text:
Andrew Harris serves as coach of both the men's and women's tennis teams. He is also the director of the Lipscomb Racquet Club.
Harris served as head coach for the Bisons tennis team for the first time during the 2009-2010 season. He was named the women's coach July 26, 2010.
Then Bisons finished 1-9 in Atlantic Sun play last season, but Athletic Director Phillip Hutcheson has full confidence that Harris will grow the program to a competitive level.
"Coach Harris has done a tremendous job in his initial efforts to build a competitive men's program," Lipscomb athletic director Philip Hutcheson said. "In fact, this coming year, based upon national and USTA rankings, we anticipate him bringing in the strongest recruiting class in Lipscomb men's tennis history. He and I both anticipate that through similar efforts on behalf of our women's program, he will be able to achieve similar results in continuing to improve the quality of the teams."
"Through his coaching and recruiting efforts, Coach Harris will continue to help us move forward competitively. But along with that, he has already helped to cultivate new interest in Lipscomb tennis through his work with our clinics, camps, leagues and lessons within the Lipscomb Racquet Club. We are experiencing an interest in Lipscomb tennis from people and places that we've never reached before and we feel that with his involvement with both the men's and women's programs that interest will continue to grow."
Harris is a native of Atlanta, Ga., and is a graduate of Greater Atlanta Christian School. He is married to the former Emily Ellis who played tennis for the Lady Bisons. Emily is director of campus recreation.
Harris served two years as the associate head coach for men's tennis. He also spent one season as a graduate assistant in 2006. Harris played both No. 1 and No. 2 singles for the Bisons during his tennis career.
"Above all else, Coach Harris has kept the Christian character part of our program front and center throughout his efforts," Hutcheson said. "He has proven that he can lead a program that is improving in all areas without sacrificing the core values that make it stand out from most all other Division One programs and we are confident that we will enjoy more of the same for years to come with him leading both programs."
Harris became director of the Lipscomb Racquet Club in April of this year.
"Since the completion of the new tennis center and the racquet club, we will continue to be forward thinkers in the way we introduce the city of Nashville to our university and our tennis programs," Harris said. "Our athletes will not just be tennis players but true ambassadors for the game of tennis and furthering the mission of the university."


text:
Kneehigh to Return to St. Ann's Warehouse with THE WILD BRIDE, 2/23-3/17
St. Ann's Warehouse welcomes back Kneehigh and director Emma Rice for the New York premiere of The Wild Bride. In this adaptation of The Brothers Grimm fairy tale "The Girl Without Hands," narrated by Satan himself, a father accidentally sells his daughter to the Devil. When our heroine cleverly escapes, a lyrical love story laced with devilish humor unfolds. The production features a bluegrass score by longtime Kneehigh composer Stu Barker, performed by live musicians and the cast.
Performances of The Wild Bride will take place at the new St. Ann's Warehouse (29 Jay Street) February 23-March 17 (see above schedule). Critics are welcome as of Tuesday, February 26 for an official opening on Wednesday, February 27.
The Wild Bride comes to St. Ann's Warehouse on the heels of tremendous acclaim internationally and at Berkeley Rep, where it made its American premiere last year, and where the production is in the midst of an encore run until it comes to Brooklyn.
The Wild Bride is classic Kneehigh: an adaptation of a canonical work for which Rice and her collaborators bring to bear lush design, live bluegrass music (by Stu Barker, with lyrics by Carl Grose), movement (by Etta Murfitt) and other theatrical tools to create a world at once dark and humorous. The designers-including Bill Mitchell (sets), Myriddin Wannell (costumes), Malcolm Rippeth (lighting) and Simon Baker (sound)-produce a stunning elemental landscape of dust, clay and fire. Rippeth and Baker were on the award-winning design team for Brief Encounter.
Our heroine, over the course of her life, continually finds herself at a crossroads. Betrayed by her father, she chooses to walk into the wilderness, rejecting not only the Devil, but her home as well. In the wild she meets a prince and becomes pregnant, but when he is called to war, her heart breaks. She brings up her child in the cool green of the forest and, miraculously, her broken heart grows back. It's a tale of love, loss, betrayal, desire, obsession, sin and redemption.
The cast features three brides: Audrey Brisson as the Girl, Patrycja Kujawska as the Wild and Etta Murfitt as the Woman; as well as Stuart Goodwin as the Father and the Prince; Andrew Durand (the lead from Warhorse on Broadway) as the Devil; and the musicians Ian Ross and Damon Daunno.
St. Ann's Warehouse has become the New York home of Cornwall-based Kneehigh, to which The New York Times has ascribed "ingenious story-theater stagecraft." The relationship began in 2009, when St. Ann's premiered director Emma Rice's adaptation of Noël Coward's Brief Encounter, which went on to a successful run on Broadway at Studio 54. In 2010, the company returned to St. Ann's with The Red Shoes, an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale in which Patrycja Kujawska gave a tour-de-force performance as The Girl.
Tickets $35-$55 can be purchased online at www.stannswarehouse.org, by phone at 718.254.8779 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-7pm) or 866.811.4111 (Mon-Fri, 9am-9pm; Sat and Sun, 10am-6pm) and in person at the St. Ann's Warehouse Box Office at 29 Jay Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn (Tue-Sat, 1pm-7pm).
Audrey Brisson (The Girl) trained at the Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 2009. She also studied Classical Singing at Cegep St-Laurent, Canada. As a child and teenager, Brisson worked extensively with Cirque du Soleil as a vocalist and performer. She performed in their international tours of Réinventé (1989) and Quidam (1996-2000). She also performed in the papal event at Yankee Stadium (2008). Since graduation, Brisson has appeared in films including Hereafter, directed by Clint Eastwood, W.E. directed by Madonna, and for television, a new drama adaptation of Martin Amis' novel Money (BBC).
Patrycja Kujawska (The Wild) studied at the Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland, graduating in violin performance. She has performed with Dada von Bzdulow Theatre since 1994 and composed the music to Dada's The Doom of the People or My Liver Has No Sense. In 2007 she was awarded a grant from Arts Council England, Yorkshire to compose music inspired by French sculptor Sabrina Gruss. She was worked with Kneehigh since 2008, in the leading role of The Girl in the company's production The Red Shoes, in the RSC coproduction Don John, and in Midnight's Pumpkin, in addition to The Wild Bride. Other theater credits include roles in Motherland (2012), If We Go On (2009), Test Run (2008 and 2006), Fairy Tale (2006), Broken Chords (2005), Punch Drunk (2004), Let The Mountains Lead You To Love (2003) and Drop Dead Gorgeous (2001). Kujawska lives in Bristol.
Andrew Durand (The Devil) previously worked with Rice and Kneehigh on The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, in which he played the role of Guy in London's West End. On Broadway he has appeared in War Horse as Albert Narracott, and in Spring Awakening as Georg. His Off-Broadway credits include The Burnt Part Boys (Vineyard Theater, Playwrights Horizons) and Yank! (York Theater), and his regional work includes The Unauthorized Autobiography of Samantha Brown (Goodspeed). He earned a BFA from the Boston Conservatory.
Damon Daunno (Musician) is an actor and musician from New Jersey. He previously worked with Kneehigh on the Broadway run of Encounter. Other credits include The Last Goodbye (Williamstown) and Jesus in India (Magic Theater). He is a Tisch graduate.
Stuart Goodwin (The Father and The Prince) has worked on a variety of projects including Peak Practice, The Three Musketeers (The Young Vic, London), The Lieutenant Of Inishmore (Royal Shakespeare Company), Two Clouds Over Eden (Royal Exchange, Manchester, State of Play, BAFTA winner), Cashback (Oscar nominee) and Midnight's Pumpkin (Asylum, Cornwall and Battersea Arts Centre, London). He graduated from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Ian Ross (Musician) is a multi-instrumentalist and composer. With Bristol-based ska/hip-hop phenomenon Babyhead, the swing ska group the Zen Hussies, Anoushka Shankar and others, Ross has performed extensively at venues ranging from New York Fashion Week to the Jazz World Stage at Glastonbury Festival. As a composer, his theater credits include Hansel & Gretel (Kneehigh), A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings (Kneehigh and The Little Angel), Frankenspine / Mayday Mayday (Damfino), When the Shops Shut (Cscape) and Universerama (Squashbox). As a musician: Brief Encounter (Kneehigh), Don John (Kneehigh), Hansel & Gretel (Kneehigh), The Red Shoes (Kneehigh), The King of Prussia (Kneehigh), Midnight's Pumpkin (Kneehigh), The Wild Bride (Kneehigh) and Peter Pan (Bristol Old Vic). As a film composer: Weekend Retreat (O-region).
Emma Rice (Adaptor & Director) is the Joint Artistic Director of Kneehigh Theatre. For Kneehigh, she has directed The Red Shoes (2002 Theatrical Management Association (TMA) Theatre Award for Best Director), The Wooden Frock (2004 TMA Theatre Award nomination for Best Touring Production), The Bacchae (2005 TMA Theatre Award for Best Touring Production), Tristan & Yseult (2006 TMA Theatre Award nomination for Best Touring Production), Cymbeline (in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, for The Complete Works festival), A Matter of Life and Death (Royal National Theatre production in association with Kneehigh Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (tour and West End; Studio 54, Broadway a David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Production in association with Kneehigh Theatre), Don John (in association with the Royal Shakespeare Company and Bristol Old Vic), Midnight's Pumpkin and The Wild Bride. Rice was nominated for the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Director for Brief Encounter. Her latest work includes the West End production of Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy for Spymonkey, Wah! Wah! Girls for World Stages (Sadler's Wells, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Kneehigh) and Steptoe and Son, which continues its UK tour this spring. This year she will direct The Empress for the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Stu Barker (Composer & Performer) has worked extensively as composer/musical director with Kneehigh Theatre over the last sixteen years. Shows as composer/MD include A Matter of Life and Death / Tristan And Yseult (Royal National Theatre), Brief Encounter (Broadway/West End), Cymbeline / Don John (RSC), Hansel And Gretel (Bristol Old Vic), The Bacchae / The Wooden Frock (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Nights At The Circus / The Red Shoes (Lyric Hammersmith), The Wild Bride, Rapunzel (BAC), Pandora's Box (Northern Stage) and Midnight Pumpkin. As a composer and MD, Barker has also worked with Shakespeare's Globe, Bristol Old Vic, Donmar Warehouse, Welfare State International, Contact Theatre, Liverpool Lantern Company, Travelling Light and Horse And Bamboo. Recently, Barker has been touring as trombonist with C. W Stoneking & His Primitive Horn Orchestra.
Carl Grose (Text & Lyrics) has worked extensively with Kneehigh for the past seventeen years, as both a writer and an actor. His writing for the company includes Quick Silver, Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, Wagstaffe the Wind-Up Boy, Blast!, Cymbeline and Hansel & Gretel. Grose has also written for BBC TV and Radio, Vesturport, Told By An Idiot, o-region, Spymonkey, the RSC and The National Theatre. His plays include Grand Guignol, Superstition Mountain, 49 Donkeys Hanged, Gargantua and Horse Piss For Blood. Grose is currently writing shows for Bristol Old Vic, the National and the RSC, and a new version of The Beggar's Opera for Kneehigh.
Etta Murfitt (Choreographer & Performer) trained at London Contemporary Dance School. She created roles for Adventures in Motion Pictures (AMP) between 1991 and 2002 and became Assistant Artistic Director in 1995. Upon its conception in 2002 Etta was appointed Associate Director of Matthew Bourne's New Adventures, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. She has performed with the company in various productions, such as The Nutcracker, Cinderella, The Car Man and Swan Lake.
Other choreography and movement direction credits include: A Chorus of Disapproval (Harold Pinter Theatre, dir. Trevor Nunn), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (West Yorkshire Playhouse, dir. Sarah Esdaille), Steptoe & Son (Kneehigh Theatre), Rufus Norris' Sleeping Beauty (Birmingham Rep), The Wild Bride & Midnight's Pumpkin (Kneehigh Theatre); Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead (dir. Sir Trevor Nunn for Chichester Festival Theatre 2011 & Theatre Royal Haymarket), Le nozze di Figaro (diR. Martin Lloyd-Evans for Holland Park Opera), The Way of the World (dir. Selina Cadell at Wilton's Music Hall), AMP's Nutcracker! (Sadler's Wells), AMP's The Infernal Galop (for Images of Dance and Sarasota Ballet, Florida), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Dawn French, dir. Matthew Francis at the Albery Theatre).
TV and film credits include Clara in Nutcracker! (BBC/NVC), Rita in The Car Man (Channel 4), Rehearsal Director for Swan Lake (BBC), Late Flowering Lust (BBC), Roald Dahl's Red Riding Hood (BBC), Mrs Hartley and the Growth Centre (BBC) and Storm (Aletta Collins/BBC Dance for the Camera)
Murfitt teaches throughout the UK and abroad for dance companies and dance institutions, and is a freelance faculty member of the London Contemporary Dance School and Young Place.
Malcolm Rippeth (Lighting Designer) has worked with Kneehigh since 2002, lighting Brief Encounter, The Red Shoes, Steptoe & Son, Wah! Wah! Girls, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Midnight's Pumpkin, Blast!, The King of Prussia, Don John, Cymbeline, Nights at the Circus, The Bacchae and Pandora's Box. His work with other companies and venues includes The Dead (Abbey, Dublin), The Promise (Donmar Warehouse), London (Paines Plough), West Side Story (The Sage Gateshead), Stones in His Pockets (Tricycle), Decade (Headlong Theatre at St. Katharine Docks), Spur of the Moment (Royal Court), Six Characters in Search of an Author (West End), HMS Pinafore (Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis), Calendar Girls (West End/Australia/Canada), The Pitchfork Disney (Arcola), The Field (Dublin), The Devil Inside Him (National Theatre Wales), The Winslow Boy (Kingston), His Dark Materials (Birmingham Rep), Crash (West Yorkshire Playhouse), The Bloody Chamber (Northern Stage), The Seven Year Itch (Salisbury), Hamlet (English Touring Theatre), Copenhagen (Edinburgh Royal Lyceum), Tutti Frutti (National Theatre of Scotland), A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings (Little Angel), Armida (Garsington Opera), Carmen Jones (Royal Festival Hall), Seven Deadly Sins (Welsh National Opera) and Designer Body (balletLORENT). Rippeth won a 2010 OBIE as a member of the design team for Brief Encounter in New York and the 2009 Theatregoers' Choice Award for Best Lighting Designer for his work on Brief Encounter and Six Characters in Search of an Author in the West End.
Bill Mitchell (Set Designer) joined Kneehigh in 1987 and was Artistic Director from 1997 to 2005, when he left to establish WILDWORKS, a site specific/landscape theater company whose works include A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings (2005), Souterrain (2006-07) and The Beautiful Journey (2009). In 2010 WILDWORKS created a series of installations called The Enchanted Palace inside 23 rooms for Kensington Palace, and in 2011 made The Passion in Port Talbot with National Theatre Wales (TMA award best director 2011 with Michael Sheen). Among the many Kneehigh productions on which Mitchell has collaborated with Emma Rice are The Red Shoes, Tristan & Yseult, The Bacchae, Wooden Frock, Nights at the Circus and A Matter of Life and Death.
Myriddin Wannell (Costume Designer) is a theater designer and visual artist based in Cornwall. After graduating with a BA (Hons) in Theatre Design at Wimbledon School of Art, he went to Cornwall to work toward a second degree, in Fine Art, at University College Falmouth. Wannell has worked alongside Bill Mitchell as associate designer for WILDWORKS since the company's creation in 2005. Shows to his include A VERY OLD Man with Enormous Wings (2005), Souterrain (2006-07), The Beautiful Journey (2009) and The Memory Projector (2009). Recent projects include a two-year residency at Kensington Palace with The Enchanted Palace and The Passion, a site-specific collaboration between WILDWORKS, Michael Sheen and National Theatre Wales. Wannell has worked extensively in the UK, France, Germany, Romania, Australia and Africa.
Simon Baker's (Sound Designer) recent credits include Matilda The Musical (RSC and Cambridge Theatre, 2012 Olivier Award for Best Sound), Merry Wives of Windsor (RSC), Steptoe & Son (Kneehigh Theatre, UK tour), Looserville (West Yorkshire Playhouse/Garrick Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Old Vic), Wah! Wah! Girls (Saddlers Wells), Angus Thongs and Even More Snogging (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Batman Live (World Arena Tour), Me and My Girl (Sheffield), The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg (Lyric Theatre), The Real Thing (Old Vic), The Norman Conquests (Old Vic and Broadway), Late Middle Classes (Donmar), La Bête (Comedy Theatre and Broadway), Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane and Toronto, 2007 Olivier Nomination for Best Sound), Deathtrap (Noel Coward Theatre), Boeing Boeing (Comedy Theatre and Broadway, 2007 Tony Nomination for Best Sound) and Di and Viv and Rose (Hampstead Downstairs). He worked on the Bridge Project for BAM/Old Vic Theatre in 2009, The Birds (Dublin) and Closer To Heaven (Arts Theatre). His Kneehigh work includes Brief Encounter (London, WYP, UK and U.S. tours, Broadway and St. Ann's Warehouse, 2011 Tony Nomination for Best Sound), Don John (RSC and international tour), The Red Shoes (international tour), Midnights Pumpkin and all three years of Kneehigh's Asylum Season.
Andy Graham (Associate Sound Designer) graduated from Mountview Theatre School in 2001 with a BA (Hons) in Technical Theatre. As a sound operator, he has worked on West End productions of The King & I, The Full Monty, Contact, Jerry Springer The Opera (Olivier Award for Best Sound), Guys And Dolls (Olivier Nomination), The Lord Of The Rings (Olivier Nomination) and Loserville. He also worked on Our House (UK tour and 10th Anniversary Production). For Kneehigh, Graham has worked as an operator and Associate Sound Designer on Brief Encounter (UK tour, US tour and Broadway - Tony Nomination for Best Sound), The Red Shoes (UK, US and Australia), and The Wild Bride (UK, US and New Zealand). Recent solo design work and collaborations include Oedipussy for Spymonkey, Mary Rose for Dog Orange, Allegro for LSMT, and Jekyll and Hyde for Vienna's English Theatre (Vienna and European Tour). Graham was also a sound operator for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Paul Crewes' (Producer) role at Kneehigh follows his position as a producer at the West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds, where he set up over 40 productions as well as collaborations with Kneehigh (The Wooden Frock and The Bacchae), Improbable Theatre, Teatre Romea, National Theatre and with commercial and West End producers. Other work includes producing the UK tour of Doorman, with his own company in 2005; serving as Associate Producer for the Lowry, including producing King Cotton in 2007; and working for Metal with Jude Kelly. Crewes has worked for Kneehigh since 2005 and has produced Tristan & Yseult (UK, Sydney, New Zealand and the U.S), Cymbeline (UK, Columbia and Brazil), Rapunzel (UK and the U.S.), Don John (UK and the U.S.), Hansel & Gretel, Brief Encounter (U.S. tour), the launch of the Kneehigh Asylum (featuring The Red Shoes, Blast!, The King of Prussia), the 2010 tour of The Red Shoes (UK, the U.S. and Australia), Midnight's Pumpkin (Kneehigh Asylum 2011 & BAC 2012), The Wild Bride (Kneehigh Asylum 2011, UK & U.S. tours) and Steptoe & Son (UK tour 2012).
Based in Cornwall, Kneehigh is celebrated as one of the UK's most exciting theatre companies. For over 30 years, the company has created vigorous, popular and challenging theatre for audiences locally, nationally and internationally. Using a multi-talented team of performers, directors, designers, sculptors, administrators, engineers, musicians and writers, Kneehigh perform with the joyful anarchy that audiences have come to expect from a ground-breaking theatre company.
Kneehigh productions include Steptoe and Son (UK Tour 2012/13) The Wild Bride (UK Tour, San Francisco, New York, New Zealand 2011/12/13); Midnight's Pumpkin (The Asylum, Cornwall 2011, Battersea Arts Centre, 2012); The Red Shoes (UK Tour 2001/2, Winner of TMA for Best Director 2002, UK Tour, USA and Australia 2010/11), Hansel & Gretel (UK Tour 2010/11), Don John (UK Tour 2008/9), Brief Encounter (West End 2008, UK Tour and USA Tour 2009, Broadway 2010), A Matter of Life and Death (Royal National Theatre 2007), Rapunzel (BAC, UK Tour and New York 2007/8), Cymbeline (UK and International Tour 2007/2008) and Tristan and Yseult (Royal National Theatre and UK Tour 2006).
Forthcoming productions include Steptoe and Son (UK Tour 2013), A VERY OLD Man With Enormous Wings (in association with Little Angel Theatre, UK tour 2013), The Wild Bride (US tour 2013), Tristan & Yseult (UK and US tour 2013), Brief Encounter (Australia & US tour 2013/14), and a new version of The Beggar's Opera (opening in the UK in 2014).For over 30 years, St. Ann's has commissioned, produced and presented an eclectic body of innovative theater and concert presentations that meet at the intersection of theater and rock and roll. Since 2001, the organization has helped vitalize the emerging Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood, DUMBO, where St. Ann's Warehouse has become one of New York City's most important and compelling live performance destinations. After twelve years at 38 Water Street, St. Ann's has activated a new warehouse at 29 Jay, which will be home for the next three years, while the organization designs and raises funds to adapt the Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park into a thriving cultural center.
Through its signature multi-artist concerts and groundbreaking music/theater collaborations, St. Ann's Warehouse has become the artistic home for the American avant-garde, international companies of stature and award-winning emerging artists. Highly acclaimed landmark productions include Lou Reed's and John Cale's Songs for 'Drella; Marianne Faithfull's Seven Deadly Sins; Artistic Director Susan Feldman's Band in Berlin; Charlie Kaufman and the Coen Brothers' Theater of the New Ear; The Royal Court Theater's 4:48 Psychosis; The Globe Theatre of London's Measure for Measure; Druid Company's The Walworth Farce, The New Electric Ballroom and Penelope; Enda Walsh's Misterman, featuring Cillian Murphy; Lou Reed's Berlin; the National Theater of Scotland's acclaimed Black Watch, and Kneehigh Theatre's Brief Encounter; The Baxter Theatre Centre's Mies Julie; and Dmitry Krymov Lab's Opus No. 7. St. Ann's has championed such artists as The Wooster Group, Jeff Buckley, Cynthia Hopkins, Enda Walsh, Emma Rice, and Daniel Kitson.
St. Ann's Warehouse has been awarded the Ross Wetzsteon OBIE Award for the development of new work. The OBIE Award Committee honored St. Ann's for "inviting artists to treat their cavernous DUMBO space as both an inspiring laboratory and a sleek venue where its super-informed audience charges the atmosphere with hip vitality."

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Seminole Invitational Final Results
April 13, 2013
TALLAHASSEE, Fla.– A school record and a dozen personal-best performances on the final day of the Seminole Invitational provided the Florida State men's and women's track & field teams with momentum heading into next week's ACC Championship meet.
"The thing that we look for the week before the conference meet is that the athletes are locked-in, zoned-in, competing hard and ready to get to that meet," Florida State coach Bob Braman said. "They're ready. I think our mental focus was really good."
Junior Chelsea Whalen's quest for the school record in the shot put ended with a breakthrough mark Saturday at Mike Long Track, when she uncorked a throw of 16.23 meters (53-3). The winning throw pushed her past Allyn Laughlin's four-year-old school standard (16.17m/53-0.75) and came one week after she moved into a tie for second place on FSU's all-time list with a throw of 16.15 at the Florida Relays.
The Seminoles accomplished quite a few of their goals over the two-day meet. The men's 4×100 and 4×400 relay teams put together performances worthy of getting into the fast heats at next week's ACC Championship meet in Raleigh, N.C., winning in 40.14 and 3:08.24, respectively.
As an added bonus, the FSU women's 4×400 team capped the day with what the coaching staff believes is the fastest time by a Seminole quartet in four seasons, winning in 3:38.42.
Individually, there was no shortage of highlights. Freshman Georgia Peel and sophomore Colleen Quigley rolled to a 1-2 finish in the 1500-meter run in 4:14.40 and 4:15.65. Those marks not only rank seventh and eighth in school history, but currently rank second and third, nationally. Sophomore Linden Hall was fifth in a lifetime-best 4:21.68., which should stand as an NCAA East Preliminary qualifying mark.
Saturday opened with sophomore Markindey Sineus registering the best hammer throw of his career – 59.07 meters (193-9) – which moved him into fifth on FSU's all-time list and gave the Seminoles the first of 10 wins on the day.
Junior Marecia Pemberton continued her comeback season with a season-best winning time of 11.64 in the 100-meter dash.
Tallahassee native and FSU junior Elizabeth Ichite led a 1-2 finish by the Seminoles in the 400-meter dash, winning in a career-best time of 53.14. FSU freshman Sage Watson chased her across the finish line with a season-best time of 53.54. Ichite and Watson also teamed with Sarah Chandler and anchor Marsha Ariol on the winning 4×400 relay.
On the men's side, freshman Zak Seddon pulled away on the final lap to capture the 1500-meter run in a solid time of 3:48.03. The men's makeshift 4×100 relay team of David Ambler, Dentarius Locke, Andrew Lahaye and James Harris secured the `Noles a spot in the fast heat of the ACC Championship meet with a winning time of 40.14. It marked the first time in three attempts this season that FSU was able to get the stick around the track this season.
Locke and Harris were joined by Alonzo Russell and Darrin Gibson on the winning 4×400 relay team.
A pair of Seminoles competing as unattached athletes – Josh Mance and Jake Burton – added to the victory total. Mance was the runaway winning in the 400-meter dash in a season-best 45.43, while Burton claimed the 800 in a lifetime-best mark of 1:50.07.
Beyond the wins, the `Noles also received season-best marks from a pair of freshman women. Hannah Acton was the runner-up in the pole vault (3.90m/12-9.50), while Kellion Knibb placed third in the shot put with a lifetime-best (15.10m/49-6.50).
"Whalen was big. Georgia Peel had the No. 3 or No. 4 performance in the country," Braman said. "That was big-time for Markindey. I want to give him a shout-out. The 4×400 ran 3:08 low and the 4×100 got in the fast heat at the ACC meet. The women's 4×400 ran 3:38. And Elizabeth (Ichite) was big-time. She almost cracked into 52s. …
"Yesterday the field events were big. Today, the running events – that middle distance group from 400-800-1500 – was on fire. It was a good day. This Monday looks a lot brighter than last Monday."


text:
ObjectiveThe Gabelli Global Content and Connectivity Fund primarily seeks to provide investors with appreciation of capital. Current income is a secondary objective of the Fund.
Principal Investment Strategies:
The companies in which the Fund may invest are engaged in the following products, services, or activities: telecommunications services (including data, video, voice, advanced IP-based services, corporate networking solutions, messaging and other communication and connectivity applications based on established and emerging technologies); telecommunications infrastructure and equipment; media & entertainment (including television; radio; cable networks; filmed, live, and digital entertainment; advertising; publishing; emerging forms of digital and interactive content; eSports; and eGaming);consumer electronics; e-commerce & information technology (including Internet software and services; application, systems, and home entertainment software; IT consulting, data processing, and technology hardware and equipment). Additional cross-industry investment focus areas include: cloud computing, The Internet of Things ("IoT") (including solutions related to connected vehicle, connected home, smart city, smart grid), Big Data, artificial intelligence, machine learning, robotics, cybersecurity, virtual reality, augmented reality, digital convergence, biometric and wearable devices, eHealth, eGovernment, financial technology, over -the-top ("OTT") content and applications, and software-as-a-service ("SaaS").
The Fund may appeal to you if:
The Gabelli Global Content & Connectivity Fund
Portfolio details
Returns represent past performance and do not guarantee future results. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate so, upon redemption, shares may be worth more or less than their original cost. To obtain the most recent month end performance information and a prospectus, please call 800-GABELLI or visit www.gabelli.com
The Fund invests in foreign securities which involves risks not ordinarily associated with investments in domestic issues, including currency fluctuation, economic and political risks. Funds concentrating in specific sectors may experience greater fluctuations in value than funds that are more diversified.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Fund before investing. The prospectus, which contains more complete information about this and other matters, should be read carefully before investing. To obtain a prospectus, please call 800-GABELLI or visit www.gabelli.com.
The Gabelli Mutual Funds are distributed by G.distributors, LLC., a registered broker-dealer and member of FINRA.


text:
Bob Gallagher necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 85 diseños de 21 diseñadores freelance.
We are a new company offering smartphone app development and marketing, as well as helping brands to market themselves using popular apps as a promotional platform.
We are operating in a highly competitive space so our site must stand out. We are a creative company and want our site to show that we have an interesting personality without jeopardising the professionalism that must also be portrayed.
We will be working with both independent developers and big brands. Developers will be from the tech space while brands will be from various non-tech markets. It will be marketing executives at the brands who we must impress, so again this must be achieved by balancing creativity and character with professionalism.
We want our site to be clean, fresh and "web 2.0" in style. It doesn't have to be ground breaking, just striking and effective.
Tagline: The agency that's everything "app"
Links: Home | Development | App Marketing | Brand Marketing | Blog | Contact
Front page copy is attached.
I want the three services we are offering to be detailed alongside each other. Each will have a matching image (see attached powerpoint slide). These images are currently being modified (colour being changed to green) but can be used for layout purposes.
Somewhere to display individual quotes from clients on rotation is also something to include.
Our brand colours are two shades of green (see logo), white and light grey.
Please message me for any more information or to answer any questions.


text: Arsham Imen (AICO) is a leading Engineering Services provider, Established in 2008 in the areas of Safety, Health, Environment, Quality and Fire Engineering. We assist clients to address the avoidance of loss in a cost effective and practical manner. Arsham Imen (AICO) has footprints in various countries around the world, where we have assisted Hundreds of organizations to increase..More


text:
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
AMERICAN BOB: "Beyond Better"
I'm glad to be bringing this show back - feels good to be doing the political thing "on it's own," especially given how crazy this election year is already getting.
30 comments:
- Fault-Finder said...
You know Bob, great episode, fan of AmericanBob etc... but did you really, REALLY have to take this opportunity to bash the midwest? Being a North Carolinian, I technically fall into your "ok," category, but I recognize a Yankee being an ass when I see it. Sorry, I genuinely like your stuff, and how outspoken you are and so on, and to be fair, I understand that a lot of these issues are worse in areas like mine (though NC is by no means the worst place) but... that's just something I'm not cool with. In keeping with the theme of your video, the emphasis should be on a need for improvement, not damnation. While I understand that's not really relevant to your topic and you've only got so much time, if you weren't going to tackle this issue in any depth, then there was no need to antagonize someone for living somewhere different from you.
- Rob said...
Yay! Bob's becoming an atheist?
- James said...
Brief reminder: Gary Johnson is the ONLY presidential candidate who supports gay marriage rights. Obama and the GOP candidates are opposed to same-sex marriage.
Bob didnt say anything about NC he just talked about opposing bigotry...
where ever it is. And there is a difference between the freedom to choose the way you live and the freedom to insult (in pretty much every form of media with a free pass) and deny a legitimate portion of the human race freedoms that you yourself enjoy. The reason civil rights in the 60's were so powerful was that people; Black and white were outrage at the way their fellow man was being mistreated. Bob is right, If you don't see the injustices carried out upon the homosexual community as injustices upon the entire American people you are fooling yourself
- Unknown said...
either you end up happy and social or alone with your interests.
- Fault-Finder said...
@Anonymous: As I said, I whole-heartedly agree with Bob on his main point, I just think that the "move to someplace on the coast or the Canadian border," comment was needlessly vindictive. Again, not denying the problem, not denying even that the South/midwest can be the worst place to be (other than, say, Iran or the like) if you're gay at the moment, just saying that he shouldn't make unnecessarily mean off-hand remarks like that, as though the issue of how those places react to this kind of stuff can just be taken as an accepted fact- "they're ALWAYS going to be racists/homophobic/assholes- they're Southern! Of course they're ignorant!" I'm not saying that's what Bob thinks, (not that this is the first instance of implied Southern-bashing) but rather that I wish he and others would actually take a moment to THINK before just making offhand comments like that, as though there are no intelligent people outside of where he thinks there are, or that a given region has an intelligence level that must be maintained, and any rational residents are going to migrate to a "good," area asap.
Also, not that anyone asked, but I'd actually be less interested in some kind of "apology," or whatever for this issue than I would in, say, another episode detailing his genuine opinion(s) relating to the south, differences between states, etc., even if it meant him having a lot more direct and mean things to say about the states I've lived in and loved (NC, SC, TX, etc.). Just sayin' ;)
- biomechanical923 said...
I also take issue with Bob's comment about "getting away from your parents / moving to another state, etc etc etc..."
I recognize that he was partially paraphrasing the mission statement of It Gets Better with his own flavor text, but the entire concept is wrong in my book.
Civil Rights movements of the past were not content to relocate to a place where they got the luxury of an echo chamber. If you want to fight bigotry, you need to fight it where it is, not just move to the coasts and fight where you know you can win.
Telling LGBTQ youth that life gets better if they move to the coastal states would be like telling African Americans of the 50s/60s life gets better if you just move north. I'm not saying that every single person needs to fight if they don't want to, but that civil rights won't spread in the south by everybody running away. I'd appreciate hearing Bob say something about this.
I surprisingly agree with much of what Bob said in this video. Activism is the key to any form of cultural or societal change.
I have found that much of the concept of "normal" within society is just a form of societal conformity.
The whole "moving away" position really depends upon the individual. What Bob was addressing was the nihilistic outlook many victimized LGBTQ youth have. One option is to eventually relocate to a far more open-minded area. It doesn't mean to stop activism in the places that are not. I guess I just did not interpret his comment in the same way you did.
I mostly agree, his comment was a little too generalized and could be taken the wrong way. Especially considering that regions on both coasts have many of the same issues of intolerance. It really is just that there are far more accepting places located in the areas he was addressing.
- TheAlmightyNarf said...
I like the whole "It Gets Better" movement. It's hopeful and uplifting and eschews the whole "lets fight bigotry with bigotry" vibe that most LGBT movements have. I hope to see more things like it.
I also like how this video is very likely the first place I've ever seen anyone actually give a source for LGBT suicide rates (the source it self is a bit lacking on giving it's own sources or showing their findings/methodology if they did the research themselves... but, that's not important).
The one complaint I'd give, the same complaint I always give, is that they tend to treat bulling and teen suicide and a strictly LGBT issue, as if straight kids never have to deal with harassment or thoughts of suicide. Having been there myself, I can say that it feels all the more isolating being a bullied suicidal teen who doesn't fall under the particular demographic that people are trying to outreach to.
There needs to be an effort to reach out to troubled teens in general, but that just doesn't seem to be happening.
- SirRosser said...
Thought I'd weigh in on this whole "move away from problem areas thing." I've been mulling it over, and I've been back and forth over the idea of posting this or not, but what the hell? Let it not be said that I didn't chime in, or, alternately, let it be said that I'm an outspoken jerk, depending on perception.
I live in a rural southern mountain community. No shock, there have been some anti-gay sentiments. The thing is, they have been WAY fewer than everyone (and I use "everyone" as a completely non quantifiable blanket term) would have me believe. I've grown up being constantly told that I, as a white, southern Christian male, have been the least tolerant dickhole in the history of forever. While this may have been true in certain instances in the past, it is not representative of the whole of my race, my religion, my region, or even my peer group. I'm not just saying this in a butthurt sort of general malaise, but objectively.
You see, I grew up in a small town in the 80's. Hell, a lot of us did. But one thing I remember the most from my formative years was that despite the local bias at the time from community leaders and religious zealots, most of the folks in my peer group got a clear message of "American values mean that everyone is equal despite their race, gender, religion, or sexual preference." I, like many of my contemporaries, grew up just accepting this as a matter of fact, despite our parents or grandparents espousing very different views. I may be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that it is generally accepted in most psychological circles that most people reject the ideals of their previous generation anyway.
Here's where it gets even more complicated.
When I was going to school, in my small, backwater mountain community with a graduating class of about 50 on a GOOD year, you would think that minorities would get more isolated and be more hated. However, this was not the case. In my community, minorities found themselves the object of fascination rather than ridicule. Perhaps it was due to their rarity, or perhaps it was just a simple matter of "Hyuk, hyuk, lookit the brown guy!" I can't really say it was the latter, as there was RARELY ANY ANIMOSITY TOWARDS ANY GROUP during the entirety of my high school days. I do not exaggerate this; nearly everyone got along with each other.
And as far as this went with the gay and lesbian community, the kicker is that NEARLY A THIRD OF THE PEOPLE I WENT TO SCHOOL WITH WERE ADMITTED HOMOSEXUALS. This is not an exaggeration. My numbers may be off on one side or another, but the fact is that a very high number of the kids I went to school with were admittedly gay. And with less than a handful of exceptions, they got exactly zero shit about it from their fellow students. That's right...we, a small-potatos podunk southern Christian town simply didn't give either a rat or its ass what these kids were doing on their own free time.
(to be continued, with extreme apologies to the attention deprived)
- SirRosser said...
This seems like an anecdotal, rambling mess o' nothing, but I'm going somewhere with this. I may be a little off-track at this point due to a 30-minute phone call in the middle of my composition, but I'll try to wrap this up.
At the end of the day, I get nothing but animosity for who and what I am. I've spent a metric shit-ton of time and effort making sure that I treat everyone with the respect and dignity that all humans are due. Not only do I do this, but the vast majority of people I associate with are the same way. I'm not just talking about the people who I think are in my "clique" or "circle," even people who I think are total assholes have, in a slim majority, been accepting and tolerant of other creeds and cultures.
I can't speak for everyone, as a pretty substantial portion of my associates are atheists, agnostics, Wiccans, or Vikings, but as a Christian myself, my logic is simply that Jesus wanted us to be good to our fellow man, despite what we may have thought of him. And as far as what we think of him, the default position is SUPPOSED to be "judge not, lest ye be judged." The problem we (Christians) have, I think, is that the VOCAL minority among us are VERY vocal. Not only are we not ALL intolerant jerkasses, but I think that MOST of us are not intolerant jerkasses. Those of us who are are the most likely to be featured on the 6:00 news, giving the rest of us a bad name.
I said I was going to try to wrap this up, but I keep finding myself sidetracked, and for that, I apologize, though knowing the fairly intelligent fan base that reads this blog, I'm sure few will mind.
So, given the "fact" (you just have my word for it, not anything concrete) that myself, most of the people I know, the community at large and the philosophy of the country itself has made not only a concentrated effort to make homosexuals feel accepted, as any human should, but in many cases BENT OVER BACKWARDS to do so...yeah, it gets a little frustrating when people accuse myself, my peers, my region, or what have you of being intolerant.
Bob isn't the first or only one to do this, however.
So here's where I'm gonna piss some people off.
Because I say, if you're gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, whatever, that's fine. If you're here, you're queer, we're used to it. We really are. But if you're feeling persecuted, and you think the reason is because of all us judgmental hillbilly assholes...then you SHOULD move away to a more "enlightened" state. Just go. I'm tired of being seen as the bad guy, I'm tired of kissing the ass of every minority who feels threatened, and I'm tired of having to pretend I'm not frustrated by the accusations. WE ARE NOT, AS A WHOLE, BAD PEOPLE.
So, yeah, if you're gay, and you wanna hang out, shoot the shit, joke around and generally have a good time, I don't think you'll have a problem here. But if you want to blame everyone for a persecution that some, but not all, are actually perpetrating...then do as the kids are so fond of saying and GTFO.
I'm sorry for ranting so long, and I'm sure I'll feel bad about posting this later, but sometimes it's cathartic to get stuff off my chest. At the end of the day, I still love MovieBob and the Game Overthinker, and no matter what comes of this, I'm still a dedicated fan. Just wanted to weigh in.
- Eamonn Glenn said...
Oh man. I really don't want to be "that guy". I hate that guy. He is the worst. But that thing you were talking about, the group for making things better now for the LGBT community. It totally exist. http://www.makeitbetterproject.org
It's a great effort that unfortunately does not get as much recognition as the It get's better project, but the people who do need it (LGBT youth) do seem to know about it.
- Ryan said...
It's interesting that you know you're pissing people off but that you don't get why. Here's why:
You don't like it that a minority of the population hears "White Southern Christian Male" and thinks "bigoted asshole", and of course you don't; you're not a bigoted asshole, and why would people make assumptions about you anyway? They don't know you at all!
So now imagine that there were people going on tv and running for President saying that White Southern Christian Males shouldn't be allowed to get married, serve in the armed forces, or sue if someone is openly discriminatory. Stop believing in God, these people would say. Stop talking with that accent! It's a choice, and God hates your choice! Now imagine that, while a big chunk of the country were angry and dismissive about those people, a solid 38% seemed to consistently share those beliefs. Imagine that it got so bad that even some other White Southern Christian Males talked about how you shouldn't ask for your rights so aggressively or so fast, because really people need time to adjust to change or some bullshit. Imagine that the national media took at face value the absurd claims of those who hate you for no good reason at all that the discrimination isn't discrimination at all, it's just about not giving you "special rights". Imagine that people talk about their being "two sides" to the issue.
Think about how paranoid that would make you, then stop being such a dick about the fact that gay people can be a little touchy. They have a right.
- biomechanical923 said...
@ SirRosser
"In my community, minorities found themselves the object of fascination rather than ridicule. Perhaps it was due to their rarity, or perhaps it was just a simple matter of "Hyuk, hyuk, lookit the brown guy!""
I can't possible make any judgements on your school, because I've never been there. But there is a pretty big problem with people confusing "tokenism" for acceptance, and it's a bit of a logical fallacy to excuse oneself for perceived beneficence, such as "I'm not racist, I have black friends" etc...
I am in no way saying that's what you or your schoolmates do. I'm just throwing those ideas on the table as something to keep in mind.
- SirRosser said...
@biomechanical923 Hmm...I do suppose it could have been tokenism, at that. However, I was trying to imply that it WASN'T a case of the whole "I'm not racist, I have black friends" thing (by another name, of course), and got somewhat sidetracked. There may have been a good deal of that going on, but then again, I don't think there was. I feel like, in my community at least, it was a matter of homosexuals being so commonplace and generally accepted that we didn't see them as minorities at all, but rather as kids who "kept bitching about stuff." I feel sort of bad about putting it that way, but I can't help but feel that a lot of my generation may have been demonized unfairly. At the end of the day, I think a lot of us want to be seen as a victim. I'm no exception, and I just might be guilty of a lot of that myself. But I do feel better since I've put my perspective out there, and if I'm proven wrong, I won't feel angry about it.
Fun fact: That humanity at one point believed the earth was flat is a complete and utter myth. Humans always knew that the the earth was round or at the very least roundish. They just weren't always sure what was in the big splashy wet areas around them.
Side note: Bob, are your videos deliberately awful or do you just have no perception of how poorly produced and presented they are? I'm not taking issue with the content, merely the format and presentation. I mean Christ, I just noticed that you used Comic Sans in today's The Big Picture, and I'm beginning to wonder how prevalent these terrible design choices are. Ugly fonts, awful chiptune music, frightening talking heads. Your ideas and thoughts have always been hit and miss with me, but your presentation is just so blisteringly hideous in its entirety.
Your design sensibilities are deeply offensive; I just want you to know that. Of all the complaints, bitching, and criticisms that get leveled against you (or flame wars that are incited from your offerings), no one ever seems to talk about your horrendous style and presentation. I get the whole "retro" thing (to a point), but "retro" doesn't have to be "vomit-inducing." Just... think about it, please? Please consider sprucing up your visual production and font/music/image selections?
- Ryan said...
Sirrosser, your desire to claim victim status for white male southern people due to your feeling that gay people just keep "bitching about stuff" suggests that you cannot possibly be proven wrong.
And Bob, your low-rent aesthetic is the shit. Don't change a thing.
- Mads said...
Wasn't bobs point exactly that you shouldn't enter an echo chamber? That you needed to come back and destroy the opponents after it got better?
I think he was arguing that moving to another part of the country and getting relief for yourself and then never thinking about it again _wasn't_ the solution?
In the short term, I don't see a problem with troubled youths moving away, I don't think anybody does - not with those suicide rates - but the important bit is what you do when it does get better.
- SirRosser said...
@Ryan: Yeah, in retrospect I guess that does seem a bit trollish. My apologies for that.
- biomechanical923 said...
If Bob said anything like that, I didn't hear it (although I'm really bad at picking up on implications and "between-the-lines subtext).
Bob's video seemed to give a formula as
Step 1: Move out of Conservative states.
Step 2: ?????????
Step 3: Social Justice!!!
I think Bob (and a lot of people making videos online) would be able to make more convincing arguments if they kept in mind the four questions of Stasis Theory.
Black youth in the 1960s didn't wait until they had a crowd of supporters around to sit at the lunch counters.
I'm not saying every LGBT youth needs to throw themselves in harms way, but I am saying that both violence AND civil rights spark faster in tinderboxes than in rooms full of yes men.
Did I watch the same video? Bobs point with the "move away" comment was tied into the short term "it gets better" philosophy. That the hell that is high school, parents, religion, etc. for some LGBT youth is temporary. That there is a world beyond high school and their home town.
He then goes further to state that while "it gets better" is great in the short term, it is his opinion that the movement should eventually develop a "make it better" is component focusing on activism and working to change society to the point where "it gets better" is no longer needed. At no point does he directly state move away + ????? = profit. He just does not go into great detail about the forms of activism that can be utilized to make it better.
- biomechanical923 said...
@ Lost
He just does not go into great detail about the forms of activism that can be utilized to make it better.
That kind of ties in with my point about using Stasis to make an argument.
Saying "somebody should really do something" weakens the argument more than a specific solution would. It made the whole video come off with a sense of diminished authority, and felt like less of a community contribution, and more like whining about the status quo.
I think my complaints are more about the formatting and construction of Bob's argument.
- Wendy said...
I'm not into this movement at all. How is being bullied because you're gay worse than being bullied for being fat, or for wearing glasses, or because the bitchy popular girl decided you're her latest target for no fucking reason at all.
It'll get better when ALL bullying is dealt with. The gay community will have to put up with it like I had to put up with it. Gay, fat, skinny, buck-toothed, or because you don't wear clothes from the most expensive outlet store: kids are going to pick other kids apart for whatever reason they can find. Don't expect me to fall over myself making sure the gay kids feel better than I did because they can bitch louder than the other kids.
- biomechanical923 said...
@ Wendy
"How is being bullied because you're gay worse than being bullied for being fat, or for wearing glasses, or because the bitchy popular girl decided you're her latest target for no fucking reason at all.
I can understand where you're coming from.
At face value, telling a fat kid "why don't you just stop eating twinkies, fatass" is about as cruel as telling a gay kid "why don't you just stop sucking dicks, homo"
But you need to stop taking things at face value when you realize that this shit doesn't happen in a vacuum.
Sure, lots of kids get bullied. (I got picked on for my acne, weight, and social awkwardness) but the difference for LGBT youth is that the bullying isn't just kids being assholes. It's institutionalized .
In most forms of bullying, the bullies know in some way that their behavior is unacceptable and they need to circumvent authority to do it. Bullies against LGBT youth have an active community of adults, including religious and political leaders telling the bullies that they're morally justified in their bigotry.
- Ryan said...
Well said.
- SirRosser said...
I didn't see your first response to my tirade until recently. I seem to be having some problems with my messaging and e-mail settings.
Aside from that, however, now that I've seen it, I'd just like to say that, yeah, that makes sense. I never really thought of it that way before.
I felt sort of trolled by Bob's comments in the video, and I went off. I think maybe I went too far, and yeah, I was being a bit of a dick. By trying to compare my situation to that which was presented, I was comparing apples to oranges in an inappropriate manner.
Granted, I still think that my particular demographic is being unfairly blasted most of the time, and it's REALLY hard for me to have sympathy for a group of people that always thinks I'm a bad guy, but I suppose it does go both ways in the end, and I can see why people look at me in the same manner.
So I guess what I'm saying is, I was wrong. I'm sorry. A new perspective on things can help one see a different point of view.
- Smashmatt202 said...
Bravo, Bob, Bravo! ;)
here's a thought... instead of bitching about the people who are giving you a hard time about being a white southern christian male, why dont you bitch about all those white southern christian males who are giving you a bad name? join the good fight against bigotry instead of the fight against the fight against bigots.
- SirRosser said...
But that's just the thing! I've been "fighting the good fight against bigotry" for years, and instead of a pat on the back or an "'Atta boy," it seems all I ever get is a bunch of shit directed at me for the way I was born and the personal beliefs I hold. Which, correct me if I'm wrong, is exactly the sort accusation leveled against bigots in the first place. I'm a very tolerant, very patient person, but the two things that really grind my gears are hypocrisy and Amway salesmen.
I live in West Texas, my best friend's family is from rural Utah. Suggesting that a teen's life, particularly an LGBT teen's life, might be improved by packing up and leaving isn't offensive to me, it's just accepted fact. These are places whose people who have consistently voiced disapproval for Mitt Romney and many of the other GOP candidates based on the perceived notion that they are not "anti-gay" enough. That's right, even after Mitt Romney promised to make a government panel to investigate occurrences of straight people being bullied by LGBT teens, they still say he isn't anti-gay enough. These are populations that don't just want to deny LGBT rights, they want to roll them back to what they were pre-1960s. I literally heard someone on his cell phone in a bookstore last week loudly bemoaning the fact that "we can never get a Yankee president like Chris Christie. We always get stuck with faggot liberals like Kennedy and Kerry." This is someone who feels absolutely no shame in loudly announcing that opinion because he knows that everyone within earshot either agrees with him or is too scared of the threat of violence against them to oppose him.
Many of you say "Don't leave, change where you are." To you, I can only reply, "It's easy for you to say, you don't live here." I sincerely wish these people's minds could be changed, but the odds of them changing their mind to tolerate LGBT people is about as high as the odds that Texas and Utah will swing for Obama this year. Which is to say, practically nil.


text:
Award-winning Beaver faculty members open Speakers Series
Three of Penn State Beaver's award-winning faculty members will present the first program in the 2012-13 Faculty Speakers Series at noon Wednesday, Sept. 26, room 16, Student Union Building. Speakers are Robin Bower, associate professor of Spanish; Robert Szymczak, associate professor of history; and Karen Barr, senior instructor in business. The topic will be attaining teaching excellence.


text:
Greenpeace has announced that Toshiba and Samsung top its latest environmental ranking of consumer electronics companies. But Nintendo is still struggling near the bottom.
Published today, the Greenpeace ranking scores the world's largest consumer electronics companies based on their recycling policies and the toxic content of their products.
Toshiba climbed six ranks to tie at the top with previous leader Samsung, thanks to moves towards taking care of the electronic waste generated when its customers discard its products.
Toshiba had previously been a member of the Electronic Manufacturers' Coalition for Responsible Recycling, a US group that favours making consumers contribute to the cost of recycling, but like some other manufacturers it has now left the group.
"This was a major step for Toshiba and follows LG, Samsung and Sony," said Al Hajj.
Toshiba declined to comment on the ranking.
One-time leader Nokia was again penalized for its take-back recycling program. Greenpeace previously found that staff in the Philippines, Thailand, Argentina, Russia and India were not informed about the program or that details of the scheme were not available in a local language. This time around improvements were seen but Russia and India remained problematic.
"They have to prove they are interested in recycling beyond the western world," said Al Hajj.
Had Nokia not been penalised it would have led the new ranking with a record-breaking score of 8.3.
One of the biggest jumps in the ranking since it was first published in August 2006 has been attained by Apple. Apple has risen from 2.7 points to 6.7 points in the new edition thanks to new products such as the MacBook Air that use less toxic chemicals, said Greenpeace.
However Japan's Nintendo, manufacturer of the hugely popular Wii console and DS handheld gaming device, remains stuck near the bottom. It was introduced in the last survey and immediately became the only company to have ever scored zero. In the new ranking it has risen slightly to 0.3 points.
The low ranking reflects a failure on Nintendo's part to provide detailed information about its environmental policies.
"Nintendo has been sending out a pretty lame response to emails on the subject, which tells you mainly about office recycling," wrote Greenpeace in a blog posting on its website.
Nintendo said it couldn't provide detailed comment on the report because it hadn't seen it.
A spokesman for the Kyoto, Japan, company, Yasuhiro Minagawa, said criticism of recycling information supplied with its products was "based on the assumption that recycling is good for the environment".
The next edition of the ranking is due out in June this year. The new ranking will be based on tighter criteria and be expanded to include measurements on energy consumption - not just of the products but also their production - and whether the company has eliminated the use of PVC and bromine flame retardants in products.
"It's not enough to tackle energy consumption of the products alone but also the production process and the amount of greenhouse gas emitted," said Al Hajj.
Earlier this month at the CeBIT electronics show in Germany Greenpeace called for consumer electronics companies to provide more information on the amount of energy used in the production and distribution stages of a product's life.


text:
ETC > NSA Home > Social Studies 9-12 > Pirate WANTED Poster
Pirate WANTED Poster
Students will investigate the character traits of a 17th and 18th century pirate.
- Students will create a character map.
- Students will use character trait words to created the character map and look up the meanings using "Dashboard" on the Apple laptop.
- Students will search various websites for pictures.
- Students will create a wanted poster using Comic Life and created character map.
- Teacher will do a character map with the class using Inspiration's Language Arts template for a Character Map. Students will choose 4 words to describe their pirate with 4 examples for each character trait. Words are taken form a list compiled by the teacher.
- Students will then go to websites given by teacher and choose a picture to use for their Wanted Pirate Poster. Students will give credit to the website for the chosen picture.
- Transfer picture into iPhoto on the desktop of the laptop. iPhoto will work with Comic Life.
- Students will then use Comic Life to create their Wanted Pirate Poster with teacher guidance. Students will choose a background and import their photo. Depending on their character trait words, students will insert them into the word bubbles as if the pirate was describing him or herself to be captured. Students can add other words, etc., to complete the WANTED Poster.
Sunshine State Standards
NETS Profiles for Technology Literate Students
- Make informed choices among technology systems, resources, and services.
- Routinely and efficiently use online information resources to meet needs for collaboration, research, publication, communication, and productivity.
- Select and apply technology tools for research, information analysis, problem solving, and decision making in content learning.
- iPhoto
- Inspiration
- Comic Life
Web Resources
- Kathimitchell.com
- Officeonline
- Pics4learning
- Beej.us
- Comiclife
Return to top of page
Return to lesson plans menu
ETC > NSA Home > Social Studies 9-12 > Pirate WANTED Poster


text:
Seem's that most folks here have decided in favour of Fisheye aiming light.
But since it cost's allmost as much as my P&S or Ike housing for it, it really is a bit much (obviously it might be the best choise for DSLR setup's).
Anyone had any experiences with Fantasea Line LED Nano Focus Light?
It costs only like 40 $, but does it give any light at all for that price?
I am waiting for the new LED 360 light. Cuts off with strobe flash like the Nano, but much brighter and with signalling flash. Same price as the Nano.


text:
Loyola at a Glance
Subscribe to our Newsroom RSS feed | What is RSS?
Follow Loyola University New Orleans on Twitter
Dear World at Loyola invites campus to send message to the world
March 9, 2012
Hailed by James Carville as an "unconventional" founder of a new form of expression, Robert X. Fogarty's community art project, Dear World, will be visiting the Loyola University New Orleans campus on Tuesday, March 20 and Wednesday, March 21. Fogarty and the Dear World at Loyola project will be located in the One Loyola Room, located on the main level of the Danna Student Center, just outside the University Bookstore. All students, faculty and staff are invited to participate.
Dear World, which Fogarty created last year as Dear New Orleans, has expanded from a rallying cry for the city that has seen its share of ups and downs, to an international collection that knows no race, religion or language. Fogarty travels around the world and photographs people of all walks of life, including celebrities, politicians and athletes, with messages written on their body in black magic marker, which he then posts on http://dearworld.me/ as a short message to friends, family and strangers. Messages include "Cancer Free," "Think Spiritual Change" and "Appreciate Differences, Fight Ignorance." Fogarty's work is seen online two million times per month.
The campus community will now have a chance to send their message to Loyola, New Orleans, and the world by participating in Dear World at Loyola. Individuals, groups and organizations are invited to participate in Dear World at Loyola and can visit the One Loyola Room anytime between 10 a.m. – 1 p.m., and 2 – 5 p.m., March 20 and 21. Photos taken during Dear World at Loyola will be presented on Thursday, March 22 in a Dear World Live presentation in the St. Charles Room, also located in the Danna Student Center at 7 p.m. Registration for Dear World Live is available at http://dearworldloyno.eventbrite.com/%0A.
Since launching Dear World last year, Fogarty has photographed the Rev. Jesse Jackson, Susan Sarandon and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees. He's also photographed a woman who survived the Japanese earthquake and families from Joplin, Mo., where devastating tornadoes touched down in 2011.
Fogarty has visited other colleges for his project, including Stanford University, Harvard and fellow Jesuit university Georgetown, and is a favorite environment of his to take portraits.
"What I think is awesome about doing this at universities is when you are in school, you are in the moment of having an opportunity to see what you want to be and do with your life and map things out," Fogarty said. "We all have moments of reflection and it's an important time for all of our lives. Everyone has stories to tell, and I'm really fortunate to have this medium to pursue that. It's exciting to have a student come up and say, among his peers, 'This is what matters to me.' Sometimes the quotes take on a whole new concept when they talk about it."
Select participants will have the opportunity to talk about their image and message during the Thursday evening event.
Photos will be available for viewing online throughout the centennial year at http://www.facebook.com/events/285106638225727/.
Dear World at Loyola is sponsored by the University Programming Board, Student Government Association, and Co-Curricular Programs.
For more information, contact David Garcia at firstname.lastname@example.com or 504-865-3622.
For the latest updates about Loyola University New Orleans, follow us on Twitter @LoyolaNOLANews or become a fan on Facebook at www.facebook.com/loyno.
Loyola at a Glance is written and distributed for the faculty, staff, students and friends of Loyola University New Orleans. It is published by the Office of Public Affairs, Greenville Hall, Box 909, 7214 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70118. (504) 861-5888.
Information to be included in Loyola at a Glance must be received 2-3 weeks in advance of the publication date. Send us your news here.


text:
That's a character from the "Star Wars: Empire" series. He's a Moff who conspires to overthrow the Emperor. Unfortunately the Emperor pretty much knows if someone is trying to assassinate him, so it fails. All in all the story was pretty cool. It was a 4-part story that started the Empire series.
Page created in 0.064 seconds with 18 queries.


text:
If you're lazily inclined to define Diane Keaton by the crossword-puzzle-sized word "actor," you need to get out more. Add to that her work as director and producer, photographer, restorer of venerable houses, board member of the Los Angeles Conservancy and, perhaps above all, as a daughter -- as revealed by her daughter-mother memoir "Then Again." Little Diane once sat in a neighborhood theater on North Figueroa and watched her mother being crowned Mrs. Highland Park, and wished it were her up on stage instead. In time, she stood on the world stage as a winner of an Academy Award. Her strong connections to her late mother -- like her mother's dreams of art and beauty -- inform Keaton's own identity in the here and now.
You find California has more of an aesthetic than people give it credit for.
And it's varied! You take that drive up [Highway] 1 to San Francisco, you're on another planet. This state has so much variety, I really want an excuse just to take some more trips where I'm in the car roaming around, just get on the road, drive around California. I'd like to get off the 5 when I head to San Francisco.
You lived in a Quonset hut in Highland Park when you were a child. You've loved arches ever since -- your first design aesthetic.
No question about it. Arches add a soft aspect with the drama of the high ceilings. It's very cozy. On the other hand the Mission style is more severe, and it's darker, but still very attractive because it's all wood. Spanish is all stucco. Texturally it's just fabulous. The Cliff May ranch houses -- Cliff May himself started out in San Diego making little Spanish homes with arches and courtyards and then it evolved into the ranch style, but he always kept that brick that had a lot of texture that made it warm and inviting to me.
The only question I'll ask about "Annie Hall" is whether you're tired of people asking about "Annie Hall"?
No, I'm not. Everything is because of "Annie Hall" with Woody. He has a great ear for women's voices. I'm so grateful to him; he really gave me an opportunity that changed my life. I'm never disappointed about people talking to me about "Annie Hall." But I will say, a lot of people don't know "Annie Hall" exists, and that's just the way it goes -- goodbye! It's bittersweet.
Your book draws parallels among the generations of women in your family at the same ages.
My mother left that [record] for me. I have letters, journals, her adages, the quotes she wrote down. You put it all together. So the book was just an editing job and my response to her. Here I am, [at, say,] 63. What was [her] 63 and what is my 63? It's what [acting coach Sandy] Meisner used to say about acting: Live truthfully in the given imaginary circumstance.
Grammy Hall was quite a character; Grammy Keaton was devoutly religious, and I don't think that helped my mother with her self-esteem. My mother had real dreams of somehow being an artist, but it didn't quite happen for her because she lived in a very strict religious atmosphere -- no dancing, no lipstick.
Yet she created art and loved design, and kept the journals your book is based on.
It's a treasure trove, but it also fills me with regret. What's so great about being an actor is that you have permission to have all these feelings with people because you're telling a story and it's not your own; but when it's your story -- . It was hard for me to kiss her and tell her how much I loved her and appreciated her. This is the regret that I feel about my mother and the fact that I didn't read those journals before she passed away.
You write a lot about aging. You describe meeting the "fabulous" Audrey Hepburn at the Oscars. She was only 48, and all you could think about was the aging process. Your mother once said, "Don't grow old, Diane." And you've done those L'Oreal ads: "We're still worth it.''
As you get older, it's hard to remember you are worth it. It was never easy for me to think of myself as "worth it," so you've got to keep working at it. It's more difficult as you get older, and especially if you're a public person. The example of Audrey Hepburn -- it's hard to let go of that, when you've been looked at for half your life, [when] people are astonished by your beauty. It's hard to come to terms with being not as beautiful.
I didn't allow her to age gracefully; I just remembered her as my fantasy. Then you see your fantasy and, oh my God, she's a real person. That'll never do!
You assess beautiful versus pretty too.
Beauty seems to be something that is open to change. And pretty seems to be unimaginative and locked into an idea. Beauty is an experience, not trying to hold onto something that can't be held onto.
Everybody asks me, now I can ask you -- about your hats.
I discovered them early at the Goodwill because my mother and I were aficionados of all thrift stores. [One] was a kind of bowleresque hat.
And you wanted to wear it to the prom?
I did, but that was the one time my mother said, "Save it for later." [I like] men's hats, so you can pull them down over your head so you can hide your face, which is always my intention. I get them too large for my head so the brim lies lower. Nobody's going to care about this, but these details are very important!
Your style seems so fully thought out -- gloves, jewelry, hat, the proportion of the collar.
I'm armed! Of course it's fun; there's an aspect of play to it. Playing with your home, playing with what you surround yourself with -- all that really goes back to my mother teaching me how to look [around]. To me the greatest gift of all is just looking. Why science fiction is [perceived as] more interesting, I never understood. Step outside!
You've designed products for Bed, Bath & Beyond.
I did three different beds. I think a bed should not be locked in stone and always the same. Accent pillows, throws are great. I had a piano teacher who told me, "Diane, make work play." I was about 11 and I thought, "I don't know what she's talking about." But we have to make our beds. That's a form of work, so why not play with it? I'm going to create new pitchers and accent plates you can use with your regular plates so you're not just stuck with one color.
You have family talismans like your brother's artwork, and the rolls of coins your Grammy Hall wrapped and kept. But you also collect decorative objects.
I'm a fan of pictorial Navajo rugs and blankets. I'm a fan of Monterey furniture that reminds me of the missions.
I was in one house you redid and it struck me as decorated very sparely.
No, no, I'm really the worst of the worst. I keep it so it looks like it's very clean looking, you can only see a few things, but I'm secretly hiding it all over the place. I like to bring out things I've stored up and then change it. I do like variety, I like to redecorate. My mother was constantly changing her house.
You curated an exhibit at the Los Angeles Central Library of photos from old L.A. newspapers. What appealed to you about that?
Carolyn Cole [
then the photo librarian
] came up to me at a swap meet and said, 'There's these files in the basement of the Central Library' -- the most beautiful building. I took a look. There are books and books to be made out of those images. This is a brilliant archive. I'd like to do another one.
L.A. has superb public buildings like the library, and fascinating private houses. You see a Greek Revival house next to a Mission style next to a Mid-century Modern. It's like a backlot.
It is like a backlot. We have every possible style known to man right here in L.A. We have downtown L.A., it's beyond beautiful, with our bridges, the Pabst Blue Ribbon brewery. One of my fantasies is somehow, sometime, to live down there.
Yet we tear these great houses down willy nilly.
Look, I'm a preservationist. That's a hard sell. And it shouldn't be a hard sell at all. It defines us. It may be that the greatest art L.A. has produced is our buildings. We don't even have a survey to define what you can and can't tear down. We'll work on that.
This interview was edited and excerpted from a longer taped transcript. Interview archive: latimes.com/pattasks.


text:
Important News About the Budget - January 11, 2013
Dear colleagues,
Happy New Year to all! I hope you enjoyed the holiday break and are ready for a rewarding winter quarter.
This morning Gov. Jerry Brown unveiled a budget proposal for 2013-14 that would increase investment in community colleges by nearly $200 million. This is exceedingly welcome news after several years of deep funding reductions! We will be carefully analyzing all aspects of this proposal, including the governor's call for linking community college funding to student outcomes. As you know, the governor's budget has a long path to travel through the Legislature, so it will be some months before we know with certainty what to expect in 2013-14. We'll report more fully to you on our assessment, but for now you can see a summary of the governor's full budget proposal at:
I'd also like to take this opportunity to update you on our progress toward closing the district's structural budget deficit as we work to put this current era of cuts behind us. In this regard I have some good news to go along with our challenges.
We have determined that unless there are unexpected developments, we can delay from April until June 30 the position reductions needed to eliminate the district's $5.7 million structural deficit. This would help make a difficult transition less disruptive and provide a few more months of employment for affected employees.
This delay appears possible based on two developments:
* Winter quarter enrollment is up slightly compared to earlier projections made in the fall. The colleges have added new course sections for 2012-13 in high-demand areas, and this rebuilding effort seems to be paying off. Growing our enrollment is one of the most important steps we can take to regain budget stability. Thank you, faculty and staff, for your efforts!
* A new analysis indicates the district can make it through 2012-13 without violating the state mandate that 50 percent of our spending be used to fund direct instruction. I've included more detail below about the 50 percent requirement.
As you know, our financial situation was improved considerably by passage of Proposition 30. Now, instead of having to address our worst-case scenario of $11.9 million in cuts in 2012-13, we are left with "only" our $5.7 million structural deficit, the legacy of successive years of deep state funding reductions and our own recent down turns in enrollments. We are able to offset this shortfall on a one-time basis this year using stability funds, but are moving to eliminate the structural deficit by reducing ongoing expenses before beginning the next fiscal year.
It is important to understand that money is not the only issue at play here. A key factor driving our decisions about layoffs and when they will take place is the 50 percent law requiring that half or more of all our spending go to direct instruction. (To learn more about this requirement, see
Because of our recent enrollment declines, we initially thought we would run afoul of the 50 percent law unless we cut some non-instructional positions this spring. But an in-depth analysis of spending patterns for the first half of the year suggests that we can postpone layoffs until the end of June and still meet the state's 50 percent requirement if current assumptions do not change.
Several things are necessary for us to delay layoffs until June 30:
* We must continue to aggressively schedule classes and recruit and retain students for the winter and spring quarters to maximize enrollment (and instructional expenditures).
* By the same token, we must minimize non-instructional expenses until after June 30.
If we fall short on either, the district may be forced to implement layoffs before June 30.
Meetings with affected employees will begin at the end of the month, and the list of positions proposed for elimination will go before the Board of Trustees for action on March 4.
These reductions are a blow both for the individuals who will be leaving and for our district, which will be deprived of their participation and services. This is a significant loss of personnel and raises concerns about our continuing ability to maintain effective operations. I urge you to practice kindness and compassion, knowing that we are all doing the best we can under difficult circumstances.
Looking forward, California faces an estimated $1.9 billion budget shortfall in 2013-14 – relatively small compared to the past few years – and state budget surpluses are projected for the following years through 2017-18. Along with the governor's 2013-14 budget proposal, this provides a good basis for optimism.
Linda Thor
Foothill-De Anza Community College District
12345 El Monte Road
Los Altos Hills, CA 94022
(650) 949-6100


text:
Advanced Elements' goal is to develop new and unique paddle sports products that enhance customers' outdoor experience. Their focus is on designing and manufacturing "Inflatable kayaks with cutting edge technology".
Their kayaks incorporate many different materials and components, and deliver high performance at a reasonable price. They are the makers of the AdvancedFrame Inflatable kayaks, Lagoon Inflatable kayaks, and StraitEdge Canoe and Kayaks.
The AdvancedFrame Kayaks are a hybrid of a folding frame kayak, and an inflatable kayak. Its bow slices through water like a knife and rivals the tracking of hard-shell kayaks. The stern acts as a skeg increasing the tracking performance and they have built-in rigid forms that increase the performance once inflated.
You can take your Advanced Elements Kayak or Canoe with you anywhere in the world, and no roof rack is needed! Keep it in the boot of your car, and paddle whenever you want. You can take it to a remote wilderness area and paddle where no one has paddled before. Simply inflate with a foot pump and hit the water in minutes.
Vortex provides the best after sales backup & support for your
Advanced Elements inflatable kayak. We give our customers a 2 year
warranty against material or manufacturing defects during normal and
proper use.
Note: the warranty does not cover products used for rental, for hire or in professionally guided tours and other uses not considered normal recreational purposes; and punctures, cuts and abrasions sustained in normal use; and items involved in accidents; and items damaged in white water mishaps, and other unreasonable uses or improper storage.


text:
You are most welcome. The difference is probably due to the light, casting shade and making the visual difference.
Best wishes,
Susofrick wrote:But you painted them nice at least. Looking a bit like old Strelets figures.
sansovino wrote:Thanks for posting the new figures and your good painting. I agree partly with your critic. The plastic of the new figures are too soft which caused many problems especially with the rifles. I use hot water, to put the figures in the water and to make the rifles more in straight lines and also little more slimer.
The sculpting of the figures isn´t bad. They are not so well done like the new Napoleonics, but they are really an good extension-offer of the ACW-range. I regret only that they are a little bit too small and slim in comparison to the other existing plastic-sets. The Esci figures fits better to them than the old Italeri, Imex or Revell.


text:
Yankees place Youkilis on 15-day DL
Bronx, NY – The New York Yankees have placed infielder Kevin Youkilis on the 15-day disabled list with a lumbar spine sprain.
Youkilis had missed six games last week battling the injury, but did play on Saturday, before sitting out on Sunday and Monday.
An MRI on Monday came back negative, but Youkilis is scheduled to receive an epidural injection of a pain killer on Tuesday.
Over 17 games this season, Youkilis is batting .266 with two home runs and seven RBI.
To replace Youkilis on the active roster, the Yankees recalled infielder Corban Joseph from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Over 22 games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Joseph is batting .273 with four homer runs and nine RBI.


text:
A public hearing is scheduled at 10 a.m. Oct. 12 to collect comment on a proposed sewer project that would connect the Riviera Mobile Court with Fayette's municipal treatment system.
The mobile home court is located south of Fayette on St. Rt. 66.
The project calls for construction of a pump house and a 2,000-foot forced main that would connect with the Village of Fayette sewage lines.
The line would serve the 15 mobile homes at the park and possibly the house on the property, said Fulton County Sanitary Engineer Ziad Mussallam, and would not be available to any other users.
The Riviera Mobile Court is owned by Clemenson Investments, but the county would own the new line, Mussallam said, because federal grants through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program are used only for public projects.
The Ohio EPA has ordered the owners to upgrade the existing treatment facility or join the village system.
Fayette village council members voted in October 2006 to accept a proposal for the connection, contingent upon approval by the Ohio EPA and availability with regard to capacity concerns at Fayette's treatment plant. Furthermore, a financial agreement would have to be established with the property owners for sewer fees. A 15 percent surcharge above the fee paid by village residents was suggested.
The $100,000 CDBG grant would pay for construction of the sewer line and pump. The property owner paid for engineering, Mussallam said.
A survey of residents at the trailer court will be taken to determine if they meet the low-to-moderate income guidelines for CDBG funding.
If funding is approved, construction could begin immediately, Mussallam said, following a permit to install by the Ohio EPA. Funding isn't guaranteed, he said, and the project will compete with other projects.
The hearing is scheduled in the Fulton County Commissioners Board Room at 152 S. Fulton St., Suite 270, Wauseon.


text:
Memphis cotton merchant Joe Nicosia, CEO of Allenberg Cotton Co., told producers attending the Mid-South Farm and Gin Show in Memphis that even though the impact of index funds on the market continues to baffle objective analysis, the outlook for cotton is rosy for 2009-10.
"Don't sell your cotton equipment, yet," he says. "The party could just be getting started for U.S. cotton producers."
For the past couple of years, there has been a familiar theme in the U.S. cotton outlook, according to Nicosia. Cotton production ends up much higher than early estimates, while exports end up disappointing from early-year projections, driving ending stocks higher (current year ending stocks are estimated at 8.7 million bales).
In the world, there's also a theme. China's cotton production is consistently understated by an average of 3 million bales annually, while its cotton consumption is consistently overstated. "At the same time, China is making a huge commitment to man-made fiber," Nicosia said.
"Another problem we're having in the export market is competition, mainly from India and Brazil. The Indian crop has steadily outpaced consumption for the last several years, and today they are the second largest producer in the world. They are also the second largest exporter in the world."
Nicosia added that India's cost per acre of producing cotton is the cheapest in the world at $77 per acre. "Texas is also extremely competitive at $171 per acre."
Meanwhile, a new prosperity is moving into agriculture, driven by the food for fuel equation. "That is what is driving the entire change in the world today. We are essentially burning food. We're burning so much of it, it's changing the dynamics of agriculture around the world."
With cotton competing with corn and beans for acres, one solution is to follow the European Union's lead, according to Nicosia. "Since 1988, the EU has had a 10 percent mandatory setaside. Last year, in response to tight grain supplies, the EU reduced that rate to zero. I hardly ever agree with anything the EU does, but this was one smart thing. It finally responded to the marketplace they way they should have. Yet at the same time, the United States continues to idle this land and not allow it to go into production.
"Repercussions include the loss of additional farm income. The marketplace is crying for your production, and it wants to pay you for it. We could also have a loss of global marketshare. When the EU plants 10 percent more wheat, they're going to turn around and sell that on the open market. Who's going to buy it, your customers? They're taking marketshare."
Opening up CRP could also provide an economic stimulus at a time when a U.S. recession threatens to slow down mill use in China. "Today we know the economy is struggling. We surely could use multiple billions of dollars of economic activity today by increasing our agricultural output. All of this points to moving a certain percent of the 34 million into production."
Nicosia urged cotton producers to look at more than futures charts when figuring out their crop mixes for 2008. "The futures chart doesn't say anything about yield increases. We're growing 33 percent more cotton than we were five years ago. So the price of cotton can be 33 percent lower and still be even. At the same time, the price of cottonseed and/or rebates you receive are also higher."
Hang on long enough and prices are going to compete with those of corn and soybeans, Nicosia said. "In 2009, we start to tighten the balance sheet. We have lower acreage this year, which will decrease our crop size. If we have crop problems somewhere else, it could get interesting. Cotton is going to have to rise to a certain level to compete with the other crops.
"The function of the market is to provide carry on the board spreads in the futures markets," Nicosia said. "The front end of the market is being driven up by the funds with absolutely no demand for cotton. The best bid we've gotten out of China today is 6 to 9 cents below where the market is.
"At the same time, there is this fear that sometime down the road, we're going to run out of cotton, that the drop in acreage is going to create a tightness. So the front end prices are going to have to stay defensive to try to sell, and the deferred prices are going to have to go higher.
"To me, if you want to be long cotton, don't be long in the spot month. Roll it out to the deferred levels and that's where you're going to take your real values. But it's difficult to tell a producer what his cotton is worth today because the futures have divorced from the cash price. Some of you may not be able to get a bid today for your cotton. I would not be surprised to see cotton futures trade beyond full carry."
Nicosia says there's good news down the road for cotton producers. "Don't sell your equipment, you're going to need it. Last year, we told you you were getting invited to the party going on in the agricultural community. In a year from now, the party will just be getting started."
Nicosia projects world cotton area will be unchanged from last year, but with higher yields, cotton production will grow from 116 million bales to 121 million bales, with the majority of the increase coming from India, Australia and West Africa.
Nicosia pegged world cotton consumption at 128.5 million bales, an increase of 4.2 million bales over the previous year. "We're just going to hold tight, because there is a bit of a downside to that number, as some mills are having to struggle with the cotton prices they're having to pay."
Nicosia believes that U.S. exports this marketing year could fall even further from current USDA estimates of 15.7 million bales to 15 million bales or lower. Nicosia projects a U.S. crop of 15.2 million bales this year.
e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com