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FC100A1029 16 X 25 X 5 Filter
Filter Specifications:
- Actual Size: 15 3/4" x 24 3/4" x 4 3/8"
- Listed (Nominal) Size: 16" x 25" x 5"
- 96% effective at attracting and capturing large allergens like mold spores, pollen, and dust mite debris.
- MERV Rating: 8
- Filter Life: Up to 12 months
This filter should be replaced at least once every twelve months. If this filter remains in use longer than twelve months, it may begin to restrict airflow. Certain conditions in your home will significantly add particles to the air, causing the filter to capture more particles than usual. This may shorten the filter life to less than twelve months, and reduce the effectiveness of the filter to capture particles. These conditions include: Dirty Ductwork, Construction Work, Sanding Projects, Pets, Burning Candles, Tobacco Smoke and Fireplace/Wood-Burning Stove Smoke. In addition, running your furnace or air conditioning fan continuously will help clean the air in your home, but could further shorten the life of the filter. So, if you use a furnace filter under these conditions, it could begin to restrict airflow, especially in energy efficient furnace and air conditioning systems. In these cases, it is recommended that you change the filter more frequently.
This furnace filter is specifically designed to fit Honeywell 16x25x5 whole house air cleaning units. If you have a concern regarding whether this filter will fit in your system, you should check the actual dimensions of your filter housing or the filter you are replacing. This filter should fit in your system if the actual size of the filter is the same or very similar to the size of the filter you are replacing.
- Item #: FC100A1029


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Thousands Still Without Power Monday in Missouri
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Parts of Missouri are cleaning up after strong storms swept through the state.
The storms that struck Sunday caused thousands to lose power, destroyed a mobile home, blew the roof off a school and caused damage to numerous roofs. There were no reports of serious injury.
Ameren Missouri reported a high of nearly 40,000 outages Sunday afternoon, mostly in the St. Louis area. By Monday morning, more than 6,600 Ameren customers were still without power.
A mobile home in Scott County in southeast Missouri was destroyed, but no one was injured.
The Heritage Primary School in Wentzville had significant damage to the roof, but classes went on as scheduled Monday. A lack of power forced a Catholic school and a city school in St. Louis to close Monday.

subset: commoncrawl


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A native butterfly finds merit in a nonnative tree
Every fall, starting around October, tens of thousands of monarch butterflies from across the West make their way to eucalyptus groves along the California coast. There, in a quasi-torpid state, they clump together in clusters, dangling from high branches like living chandeliers. Early in the new year, they once again take wing, sailing inland to lay their eggs on the emergent shoots of winter-dormant milkweeds.
This ranks among the world's greatest and most unusual migrations, for these are not the same individuals that overwintered here last year but rather their descendants. The migration has also become Exhibit A in the arguments mounted by pro-eucalyptus forces. While monarchs also roost in trees native to California – Monterey pines and cypresses, coast redwoods, even, on occasion, coast live oaks and western sycamores – there is no question that, in today's world, eucalyptus trees have become important to the butterfly's survival.
Monarchs, scientists think, make their way to the coast with the help of a genetically encoded navigation system. Among its components is a miniature sun-compass embedded in the insect's pinhead-size brain. The butterflies also likely make use of sensory clues, the sighting of a sun-filled gap within a cluster of trees, perhaps, or the presence of other butterflies.
What the monarchs are seeking, scientists say, are groups of trees that create the necessary suite of environmental conditions. The list starts with shelter from wind and rain, then moves on to include access to sunlight, shade, and water in the form of streams, ponds and morning dew. As a bonus, winter-flowering blue gums and red gums, along with native willows, give the butterflies a chance to replenish their dwindling fat stores with sips of calorie-packed nectar.
A monarch grove is a dynamic place. When one tree becomes too hot, too cold, or too exposed to the wind, the monarchs will relocate to another. That's why maintaining a range of options is important, says biologist Francis Villablanca, principal investigator for the Monarch Alert project at California Polytechnic State University. "Trees act as air conditioners, as umbrellas, as blankets and hot water bottles," he observes. From the perspective of a butterfly, trees of different species and different sizes probably offer a shopping mall's worth of thermal properties.
Frustrating to the communities that advertise them as tourist attractions, monarch groves seem to be ephemeral phenomena. Trees grow taller and denser, or they succumb to disease and fall. Over time, groves that once hosted hordes of these big, showy butterflies become too sunny, too shady or too exposed to storms that sweep in from the ocean. "That's why you have to manage these sites," says Cal Poly professor emeritus Kingston Leong, an expert on monarch grove restoration.
A number of grove restorations arenow underway, and more are needed. In some cases, replanting eucalyptus may be necessary, scientists say. Even more important may be ensuring
that groves harbor a broad diversity of trees. The deterioration of overwintering habitat is a likely factor in the decline of the monarch population, second only to the loss of native milkweeds that once grew in such wild profusion. West of the Rockies, the numbers are not quite as alarming as they are to the east, but the drop is still dramatic. Sixteen years ago, conservationists counted well over a million monarchs in California's coastal groves. Last year, there were fewer than 150,000.


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Types of Financial Aid
Graduate Assistantships
These are typically work-based aid offered to perform research, teaching assistant positions, and administrative jobs. Many offer full or partial tuition remission and/or a salary. Some are awarded through your department as part of your admission package, while others can be found and applied for on the school's employment website or directly through other departments in which you may have experience. Be sure to ask about assistantships when you request your application packet, as many positions have application deadlines that are earlier than your program's application for admission.
Scholarships, Grants, and Fellowships
This type of aid does not require paying money back or work in exchange. Fellowships are very competitive and have early deadlines, so research for these should begin as soon as you have made a decision to apply to graduate school. Many grants and scholarships can be found and applied for through your department, others may be found through the graduate school admissions office, and still others come from private and nationally-funded sources. See below for some comprehensive web directories available of public and private scholarships. See what scholarships advises for through the Office of Student Fellowships and Scholarships, or come see an adviser.
Federal and Private Loans
Loans are borrowed money that must be repaid with interest. Loan programs allow graduate students to borrow money to cover their education expenses. Parents also may borrow to pay education expenses for dependent students. Generally, loan amounts depend on the student's year in school, cost of attendance, and the amount of other aid received. Federal loans are typically awarded on a need-based system by filing the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). Look carefully at institutional loan programs that are available, both the federal loans offered as part of your financial aid package as well as any recommended sources for low interest private loans. These loans can be an important resource if used wisely. Many of the links below provide detailed information about educational loans.
Additional Sources of Financial Aid Information
Chegg Scholarships – Personalized matches to over a billion dollars in scholarship awards. Selection of African American scholarships in particular is growing each day and is open to high-school, undergraduate, and graduate students.
FinAid – The SmartStudent Guide to Financial Aid - information on a variety of financial aid sources.
Fastweb's Scholarship Search – A scholarship data base and website.
UCLA's Grapes database – A large listing of fellowships, scholarships, and grants.
Michigan State University Library – This contains a comprehensive data base of Grants for Individuals. It includes a section on listings for Minorities
Edupass – provides information for international students who are thinking about pursuing an undergraduate, graduate, or professional education in the United States.
The Access Group – An originator and servicer of private education loans, and a third party servicer, Access Group also offers resources and information about educational borrowing and services.
Teach for America – Information on graduate schools offering benefits to Teach for America alumni including two-year deferrals, fellowships, course credits and waived application fees.
U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid – A comprehensive source of free information about how to fund higher education.
How to Fund
Open the sections below for information about different ways in which
you might fund your graduate study.
Applying for Financial Aid and Other Funding
Many students receive financial aid to partially or fully fund their graduate education. Your institution (school) may have a mix of scholarships, grants, loans, assistantships, fellowships and general employment opportunities. The first step to seeking and receiving any financial aid is to review carefully the financial aid web pages of any institution where you are applying for graduate admission. Note financial aid deadlines and requirements. Some may only require you to complete the FAFSA while others require supplemental materials and information. Your eligibility for financial aid will be determined by your school once all the application information has been received and reviewed.
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is used to apply for all federal financial aid (grants, work-study, and loans). In most cases it is also required to secure institutional or state financial aid as well. Note that you can complete the FAFSA on January 1 of the year you plan to enroll, but no sooner. An important component of completing the FAFSA is timely filing of your previous year's taxes.


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We knew that Andre Agassi was the driving force behind his new autobiography, Open, but who knew that the former Grand Slam champ had made the full transition to tennis journalist?! Guess he was jealous of Justin Gimelstob, no?
Above, at far left, Andre – or his evil twin – interviews JMdP at this week's Championships.
And if you don't buy our assertion, at least give us an idea of who the guy on the right might be. Donald Trump?!
(photo via yahoo! sports)


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Setting Powder vs. Finishing Powder vs. Translucent Makeup Powder
I just received this question from a reader who is confused about all the different types of powders, particularly the difference between setting powder, finishing powder, and translucent makeup powder.
What's the difference between setting powder and finishing powder? and translucent powder too.
How am i supposed to use them? and are they necessary?
(i have very oily skin btw)
My Answer:
Setting powder and finishing powder are the same thing. They are meant to 'set' your makeup to make it last longer.
Translucent powder just means that it won't add any color to your skin, so it won't interfere with your makeup. It can also be used on its own.
If you have oily skin, a setting/finishing powder that has oil control is great for controlling shine during the day. You can also use a special oil-absorbing powder, however you need to be careful that you don't keep adding more powder all day or it will start to cake up. Just carry around some oil blotting papers with you. You can get them in a regular pharmacy, such as the ones by Clean and Clear called Clean & Clear Instant Oil Absorbing Sheets.
For a more upscale brand, people love Boscia Blotting Linens.
When it comes to my favorite finishing powder, I love Bare Escentuals Mineral Veil.
Hope that helps!
Tagged with: finishing powder • mineral veil • setting powder • translucent powder
Filed under: Acne Makeup Tips
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Escape 1050
Delphia Escape 1050 - A slow-life cruiser for inland waterways and the open sea
The Delphia Escape 1050 is a motor yacht dedicated to slow-life cruising and represents a new category of boats combining the advantages of a cabin cruiser with more typical motor boats.
The construction and design has created a style attractive to those more interested in spending time with nature than on sports activities.
The Escape 1050 is Delphia's concept for a boat to feature outstanding nautical properties yet able to boast low costs of ownership, low fuel consumption and price for a boat of this class. The result is a vessel of great manoeuvrabilityand shallow draft.
The rudder augmented bybow thrusters allows 360-degree on-the-spot turning and make it easy to berth in any conditions.
To ensure unrestricted visibility for navigation of tight waterways or to make precise manoeuvres, the Delphia Escape 1050 can be equipped with an additional helm wheel at the bow.
This craft is designed to meet the needs of children and the elderly with a system of railings plus safe and convenient access to the bow and sun deck.
The boat is designed to allow the addition of further equipment and accessories, both inside and out, depending on the owner's requirements.
"We have Delphia Escape 1050 at our hotel as a leisure craft and we love it to bits! The styling and quality of the finish is outstanding, the interior is roomy and comfortable and the whole thing is no harder to drive than a golf cart. With its 15HP motor it won't break any speed records, but you can drive it without any licence. Great boat." Hotel Przystań "Pod Dębami"
|Length overall
|10,50 m
|34,45 ft
|Hull length
|9,95 m
|32,64 ft
|3,45 m
|11,32 ft
|0,65 m
|2,13 ft
|Total weight
|4500 kg
|9921 lbs
|Ballast weight
|400 kg
|882 lbs
|Motor type
|Engine (max.)
|Tank capacity
|80,0 l
|17,6 gal.UK
|Water tank
|210,0 l
|46,2 gal.UK
|Holding tank
|80,0 l
|17,6 gal.UK
|Category CE
|Andrzej Skrzat


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initial pewter keyring charms by kutuu: A
- 3 in stock
These little tactile pebbles by Kutuu are perfect for adding to one of Kutuu's fabulous keyrings. Each features a lowercase letter, milestone age or symbol.
Simply select the pebble/s you want from the drop down menu and add it to the basket.
• solid pewter
• 1.9x1.1mm
About Kutuu
Kutuu is a small family company taking inspiration from everyday moments to create meaningful keepsakes from pewter. They wholeheartedly believe that it is the smallest things that hold the greatest meaning. With this idea in mind they create sweet symbols and meaningful messages for you to tuck into the pockets of the ones you love.
Since 2006, each design has started at the workbench with the business creator, Hannah Salomon, where sheet metal is cut, stamped and shaped into keyrings, bookmarks and pocket tokens as well as other daily life details. These are all then made here in their studio.


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Who'd have ever thought crop dusters and fertilizer/chemical dealers would need to concern themselves with terrorism?
For years, the general public, driving the highways of farm country, has been fascinated by spray planes whooshing low over crops, zooming up at the end of the field, making a sharp turn, and zooming back down again. Despite the devil-may-care, seat-of-the-pants image that adhered to the business for such a long time, modern ag aviators are extremely skilled pilots, handling some very expensive equipment, utilizing sophisticated technology to make very precise applications of very expensive materials to fields that contain a lot of potential dollars for their farmer customers.
(Interestingly, despite years of PR efforts by the ag aviation industry, and even though no "dust" materials have been used on crops in many a moon, the mass media and the general public still insist on calling them crop dusters rather than aerial applicators. Habits die hard.)
Now, instead of fascination at their aerial maneuvers, will the public, thanks to all the recent extensive publicity, be wondering if the spray plane they see zooming over the crops is a potential dispenser of biological warfare materials?
One thing's for sure: The workaday life of the aerial applicator is going to be a lot more complicated, with more regulation and more precautionary measures. It's likely, too, that the planes will be subject to sudden grounding when there are suspicions of terrorist activity, as they have been over the last couple of weeks — all of which can have a negative impact on ag aviators' revenues and on farmers' crop management.
Experts in the art of biological warfare say ag planes, as normally configured for crop applications, are not much suited to dispersal of death-dealing sprays such as anthrax and diphtheria or nerve gases, and that the handling requirements for such an operation would require specialized equipment and extreme care. And piloting a fully loaded ag plane also requires a lot of training and experience.
But the government apparently is considering worst-case scenarios, opting to err on the side of caution. Under consideration are restrictions on the export of aerosol sprayers and certain aircraft spray equipment that might be used in biological warfare.
In at least one state, Florida, regulations are being formulated to require all ag pilots to notify state agriculture officials of every flight, including the aircraft ID, the pesticide or other material being carried, and the exact area where the spraying will take place — information that will also be provided to the Federal Aviation Administration, "so we'll know who is in the air, what airplane they're in, and what chemical they're using." It's not unlikely similar rules will be applied in other states.
Meanwhile, ag applicators are taking steps of their own to insure that aircraft can't be used by unauthorized persons. Some are blocking planes at night with trucks or other large equipment, taking batteries out of the planes, binding the props with locked cables.
The FBI has asked aerial applicators and fertilizer dealers nationwide to report any suspicious activity related to purchases or transportation of dangerous chemicals or fertilizer materials such as ammonium nitrate or urea that might be used in bomb-making. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms has launched a campaign to enlist trucking companies, railroads, and other transporters to do likewise.
In the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, The Fertilizer Institute, the Association of American Plant Food Control Officials, and the Agricultural Retailers Association have conducted a "Be Aware for America" program, asking fertilizer dealers to keep their products from falling into the wrong hands.
"Protect your product by making your own place of business secure for storage and distribution of fertilizer products," the organizations advise. "Be aware of how much product you have on hand."
Above all, they caution: "Know your customers. Use this knowledge to protect against the criminal misuse of fertilizer and agricultural chemicals."


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On Monday, February 5, Nicky Hayden underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on the right shoulder that he had injured in late December. During the procedure, which was carried out in Fremont, California, and which lasted approximately 40 minutes, Dr Arthur Ting discovered and repaired a tear in the labrum. Yesterday's post-operation appointment confirmed that the surgery was successful, and the Ducati Team rider returned home to begin his recovery. If the convalescence proceeds as hoped, Hayden should be able to take part in the next winter test at Sepang, February 28-March 1.
"It's a setback, but all things considered, I'm pretty happy with how things went," Hayden said. "It's good that it was possible to do everything by 'scope, and the pain's not too bad. The problem should be fixed now, and I look forward to being able to help out the team as soon as possible."


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Serengeti Safari Camp (Northern)
The Original Mobile Safari
The Serengeti National Park, home to the Great Migration, hosts the largest concentration of wildlife in the world. Over a million wildebeest and zebra move through the ecosystem, followed by lions, leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and wild dogs. The sheer numbers, combined with the daily drama of life and death, makes this an unforgettable experience. Serengeti Safari Camp was the first of its kind, designed to shadow the wildebeest migration as it covers hundreds of miles of the Serengeti National Park each year. Serengeti Safari Camp moves throughout the Serengeti National Park, changing location to follow the movements of the migration, although it will not move during your stay. Camp movements are pre-planned in an effort to be within reach of the herds, but this cannot always be guaranteed given the unpredictability of nature and weather conditions. Each year, this little camp casts off from Lamai Serengeti and begins its own odyssey. This camp has six large walk-in East African-style Meru tents, each with a comfortable bed and distressed iron bed-frame, a canvas rack for luggage and a leather-topped writing desk and side tables. The use of natural materials and colors in the bedrooms works really well and is simple, yet to stylish effect. A dressing area separates the beds from the bathroom area; with new eco-flush toilets and safari-style bucket showers. Hot and cold water are available on demand. Guests accommodations are arranged in a line with the main dining tent, fireplace and library/bar tent nearby located in the middle. Serengeti Safari Camp is one of the only places in the Serengeti where you will get a private vehicle and guide as standard for the duration of your stay, offering you the flexibility to enjoy game viewing at your own pace. Additionally, there are no limits to the timings of your game viewing – you can leave camp at dawn with a picnic lunch, and return at last light. Or you can take morning and evening drives returning to camp for lunch in between. The whole structure of the day is deliberately designed to cater for each person's individual interests.
Availability & Pricing
The availability calendar for this property is not yet connected. Please call one of our safari specialists at 800-995-8689 to request current availability.
Accommodation Details
- Price: From $1,087 per person per night
- Location: Eastern Africa, Tanzania
- Age Minimum: 8 years old
- # of Beds: 12 beds
- Amenities: Cell Phone Coverage, Ensuite Bathrooms, Laundry Included, Local Drinks Included, Recharge Facilities
- Type: Mobile Tented
- Included: Accommodation, meals, all drinks (except Champagne & premium wines), shared use of Serengeti Safari Camp, private vehicle and guide for game drives, bush picnics, laundry, transfers to/from nearest airstrip, park and concession fees
Available at an
Additional Cost: Champagne & premium wines, Hot Air Balloon safaris
Activities at this Accommodation
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Educational Excursion
Learn fascinating facts and understand the bigger picture. Knowledge can make safari viewing even more enthralling.
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Family Friendly Activities
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Game Drive
Head out into the wilderness to see the incredible daily drama of predator/prey and the ancient circle of life.
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Hot Air Balloon Safari over the Serengeti
Suspended in a basket beneath the rainbow-colored canopy, you're off for a game-viewing adventure with an entirely different perspective.
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Outdoor Dining
A lunch or dinner out in nature is one of the hallmarks of a luxury African experience. Your connection to the landscape is undisturbed and the food tastes even more special in this most wonderful of settings.
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Photo Specialty
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- ...show more activities
Top Trips
Other Nearby Accommodations
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Serengeti Under Canvas
From $680 per person per nightfavorite


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Ronald Hamowy, R.I.P.
by Stephen Cox | Posted September 09, 2012
Ronald Hamowy, who honored Liberty by becoming one of its Contributing Editors, died at 11:30 a.m. on September 8, in a hospital in Baltimore. The final cause of death was sepsis. Ronald had suffered for years from heart and kidney problems, and he had been hospitalized for several months.
He was one of the libertarian movement's most important and vital scholars. An historian of the 18th century, he was known for his impeccable standards of research and writing. To discerning researchers of the Enlightenment — left, right, or center — his word was law. If there was a scholarly myth or illusion, he was the one who was trusted to puncture it. He was the person who meticulously set things straight. Many times, when I have mentioned his name in an academic conversation, the reply has been, "Ronald Hamowy! You know him?!"
For libertarians, Ronald will always be recognized as a bright star of the post-World War II generation — but unlike many other grand old men of this or that era, he never became a Grand Old Man. He retained to the end his youthful joy and sense of first discovery. To him, any new fact — or any old movie, viewed on his constant friend, Turner Classics — was a pleasure to be greeted as if it were the first one in the universe. Even when ensconced as chairman of an august intellectual conference, Ronald let his eyes sparkle and his mouth crinkle with laughter, and with some little Count Basie-like verbal gesture he set the whole house laughing with his infectious wit.
Ronald was born in 1937, in Shanghai, China, the scion of a cosmopolitan Jewish family. His father was born in Syria; his beautiful and beloved mother in Egypt. He grew up in New York, where he supported himself with a number of jobs (one of them was running the streets, selling pop records). During his graduate work at the University of Chicago, he co-edited (with Ralph Raico) the New Individualist Review, a lively, beautifully produced libertarian intellectual journal. If you read it today, you will be sure to enjoy every word of it. Liberty — this journal — was consciously modeled on the American Mercury and the New Individualist Review.
The most important thing was Ronald's ability to distinguish pseudo-individualism from the real thing. Nothing could be too real for him.
Ronald's advisor at Chicago was Friedrich Hayek, but Hayek contributed little to Ronald's studies. Hayek was above it all. Ronald was on his own, as students of Great Academics always are. His first dissertation topic required him to do research at the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, where he found the research conditions impossible. Migrating to Oxford, which had resources adequate to another topic in which he was interested, he needed the sponsorship of some Oxford academic, to get permission to exploit the library. He approached Sir Isaiah Berlin, who rebuffed him. Berlin was "taking no more students."
Ronald, who was only half as tall as other people, looked up at the great Sir Isaiah. "Listen," he said. "I'm very smart. I'm very hard-working. And I'm funny." All that was true. Sir Isaiah looked down at the small student in front of him, laughed, and said, "All right."
Ronald was hard to resist. And he knew it. But he was one of the funniest people I've ever known. If Ronald couldn't make you laugh, you really weren't worth the effort. And his wit was always . . . intellectually understood. No vulgarity. No easy laughs. Nothing but fun. But not coy, either.
One person who resisted Ronald was Ayn Rand. As one of the young libertarians (Ronald's friend Murray Rothbard was another) who were invited to her apartment for intellectual discussions, he was cast into oblivion after a difference of opinion about . . . Rachmaninoff. Guests were asked to say who their favorite composers were, and when Rand's turn came, she said "Rachmaninoff," with specific reference to his second piano concerto. "Why?" Ronald asked. "Because he was the most rational," Rand responded. At which Ronald laughed, thinking it must be a joke. He knew that the composer had dedicated that concerto to his psychiatrist — and anyway, rationality had nothing to do with its greatness. But Ronald's laughter resulted in exile, and the loss of friends who were dear to him.
Ronald was a professor in the Department of History at the University of Alberta from 1969 until his retirement in 1998, at which time he immediately moved back to the United States. He detested conformist cultures, and he regarded both his department and, it is fair to say, Canada itself as epitomes of conformism. I once asked him what was wrong with Canada, and he said, "I'll tell you. If you walk into a store in Canada, and you find a customer having a dispute with a sales clerk, 90% of the other customers will immediately side with the clerk. That person is regarded as an official, and therefore the one to obey." He attributed this defect of Canadian culture in large part to the migration to Canada of people opposed to the American Revolution. They set the tone.
Ronald himself was always a revolutionary. He was outraged by any offense to individualism, so much so that he engaged in a ferocious online conflict with other gay libertarians who regarded the movie Braveheart as a tribute to the heroic individual. Ronald pointed out that the movie was historically ridiculous and anti-homosexual to boot. He argued, convincingly, that works of art really do need to be judged by their fidelity to historical truth, whenever they recommend themselves as historically true. But the most important thing was Ronald's ability to distinguish pseudo-individualism from the real thing. Nothing could be too real for him. One day, when he and I were discussing various versions of libertarian thought, I asked him where he stood, and he replied (knowing I would not sympathize entirely), "Basically, I agree with Murray" — meaning with Murray Rothbard's very radical libertarianism.
I believe that the antiwar strain of libertarian thought was important for Ronald. I remember accompanying him, when he visited San Diego, to the Adams Avenue (used) Bookstore (where else would you entertain Ronald Hamowy?). While browsing the stacks, I heard a voice muttering curses, somewhere else in the establishment. I found Ronald in a side room, seated amid stacks of books he was examining, and holding a copy of Barbara Tuchman's The Guns of August in his hand. Tuchman justified British intervention in World War I. "Damned British crap," Ronald exclaimed, putting the book down as if he were giving long-overdue punishment to a whole school of thought. Which he was.
His life demonstrated that we libertarians are right: the individual, complex and whole, is the mysterious and unending source of all that is vital in our world.
Ronald's works include The Scottish Enlightenment and the Theory of Spontaneous Order (University of Southern Illinois Press, 1987), Canadian Medicine: A Study in Restricted Entry (Fraser Institute, 1984), Dealing with Drugs: Consequences of Government Control (edited, Lexington Books, 1987), Government and Public Health in America (Edward Elgar, 2007), The Encyclopedia of Libertarianism (edited, Sage Publications, 2008), and many articles, including one that was especially valuable for Liberty, on the intellectual argument about the American Revolution (Liberty, July 2008, pp. 37-42).
After his retirement, Ronald and his companion Clement Ho moved into a pretty, three-story house in the Washington suburb of Rockville, MD. There Ronald completed his magisterial edition of Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty (University of Chicago Press, 2011), which straightens out a great deal that Hayek left, shall we say, unstraightened. Ronald was already in poor health, requiring the use of a cane and, eventually, one of those personal elevators that take you from the first floor of your house to another floor. He had countless near-death experiences — frequently being rushed to the hospital, with only a half hour available to save his life. Yet he bravely undertook a long journey to Greece and Italy, which he enjoyed, and he lived with equivalent bravery from day to day. To see Ronald sitting at his desk, surrounded with computer wires, like a snake-charmer among his clients, watching his computer with one eye and Cary Grant (Turner Classics, again) with the other, was to imagine a cultural world that was, for once, under intelligent control.
Ronald was a combination of supposed opposites. He was a fiery combatant, yet a generous and lenient friend. He was sensitive and nostalgic, often to the point of tears, yet an unflinching judge of the written word. He struggled, year after year, against the uncountable illnesses that racked his body; yet he was always as valiant as a soldier undertaking his first combat mission. But there was no contradiction. His life demonstrated that we libertarians are right: the individual, complex and whole, is the mysterious and unending source of all that is vital in our world.
Ronald is survived by his friend Clement Ho, who was with him every step of the way. Anyone wishing to contact him is invited to do so, at email@example.com.
Stephen Cox is editor of Liberty, and a professor of literature at the University of California San Diego. His recent books include The Big House: Image and Reality of the American Prison and American Christianity: The Continuing Revolution. Newly published is Culture and Liberty, a selection of works by Isabel Paterson.
Share This
Alan Cathcart
Thank you for teaching me about the subsequent career of this remarkable man, whom I knew only as my Western Civ instructor at Stanford in 1965-1966, who provided one of my earliest experiences with intellectual rigor. I wish I had gotten to know him better.
I did notice an error in the Wikipedia article on Ron. Wikipedia says he came to Stanford in 1968. However, I can assure you I spent a great deal of time in his company on the Stanford Quad beginning in the Fall of 1965. Perhaps you can let the author know this.
Thanks again.
Sun, 2014-04-06 19:29
Thanks Stephen. Ron was a good friend to the end. I visited him often and managed to say good bye near the end. What a delightful and very bight man he was.
Sun, 2012-09-16 01:33
Randy Simmons
What a great piece that captures many of my memories of Ronald. Some of my favorite Liberty Fund meetings were ones where Ronald was at the table, and especially where he was discussion leader. A great mind and a great wit.
Tue, 2012-09-11 00:28
Michael Morrison
Mr. Cox, you have outdone yourself, and you have done well by the late Mr. Hamowy. Though I never had the good fortune to meet him, you have made him very real and very important. I cried. Sitting here alone at my computer, I cried, both for him as an individual and for us who were his beneficiaries, his intellectual and philosophical beneficiaries. Above all, I cried for myself -- as we always do at such a loss -- because I never met him and because he was, as you have portrayed him, a good person and a valuable ally.
Mon, 2012-09-10 13:08
Sam Bostaph
What a loss to lovers and advocates of liberty! Ron Hamowy was one of the most charming men I've ever known and a true scholar. His rebuttal of Gary Wills' screed on Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence left no room for any intelligible reply. I've never read anything by Wills since.
Mon, 2012-09-10 09:57
Hi Steve,
I hope you are well. Thank you for writing the lovely piece on Ron Hamowy. I knew him a bit, and everything you say in the piece is easily envisioned.
Sun, 2012-09-09 22:26
Where can the evidence for this claim by found?
"Ronald's advisor at Chicago was Friedrich Hayek, but Hayek contributed little to Ronald's studies. Hayek was above it all."
Sun, 2012-09-09 17:41
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text:
While I still plan on posting a new cooking clip every weekday, on the weekends I thought I would start posting other random, fun and/or funny foodie items I've found surfing the web. This clip I found on Youtube is a perfect example of something you may see posted on my "off"days. The next time you are rolling through a drive-through, maybe try ordering like this kid did. I mean what do you have to lose? They usually get your order wrong anyway! Enjoy.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Fast Food Freestyle - Because that's how I roll
Posted by Chef John at 3:32 PM
4 comments:
- Gulfdiver said...
As stupid as this wrap was.. it kinda grows on yah.. Got a chuckle out of it.. The dude's got the face of a trigger fish tho..
- March 19, 2007 at 1:53 PM
- childsdish said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- March 19, 2007 at 2:34 PM
- childsdish said...
childsdish said...
Hilarious. This clip reminds me of a pro basketball player I've met. Fooling around, harmless, but not thinking about anyone else, in this case those who may be lined up behind them wanting to order or how annoying it must've been to the gal taking the order. Her composure was great!
- March 19, 2007 at 2:36 PM
- Chef John said...
Well, I think the sound track may have included a few car horns if people were waiting... This looked like a 2 AM project.
And yes, I agree, it does grow on you... very strange, the same thing happens with real hip hop music, the more you hear, the more you hear.
- March 19, 2007 at 6:36 PM
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text:
Three cards are selected by three spectators -- the King of Hearts, the Jack of Spades and the Ace of Hearts. When the King of Hearts is placed on the bottom of the deck, the entire deck is now seen to consist of nothing but King of Hearts. Then, the Jack of Spades is placed on the bottom of the deck and the entire deck consists of nothing but Jack of Spades. This is repeated once more with the Ace of Hearts. At the end, all of the cards are once again seen to be ordinary.
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text:
Browsing Centres by Author "Vallentin, Steen"
Now showing items 1-1 of 1
Vallentin, Steen; Murillo, David (, 2009)[More information][Less information]
Abstract: Modern governmental approaches to CSR (corporate social responsibility) have two distinguishing traits: they tend to define competitiveness as their primary concern and to make use of liberal and indirect means of steering. Contributing to a political understanding of CSR and focusing empirically on developments within the EU, this paper approaches CSR governance in general and competitiveness-driven CSR governance in particular from the point of view of an analytics of governmentality – thus introducing governmentality studies to the field of CSR. The aim of the paper is first, conceptually, to make sense of the governmentality approach in terms of the practical brand of critique it embodies and its positioning vis-à-vis other comparable contributions to our understanding of the government of CSR. And second, analytically, to propose a framework for analyzing the governmentalities of CSR. URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10398/7908
Files in this item: 1wp cbscsr 2009-4.pdf (213.7Kb)
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text:
What is Hip Replacement Surgery?
Hip replacement is a surgical procedure to replace parts of the hip joint that are damaged by disease or injury. It is most often done to treat arthritis, a common condition that causes stiffness and pain in the joints. Surgery is used only after other, less invasive treatments have failed to work.
The type of hip replacement you receive is based on your age and the extent of damage to your hip. The hip joint has two parts: the femoral head, or hip ball, and the acetabulum, or hip socket. The hip ball is located on the upper end of the femur (thigh bone), and the hip socket is part of the pelvis. Depending on whether one or both parts require replacement, you may need one of the following procedures:
- Partial hip replacement, which is generally recommended in the case of hip fractures or other hip injuries. If you are having a partial hip replacement, only the hip ball will be replaced.
- Total hip replacement, which is often used to treat the hip joint when it has become damaged due to arthritis. Both the hip socket and hip ball are replaced.
- Hip resurfacing, which is usually performed for younger patients. A hip resurfacing procedure reshapes the hip ball and only replaces its surface. This preserves more bone and makes future surgeries easier. If you are having a partial hip resurfacing, only the hip ball is resurfaced and replaced. If you are having a total hip resurfacing, the hip socket will be replaced as well.
During hip replacement surgery, an incision is made along the side of the hip. The surgeon may access the joint directly through this incision, or by using small tools and a lighted tube called an arthroscope to see and treat the joint. The diseased tissue is removed, and the bones are smoothed out and fitted with metal ends. The metal pieces may be cemented in place, or they may have a porous structure that encourages bone to grow into them and hold them securely. A smooth plastic cushion is placed between the two bones to replace the cartilage and allow the joint to move freely.
Hip replacement surgery takes one to two hours, and afterwards you may stay in the hospital for several days. When you go home, you will have to use a cane, walker, or crutches at first. You will likely have physical therapy to improve your ability to move with your new hip. After the first few weeks, light exercise such as bike riding or swimming will help you heal, but certain actions, such as climbing stairs or bending over at the waist, may be difficult at first. It will take several weeks before you can drive or return to work. Full recovery may take six to 12 months.


text:
By Tessa Raebeck
With the reemergence of wind power on the East End, the area has come full circle, harkening back to the days as early as 1650 when early settlers relied heavily on the wind to help grind their grain into flour.
"They started right at the beginning," East Hampton Town's historic preservation consultant Robert Hefner said of windmills in the town, which was one of the first English settlement in New York.
Watermills were not suitable for the region's flat topography, so the windmill became the logical choice for energy. Although modern windmills—wind turbines—are used to generate electricity, windmills were originally developed for milling grain for food production, evolving to supply power for many additional industrial and agricultural needs until the early 20th century.
East Hampton's colonial settlers came from an area of England that used windmill technology for grinding grains. Although most windmills in early East Hampton were used as gristmills, grinding wheat, corn and rye, there were also a handful of wind-powered sawmills in the town.
Mr. Hefner estimates there were some three windmills in the Village of East Hampton and two or so in Amagansett at any given time.
Gardiners Island, which was given as a gift to Lion Gardiner in 1639 by the Montaukett people, had its own windmill.
Out of 43 traditional windmills built in New York State, 33 were on the East End. Fourteen of those were in East Hampton. Sag Harbor has had two in its history.
The English-style windmills of the East End, which vary from the Dutch style used on the western part of Long Island, are smock mills. They use sails that are pitched so that when the wind strikes them, they turn. As the sails turn, they rotate what's called a wind shaft, a giant wooden timber the sails are passed through.
Mounted on the wind shaft inside the cap of the mill is the brake wheel, a large wooden gear some 7 feet in diameter. That gear, in turn, rotates another gear, transferring the motion from a horizontal to a vertical direction down into the mill. In the center of the mill is an upright vertical shaft that turns and on top of that timber another gear is mounted, which, in the case of a gristmill, turns the millstone.
"The gears are calibrated so that…they don't turn very fast," Mr. Hefner said Tuesday. "But the gears are set out in such a way that the slow motion of the sails eventually produces a faster rotation of the millstone."
A "very famous craftsman," according to Mr. Hefner, Nathaniel Dominy built the Hook Mill in East Hampton in 1806 and the historic Gardiners Island Mill in 1795.
Samuel Schellinger of the Amagansett Schellingers, a family that has lived in East Hampton continuously since colonial times, was another skilled millwright in the town.
"It was definitely a specialized skill, which came from England to America, and then on Long Island, they sort of developed some things themselves that are different here than anywhere else," Mr. Hefner said of Mr. Dominy, Mr. Schellinger and other local craftsmen. "There are little things that sort of develop in each particular region."
The sails must face into the wind in order for the windmill to operate, but the wind, naturally, comes from all different directions. So, the cap on top of the tower needs to be turned to face the sails into the wind.
Settlers first turned the cap—and thus the sails—using a big pole and lever, but Mr. Dominy of East Hampton invented a way to turn the cap using gearing inside of the mill itself instead.
Many gristmills fell out of use in the 1850s, when flour started to be made in steam-powered mills, one of which was built in Bridgehampton.
"It was easier, less expensive," Mr. Hefner said.
Gristmills were pushed further out of use when the railroad was extended to the East End during the 1870s and flour began being shipped out from New York City.
"But the mills operated here—some of them into the 1920's for animal feed," Mr. Hefner said. "And then some people, just by habit I guess, preferred to grind their own wheat in the windmill, so it did hang on for quite a while after manufactured flour was available from the steam-powered mills."
Some of the first summer colony houses in the town, Mr. Hefner said, had their own wind pumps, "little towers with a water tank and a little windmill on top that would pump the water up for household use." That technology was also commonly used on farms.
Mr. Hefner estimates gristmills, the original East Hampton windmills, were still in use in East Hampton until about 1920. The iconic Hook Mill on North Main Street operated regularly until 1908.
"There was a period then when electricity took over for electrical pumps, and then there's the interval where there really were no windmills, before the most recent use of them to generate electricity," he said.
After a nearly 100-year hiatus, it appears wind power is coming back to East Hampton.
"It makes sense, right?" said Mr. Hefner. "There's a lot of power in the wind, so it makes sense."


text:
Friday, October 15, 2010
First Frost: 2010
At our little house, the first frost of 2010 came later, just two days ago on the 12th of October, as seen on my windshield while driving to work. Last year, in 2009, we had a hard, killing freeze on September 30th, and had our first snow on October 4th. So far, no snow for 2010 (except in the high mountains above 9000 feet, which happened a couple weeks back).
As I drove farther up the road...
...it became clear that the ice on my windshield had been deposited by a Pogonip ice fog.
5 comments:
- Gaelyn said...
Oh brrrrr... Haven't seen frost here yet. Unless I'm just not up early enough to see it.
- Friday, October 15, 2010 at 11:31:00 AM PDT
- Lockwood said...
There is nothing that chills me to the bone like freezing fog- though the frost that can come out of it is lovely, it makes me feel miserable.
- Friday, October 15, 2010 at 11:56:00 AM PDT
- Dana Hunter said...
Oh, joy, cold weather approacheth. Whee.
It's nice to look at from inside a heated house, anyway. ;-)
- Friday, October 15, 2010 at 4:52:00 PM PDT
- Dan McShane said...
Looks like you beat Bellingham by a day. Hard ice on the grass, roof and cars this morning for our first frost, but the frost may be mostly radiant cooling of surfaces versus actual sub freezing temps. And here frost is good news - it will be sunny versus rain.
- Saturday, October 16, 2010 at 8:06:00 AM PDT
- Silver Fox said...
I like winter coming on, though am glad the frost held off for our garden this year. And now it's warmed up a little, perhaps, so maybe the chard will keep going a while longer.
- Monday, October 18, 2010 at 4:01:00 PM PDT


text: We thought we'd seen the weirdest test unit ever photographed by a spy shooter when we saw the cobbled-together Mini Cooper engineering mule tester from a week ago. We kind of thought that Mini mule beat out our previous worst test mule ever — the Mercedes SLC Mule because really, the SLC was more sweet than craptastic-looking — so we're not even entirely sure we can count it. But now we've gotten this shot of the new Skoda Roomster-competitor, the 2009 Citroen C3 Minispace — and it very well may take the cake for "Worst Mule Ever." But we're so torn between the three — we're going to let you decide via the poll we've got below the jump. Remember, vote early and vote often. Also, if you're looking for a higher-res shot of the 2009 Citroen C3 Minispace Mule, click here.


text:
OFEC have provided us with an excellent support and service using their signing in platform DigiGreet. We have found it has changed the way visitors and staff sign in. If it wasn't for OFEC we would still be using pen and paper to sign in and out. We would highly recommend OFEC to our clients.
Definitely 10 out of 10, we are delighted with the product.
DigiGreet has been well received.
I feel that we have been very well supported in the setup of Digigreet within our school. Any queries have been dealt with very efficiently.
Really great support and communication, very easy to get started!


text:
Miley Cyrus! "I'm Smoking Way Too Much F**king Weed"
Miley Cyrus admits to being a pot head and drops an
credit- @tinybombshell
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Now, the title is a bit of a misnomer. There isn't a Latvian royal family. Nobles in Latvia were typically German, sometimes Polish, sometimes Russian. But this post is about a group in Latvia that can be considered the closest thing to nobility that ethnic Latvians have – the "kuršu ķoniņi", or "Curonian Kings".
This group is said to originate from the leaders of the Curonian people (one of the groups that eventually melded into what would become Latvians) in central Kurland, in the communities of Ķoniņciems, Kalējciems, Ziemeļciems, Pliķuciems, Dragūnciems, Viesalgciems and Sausgaļciems, all located around the town of Kuldīga. Their main church was the Lipaiķi Lutheran Church, which was the home parish for the communities of Ķoniņciems, Kalējciems, Ziemeļciems and Pliķuciems, southwest of Kuldīga.
When the Livonian Order came knocking and took over Latvian territory, they were able to negotiate special privileges that most Latvian peasants were not able to have. They were not nobility or landowners on the scale of the German barons, nor were they allowed to own serfs of their own, but they maintained their land rights, hunting and fishing rights and had personal freedoms that serfs did not have (right to marry freely, inheritance, etc.).
The extent of these rights came and went depending on the ruling power, but some measure of special rights and privileges were granted to the kuršu ķoniņi from the fourteenth century up until Latvian independence in the early 20th century, when special privileges were abolished.
The kuršu ķoniņi, unlike most Latvians, have a coat of arms, which is displayed prominently in the Lipaiķi church. They also maintained a number of pagan customs well into the 15th century, and superstitions regarding local holy tree groves persist into the modern era. It is not permitted to hunt, break branches or light fires in the sacred forests, lest something bad happen to the community.
What does this information mean for genealogy? I'm not sure of all of the documents that exist regarding this group, but many certainly do – I've read about several documents that granted this special status that still appear to be extant, and of course the people appear in the church records. It is also important to know the names of the people who were a part of this extended group. The rule was such that the son who was to inherit needed to marry within the group, but daughters could marry other peasants, "as long as they were wealthy enough".
Kuršu Ķoniņi surnames: Peniķis, Tontegode (Tonteguts), Sirkants (Saukants), Šmēdiņš, Bergholcs (Bartolds), Kalējs (Šmits), Dragūns (Vidiņš), Grīnbergs. The oldest of these families – at least as it comes to having privileges – are the Tontegode and Peniķis families. I should note though that some of these names – particularly Kalējs, Šmits, Vidiņš and Grīnbergs – are quite common all over Latvia, so having one of these surnames in your tree does not mean you have kuršu ķoniņi ancestors. Though if they are from the Lipaiķi congregation, the chances can be quite good. You will have to dig into the church records and see.
Looking through the Latvian newspapers on Periodika, I have found mentions of some members of the Peniķis and Tontegode families having emigrated after the Second World War. Are you one of them, or descended from them? Do you have more information to share regarding the kuršu ķoniņi? Share in comments!


text:
Now Is The Time To Improve CISPA Before Friday's Vote By Pushing These Critical Amendments
from the last-minute-push dept
Update: The White House has now officially threatened to veto CISPA.
In Congress, this week is CISPA week. With the bill going up for debate tomorrow, and the final vote scheduled for Friday, it's clear that the voice of the internet community has had an impact. The reps have been proposing their final amendments, and all are clear attempts to address some of the biggest criticisms from civil liberties groups and the public. CISPA has strong bi-partisan support and a very good chance of passing—and unfortunately, it's still a highly problematic bill. But, while the proposed amendments cannot perfect it, some of them could certainly reduce its potential for abuse in significant ways. If you're looking for a practical way to fight back against the serious privacy violation that CISPA represents in these final days before its potential passage, encouraging your representative to support these amendments is a good place to start.
There are two in particular that, though simple, would make drastic improvements on CISPA by refocusing it on network security and minimizing the chance of shared data being used to go after individuals. An amendment from Rep. Barton (pdf and embedded below) would insert the sensible requirement that shared data will only include personal information (further defined to include the content of any communications and even IP addresses) if it is necessary to combat a specific cyber attack. Another, even better amendment from Rep. Akin (pdf and embedded below) goes a step further and would bring CISPA back in line with the fourth amendment by barring the sharing of any personally identifiable information without a warrant. Of course, it's annoying that such an amendment is necessary—but the whole point of CISPA is to route around well-established requirements like going to a judge before violating someone's privacy. Though the bill still creates all sorts of potential privacy problems, the Akin amendment fixes a big one.
Rep. Thompson has also proposed an amendment (embedded below) that is supposed to address privacy concerns, and TPM reports that it is being backed by Ron Paul, who got attention earlier this week with a strong condemnation of CISPA. However, the Thompson amendment seems to lack teeth: it has a lot of talk about "minimizing" the impact on privacy and making "reasonable efforts" to remove personal information, and graciously offers to consult with "civil liberties stakeholders" (wouldn't that be everybody?), but it sets down no firm requirements or limitations. Despite being a fraction of the length, both the Akin and Barton amendments would do far more to fix CISPA, because they clearly prohibit certain activities.
Thompson's other proposed amendment (embedded below), however, is very good: it would limit the government recipients of the data from the overly broad "Federal Government" in the current bill to just Homeland Security and other civilian agencies. This addresses the significant fear that the NSA could use CISPA to expand their already-aggressive data collection programs. While civilian agencies and the DHS especially are hardly perfect, this would still be a lot better than handing data collected under CISPA over to the intelligence community.
There are other amendments on the table too, but these are some of the ones that get directly to the core privacy issues that make CISPA so dangerous. The CDT has a post taking a look at others. Ultimately the best solution would be to toss the bill out and start again, drafting sensible cybersecurity legislation that is evidence-based (starting with an evaluation of whether or not its even needed), and since Friday's vote is still not guaranteed there's no reason to stop speaking out against CISPA as a whole. But it's also a good idea to ensure that the bill is as good as it can possibly be when it goes up for vote, by pressuring Congress to adopt these critical amendments.
Filed Under: cispa, congress, dhs, fourth amendment, nsa


text:
"...to me this Cannabis Wheaton is just the culmination of everything wrong in the industry. That stock shouldn't even exist."
The Daily IKN email digest, get all daily posts sent to you next day (& no ads)
Norm Levine on Cannabis Wheaton (CBW.v)
The top three most visited IKN posts this week are...
The Friday OT: Compay Segundo; Chan Chan
How to open Cuba.
Youtube here.
Dalradian (DNA.to) has been swimming against the tide recently
It's also cancelled appearances at shows in the last few weeks.
I don't own and don't plan to soon either, but its strength certainly catches the eye.
Ugly day for miners...
Chart of the day is...
...the ten year US TIPS yield:
All you need to know about the price of gold, right there. It's been like clockwork all year.
IKN doffs its cap to Brian Quast of BMO...
Angry Geologist updates on Tinka (TK.v)...
A Flash update...
...has just been sent to subscribers, Thursday 11:40am or so. Another trade, we live in strange days.
Marin Katusa and the short sellers
Peru FinMin Thorne to resign, his Vice Minister Claudia Cooper to take over
She's one of PPK's faves.
Deciding on whether Eldorado (EGO) overpaid for Integra
Another, more succinct and visual way of explaining the Cordoba Minerals (CDB.v) deal...
The Flash update sent last night to subscribers regarding the Cordoba Minerals (CDB.v) news yesterday
Good Tuesday evening, 8pm local time here, a chilly evening outside.
Selling Cordoba Minerals (CDB.v)After a trading halt and close to the end of today's trading session, Cordoba Minerals announced...
...it was changing the structure of its deal with JV partner, the privately owned Robert Friedland vehicle HPX. I urge you to read the NR as seen on that link, but the main thrust of the news is that CDB.v gets back 100% control of the San Matias concession in Colombia by buying the HPX JV subsidiary by issuing just under 92.7m shares with a face value price of 81c. It will also run a private placement in order to fund the new 100% controlled vehicle by selling 12.35m units (unit = 1 share plus 1/2 warrant at $1.08 strike) at 81c per warrant.
I exchanged with CDB CEO Stifano regarding the deal this afternoon. He is keen to push the positives of the deal, which will allow the new vehicle to be more aggressive on its exploration program, especially on the promising-looking porphyry-type target contained at San Matias (and there are many) and stressed how HPX/Friedland is very much still on board with a 67% position in CDB once the dust has settled. Also, as per the NR the deal is considered "neutral" for the HPX participation and Friedland remarked that its "strengthens the partnership" between HPX and CDB.My problem: If there's no direct change in the HPX involvement and if Friedland considers this as a stronger deal, who loses? The answer is retail shareholders, e.g. me, because the fact that I cannot ignore is that there is a significant transfer of risk from HPX and to CDB. Under the terms of the JV deal up to today, CDB gets a free ride on the development of San Matias. It was one of the most attractive elements of the JV, that we could buy into a small junior and ride it as its larger and very well-funded partner bought in by exploring and developing a very large copper concession with multiple targets. With CDB now 100% owner, the $10m it plans to raise (even if it turns out to be $15m) will not last very long. This deal has come out of the blue and it's not the deal I bought into. Friedland may have the same type of % participation now but he's transferred risk because CDB and not HPX will fund the ongoing exploration. Meanwhile bigger money may enjoy the chance to buy in at a big discount, but me at the little end feels more than a little reamed by it all.Or to put it even more simply, the retail investment holder cannot hold 90c shares when tomorrow morning the book opens on an 81c deal that gets a half warrant attached and at the same time seriously think they're getting the better end of the deal.This is a dilutive trade and suits the big boys just fine, that means the little boys (again, me) gets more risk added. In fact, this type of 100% owned structure with significant burn is one that I did not buy into at San Matias. The story has changed.
Therefore and reluctantly, I am selling my Cordoba Minerals (CDB.v) position tomorrow morning (assuming the halt comes off before the opening bell) and won't be waiting for the conference call to do so. It is reluctant, because the rocks at San Matias have not changed one jot and I'm keenly aware that CDB has a Visible Gold drill hole about to come in at its Alacran target. The advantage of capital markets is, however, that I am allowed to buy back into a stock at any point in time and buy and sell it as many times as I like. That might happen down the line with CDB, once the dust has settled and if it can show good exploration results going forward. However, with this deal that sucks for retail, I prefer to step aside for the time being.
The bottom line: I sell tomorrow and what was a double at one point has finished at perhaps a 10% win (depending on what price I get out at tomorrow morning, though I see no reason to accept under the 81c offering price). An irksome and annoying end to a trade.
People on the Tinka Resources (TK.v) site visit that's happening right now
The analyst from Industrial Alliance Securities.
The analyst from Boswell Capital.
A couple of guys from Red Cloud.
That last line is a double-edged sword if ever there were one, but this week's roster shows the big hitters aren't just sniffing around TK, they're actively interested.
The Cannabis Wheaton (CBW.v) chart
Now I'm not a big proponent of charting, but...
...that really doesn't look so good. But hey, it can turn around, right?
Chart of the day is...
A Flash update...
...has just been sent to subscribers, 8pm Tuesday evening. A trade.
The basic numbers at Cannabis Wheaton (CBW.v)
- 14 deals that CBW put together for less them $1m in cash total (in other words, very minor deals)
- Around $1.5m in cash before the current placement.
- $50m in cash assuming the current placement closes.
- A proposed deal to spend $30m of that money on a streaming deal (with people that you can hardly call arms-length, either).
- Errr...that's it.
- Current Assets: $51.5m
- Fixed Assets: $5m (the $1m in deals and then i assume they have an office, some computers, coffee machine etc)
- Goodwill: ??????
- Current liabilities: $0.2m (normal run of company number)
- Long-term liabilities: $0 (Best to assume the best case, looks likely too
- Equity: $56.3m
- Equity per share out: $0.286
- Equity per "real world" share out: $0.171
The Sandstorm (SAND) (SSL.to) rally continues
It's Federal Mining Agreement day in Argentina
Argentina: The Federal Mining Agreement to be signed this weekLast week we noted that Governor Urtubey of Salta said he would not sign the Federal Mining Agreement (FMA) and join the other main dissenter, Mario das Neves of Chubut. This week saw an emergency meeting between several provincial governors, led by the pro-mining Sergio Uñac of San Juan province, which changed the wording on a couple of the items and got Urtubey on board. With this, the government has decided to press ahead with the FMA without Chubut and will hold a fancy-dancy signing ceremony this Tuesday June 13th in Buenos Aires (10), with the main points of the agreement being that the nation will not impose a planned 1% royalty, that the provinces would limit regional royalties to 3% maximum, and provinces could impose a second tax to fund mining infrastructure of not more than 1.5%. In return the Macri government gets the "level playing field" with all provinces reading from the same rulebook, which will allow Argentina as a nation to attract more FDI, so they say. One the FMA is signed, it then goes to the national Congress in order to be made into law.However, we once again stress that the fact Chubut has not signed on makes the initiative stillborn. For one thing, Argentina cannot claim "same playing field" when Chubut will not recognize the new law. For another and more practical reason, Chubut is the location of over $1Bn of the total $1.7Bn in projects now on the Argentina pipeline to production.Expect a lot of trumpets and fanfares next week when the FMA is signed and when you hear them, remember this FMA is a DOA paper tiger of an agreement, it's practically worthless and changes nothing of substance. Even outside of Chubut and in signee provinces such as Mendoza, Rio Negro and Salta with leery attitudes towards the industry, the anti-mining sectors will be able to block projects using the provinces' constitutions and laws and the national government will not be able to push through a thing against the will of the regional governor. In short, the archetype Style-Over-Substance country gets the mining agreement it deserves.
The latest Odebrecht shoe to drop: Ex-President Martinelli of Panama arrested
Zinc One (Z.v): The latest Keith Neumeyer/Daniel Ameduri BS pump is...
Dear Reader,
We are so certain that this extremely undervalued company is a strong buy here, we are staking our entire careers on this single stock pick.
I, Daniel Ameduri, fully expect this company to lead the rally for zinc stocks, to the point that if my recommendation to you here today at CAD$0.65 doesn't at least double over the next year, I will officially close down my letter.
In fact, I see this stock as a coiled spring, and I believe that I may be proven right over the next 30 days, with 11 months to spare!
Alfredo Thorne to be fired as Peru's FinMin this week...
...for being a lying tosser and being found out. Both you and his best pal Jaime Pinto heard it here first.
Cannabis Wheaton (CBW.v) and the amended placement: The real dope
"Cannabis Wheaton Income Corp.'s chief executive and marijuana industry pioneer Chuck Rifici admits the intricacies of large private placement deals are not his forte."
Brexit is falling apart
"As the Parliamentary Conservative Party convenes this week we need to show fast that we have listened to the British public, that Parliamentary democracy is alive and well, and that we trust the people and their elected representatives.That is, after all, what Brexit was supposed to be about. So let's commit to an 'Open Brexit' based on much greater Parliamentary scrutiny, debate, and democratic mandate ..."
The IKN Weekly, out now
IKN421 has just been sent to subscribers. There are many photographs.


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The first inning was easy as pie; J-Mac set the Cubbies down in order, and Rodrigo Lopez did the same to the Pirates. The Chicago nine went down without a peep in the second; so did the Bucs, although they have hit three at 'em balls already.
Well, something has to give, right? It did quickly enough when Geovany Soto drilled a fastball over the wall in left, his eleventh of the season, to put the Cubbies up. McDonald got back to dealing and put the other baby Bruins away.
Xavier Paul got the first Bucco hit, a rope to center. He was gunned down trying to steal second, so that kinda negated the knock. Brandon Wood walked and J-Mac laid one down to move him up a station. McCutch bounced out to short, and the string of zips continued.
J-Mac put down the first two Cubs routinely before Carlos Pena jacked his 21st bomb over the center field wall on a first pitch heater. Marlon Byrd rolled one into left for a single, followed by Blake DeWitt's third homer of the year to right. Ouch. 4-0 Chicago, and the good guys need to circle their wagons in a hurry.
And hey, guess what? They did. Garrett Jones rapped a double, went to third on a Neil Walker bouncer and came home when Ryan Ludwick collected his first Pirate hit, a grounder through the middle. Pedro rolled another one through the right side, and Dewey lined one to right to load the bases.
Paul hit into a force out, scoring Ludwick, and Wood walked after falling behind 0-2. It would be a big at bat when McDonald came to his own rescue by rapping a double into left center that cleared the bases, his first three career MLB RBI. It was even nicer when McCutch hit another gapper to make it 6-4 after four.
J-Mac did what they teach you in pitching school; he shut the Cubs down in order in the fifth to keep Big Mo in Black and Gold. Ramon Ortiz came on for Lopez, and his one out walk to Ludwick was rectified by a Pedro 3-6-3 DP.
Alvarez wasn't having such a hot inning; he muffed a one out grounder by A-Ram. But McDonald got a pair of grounders to finish off Chicago in the sixth. Ortiz, with his 7+ ERA, retired the first two Pirates before Wood legged out an infield knock to the shortstop hole. McDonald drove another to center, but Byrd had this one measured. The Bucs failed to add on - heck, to make any noise - in two frames against a struggling middle guy.
J-Mac got DeWitt on a fly, and Soto was ahead 2-0 when he helped McDonald by swinging at balls three and four, bouncing back to the box. Tyler Colvin flew out to right, and even with 99 pitches, J-Mac's heater was hitting 94 MPH.
Jeff Samardzija took the hill for Chi-Town. After getting McCutch on a bouncer, Jones took a two strike, 99 MPH hummer the opposite way, doubling into left. Seeing nothing but gas, Walker went down swinging at a soft - 87 MPH - cutter. Ludwick flew out to right, and the Bucs had six outs to hold on.
J-Mac was gone. He went seven innings, giving up four runs on four hits with three walks and K's. D-Mac took the mound in his stead.
He got ahead of Reed Johnson 0-2, and left a changeup on the outside corner that Johnson poked softly into right for a single. Starlin Castro lined a belt high heater into center to put runners at first and second. Darwin Barney went up looking for the bunt; he fouled off a pair, and on a 2-2 pitch, got barely nipped by a pitch to load the bases with no outs.
That brought on Jason Grilli to face A-Ram. Ramirez is a notorious first ball hitter; Grilli threw a heater on his hands for a swinging strike. Unfortunately, the next fastball was above the belt and down the middle of the plate, and A-Ram lined it into center to bring home a run.
The pitching wheels continued to spin; Joe Beimel came on to match against Pena. He worked the count full, and then missed badly downstairs with a slider to walk in the tying run. A blooper with two strikes, a hit batter with two strikes, a walk with two strikes...now it was Jose Veras' turn. We can't say that Clint Hurdle's mix of pitchers has been particularly brilliant, but their performance wasn't much to write home about, either.
Marlon Byrd banged a two-strike curve into fairly deep left; it brought home a run and A-Ram tagged too when the throw went to the cutoff man between the bases rather than third base. Dewitt popped out and Soto went down swinging, but the Cubs were back on top 7-6.
James Russell took the ball for the Cubs. Pedro bounced out, but Dewey got the ball rolling with a liner to left on a two strike slider. Matt Diaz came up to hit for Xavier Paul, and the Cubs went to Kerry Wood; we guess Hurdle likes the Diaz-Wood matchup better than the potential Paul-Sean Marshall pairing. He shouldn't have; Wood painted the black and K'ed Diaz looking; he only took a hack at one pitch. Wood flew out to center, and it remained 7-6 going into the ninth.
Hanny came on to work the ninth. Alfonso Soriano K'ed swinging. Hanrahan tried to get Johnson on a two strike slider; he hung it and Johnson placed a ball up the middle that Walker got to, but had no play on. Castro grounded one to Pedro, and he started an around the horn DP. It's do or die time against Carlos Marmol.
Steve Pearce gave the fans a brief thrill, but his long fly was hauled down in the deepest part of the Notch, 400+' away. McCutch K'ed swinging at a slider; he took three cuts and didn't even get a foul off Marmol's stuff. Jones caught a 2-2 slider and sent it deep into straight center; it was run down at the wall at the 399' mark.
The Pirate bullpen has been out of whack ever since the Atlanta series. The overload of innings was part of the problem; protecting Hanrahan and going a man short was another. Evan Meek is thought to be at least three, maybe four weeks away from returning, so the FO's failure to land an eighth inning set up guy didn't help the cause. But they've got who they've got.
Clint Hurdle may have to reconsider the way he uses Hanny. Tonight, for example, the meat of the Cub order was due up in the eighth. That seemed to be the spot that you'd like Hanrahan to come in, best against best, with Veras or D-Mac on hand (Resop and Watson were unavailable because of their prior workload) to face the bottom of the order in the ninth. Now Hanny has pitched in three losing causes, and after those three days of work is probably out for tomorrow.
We know the skipper is a true believer that a closer closes, but with the pen in disarray, he may have to start maneuvering his pieces a little more efficiently instead of being so orthodox. He said after the game that he was trying to set up a four-out save opportunity for Hanrahan; maybe he should forget the concept of a save and think of the win.
Hey, he's not the only manager that's locked into that mindset, and up until Atlanta, it worked just fine. But you have to go with the flow, and the Bucs still have six more games before they get a day off.
And lets not forget that while the Pirates had the one big inning, the Chicago bullpen tossed five scoreless frames of three hit ball afterward. Adding on a run or two would have made a huge difference. So just as there are team wins, tonight was a true team loss, and a brutal one at that. As resilient as Pittsburgh has been all year, it'll be hard to not carry this one around.
San Diego's Aaron Harang takes on Jeff Karstens tomorrow night.
- Pittsburgh's seven game losing streak is their longest of the season; they had an epic 12 game losing string last year.
- J-Mac snapped a string of 24 straight starts without lasting seven innings dating back to September 2010.
- McCutch now has a 29 game on-base streak against Chicago.
- The Bucs drew 29,317 to the game.
- Derrek Lee's hand swelled some overnight after being hit by a pitch. He's day-to-day, and wasn't available tonight, even to pinch hit.


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The Mafia archipelago consists of one large island and several smaller ones, each boasting a unique history and bursting at the seams with natures personal touch. The tropical islands are teaming with fantastic colours and lush vegetation, giving a home to a wide amount of animal species from the tiny butterflies to the graceful fruit bat.
Slipping just below the surface of Mafia's ocean, you find yourself in one of the greatest locations to either start or continue your diving adventure. The majority of the time you will find yourselves as the only divers on site, having a whole section of the ocean just for yourself. With one of the healthiest and diverse coral reef systems, warm waters averaging 26'C, visibility of 25-30 metres and the added security of a well governed Marine Park – there is not much more to ask for!
Mafia Island Diving Centre has been in action since 2005 and is one of the longest standing dive operators on the Island. We are also the only dive centre offering all possible range of courses including SSI. Offering land based expeditions as well as water based adventures suitable to all ages and all walks of life. Many of our excursions are run in conjunction with community based projects and help to raise awareness, promote sustainable tourism as well as eco-friendly practices. The aim of which is maintaining what is so special about Mafia – its pure, natural environment.


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DWTS 14 Week 10 – Power Rankings for the Finale
For a second there, I was sure this night was a complete wash…and then Donald reaffirmed my faith in humanity with one of the most adorable freestyles I've ever seen on the show 😀
Not a whole lot to say that most of you haven't already said on Twitter – there was definite overscoring going on (William), and definite underscoring going on (Donald), but in the end, I doubt the scores are going to matter a ton…because this seems like it's going to be the fanbase battle royale for the MBT. And if the response I saw after one couple's freestyle was any indicator – I think they're a shoo-in for the MBT 😉 Let's do things in reverse tonight, starting with who I'm predicting for the 3rd place finisher…
3rd place: Katherine & Mark
Honestly, it were up to me, these two would be a definite 2nd place – but I've got a gut feeling that they may have gotten a little lost in the shuffle tonight, in between the judges' golden boy and the charismatic dark horse. I thought her paso was pretty damn good – she definitely danced with more assuredness and confidence than her first paso, and the choreo was clean, proper, and exciting. My only complaint: it seemed to highlight Mark more than Kath, but I guess I can't fault them too much, as paso is really the man's dance…which just further drives the point home for me that the judges kinda screwed her a bit when they gave her the paso in the first place. As for their freestyle – I have to commend Mark for returning to the tried-and-true formula for freestyle success: he picked something that was relevant to his celebrity, he made sure it was high-energy, and he included quite a bit of actual ballroom steps to please Len. I think it would have been a strong competition for Donald, if only Kath hadn't lost a bit of steam in the middle and gotten a bit stuck in the lifts. But I liked the flapper theme, and thought Kath singing at the beginning was a great way to really make the routine relevant to her – I just wish Mark had toned it down a bit, so she could have actually made it all the way through the dance with the same high level of energy. Ok, so they've got the high score – but it's only one point more than the other 2, so it may as well be nothing…and I'm sorry, as gorgeous and talented as I think Kath is, I don't think she can compete with the raging hormones of Willy's fans or the magnetic personality that Donald's fans are drawn to. Like Ricki last season, who also had the high score after the first night of the finale (and also the first dance of the 2nd night), I think Kath may be relegated to 3rd 🙁 However, I would love to be wrong and have her take 2nd…provided it bumps Willy into 3rd 😉
2nd place: William & Cheryl
I guess hoping that the overscoring would stop in the finale was wishful thinking, as I was not particularly wowed by either of Willy's dances tonight…and the fault for that lies more with Cheryl than anyone else. William didn't mess up, and what he did in both of his dances was technically good – he even looked liked he was having fun, which was something I had yet to see from him this season. But here's the problem: the level of difficulty for both of his routines was pretty pathetic…and I genuinely feel sorry for the guy, because I think Cheryl really let him down with the choreography tonight. Their cha-cha just felt like a recycled version of their first cha-cha, which wasn't very impressive in terms of choreography – his hip action seemed better this time around, and he seemed more relaxed, but there was nothing particularly impactful or exciting about it. He could have handled more – but Cheryl didn't give it to him. And I'm sorry, but if another contestant pulls a Miss Cleo and predicts exactly what you'll do in your freestyle (Donald knows what's up), then you're probably a one-trick pony without much of an edge. Sorry, but this freestyle was a cop-out – I'm all for picking something relevant to your partner, but this felt like nothing different than what I've been seeing the past 9 weeks: a bunch of gyrations, dips, ass shaking, and vaguely salsa-y moves. Even the lifts were pretty elementary – William's a muscular guy, and he could have handled more heavy lifting. He didn't mess up, and he seemed to have fun – but the choreography didn't show me that he was really a great dancer. Overall, at the end of it, I was just kinda left saying "So what else is new?" But I've got a feeling that hormones will prevail tomorrow night, and at least carry William into the final two…with his complacent partner, who probably didn't even bother choreographing anything truly innovative, because she knew they'd be overscored anyway – just like they've been all season.
The Winner: Donald & Peta
The last remaining couple untainted by the fishy overscoring of this season – and thankfully, I think they came across as the most likeable, as well 😀 While I SOMEWHAT agreed with Len that their Argentine tango was a tad on the safe side, I still think it was underscored, given that William & Cheryl just regurgitated their first week cha-cha (which is probably the ultimate "safe" move), and the first go-round, Len bitched that their Argentine tango "lacked content". So they gave him more content…and now it's "too safe?" Poor Donald just can't win with Len. Whatever. Len sure couldn't bitch & moan after that freestyle they did, though – it was EASILY the best of the night, as the energy was through the roof and stayed there the entire routine, and Donald totally pwned those lifts. And really – who would have guessed that Donald would pull out the country card and get out there and line dance? That was fresh & unexpected – yet somehow still strangely relevant to Donald, as I think it really showed us how multi-talented he is…and a goofball, at that 😛 I've got a good feeling about tomorrow night, that justice will somehow prevail and the grand plans of TPTB will be squashed by a legion of fed-up fans voting for the little Quickie That Could…suck it, Univision merger 😉
So who do you guys think will walk away with the MBT tomorrow? And how do you think this "24 hour dance challenge" will turn out? If they don't rank the routines (30, 28, 26), I'm totally predicting they cop-out and give all three of them 30's, just like instant samba last season. But aside from that…which returning stars are you most looking forward to seeing? I'm all about some Jack, Gladys, & Roshon, myself 😉


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{1. Is there a city more romantic than Paris? This set of Paris postcards are perfect for giving on Valentine's Day and then framing in a series. | 2. I love pretty rings and this Mint and Gold ring goes with just about everything! | 3. How fabulous are these Inside Out Champagne Flutes? | 4. Valentine's Day is the perfect occasion for indulging in these Richart Macarons. | 5. Champagne Candles always smell so crisp and refreshing. If you can't be with your Valentine to share a bottle of champagne, send a Rewined Champagne Candle instead!}
{6. The edgy design of this Darling Necklace is the perfect match for the sweet message. | 7. This Saachi Heartwarming Scarf is so adorable that you could wear it way beyond Valentine's Day! | 8. Druzys, pyrite, and agate are still all the rage in home design. This pair of Druzy Stud Earrings is a great way to bring the trend into your wardrobe. | 9. The only thing I love more than a cocktail ring is a BIG, statement cocktail ring! The color of this Amethyst Ring is rather romantic, isn't it? | 10. You can sport this Social Department Tee and watch Dirty Dancing with your honey for a romantic night in. | 11. If you decide you'd like to be single this Valentine's Day, this "It's Not You, It's Me" necklace might help you to get your message across!}
{This post is brought to you in partnership with Fab. All opinions and commentary are my own.}


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Being Lebron James In July 2010
Imagine you woke up this morning as LeBron James. You are America's best and most beloved athlete. You are so famous the President says he's you: "I'm LeBron, baby. I can play on this level. I got some game." The press is literally calling this is the Summer Of You. You are 25 years old, and you are on the market. It's good to be King. You report on the set for your first Hollywood movie in a couple weeks.
But alas, all is not right in the Kingdom. You just got bounced from the playoffs early (again) by an aging, banged-up Celtics squad. With a few passive jumpshots, your crown lost some luster. This is the year you fell off the Michael Jordan trajectory. MVP titles. Olympic gold medals. None of that matters. At the end of the day, it's all about the rings. MJ had six. Kobe has five. You have none.
LeBron James woke up one morning changed into not the next Michael Jordan, but the next Kevin Garnett. A freakish, high school-straight-to-pros prodigy who let his prime years go to waste for an also-ran team in the Midwest. Kevin Garnett warned LeBron about the dangers of being too loyal last month. KG said he would have left Minnesota for Boston years earlier knowing what he knows now.
But LeBron's a loyal guy. He has the Akron area code 303 inked to his arm. He throws his annual MVP acceptance ceremonies in his Ohio high school gym. For him to leave Cleveland will always be a chink in his armor. He couldn't win one with the hand he was dealt. Still, he's given 6 ringless years of his career to Cleveland and lies even deeper in Jordan's shadow. The Cavs can't even get out of the East.
LeBron James and Tiger Woods share the same birthday (December 30) and ethnicity. That is all. Nine years and worlds separate them. One was raised by a military strict dad and loving mom, went to Stanford, and often plays in a sweater. The other? A heavily-tattooed manchild from a single mom and the streets of Akron, Ohio. Guess which one turned into sex-addicted Lothario who cheated on his Swedish bikini model wife and two children with umpteen mistresses from Vegas strippers to the teenage girl next door?
Meanwhile, LeBron James has an immaculate public image. He kicked a water-bottle once and didn't shake hands with the Magic. And I'm being nitpicky here. With TMZ and Twitter now, this is amazing. James is engaged to his high school sweet-heart. His mom Gloria deserves… LeBronian praise.
LeBron doesn't have the raw intensity of Michael Jordan. This is a good thing. When all is said and done, BronBron won't win more rings than Michael. But he'll be much happier and popular. "Talent is liquefied trouble", as filmmaker Sydney Pollack liked to say. It fueled Jordan to 6 rings, yes, but he also fought his own teammates in practice and became a compulsive gambler. He muddled through a messy divorce and was still bitterly calling out his haters during his Hall of Fame acceptance speech last year. Those six rings are the only fine-line between Jordan's brilliance and madness. The NBA was just angrier back then. Magic Johnson and Larry Bird wouldn't even speak to each other during their storied 1980s rivalry. Nowadays, there's LeBron biking around with Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade in Beijing:
Like LeBron, Generational Y'ers are more global and not as mad as our predecessors. YouTube and Facebook tend to keep us happy. And LeBron James is the perfect specimen for YouTube. There are 112,000 LeBron James videos on YouTube. (And this is the best one). He drops the Akron Hammer Tomahawk jams mid-game, but he'll get down for impromptu dance-offs with Shaq pre-game too:
So it's only appropriate that Generation Y's Mozart has a lion-dragon tattoo inked to his chest and is Eddie Murphy funny. LeBron shares Gen Y's sleepy Facebook political activism, too. He's not especially outspoken about anything, but he did donate money to Obama's 2008 campaign. He took Jordan's queue about not being political. He'll give the most milquetoast sound-bytes on current events. LeBron James reps Nike's, not Darfur.
Thank God for the World Cup because besides that, SportsCenter will bombard us all summer with "Will Brett come back?" and "Will LeBron stay?". LeBron can look to baseball for some pointers. Alex Rodriguez shows LeBron exactly what not to do. A-Roid took steroids for three years, cheated on his wife with a Toronto stripper, and is just generally a despicable human being. He's merely a better Jose Canseco, a.k.a a juiced up slugger who dated Madonna. A-Roid chased the money out of town and did win a ring. But he couldn't win a title by himself. He'll always be the Ben Affleck to Derek Jeter's Matt Damon—a punchline:
Then there's Joe Mauer. It is impossible not to pull for Joe Mauer. He speaks like the guys from the "Fargo" movie, unwinds Sundays by mowing his lawn at his log cabin, and is only the greatest catcher since Johnny Bench. Joe Mauer spurned the Yankees and Red Sox to take a sizable hometown discount and stay with the Twins. It's been hailed as a sign that small market teams can still keep their superstars. Joe Mauer singlehandedly saved Minneapolis tourism for the next 8 years.
Imagine you are LeBron James. You have five choices. Pick one:
a) LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS: LeBron going to the Clippers would be like Megan Fox marrying Donnie Wahlberg. Right house, definitely wrong brother.
SportsBook.com Odds: Clippers +1000
b) CHICAGO BULLS: Even President Obama is pitching his city of Chicago. And LeBron has never played with a point guard like Derek Rose. The odds-on favorite, but playing in Jordan's House is not conducive to leaving Jordan's shadow.
SportsBook.com Odds: Bulls +150
c) MIAMI HEAT: Welcome to Miami? Stephen A. Smith reported on his radio show and Twitter feed Monday LeBron James and Chris Bosh are committed to joining DWade. It is Stephen A. Smith, sure, but could you only imagine?
SportsBook.com Odds: Heat +600
d) STAY IN CLEVELAND: Home is where the heart is. And the Cavs are still a championship caliber team. But think Kevin Garnett.
SportsBook.com Odds: Cavaliers -150
e) NEW YORK: You will always be from Akron, but there is nothing like being King of New York. Ask your best friend Jay-Z. Then have a little chat with your buddy Dwyane Wade about coming too. What can you buy with $30 million a year max contract you can't buy with $20 million? Besides, you and Mr. Wade would recoup it with interest when you bring NYC four straight NBA titles.
SportsBook.com Odds: Knicks +200
See Also: Lebron Open to Knicks Pitch, I'm Going to Make Him an Offer He Can't Refuse: Windy City, Weekend Meet Between LeBron, Bosh and Wade Confirmed, Chad Ford Reduces LeBron Sweepstakes To Their Absurd Essence, Underlying Questions of Free Agency, Miami Heat to Create "Superteam" of D-Wade, LeBron James & Chris Bosh?, Nets Are Cleaning House for Something Big, Source: Seattle has inside track to land LeBron-DWade-Bosh trio, NBA Free Agency — So Is Dwyane Wade Gonna Hold It For You While You Pee Too, LeBron?, and It's Crazy Out There.
[tags]lebron james, free agency, being lebron, july 2010, nba, basketball, rumors, trade rumors, free agency rumors, signing, new york city, new york knicks, chicago, chicago bulls, la, los angeles, los angeles clippers, wade, bosh, miami heat, where is lebron going, summer 2010, free agency market, article, essay[/tags]


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Although it seems like light years away, Christmas Eve was just 5 short nights ago. Crazy how time flies so quickly. When Erik and I were first married, we alternated spending Christmas/Thanksgiving with our families. Because they live almost 6 hours apart, it was impossible to try to do both. Things only grew more challenging as we began to add children to the mix. It has taken some time, but with a lot of traveling late hours have been able to figure out how to make both families happy on both holidays. However, there is one thing that will remain the same. We want our children to spend Christmas day at their own home.
That being said, we have begun to create some fun family traditions that I look forward to continuing as the years go on. Each Christmas Eve we make a huge pot of soup, Mexican cornbread and lots of dessert. My parents come over and thankfully my brother has been able to join us the past few years. This year was extra special because he brought his girlfriend Candace. She's already like part of the family, so it was wonderful having her there. The only thing missing was my baby sister and her family. My brother, John Paul, and Candace brought their new puppy with them and that only added to the excitement around the house. It was a wonderful night!
We made reindeer food and before the night was over we went outside to sprinkle the food all over the yard. I'm sure Santa's helpers were quite full when they left our house!
A Christmas Eve wouldn't be complete without a picture of the children in their Christmas pajamas and setting out the letters to Santa.
Each Christmas Eve before we go to bed we spend some snuggle time together, talking about the true meaning of Christmas. I know the kiddos hear the story a dozen times or more during the Christmas season, but there's something about telling it one more time...right before Christmas day.