social services for the mothers and children most
at risk are urgently needed, but many other programs can provide these services,
along with WIC. Let's be sure that we have utilized all the resources to their
utmost and coordinated programs' efforts, before we propose taking food away
from low-income women and children.
Besharov and Germanis have raised many provocative issues, and I
hope that this stimulates a constructive discussion of ways to improve services
for low-income mothers and children. But I have read the research literature,
and I remain confident that WIC is effective and well run. We can and should
refine the WIC program to improve the health of lowincome mothers and children,
but let's not forget program fundamentals.
A reply by Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis
IN his response to our article, Leighton Ku, a careful researcher
and a self-described advocate of the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program,
demonstrates what is so sadly wrong about the public-policy debate these days:
Eager to defend or expand a social program, advocates and politicians trumpet
favorable research findings to claim that the program "works." Often, they
assert that the program actually saves public money by preventing other social
problems or expenditures. Never mind that the assertion is questioned by
unbiased experts in the field and that, even if true, the impact is insufficient
to make a real dent in the underlying problem.
As evaluation studies have proliferated in recent years, so have
such advocacy-oriented research claims. Probably the best example concerns Head
Start. Research on the Perry Preschool Program dating back to the 1960s
suggested that early-childhood education programs can substantially affect
children's later lives, in areas such as school drop-out rates, criminal
behavior, out-of-wedlock teen births, welfare dependency, and unemployment.
Advocates claimed that the program saved from $ 3 to $ 7 for each dollar spent.
To deal with the fact that the Perry Preschool Program only vaguely resembled
Head Start, they often loosely attributed this cost-benefit to "Head Start-like"
programs. Since most of us believe that a child's upbringing matters, such
evaluations were widely accepted. But no other rigorously evaluated,
early-childhood program has had even remotely similar results (sharply
undermining even the Perry Preschool results). Even those programs that report
initial, impressive improvements in children's performance conclude that these
gains "fadeout" over time.
Most recently, the federal government mounted the Comprehensive
Child Development Program (CCDP), a five-year, $ 125 million early-intervention
program at 24 sites. Despite an average annual investment of $ 15,768 per family
(above and beyond welfare payments, food stamps, Medicaid, housing, etc.), the
children who received the services had outcomes that were little different from
those who did not.
Family-preservation services are another example of an oversold
social program. Again, the idea makes sense: Use intensive rehabilitative and
supportive services to improve parenting so that children do not have to be
removed from home and placed in foster care. And again, out-sized results from
one or two early studies were used to justify a massive federal program-in this
case, the Family Preservation and Support Program, funded at almost $ 1 billion
for its first five years. The ink had not yet dried on the new law before other,
more carefully designed studies deflated claims that each dollar spent on family
preservation services would save $ 5 to $ 6 in foster care and other
ONE could provide many other examples and, in effect, our article
simply added WIC to the list of programs whose exaggerated impacts should be
brought down to earth. We made several broad points: There is a widespread and
bipartisan belief that WIC is a tremendously cost-effective program. The most
common claim, to quote a 1997 speech by Agriculture Under Secretary Shirley
Watkins, is that "for every dollar spent in WIC benefits, three dollars are
saved in Medicaid dollars." And in 1998, an editorial in the Washington Post
asserted that "repeated studies have shown that the program saves far more in
health care costs than it spends." Such claims are simply untrue. The relevant
research applies to only a small subset of the WIC caseload-pregnant women.
Moreover, most of the research upon which the costs and benefits are calculated
are plagued by unresolved problems of selfselection and simultaneity bias. The
widely proclaimed results are, in other words, at the high end of possible
impacts. Nevertheless, some parts of the WIC program undoubtedly make a
difference in the lives of low-income women and children. Here is exactly what
we said:
WIC for pregnant mothers has perhaps zero to substantial impacts
on infant mortality, prematurity, and birth weight. But the rest of the program
(for infants, children, and postpartum and breastfeeding mothers) has small to
modest impacts on anemia and nutrient intake. There is also a glimmer of
evidence that WIC's beneficial effects are concentrated among the most needful
The priority should be to learn more about what in WIC improves
the health of low-income mothers and their young children-and what doesn't.
Thus, and most important, we did not argue that WIC should be defunded, or even
cut back. Instead, we proposed that: (1) more WIC resources should be targeted
on the most needful families; (2) counseling services should be intensified-and
made more directive; (3) states should be allowed to exceed federal limits on
spending for WIC services; and (4) alternative service configurations should be
tested. Moreover, we cautioned that these ideas "are untried and, therefore,
should be carefully evaluated." Hardly a radical set of proposals.
Yet Ku says that our review is "incomplete and stilted." He says
we ignored hundreds of studies, but, as he notes, most are of highly
questionable validity ("not rigorous evaluations," are his words)-and are
ignored in most research syntheses.
Significantly, Ku does not defend the benefit-cost estimates we
criticize, nor does he assert a particular statistical impact for the program.
The plain truth is that no one knows how much difference the program really
makes. As recently as 1994, Ku and other researchers at the Urban Institute
concluded: "More research is needed on the effect of WIC participation for
children (over half of all WIC recipients), given that this is the group that
will grow most under full funding."
SO far, of course, exaggerating WIC's impact has helped fuel the
program's expansion. In the last 10 years, the number of WIC recipients has more
than doubled. Last year, the bill reauthorizing WIC sailed through the House of
Representatives by a vote of 383 to 1. But just as the public and politicians
have, over time, gained more nuanced understandings of Head Start,
family-preservation services, and a host of other once-favored programs, so too
will they eventually acquire a more realistic view of WIC.
In the meantime, the problems that it and other socialwelfare
programs are meant to address remain and fester. Hence, rather than try to
counter Ku's comments, we prefer to underscore the broader sociopolitical
tendencies that they reflect.
Circle the wagons, thereby preventing programmatic improvement.
Ku's real complaint is not that we have misstated the evidence of WIC's effect
but that, if accepted, our view of the research evidence would undercut public
and political support for the program. That is a valid concern. But obscured by
rhetoric that WIC "works" are potentially life-saving questions about how to
improve it and thus the well-being of possibly thousands of underprivileged
children. Sound policy making requires that programs be continually evaluated
and, when necessary, their services reoriented or, at least, refined.
Demonize skeptics, thereby avoiding the need to address their
concerns. Although we appreciate the general tone of Ku's response, at one point
he accuses us of "acting like the fringe groups who wonder whether smoking
tobacco really causes lung cancer." In case there is any question: Yes, we think
smoking causes lung cancer in many people. But some long-time smokers escape
serious harm. Similarly, WIC benefits many, but surely not all, participants. At
another point, Ku says that our proposal would be "taking food away from
low-income women and children." Honest, we don't want anyone to go hungry. We
just want to help those who most need the WIC program.
Blame insufficient funding, thereby excusing inadequate theory and
poor implementation. When forced to acknowledge a program's weaknesses, the
advocate's first riposte is that not enough money is being spent on it. By many
estimates, the cost of full-day, full-year Head Start now exceeds $ 10,000 per
year, compared to the average of about $ 6,000 spent by middle-class families
for equivalent hours of child care. Higher funding may improve services, but
often the services are simply irrelevant to the family's problems or are so
poorly managed that they have little impact. (Remember the $ 15,768 per family
spent by the unsuccessful CCDP.)
Include the middle class, thereby creating an everlarger
constituency for government spending. As we point out, about 50 percent of all
newborns qualify for WIC, as do 25 percent of children aged 1 to 5. Ku
attributes this to "an alarmingly high level of poverty and near poverty." But
income eligibility for WIC, one of the most generous of federal
public-assistance programs, reaches to families of four with incomes up to $
30,000 a year. One wishes these families had higher incomes but to call them
"poor" is simply wrong. (In 1997, the median income for all American families
with children was $ 43,545.)
Don't trust the states and localities, thereby reducing
programmatic responsiveness and stifling innovation. In the 1930s, the federal
government helped states because they needed additional funds; but, in the
aftermath of the civilrights struggles of the 1960s, federal involvement was
increasingly motivated by a corrosive mistrust of the states. The welfare reform
of 1996 was a major step in the other direction, but most federal programs still
mandate the specifics of state implementation in excruciating detail. America,
however, is a diverse, continental nation. What works for New York City may not
work for Albuquerque. More importantly, centralized planning did not work for
the Soviet economy, and it has not worked for American social-welfare services.
At any given time, there are a multitude of promising ways to address child
poverty, inadequate nutrition, and child maltreatment. Limiting the states to a
single, centrally funded approach has foreclosed the marketplace of ideas that
should characterize a federal system.
EACH of these points, of course, challenges conventional social
policy, at least as it has been conducted since the 1960s. Recently, we have
seen crime decline, probably because of improved policing, rather than because
of public-jobs programs. Similarly, out-of-wedlock births have declined,
probably as a result of more conservative attitudes, rather than the free
distribution of contraceptives; and welfare rolls have declined, probably
because of work expectations and the end of the entitlement mentality, rather
than through job training. If social programs are to succeed, they must be open
to reconsideration and reorientation. We hope that raising these points does not
mean we are "acting like a fringe group." Indeed, we hope there is an emerging
majority that favors a more open-minded and candid discussion of America's
pressing social problems.
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Catholic Charities is the social service outreach arm of the Catholic Church. While the Church does not fund our operations, the Diocese of Yakima ensures our programs and services support the Catholic mission of serving communities and individuals in need. In addition to grant funding and the Annual Christmas Collection for Catholic Charities, we rely on the generosity of our donors to provide their time, treasures, and talents to fulfill our mission of bringing hope to life, especially for those most in need. Please consider how you can best support Catholic Charities in your local community.
For more information:
Steve Wilmes
Director of Development
Catholic Charities Serving Central Washington
Ways to Give
- Donate Online: Click here to donate safely and securely online. Using your credit card, you can either make a one-time contribution or set up a recurring donation.
- Donate by Phone: Call Julie Heilman, 509.853.1303, to contribute using VISA, MasterCard, American Express, or Discover.
- Donate by Mail: Mail a check or money order payable to Catholic Charities Serving Central Washington to: Catholic Charities 5301 Tieton Drive, Suite E, Yakima, WA 98908-3478
There are many additional ways to support Catholic Charities:
- Employer Matching Gift Programs
- Gifts of Stocks, Bonds and Mutual Funds
- Non-Cash Gifts and Gifts of Property
- Gifts of Real Estate
- Gifts of Vehicles (http://ccyakima.careasy.org/HOME.html)
- Planned Gifts or Deferred Gifts
- Beneficiary Designation
- Gifts through Wills and Trusts. We suggest:
- In lieu of changing your entire will or trust, a simple codicil can be used. (Sample Codicil)
- "I give and bequeath to Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Yakima, the sum of ______ (or __% of my estate) to be used for the accomplishment of its general purposes (or for a specific purpose as indicated)."
- Monsignor Thomas C. Champoux Endowment Fund-This endowed fund in honor of Monsignor Champoux is a way to sustain the ministry to children and families most in need well into the future. For more information click here.


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Internet Searches for Suicide Spiked After Release of '13 Reasons Why'
When the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why was released this spring, educators and public-health experts expressed alarm. The drama, which was aimed at a young audience, not only focused on a teenager's suicide; as our Katie Kilkenny reported, it did so in a manner that "risks validating suicide as a means of gaining the sympathy of others."
Just-published research suggests their concerns were justified. A research team led by John Ayers of San Diego State University used Google Trends to determine how often the term "suicide," and related terms, were searched for on the Internet between March 31st (the series' release date) and April 18th.
"All suicide queries were cumulatively 19 percent higher for the 19 days following the release," the researchers report in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine. This reflects "900,0000 to 1.5 million more searches than expected."
"It is unclear whether any query preceded an actual suicide attempt," they add. "However, suicide research trends are correlated with actual suicides, media coverage of suicides concur with increased suicide attempts, and searches for precise suicide methods increased after the series' release."
They suggest that, as they write a second season of the show, the creators should consider "removing scenes showing suicide," or "including suicide hotline numbers in each episode." Drama is supposed to move viewers—not move them to contemplate taking their own lives.


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Julaine Appling
President, Wisconsin Family Action & Wisconsin Family Council
Founded in 2006, Wisconsin Family Action exists to inform Wisconsin citizens about pro-family legislative and cultural issues, involve Wisconsin citizens in activities that strengthen the family, prepare Wisconsin citizens for elections, as the law provides, and advocate in the state legislature on cultural and legislative issues that affect the family. WFA advances Judeo-Christian principles and values in Wisconsin by strengthening, preserving, and promoting marriage, family, life and liberty.
We are in a battle, but how can we successfully fight when half of the army refuses to engage and another twenty percent don't even know what side to take? As Christians, we are likened to soldiers of Christ. The warfare in this life is very real and even more intense in the spiritual realm and yet, many believers don't want to acknowledge the reality of this fight.
John R. W. Stott once said:
"We should not ask, 'What is wrong with the world?' for that diagnosis has already been given. Rather, we should ask, 'Where is the salt and light? Where is the Church? Why are the salt and light of Jesus Christ not permeating and changing our society?'"
From the family to the church to the community and culture, Christians have been too preoccupied with earthly, temporary concerns than seeking first the kingdom of God. I realize this seems like a broad statement, but don't you think America would look very different if true believers had been vocal and actively engaged in advancing the gospel over the last hundred years?
Today's guest is Julaine Appling of Wisconsin Family Council. We discuss everything from our local and state government to the transgender agenda which now includes Drag Queen story hours in our local libraries!
New Book Calls Mike Pence 'Most Successful Christian Supremacist'
Catholic League attests to 'homosexual takeover' of church


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The Bio-Imaging facility currently provides optical and video microscopy services. The facility is equipped with two confocal microscopes, a Leica TCS SP2, and a Perkin Elmer UltraVIEW ERS Spinning Disc confocal . In addition to confocal microscopy the facility is also equipped for bright field, phase contrast, modulation contrast and epi fluorescence microscopy. The facility has two separate wide field image analysis stations. A Nikon Optiphot microscope equipped with a color video system and Compix imaging software, and a Nikon Eclipse TE200 inverted scope. This inverted scope in specially configured to perform calcium ratio imaging is equipped with Molecular Devices Meta Fluor software The facility has recently expanded with the aquisition of a JEOL JEM-100C/CX Transmission Electron Microscope. The facility also is equiped with Typhoon 9410 scanner for the quantitation and localization of sub cellular fluorescent and radioactive molecules. In addition a Densitometer allows for the analysis of 1 and 2 D gels, Southern, northern and western blots and RFPL gels. The facility is also equipped with color and B&W laser printers for the production of publication quality graphics and presentation materials.
- Bio-Imaging data analysis service (Data analysis service) Image data analysis
- Bio-imaging instrumentation training (Service) Training : life science instruments, including microscopes, plate readers, gel imagers.
- Remote instrumentation service (Analysis service) Now a new service is ready for our remote users to get remote access to our advanced confocal microscopes for their own imaging purpose. Our service includes: (i) Leica SP2 confocal microscope: it is ideal for regular 2D & 3D scanning for fixed slide samples. Please check the following link for Leica SP2 system: Leica SP2 operational guide; (ii) Perkin Elmer spinning disk microscope: besides the regular 2D & 3D fixed slide scanning, it is also equipped with an environment chamber for live cell imaging. Also, this type of microscope system has fast scanning speed, it is ideal for cellular dynamic studies. Please check the following link for Perkin Elmer spinning disk microscope system: Spinning disk operational guide; (iii) Microscope remote control: Webex is used to setup the remote desktop sharing for microscope control. Please check the following link for Webex-based remote control operations: Webex remote control guide; (iv) PVX video conferencing for real-time consultation: during imaging experiment, PVX video conferencing system is used for real-time conversations between microscope operator and remote users to solve on-site experimental issues. Please check the following link for PVX real-time conferencing: PVX video conferencing operational guide. (v) Cell staining protocol: a simple cell staining protocol is posted here as an example: Sample staining protocol.
- Calcium Ratio & Micro Injection Inverted Microscope (Digital microscope) Compix Color Image Analysis System (Digital microscope) Gemini EM microplate spectrofluorometer (Microplate spectrophotometer) GloMax®-96 Microplate Luminometer (Instrument)
- JEOL JEM-100C/CX Transmission Electron Microscope (Transmission electron microscope)
- Leica Confocal Microscope TCS SP2 (Confocal microscope) Odyssey Infrared Imager (Infrared image acquisition device) Perkin Elmer UltraView ERS Spinning Disk Microscope (Digital microscope) PowerWave HT Microplate Spectrophotometer (Microplate spectrophotometer) Typhoon Imager 9410 (Gel imaging system)


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The Best Advice to Entrepreneurs - Don't Build a Dumb Idea
With all the advice for the TechCrunch50 floating around, here's something entrepreneurs need to hear – don't build something dumb.
I understand that founders put their blood, sweat, and tears into their companies so, I'm not trying to be cruel. In fact, I'm being kind by hopefully preventing them from wasting lots of time, effort, and money on an idea that will go nowhere.
The harsh reality is that some of the smartest entrepreneurs with the most innovative ideas fail for one reason or another (e.g., poor timing). Now, consider those chances for success when your foundation is a dumb idea.
You are wondering, "Am I building a dumb idea?" I am tempted to write a series of "You might be building a dumb idea if…," but I think Jeff Foxworthy has that bit covered. So, here are some ways to prevent you from building dumb ideas:
Note: There's a difference between dumb ideas and inane, gimmicky, childish, or immature ones that are well-executed. Consider some recent examples on the iPhone including iFart or most of Smule's apps, which I'm sure have made boatloads of cash. Also, while "dumb" may be subjective, there are plenty of ideas where we collectively were left scratching our heads.
Build What You Know
An easy way to not build a dumb idea is to focus on a marketplace you know. While it is not absolutely required, industry expertise will ensure your product or service includes the "no brainers" while also smartly addressing complexities, details, and edge cases.
If you have an idea that is outside a particular area of knowledge, try to surround yourself or consult with those that are subject matter experts. For consumer-focused applications, that could be as easy as working with those who are using similar products or services.
Market Research and Filling a Gap
You can lessen the chance of building a dumb idea if you know your market and your (prospective) customers' mindsets better than anyone else. That means not only knowing all the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors but also understanding complementary and alternative services or products. This approach is different than the first in that it might not be an industry that you have hands-on experience or intimate familiarity.
As I pointed to in my how to build a non-$0.99 iPhone app post, I'm a big fan of the blue ocean strategy. If you've never read the book, go buy a copy. The authors present a number of tools to help companies get out of the red waters of competition and into the blue oceans of new market space, including the strategy canvas and the four actions framework.
A key point of the blue ocean strategy is to look at competitors and non-competitors and customers and non-customers. This perspective allows the proper defining of the "factors of competition" for the strategy canvas and subsequently which factors need to be eliminated, reduced, created, or raised to plot the new value curve.
Consiglieri and Junto
While you can look to "insiders" to help validate your idea, don't underestimate the importance of insights from consiglieri or members of your Junto.
You might remember the word "consigliere" from The Godfather, which means "counselor" or "advisor." Having people you trust, and trust in the sense that they will give you sound, objective, non-ego stroking advice is critical to ensuring you don't veer into the lands of dumb ideas. Your consiglieri (that's the plural form) should likely not be your peers and preferably should consist of mentors, seasoned business execs, or startup veterans.
Benjamin Franklin initially created the *Leather Apron Club, *also called "Junto," as a way to facilitate discussion among similar-spirited individuals about improving Philadelphia. It later evolved as a way for its members to to improve themselves and their community. A key element to the Junto was that the members had diverse professional backgrounds. Hopefully, you have a group of colleagues and friends – your "Junto" – that are outside your professional bubble, who can keep you grounded, in touch with reality, and provide alternate yet informed viewpoints. These people should be another sounding board for avoiding building a dumb idea.
Minimum Viable Product
According to Eric Ries, the goal of the minimum viable product (MVP) is to build a, "product which has just those features and no more that allows you to ship a product that early adopters see and, at least some of whom resonate with, pay you money for, and start to gave you feedback on."
Like how Tim Ferriss came up with the name of his bestseller The Four Hour Work Week, Eric describes how a landing page and a pay-per-click campaign can be used as a quick, barebones (and super cheap!) way to discover what products or product features customers are willing to purchase.
Customer Development Model
The Minimum Viable Product and the "lean startup" philosophy are based off of Steven Blank's The Four Steps to the Epiphany. Professor Blank is in the midst of his series on the customer development manifesto, where he provides the background on why the traditional product development approach fails and what the customer development model is about (my emphasis):
The greatest risk in startups -and hence the greatest cause of failure-is not the technology risk of developing a product but in the risk of developing customers and markets. Startups don't fail because they lack a product; they fail because they lack customers and a profitable business model. This alone should be a pretty good clue about what's wrong with using the product development diagram as the sole guide to what a startup needs to be doing. Look at the Product Development model and you might wonder, "Where are the customers?"
The reality for most startups today is that the product development model focuses all their attention on activities that go on inside a company's own building. While customer input may be a checkpoint or "gate" in the process, it doesn't drive it.
Concluding Thoughts
These are just a handful of ways to check yourself before you wreck yourself. Do they ensure success and a huge exit? No. Will they absolutely prevent you from joining the dead pool? No. But they will work to prevent that by putting you on the path to success.
Join thousands reading my insights on remote strategy, leadership, & operations.


text: Local/State News 52-year-old Richland woman killed in ATV accident in Redfield August 25, 2018 REDFIELD, NY — On 08/24/18, at approximately 9:44pm the Oswego County Sheriff's Office responded to a motor vehicle accident on County Route 2 in the Town of Redfield approximately two miles west of County Route 17. The motor vehicle was a red Polaris ATV four-wheeler. The ATV left the north side of the roadway at a curve in the road traveling up an embankment and then striking several trees. The operator and sole passenger were identified as 52-year-old Diane L. Graham of Richland, NY, according to deputies. Ms. Graham was pronounced dead while being transported to the hospital by Mcfee Ambulance. Alcohol appears to be a factor in the crash, deputies said. Investigation is continuing.


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Jose Altuve has done what Jose Altuve does and so it's World Series time again, the Astros back for the second time in three years, the Nationals there for their first time in infinity years, so we return to our annual exercise: who was the greatest Astro/National? (Last year: the greatest Red Sox / Dodger.) By which, just to have a good pool of players to work from, we mean Astro/National/Expo? This time the answer's uncontroversial: it's Rusty Staub. I think of Staub as a Met, because that's what he was when I was a kid, and that's who he played the most seasons for, but Staub came up with Houston and spent three years of his prime (and, much later, 38 games of his non-prime) in Montreal. I never knew this guy was so good! In 1969 he had a .426 on-base percentage and hit 29 home runs, a lot back then, and got one measly MVP vote.
Anyway, Staub put together 17.4 WAR in his three seasons in Montreal and 13.1 more in 6 years with the Astros. Good satisfyingly balanced answer this year.
If you restrict to players who played for the Nationals, not their Quebecois predecessors, the pickings are a lot slimmer. Looks like Justin Maxwell and Mark Melancon are the best bets. I guess I give the edge to Maxwell just because he played multiple seasons for each team.


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2 posts in archive
Reversing DirtyC0W
10 Sep 2017 by Fred - Technical - Reverse Engineering Kernel Race-condition REVEN
Everybody keeps in mind the Dirtyc0w Linux kernel bug. For those who don't, take some time to refresh your memory here. The kernel race condition is triggered from user-space and can easily lead a random local user to write into any root owned file. In this article, we will demonstrate...
Unfolding obfuscated code with Reven (part 2)
25 Jan 2017 by tdta - Technical - Reverse Engineering Deobfuscation ctf REVEN
Last time, by abstracting the runtime effect of the first virtual machine, we have reduced the challenge to a simpler but semantically equivalent program. Its control flow graph has a unique entry point as the basic block starting at 0x402048, whereas ones at 0x4023d4 and at 0x40266e are exit points...


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Romina Di Federico is an internationally accredited Yoga and Meditation teacher and is recognised and respected as one of Yoga Australia's registered yoga therapists and senior yoga teachers. Romina has been practicing yoga for the past 20 years and has been teaching since 2004.
Romina's classes are creative expressions of breath and movement. She'll encourage you to move intuitively, guide you to channel your energy positively and inspire you to live with absolute authenticity and grace. She designs her classes to align with each season and applies her knowledge of Ayurveda and pranayama to ensure you remain in the 'flow' and balanced.
In all her work Romina is passionate about helping you to transform and to open your heart and mind to all that is possible through the practice of yoga.
Currently based in Sydney, Romina specialises in yoga therapy, runs regular retreats, workshops, private sessions, courses, and corporate classes.
If you're seeking to transform and open your heart and mind contact Romina today to find out how and where she can support your journey.