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There has been a lot of sickness going around in our family. Two weeks ago, Olivia was sick. Last week, Jon was sick. After Jon, Olivia was sick again all this week. I am doing my best not to get sick, but we will have to wait and see how that goes.
On Monday, Jon and I celebrated our 6th year of marriage! I am looking forward to celebrating this milestone with Jon this coming Saturday. If you want to know more about God has used church to change our lives, please click here.
|Picture 1: On our wedding day 2006; Picture 2: Olivia's baby dedication 2012
Not only that, but I have my own personal issues that I am dealing with right now. I am not going to go into too much detail right now, but these situations are extremely emotional.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because I want you to see that I am human just like you!! With all these things going on in my life, good and bad, I have fallen off of the Weight Watchers wagon. I was doing great until Monday night or Tuesday, when I just didn't have the strength to say no to food anymore.
So, this week, I have been eating because I am bored, tired, angry, worried, upset, and more.
How am I going to get back on plan today?
1. I am going to spend time with my Lord in prayer. I need to share my worries and emotions with the Lord and leave them with Him. I also need to keep scripture close to me, so that I am reminded that I have a mighty and powerful God. As I see God for who He is, it will help to put my situation into perspective.
"I can do all things through him who strengthens me." - Philippians 4:13
2. I am going to get back on track today! So many people, me included, wait until tomorrow to get back on track. Do you know what kind of damage you can do in just one day? Even if I mess up a little today, I will not have blown it like I would have if I was just waiting for tomorrow. I am going to choose one part of the Weight Watchers plan to focus on today that will help me be successful, like tracking everything I eat.
3. I am going treat myself with something other than food! When life is hard, I turn to food. When life is good, I turn to food. I need to learn how to celebrate or relax in other ways. Today, I am choosing to go and get my haircut! Jon has been trying to get me to get my hair done for weeks, but I told him that I was too busy. However, a haircut is the perfect way to treat myself for all the hardwork I have been doing over these last few months. Maybe next time I will get a pedicure or take a bubble bath, because I am a priority and I need to do things that I enjoy! I will to take pictures to show you my new do tomorrow.
Thank you for letting me be honest and share with you about what has been going on in my life! This has helped me so much!
Just for fun, here is a recent picture of Olivia with our Christmas tree. She is already 3 1/2 months old!


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Sprint Car Fire Extinguisher - Open Wheel Flame Out
A Fire Suppression System Just For Sprint Cars And Midgets
The most novel part of this article is the fact that a fire suppression system in Sprint Car is news. With the nature of open wheel racing being what it is-all out, minimum weight and maximum horsepower, the emphasis on extra safety equipment, especially fire suppression, is something you'll rarely see. With any race car, the danger of fire is always present. But with alcohol-burning Sprint Cars/Midgets, the dangers are that much more personal since the flames are far less visible and the safety crew can't tell the driver is on fire as easily.
The answer is a fire suppression system that is designed to work with the open wheel driver's needs and the confines of the Sprint Car/Midget chassis. Working with Riverview Racing Products in Riverview, Florida, a new Sprint Car fire suppression system was designed by Safecraft.
With the space constraints in a Sprint Car, the new system had to be small, lightweight, and also function to protect the driver from a fire in the cockpit or around the tail-tank. For this reason, the system had to have two nozzles that would trigger automatically. One nozzle points toward the fuel pump area (between the driver's legs), while the other points at the tail-tank.
The body of the system is a 16 inch laser-welded stainless steel cylinder containing a pound of Halon 1211. On one end of the cylinder are the attachment points for the forward and rear nozzle lines, and on the other end are the fill port and the pressure gauge.
The system needs no input from the driver, which is critical if he or she gets knocked out in a wreck. The nozzles will trigger automatically in the event of a fire. They also use heat sensitive actuators that are triggered at different temperature settings. The front nozzle by the driver's legs and fuel pump has the trigger set to 200 degrees F. The rear nozzle is set to trigger at 286 degrees F. The reason for the increased temperature of the rear trigger is that the rear nozzle has the potential to be mounted near the brake rotor, so the decision was made to increase the temperature to make sure the nozzle wouldn't go off from ambient brake heat alone.
Another major decision in the design was to balance the weight of the system with the coverage that the chemical would provide. When a nozzle is triggered, the entire pound of Halon 1211 will be exhausted. The Halon will provide a coverage area of 50 cubic feet. For the Sprint Car cockpit and extinguishing a tail-tank fire, the 50 cubic feet of coverage will be more than enough. Even if the chemical was changed to the DuPont FE-36, which provides less volume, there will still be enough coverage to suppress most fires.
The tight confines of the Sprint Car chassis provides another unique aspect of this system in how it's mounted on the chassis. The cylinder is to be mounted vertically, on the back of the seat or on an upright chassis bar. When the unit is mounted in the car, the lines come off the bottom of the cylinder while the gauge and fill valve are facing up. The lines are run so that they are out of the way of any moving objects and away from the driver's legs. It's important to use insulating clamps when mounting the lines and the cylinder. Any lines and fittings that are subject to excessive vibration are also subject to breaking. This is, by the way, true of mounting any fire suppression system, not just this one.
The unit is available from Riverview Racing Products in Tampa, Florida, at a cost of approximately $325. Hopefully, you'd never need to use it, but in a case where the unit was triggered, it can be rebuilt by sending it out for service. Riverview performs this service which includes replacing the triggered nozzle, pressure testing the unit, and refilling it with the extinguishing chemical. The cost of the rebuild would be approximately $75 to $100.
Some of the most dangerous fires I've seen in circle-track racing, have been in Sprint Car, Modified, and Midget chassis. The firewalls are smaller, the fuel cells/tail-tanks are more exposed, and the drivers have less body work around them. Having a fire suppression system is so important considering the time it takes from the start of the fire to the arrival on scene of even the best safety crew. Now that a system has been designed with the open wheel racer in mind, it's even an easier choice to install one.

subset: commoncrawl


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Event Calendar
The 2017/18 Winter Paddle Racing Season is in full swing. These races are designed to maximize fun for first time racers and focus on family fun.
Sure, we'll still have our elite athletes tackling the 6 mile-long course, but the 2 mile short course is where the fun is to be had. With a family oriented apres' paddle picnic as part of the entrance fee our races are good times for all. All those on Outrigger Canoes, Prone or Stand Up Paddleboards, Kayaks, or Surfski's that is. In fact, if the rider faces forward, and it uses a paddle, you can race it at our Winter Paddle Race Series.
Outrigger, Surfski, SUP, Prone, Kayak and more. Any forward facing paddle craft is welcome. Just register and we'll figure it out late
Raceboard and Race Paddle Rentals are available during the registration process for Only $30 bucks.
Kids 16 and under Race for Free on our 2 mile short course. They do need their own boards, paddles and PFD's. Kids do not need to register online just show up and register on race day.
This race is in our Redwood City Location
9:15am Skippers Meeting
10am Start
11:30 Lunch / Party
12:30 Awards
Registration for our normal races is $30 for registering online by Thursday the night before racing or $40 for day of registration. These races have been known to sell out as we limit the racing to 101 competitors. Don't risk it and sign up early.
All kids under the age of 16 race free on our short course. There is no need to sign them up online. Just bring the kids in on race day and we'll get them registered. If your child does not have a board than you can rent one for $25+ tax. Lunch is included for the kids as well. Lunch tickets can be purchased for $20 for any non-registered racers. If the kids are ready for the long course than they are ready to register!
In fact, anyone can rent a raceboard. You'll be offered the option for $30 to add a raceboard to your day. That includes a carbon paddle and life jacket. We have SUP 14, SUP 12'6, Prone, Kayak, and Surfski's available for rent.
We simply could not run these races at the level we do without the help our sponsors. We welcome back
- Hint Water
- Mamies Pies
- Three Twins Ice Cream
- Kind Bar
- O'Neill Wetsuits
- The Fruit Guys
This year we welcome a new Beer Sponsor. Local craft brewer Rugged Coast Brewery will be supplying the libations. Thanks Rugged Coast and welcome to the team.
If you are putting 2+2 together you should be getting Pie & Ice Cream + Beer & Paddling = good times.
2017/18 Paddle Racing Season Calendar
Saturday February 17th Redwood City Paddle Race 2-mile and 6-mile courses- Registration Here
Saturday February 24th San Rafael Paddle Sprint & Buoy Racing - No online sign up - just show up!
Saturday March 3rd San Rafael Paddle Race 2-mile and 6-mile courses- Registration Here
Saturday March 17th Redwood City St Patrick's Day Paddle Race - Register Here
Saturday March 24th Redwood City Paddle Sprints and Buoy Racing - No online sign up - just show up!


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University Park, PA
Penn State professor of architecture James Wines, founder and president of SITE, will be honored this fall with the National Design Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Smithsonian's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. He is being recognized for his work in design of site-specific structures that engage information about the environment, including buildings, public spaces, environmental art, landscapes, master plans, interiors, video productions, graphics and product designs. His work has attracted international attention since 1970, influencing the design of environmentally oriented buildings, interiors, gardens and public spaces throughout the world.
Cooper-Hewitt's National Design Awards honor lasting achievement in American design and are bestowed in recognition of excellence, innovation and enhancement of the quality of life. First launched at the White House in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the annual awards program celebrates design as a vital humanistic tool in shaping the world, and seeks to increase national awareness of the impact of design through education initiatives, including National Design Week.
The National Design Award candidates are nominated by their peers, and the finalists are required to submit 10 works for juror review. Wines has been the recipient of more than 25 prestigious awards during his career, including the Premio di Architettura ANCE, an annual honor presented to an international architect by Associazione Nazionale Construttori Edili (National Association of Builders), Catania, Sicily; First Award New World Plaza International Public Space Competition presented by New World Land Ltd., Beijing; and the Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design presented by the Chrysler Corp., New York. With this newest award, he joins past Lifetime Achievement Award honorees such as Frank Gehry, Robert Wilson, Milton Glaser, Paolo Saleri, I.M. Pei and Massimo Vignelli, several of whom are his close friends.
Wines' work became emblazoned on the design psyche in the early 1970s, when SITE designed nine buildings for the Best Products Co., a catalog showroom chain. Since 'big box' retail structures are ubiquitous in the public domain, people's reflex acceptance of their archetypal presence has been used to invert and change their traditional visual intent. Instead of treating the Best stores as conventionally "designed" architecture, their rectangular profiles were used as a "subject matter for art" and a source of visual commentary on the American commercial strip.
"Within the first two years, this Best work became hot global press. It was an original point of view and iconic. The iconic tends to stick around and trigger memory, which is what the press wants — popular media. We fit that, at the time," said Wines.
Wines, who has taught at Penn State since 1999, will continue to teach his fall Idea Seminar and his spring Drawing and Thinking seminar, The Line Around an Idea. He says the classes are really about "environmental thinking." "In architecture there are many important messages, and dealing with the environment is the most important — not intruding on the environment so much," he noted. "The last 10 to 15 years were destructive and intrusive, including the materials and use of oil and energy.
According to Wines, "interesting" architecture is also important. He cites architecture in Rome — where all Penn State architecture students spend a semester — as an example. "We have a semester abroad in Rome, with beauty and architecture saturation. ... We need to make buildings here just as interesting. In Italy, you drive 100 feet and you have to get off the highway and stop and look. At Penn State, our job is to make the buildings as interesting as the vegetation. You need to invest in imagination. I make a strong case for the environment and what nature is asking for."
A project in Seville, Spain, for example, uses recycled water that reflects the nearby Guadalquivir River. Water over a glass surface produces static electricity that powers sprinklers for the roof garden. "Imagination is key for our students," reflected Wines.
The eighth annual National Design Week, held in conjunction with the National Design Awards program, will take place Oct. 12 to 20 and aims to draw national attention to the ways in which design enriches everyday life. During National Design Week, Cooper-Hewitt's award-winning Education Department hosts a series of free public programs based on the vision and work of the National Design Award honorees. The National Design Awards' Gala Ceremony will be held at Pier Sixty in New York City on Oct. 17.
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Yep that's right, like the name implies, I am one of those Ex-Colonial Sheep Shaggers (Only the Ginger ones mind you), who has returned after 300+ years.
I'm 41and 3/4 years old.
Married (broke a few of your hearts with that one im sure)
2 sons.
Born in Hawaii, spent 18 years there. Went to college in California. Joined the US ARMY Infantry, they sent me to all kinds of strange places like Panama, Germany, Kosovo, Poland, Hungary, and all over America. Left the US ARMY, became a Civilian again, and then worked for the Department of Defense in Germany. Been in Germany 17 years now. Got sick of working for the Military/Government and put myself through Physical Therapy school in German. Now I treat Patients 60 hours a week Mon-Fri.
I am Friends with Sprout/DAZMG before in online gaming.
Edit: Ahhh just remembered who SirStephen is, and that I know him as well, only took me 4 days to place the name lol getting old, memory failing!
I live about an hour away from Golo, I may have to go drink a beer with him some time.
I have:
Tier 7,6,5
Tier 6
Tier 7
Trying to advance my Black Prince up the later to lvl 10 asap


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Archive for March 26th, 2011
Libyan "Rebel Leader" Admits Connection To CIA-Al Qaeda In Iraq
March 26, 2011: Kurt Nimmo / Infowars.com – March 26, 2011
It turns out the Libyan rebel commander is al-Qaeda, that is to say an intelligence operative. It is a well-established fact that the CIA, with the assistance of Pakistan's ISI and Saudi Arabia, ran the Islamic warrior network, including its aggressive recruitment efforts. The effort began in 1979. In his memoir, current Defense Secretary Robert Gates admits that American intelligence services began to aid the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan 6 months before Soviet intervention.
Zbigniew Brzezinski, Jimmy Carter's national security advisor at the time, told the French newspaper Le Nouvel Observateur in 1998 that it was all true – that creating the Mujahadeen that would later morph into al-Qaeda and the Taliban was an "excellent idea" and he had no regrets, never mind the 400,000 who died as a result.
In addition to attacking Russia in Afghanistan – an effort that would ultimately result in the downfall of the Soviet empire – and plunging that nation into a horrific civil war, the intelligence effort established al-Qaeda as a foreign policy instrument used by the globalists to take down nations and regimes (specifically in Bosnia and Kosovo) and also was used to demonize resistance to forays by the globalists.
It is no small matter that the leader of the rebels in Libya worked for the CIA, either directly or as yet another Muslim useful idiot and dupe. It reveals that the Libyan resistance to Gaddafi is business as usual – the engineered destruction of another thugocracy in the Arab and Muslim Middle East.
As I noted in 2005 (From Afghanistan to Iraq: Transplanting CIA Engineered Terrorism), al-Qaeda's presence in Iraq was engineered by the CIA and the Pentagon, the same as it was engineered in the Balkans and the Russian Stans bordering Afghanistan.
"Islamic missionaries of the Wahabi sect from Saudi Arabia had established themselves in the Muslim republics, as well as within the Russian federation, encroaching upon the institutions of the secular State. Despite its anti-American ideology, Islamic fundamentalism was largely serving Washington's strategic interests in the former Soviet Union, the Balkans and the Middle East," writes Michel Chossudovsky.
This anti-American ideology and Islamic fundamentalism in Libya also serves Washington's strategic interests, or rather the interests of the globalists as they dismember nations and establish order through chaos.
Mr. al-Hasidi is reportedly a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), also known as Al-Jama'a al-Islamiyyah al-Muqatilah bi-Libya. It is the most powerful radical faction waging Jihad in Libya and was officially designated as an affiliate of al-Qaeda and the Taliban – both CIA creations – by the UN 1267 Committee. LIFG was founded in the fall of 1995 by Libyans who had fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan, in short for the CIA and the ISI.
In 2007, documents captured by allied forces from the town of Sinjar, showed LIFG members made up the second-largest cohort of foreign fighters in Iraq, after Saudi Arabia.
Not surprisingly, another intelligence asset, al-Muhajiroun, is active in Libya. Al-Muhajiroun was involved in recruiting British Muslims to fight in Kosovo. The now banned organization, based out of a London mosque, is known to have harbored a number of British intelligence plants, including Haroon Rashid Aswat, supposedly the mastermind of the London 7/7 bombings. In 1997, the group's leader, Abu Hamza al-Masri, started working with two branches of the British security services, the police's Special Branch and MI5, the domestic counterintelligence service.
None of this is mentioned by the establishment corporate media. Instead, we are fed more inflammatory propaganda, such as al-Muhajiroun hyperbole that the call for "Islam, the Shariah and jihad from Libya" had "shaken the enemies of Islam and the Muslims more than the tsunami that Allah sent against their friends, the Japanese."
The CIA and British intelligence, at the behest of the global elite, are working to destabilize Libya and depose Gaddafi, who was an amenable stooge for transnational oil corporations even with his shady past as a supposed international terrorist.
Once again, the rapprochement of a former enemy is easily betrayed and he is cast as a humanitarian threat to the world order, a fate the former CIA asset Saddam Hussein shared before he was delivered to the gallows.
March War Madness: Libya Bombings Echo Yugoslavia 1999
The Tonka Report Editor's Note: In otherwords, the American taxpayer is financing the US military to fund and support the very same fantastical boogeymen – Al Qaeda – that we are all supposed to be terrified of in the hoax called the "war on terror." When will the American people ever figure this shit out?! WAKE UP! – SJH
Libyan "Rebel Leader" Admits Links To Al Qaeda
Link to original article below…


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They are also ideal for sports and outdoor labor such as lawn care and pool management due to the moisture management and moisture wicking technology, which means low absorbency and quick evaporation for you. That means you don't have to worry about sweat stains at this year's company tug-O-war!
As for the fashion-minded, the G200 sports a fashionable crew neckline and is tapered shoulder-to-shoulder for a form-fitting look. Available in a wide variety of sizes, and almost any color your occasion requires, the Gildan G200 tee is great for almost any occasion!


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1963 Shelby Cobra at Auctions America
The two-seater comes stuffed with a 289ci, four-speed, and factory four-wheel disc brakes
This 1963 Shelby Cobra is no ordinary two-seater sports car. It comes with a long list of documentation dating back to when it was billed to Shelby American on October 1, 1962 and sold to Downtown Ford in Los Angeles on November 28, 1962. The paper trail picks up from 1971 until 2011 when the Cobra was owned by Ruben Garnica. The Shelby then underwent an initial restoration in the early 1980s and a recent restoration to ensure top-notch, show quality.
That said, Auctions America returns to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for its twelfth year at the Greater Fort Lauderdale/Broward County Convention Center. The auction, which plans to feature 450 American and European sports cars, Detroit muscle, hot rods and custom-builds, will take place March 14-16, 2014. The highlight of the weekend's event will be this pristine 1963 Shelby Cobra.
Auctions America will auction this 1963 Shelby Cobra, chassis number CSX2023, stuffed with a 289ci small-block topped with a period correct carburetor that feeds into an S1 intake. The Cobra's valve covers let people know it's the real-deal with period correct, hollowed out lettering displaying the brand name. Power is harnessed by a four-speed manual transmission with original style shifter.
Doing the stopping at all four corners of the Cobra are factory four-wheel disc brakes hidden behind chrome wire wheels wrapped in Goodyear Power Cushion whitewall tires. Under the car, bidders will find a period-correct, dual exhaust system. On the interior, leather upholstered seats seat the driver and passenger comfortably, while Ray Brown three-inch lap belts keep them safe and snug. An original Smiths clock joins the factory gauges that give this car its museum-quality detail. A Motolita steering wheel rounds out the dash. Covering the occupants of the Cobra is a soft-top with side curtains; the entire car is dripping with a gorgeous coat of Silver Moss poly paint.
This AC-style Shelby Cobra was always a celebrated workhorse of SCCA racing circuit, as well as European FIA championships in the 1960s. It is surely the desired piece of any collector's collection and will fetch a fair price at Auctions America in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, come March 14-16, 2014. Feel free to visit the Auctions America website for more information about this car, and to also watch the live stream of the auction HERE.


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BOSTON (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs bankers failed to raise red flags about Lernout & Hauspie's accounting irregularities more than a decade ago, costing speech recognition software pioneers at Dragon Systems nearly all of their life's work and about $600 million, a lawyer told a jury on Monday in federal court.
"They were relying on Goldman to take care of them and whether or not they should be worried about these questions," plaintiffs' lawyer Alan Cotler said in his opening statement.
He kicked off what is expected to be a two-month courtroom battle in U.S. District Court in Boston.
The trial pits Janet and James Baker, a suburban Boston husband-and-wife team that launched Dragon from the living room of their home with $30,000, against Goldman Sachs, the iconic Wall Street bank whose reputation has been tarnished in more recent years on allegations it has treated some clients shabbily.
In the case brought by the Bakers, Goldman Sachs Group Inc denies civil claims that include gross negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. Opening statements from Goldman's legal team could come later on Monday or early Tuesday when the trial resumes.
In 2000, just months after Belgium-based Lernout & Hauspie acquired Dragon for $580 million in an all-stock deal, the company collapsed in an accounting scandal that sent it reeling into bankruptcy.
The Bakers owned 51 percent of Dragon, but only sold a few million dollars worth of their stock because of restrictions, Cotler told a jury. He added that the couple later received a $70 million settlement from a group of companies that advised Lernout & Hauspie in the transaction with Dragon.
The Bakers and two other early Dragon employees are seeking at least several hundred million dollars in damages.
In 1999, Dragon Systems hired Goldman as its financial adviser. The company, started in 1982 in West Newton, Massachusetts, was struggling and Lernout & Hauspie emerged as a buyer when another suitor decided not to pursue a deal, according to Goldman's defense in the case.
Cotler said a team of four Goldman bankers, led by Richard Wayner, gave favorable and positive advice about Lernout & Hauspie in the weeks before the deal closed. Goldman was about to earn $5 million for its work, court papers show.
Goldman's team, however, had concerns about L&H's exponential revenue growth in Asia. Cotler said Goldman did not even take one of most preliminary steps in vetting L&H's revenue claims — contacting L&H customers in Asia.
In fact, the Goldman team internally was not satisfied with the answers it was getting from L&H on deal-critical red flag issues, particularly the company's Asia revenue growth, Cotler said.
Still, during a conference call with Goldman's Lernout & Hauspie expert in London, further positive assurances were given to Dragon's leadership, Cotler said.
Only years later did the Goldman analyst from that call admit he wasn't aware of the extent of Lernout & Hauspie's Asian revenue growth. Had he known, he would have been skeptical, Cotler said.
"These were salt of the earth people who are geniuses at what they do," Cotler said, describing the key figures at Dragon. But the world of Wall Street and high finance was unfamiliar terrain for them. It was the reason why they put their faith in Goldman, the best and biggest investment bank in the world, he added.
Reporting By Tim McLaughlin; Editing by Nick Zieminski


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Monday, March 30, 2009
If Not Mastery, What?
By Maria Spelleri
Instructor, Department of Language and Literature
Manatee Community College, Florida, USA
Clearly the structure won't become automatic after three hours, nor is it likely to after five hours. If my goal can not be mastery (that is, repeated and automatic production of a grammar point without delay from obvious monitoring), what is my new goal? When is good enough. . . good enough?
Life's reality is that students don't have unlimited time to reach the level of English they need for a goal–-a job, college entry, grad school, whatever. As a result, instructors perform a kind of linguistic triage, deciding either at the classroom or the program level, what grammar to teach when. But surely we have to rely on more than a calendar to help us decide when it is time to move on to a new grammar point in the class, leaving behind one that may get a bit of recycling over the remainder of the semester.
Tags: accuracy, errors, goals, grammar, Maria Spelleri, mastery


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Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's relative slain in shooting
City police probe 2 fatal shootings
Baltimore City police are investigating two Wednesday night shootings, including one that killed the mayor's relative.
The most recent shooting happened around midnight in the 4100 block of Ethland Avenue in a home invasion robbery turned shooting. Police said Joseph Haskins, 20, was shot in the shoulder around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday and died of his injuries early Thursday morning.
Homicide investigators said there was gambling, drinking and drug use going on inside the home at the time of the shooting, but they are still trying to figure out if Haskins was the target.
Police said Haskins was one of a number of people in the house when someone walked in and began to rob those inside.
The Rev. Stacey Wilson, Haskins' cousin, celebrated his life in the shadows of tragedy.
"(He was a) beautiful soul, very tall, very engaged and loved people -- loved just like the rest of our family. We advocate for justice, and he is a bright individual," Wilson said. "Senseless violence is exactly that -- it is senseless. As a community, as citizens of Baltimore, we join together to stand with one another in times of crisis and to advocate and do all that we can to remember the lives of all of those we have lost."
Haskins was the second cousin of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Haskins' father, the Rev. Bruce Haskins of the John Westley United Methodist Church, is her first cousin. The mayor declined an on-camera interview but released the following statement Thursday:
"This is a tragedy for my entire family. Senseless gun violence affects the lives of too many people here in Baltimore and in cities and communities across America. Out of respect for my relatives who are grieving, I ask that the media respect their privacy."
In the meantime, police said they do have some leads in the case because there were so many people inside the home at the time of the shooting.
Haskins leaves behind a 2-month-old daughter.
Rawlings-Blake is no stranger to violence affecting her family. In 2002, the mayor's brother, Wendell Rawlings, was stabbed during a robbery outside of her home.
Police probe shooting on Eutaw Place
Meanwhile, in west Baltimore, homicide detectives were called to a shooting in an apartment building in the 2500 block of Eutaw Place, just south of Druid Hill Park, shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday.
Detectives said a man in his 20s was shot and killed in an incident that stemmed from an argument that erupted in a stairwell of the building. That victim has not yet been identified.
Police are still searching for a suspect in that case. Anyone with information is urged to contact city detectives.


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'PA, Hamas systematically abuse Palestinian journalists'
By LAHAV HARKOV 06/04/2011
Human Rights Watch report documents attacks on reporters, cites Gaza man detained after finding a man Hamas claimed was killed by Israelis was actually alive.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas systematically abuse Palestinian journalists, according to a Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday.Human Rights Watch said, calling on the PA and Hamas to"Severe harassment by Palestinian Authority and Hamas security forces targeting Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza has had a pronounced chilling effect on freedom of expression,""hold their security forces to account for systematic, severe abuses."
Human Rights Watch recounts cases of torture, beatings and arbitrary detainment of journalists by security forces in a 35-page report titled No News is Good News.
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch said in a statement that"Palestinian security forces are becoming notorious for assaulting and intimidating journalists who are just trying to do their jobs."Stork added."Both the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza need to end these blatant attacks on free expression,"
In one reported case, Hamas security forces detained an Al Quds radio reporter and attacked him"in a morgue where he had reported on a man, supposedly killed by Israeli military attack, who was discovered still to be alive."according to Human Rights Watch's report. On March 19, Human Rights Watch reported, 15 Hamas security men raided Reuters offices in Gaza, smashing computers and beating journalists during demonstrations in favor of Hamas-Fatah unity"The majority of abuses against journalists in both the West Bank and Gaza have been related to tensions between the PA and Hamas,"
The PA detained independent journalists suspected of working for Al Jazeera, which the PA has accused of being pro-Hamas.
The Center for Development and Media Freedoms, a Palestinian rights group, said that the number of attacks on journalists, arrests and confiscations of equipment rose by 45 percent in 2010.
Human Rights Watch's report says that"abuses by Hamas in Gaza as well as by Israeli military forces throughout the occupied Palestinian territories will be the focus of future reporting."


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Multilevel and Mixed Models Using Stata
- Rose Medeiros, StataCorp LLC
This workshop will be offered in an online video format.
This three-day workshop is an introduction to using Stata to fit multilevel mixed models.
Mixed models contain both fixed effects analogous to the coefficients in standard regression models and random effects not directly estimated but instead summarized through the unique elements of their variance-covariance matrix. Mixed models may contain more than one level of nested random effects and hence these models are also referred to as "multilevel" or "hierarchical models," particularly in the social sciences. Stata's approach to linear mixed models is to assign random effects to independent panels where a hierarchy of nested panels can be defined for handling nested random effects.
We will start by showing how random intercept models are related to classical linear models and will become familiar with the terminology for both approaches. Next, we will make the jump from random intercepts to random coefficients and the various covariance structures that can be imposed with multiple random effects terms. We will then finish out estimation for linear mixed models by seeing that Stata has niceties which allow fitting more complex models including crossed effects models, growth curve models, and models with complex and grouped constraints on covariance structures. After all the model fitting, we will turn to common post-estimation tasks such as predictions, model diagnostics, and model comparisons. To finish up, we will apply what we have learned about linear mixed models to models for other types of responses, in particular binary and count responses.
The workshop will be interactive in nature as we will consider concrete examples using Stata as we learn each of the concepts.
Registration Fee: Members = $1,400; Non-members = $2,700
Tags: multilevel models, mixed models
Course Sections
Section 1
Location: Online -- Video format,
Date(s): July 27 - July 29
Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM


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Arthur T. Says Market Basket Will Move Forward With New Store Plans
Over the course of the last year, a sign of the bubbling tension at Market Basket has been evident in Revere, Attleboro, and Waltham: Completed stores standing unused in the first two locales, and a period of stalled construction on a planned Waltham store.
On Monday, Arthur T. Demoulas—Market Basket's new boss (who is, of course, the same as the old boss)—suggested the company would get the projects moving along again. He had previously said so earlier this week after reaching a deal to buy Market Basket. But Demoulas offered a little more detail Monday according to WCVB, saying he is hopeful at least two new stores will open before the end of the year. Demoulas also said Revere would come first, WCVB reports.
With the already-finished Revere store a stated go for the end of the year (and the also complete Attleboro location probably a safe guess as to who has second dibs), Demoulas said that the company may have to scale back on its short-term expansion plans as it works to recover financially from the summer's events. Even beyond the tens of millions of dollars lost during a customer boycott and operational shutdown in July and August, Demoulas must now manage the debt he took on to buy out the chain—a figure The Boston Globe reports is somewhere near $1 billion, and is said to include private equity financing and a mortgage loan.
Following Demoulas's agreement to buy Market Basket, some have suggested the company may need to raise prices or cut worker compensation in order to deal with the new financial circumstances. Some analysts have disagreed, and said that lying low on capital projects is another option. It's one Demoulas seemed aligned with Monday. "If we have to cut back on some of our new store expansion from four or five stores to two or three stores, we'll do that as well,'' Demoulas said.
Another Market Basket store is slated for Littleton, as is one in Athol. Plymouth has also been considered a likely site for another store in the near future.
Demoulas's June firing as CEO can be tied in part to new store openings in the past few years. Among the issues raised by shareholders supportive of his cousin Arthur S. Demoulas was that several new stores in recent years served to benefit Arthur T.'s side of the family, whose real estate and development companies have been deeply involved in their construction. The Revere and Waltham locations both have those sorts of ties.
Such connections accounted for just one of the many conflicts that inflated the long-time rivalry at Market Basket, which exploded over the past year—and especially the last two months. Prior to his firing, Arthur T.'s management team said it was holding off on opening the Revere and Attleboro stores due to the behind-the-scenes tension with the board. The Waltham store's development was also held up for similar reasons earlier this year.
The delays in Revere and Attleboro have not pleased officials, with the mayors of both cities writing letters to the company calling for the stores to open soon.
Arthur T. took questions from reporters outside the Chelsea store Labor Day morning. He also reflected on the corporate strife over Market Basket's leadership and future that carried through the summer. He said his "first order of business'' was to "say thank you millions of times over'' to the employees and customers that protested for his return.
He also spoke of the ongoing efforts to get the company back up to speed, saying stores were about 75-80 percent back to normal, and would be at 90-95 percent in a few days. Several Market Basket managers have told Boston.com this weekend that customer counts are normalizing to their pre-boycott levels, and echoed Arthur T. in saying they expect to be close to fully stocked by the end of the week.
Market Basket currently operates 71 stores in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
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The joy of repetition
The joy of repetition John Kitchin, aka Slomo, does the same thing every day: He rollerblades up and down the boardwalk in Pacific Beach, San Diego. This is his story
Living the California Dream was making me depressed: I was a successful doctor, a neurologist with a private practice in Long Beach. I had a villa, a pool, a tennis court, a Ferrari in the garage and several million dollars in the bank. But 20 years ago, I realized that none of that made me happy.
I used to rollerblade at night, just to relax. Gliding around, I felt like I was eleven or twelve years old again – completely free, without a care in the world. Then I decided to change my life radically, give up everything and just concentrate on skating.
I sold almost all of what I owned and moved into a small apartment on the beach right here in San Diego. I've been celebrating my freedom every single day since then. I rollerblade up and down the boardwalk, usually at sunset, wearing shorts so that I can feel the wind blowing gently around my legs. I laugh out loud because I'm happy and people laugh with me. I've become a permanent fixture on the boardwalk here.
Over time, I developed my own style of skating with my arms outstretched. It feels like a cross between surfing and flying. I acquired the nickname "Slomo" because I rollerblade so slowly. Slomo as in slow motion. "Hey Slomo," people say, "what's up?" Sometimes my hands hurt from all the high-fives.
People always want to know whether I don't get bored just skating up and down. I most definitely don't. But there are days when this surprises even me. It's probably connected to the fact that I'm doing it of my own free will. Every day, I decide to do exactly what I want to do, and every day, I choose to do exactly the same thing.
Lufthansa flies five times weekly from Frankfurt (FRA) to San Diego (SAN). Use the app to calculate your miles. Download here: miles-and-more.com/app


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QP vs 24/7 Rap Battle [Grind Time Florida]
Drect reports "Battle from GT South "Anarchy in the Ozone" Florida event. GT favorite QP takes on FL up-and-comer 24/7 in a heated 3 round (3rd round untimed and no overtime) battle. Who will take the W?"
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Seniors with higher selenium levels had stronger muscles than those with lower levels, and older adults who took creatine and CLA along with exercise had stronger, leaner muscles and less fat compared to placebo, in two studies.
In the selenium study, doctors noted that muscles need selenium to function properly, but that there are no studies on how selenium affects muscle strength. Researchers examined 891 men and women aged 65 or older who had taken part in the "Chianti" community-based study in Tuscany, Italy. Scientists measured blood-plasma levels of selenium and found that on average, selenium levels were 24% below the minimum doctors believe is necessary to produce enough selenoproteins, the antioxidant enzymes that keep muscles healthy. Researchers also measured hip flex strength, hand grip strength and knee extension strength, and found that participants with the highest selenium levels—those in the top 25%—were 41% more likely to have strong hips and 48% more likely to have strong hand grip and knee extension compared to participants with the lowest selenium levels, who were in the bottom 25%.
In the creatine/linoleic acid study, researchers recruited 19 men and 20 women, aged 65 or older, who had supervised resistance exercise training twice per week for six months while taking 5 grams of creatine monohydrate plus 6 grams of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) per day or a placebo. Scientists measured walking, balance, sitting, standing and stair climbing and found that both groups improved, but that the creatine/CLA group had greater muscle endurance, stronger knee extensions, more lean muscle (fat-free) mass and had lost more fat than the placebo group, without side effects.
Reference: Public Library of Science Hub for Clinical Trials. 2007 Oct;2(10):991.
† Compare price is the price compared to the manufacturer's suggested retail price or estimated selling price of the same or similar item at full-price stores. See Pricing Policy for details.
Information provided on this site is solely for informational purposes only. It is not a substitute for professional medical advice. Read more©2000-2020 Nutrition Express. All rights reserved.


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Despite its hot weekend of iPhone 4S sales, Apple said it missed it's earnings target for Q3. Since the quarter ended on Sept. 30, none of those sales counted.
A miss is rare for the Cupterino-based company. Normally it crushes expectations.
Even though it missed expectations, revenue jumped to $28.27 billion and a net profit of $6.62 billion, or $7.05 a share.
U.S. & World
News from around the country and around the globe
Analysts expected the technology giant to earn $7.28 per share on revenue of $29.4 billion.
Tuesday's earnings call is the first since the resignation and subsequent death of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
"We are thrilled with the very strong finish of an outstanding fiscal 2011, growing annual revenue to $108 billion and growing earnings to $26 billion," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Customer response to iPhone 4S has been fantastic, we have strong momentum going into the holiday season, and we remain really enthusiastic about our product pipeline."
CNBC's John Fortt noted that Cook said in a previous guidance forecast that the earnings release numbers would be lower than projections, but Fortt said people don't listen to the forecast because Apple always does better than expected.
- iPhone - 17 million (not including iPhone 4S)
- iPad - 11 million
- Mac - 4.9 million
- iPods- 6.6 million
Apple stock tanked in after-hour trading, with an initial dip of 7-percent.
The company gave a better-than-expected outlook for the fiscal first quarter, which started Oct. 1. Apple said it expects earnings of $9.30 a share.


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On the main stage at the historic GracePoint in London, Tobi Loba delivers a awesome spontaneous worship session 'Grateful' for A Stage For Praise's renowned Caught In Worship series.
For more Caught In Worship sessions click here: http://bit.ly/2jmaNrv
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We aim to consistently provide great gospel music as regularly as possible. With our videos of gospel concerts, live worship sessions and more A Stage For Praise is your trusted source of quality gospel music.
Find more from Tobi Loba:


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The theme of the International Museum Day 2013 will be:
Museums (memory + creativity) = social change
Discover the large number of activities and visits organised by museums all around the world!!
>> Africa
>> Asia
>> Europe
>> Latin America
>> North America
>> Oceania
Every year since 1977, International Museum Day is held worldwide sometime around 18 May. From America and Oceania to Europe, Asia and Africa, International Museum Day aims to increase public awareness of the role of museums in developing society.
The theme for 2012 is Museums in a Changing World. New challenges, New inspirations.
Today, the world is changing faster than ever. New technology delivers new ideas, gigabytes of information, news of an increasingly unstable climate, all shared by social media. Modern museums must compete for an audible voice against the furious pace of this background.
Museums in a Changing World is recognition that institutions are faced with interpreting, and existing in, a field that is becoming increasingly fluid. Each may face a unique set of goals, interests and audiences.


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Many of the Linux hybrid graphics team members are using Alienware laptops, which are well supported by acpi_call and bumblebee. The Alienware M18x should be no different:
Nvidia GTX 580M top-end laptop graphics unveiled; already showing up in Origin and Alienware systems
Today Nvidia unveiled its latest high-end laptop GPUs, the GTX 570M and 580M. That's not a huge surprise: the new GTX cards round out the "500 series" of GT and GTX graphics that have been available throughout the year. One feature Nvidia's particularly touting is the GTX 580's Optimus automatic switching, which should offer up "5 hours of battery life in Facebook," in case you measure your juice through social networking.
Nvidia promises that the GTX 580M is the fastest laptop graphics card anywhere, ever--the benchmark comparisons were leveled against the AMD Radeon 6970M. That bears watching, but at least know for now that the GTX 580M will be available on the Alienware M18x in single- or dual-card configurations and soon on the Alienware M17x, as well as on Origin's EON laptops, the Clevo P170HM3 and P270WM. MSI's GT780R gaming laptop will feature the slightly stepped-down GTX 570M.
We'll report more when we have a GTX 580M laptop to test, but here's one question that bears answering: who's gaming with top-end graphics


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IO Interactive's epic squad-based shooter is one of the most criminally overlooked games of the last generation. Really, you should be feeling Okami levels of shame if you didn't buy it. Nearly everyone who plays it remembersthe gamefondly, yet there's rarely been talk of a sequel.
During a recent Kane and Lynch 2 event, Mads Prahm, one of the lead designers on Freedom Fighters, hinted to our very own Dave Houghton that he considered thetitle to be a current franchise. So with that tiny spark of hope that there could yet be a sequel to the charming 2003 shooter, we tell you, and hopefully anyone reading at EA (it published the first game), why the world needs a sequel.


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Uganda's Powerful Spy Network
[Opinion/Column] I had been struggling to understand why the Uganda Government would frustrate asylum applications in the UK until a friend sent me an email of an article written by a spokesperson for Uganda's ruling National Resistance Movement/Organization (NRM/O).
The spokesperson outlined the reasons why his government has no interest in frustrating Ugandans applying for asylum in the UK. His article unwittingly accomplished the opposite. It disclosed exactly why the government of Uganda would deploy resources to frustrate asylum applications in the UK.
The Uganda government has a strategic and political motive to frustrate asylum applications. The Regime in Kampala has accumulated an appalling human rights record over the last years and has gone on a systematic cover up operation. One way of countering accusations of human rights violations is to have no record of such acts. If there are no asylum applications approved in the UK, Her Majesty's government cannot turn around and accuse the Uganda government of Human rights violations.
Britain is the most common destination for Ugandans seeking asylum abroad. If Britain cannot have evidence of any; then no one can accuse Uganda of human rights abuse. All other democratic countries, the US, countries of the EU, and Commonwealth would most probably follow the British.
Thus, if confronted by accusations of abuse, the Uganda government would point to the fact that the U.K. had rejected asylum seekers, which would presumably contradict accusations of human rights abuses. Therefore, NRM/O government has a political and strategic motive to frustrate asylum applications. That is why massive intelligence resources were deployed to ensure that asylum applications from Uganda are rejected.
Of course, there are always bogus asylum applications, but it is true that there are real genuine persons who have been persecuted by the Kampala regime. The worry for the British people is that the system of deciding genuine and bogus asylum applications from Uganda is undermined by the presence of 'asylum spies' working in the British Home Office. The U.K. invests $700 million a year in Uganda.
NRM/O members come to Britain on a mission and with massive state financial support
and soon buy houses. Home ownership places them on a far higher status than any immigrant. They therefore integrate quickly within the system—many start operating business straight away, which makes it easier for them to get "Stay� visas, rarely refused to someone with a business and paying off a mortgage.
On the other hand, we the "riffraff� as one NRM/O spokesperson referred to us non-supporters, really have a tough time. We arrive as genuine or bogus asylum seekers or economic immigrants. You can easily find yourself in rural England waiting, without employment, for anything from six months to six years to determine your
We "riffraff� work from scratch. We support our families back home in Uganda and end up being the country's social security because our government spends vast resources on a spying network. In other words, Ugandans or "riffraff� work to pay for the welfare of our families in Uganda and for the vast spying network home and abroad.
There're two kinds of Ugandans--the privileged and the unprivileged; the ruled and the rulers; and, riffraff and Lords. It is this arrogance and disregard of citizens that culminated in the beating of Rashid Kasaato by President Museveni's bodyguards when Museveni last visited London.
Ugandans wake up. There is a group of people determined to turn us into slaves. They're doing their work intelligently—using an international propaganda machine. Unless we counter this challenge, slavery is awaiting.
Publisher's Note: Following a series of articles in The Black Star News, the U.K. government has launched a probe into allegations that Home Office employee, John Guma-Komwiswa, who was at the same time an NRM official, also doubled as a spy who routinely rejected asylum applicants if he deemed they were opposition party supporters. Uganda's foreign ministry denied Guma-Komwiswa was a Ugandan operative and Guma-Komwiswa himself denies the allegations. He's suspended while the probe continues.
To subscribe to or advertise in New York's leading Pan African weekly investigative newspaper, please call (212) 481-7745 or send a note to firstname.lastname@example.com
"Speaking Truth To Empower.�
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Obama warns Russia of possible sectoral sanctions
WASHINGTON -- President Obama on Friday again warned Russia to deescalate the crisis in Ukraine or face tougher sanctions that would hit key sectors of their economy.
"If the Russian leadership does not change course, it will face increasing costs," Obama said after meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the White House. He added, "The next step is going to be a broader base sectoral sanctions regime."
Obama suggested that if Russia disrupts Ukraine May 25 elections the sectoral sanctions against Moscow would be inevitable and could hit the Russians arms and financial sector.
But Obama acknowledged that any penalties against Russian's energy sector--which Europe is heavily dependent on--would be limited.
"Energy flows from Russia to Europe, those continued even in the midst of the Cold War--at the height of the Cold War," Obama said. "So that idea you are going to turn off the tap on all Russian oil or natural gas exports is I think unrealistic."
The two leaders addressed reporters after meeting for more than an hour in the Oval Office, where the president said most of their discussion centered on the situation in Ukraine.
Obama and Merkel meet at a particularly complicated moment in the U.S.-Germany relationship, with Washington pressing Berlin to take tougher line against Russia for its actions in Ukraine and Germans still angry over revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden that the U.S. had been listening in on Merkel's phone calls.
Obama acknowledged during Friday's news conference that the two countries are still "not perfectly aligned" on their differences on the spying issue.
Merkel added, "We have a few difficulties yet to overcome."
Obama and Merkel spoke shortly after Ukraine mounted a major assault Friday against pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. In response, Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the escalating violence.
"As Ukrainian forces move to restore order in Eastern Ukraine, it is obvious to the world that these Russian-backed groups are not peaceful protesters," Obama said. "They are heavily armed militants that are receiving support from Russia."
Thus far, the U.S. and European sanctions have targeted individuals and companies with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. But the Obama administration -- which has faced criticism from GOP lawmakers who believe the current sanctions are weak -- have been pushing for broader sanctions that could hit entire Russian sectors if the situation escalates.
Merkel has a closer relationship with Putin, but she has also expressed exasperation with the Russian leader as she has pressed him to push for the release of a German-led team of military observers who have been held for nearly a week in the Ukrainian town of Slovyansk, where pro-Russian militants have taken control.
"The post-Cold War order has been put into question," said Merkel, who added that Germany could support some sectoral sanctions.
German businesses are more active in Russia than the United States and Berlin's European allies.
Merkel, who noted Germany and Europe's dependence on Russian gas, underscored that imposing new sanctions is something she hopes can be avoided.
"My main aim would be first and foremost to improve stabilization and to see that elections can happen (in Ukraine),' Merkel said. "But we are also prepared to take further steps."


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Sheetz to build store in Elkin
Sheetz is coming to Elkin, The Tribune has learned.
Sheetz will be located on the northeast corner of C C Camp Rd. and Bridge St.
A fence has been erected surrounding the corner lot where construction will soon begin, per building officials.
According to the Surry County Building Department, the general contractor is I.L. Long Construction of Winston-Salem.
Calls to I.L. Long Construction to estimate the length of the project were not returned.
According to Town of Elkin officials, they have been working with Sheetz officials to build on the site in 2014, but were unaware of the exact time frame because of other projects Sheetz had in the queue.
"I'm excited to see the activity at the site," said Leslie Schlender, economic development director for the Town of Elkin.
Sheetz, Inc. is a chain of gas stations and convenience stores owned by the Sheetz family. Its headquarters are in Altoona, Pennsylvania.
Sheetz now has more than 400 locations across six states; Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio and North Carolina.
The company has more than 13,600 employees.
Calls to Sheetz seeking protocol and guidelines on how local residents throughout Elkin can apply for employment were not returned.
All Sheetz stores are company-owned-and-operated. The company has no plans to sell franchises.
All Sheetz stores feature three grades of gasoline (octanes 87, 89, and 92/93), most offer kerosene, and many offer diesel.
It is unknown what types of octane will be carried at the location.
It is unknown if Sheetz will incorporate the station with its "convenience restaurant" concept. If so, customers would be able to purchase made-to-order sandwiches and hot dogs, as well as pizza, panini grilled sandwiches, breakfast items, salads and chili. French fries, chicken strips, and other fried appetizers could also be available.


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So planting fever has grabbed you, and you're heading out to your favorite nursery. Should your shrubs offer tasty berries or good looks? No need to choose between the two; there are plenty of shrubs that are ornamental and bear edible berries as well.
So planting fever has grabbed you, and you're heading out to your favorite nursery or thumbing through a catalog to see what's available in shrubs.
Decisions, decisions. Should your shrubs offer tasty berries or good looks?
No need to choose between the two; there are plenty of shrubs that are ornamental and bear edible berries as well.
Berry shrubs are as easy to grow as strictly ornamental shrubs. Pests rarely pose a threat, which is fortunate, since you're likely to plant ornamentals near living areas where you can enjoy their looks, and you don't want to have to spray anything near where you dine al fresco or where children regularly tumble on the grass.
OK, there is one pest that might bother your shrubs: Birds. However, some berry shrubs bear more than enough fruit to share with feathered friends. And if you like birds, attracting them may just be another plus for these plants.
Location, location :
Although a berry shrub can be as easy to grow as any forsythia or lilac, berry shrubs do — like those two ornamentals — need some attention. As with any plant, check out site conditions before you plant.
For berry shrubs, make sure that soil drainage is adequate. If water still stands in a foot-deep hole for more than 12 hours after you pour water into it, the site is too boggy for most shrubs.
In that case, either plant your shrub atop a wide mound of soil to get its roots up and out of the waterlogged zone, or choose a site with better drainage.
Another requirement of most berry shrubs is abundant sunlight — at least six hours per day. They need light both for flavor and yield. The sweetness in a blueberry fruit, for example, represents the conversion of the sun's energy to sugar. Red currants are exceptions; they fruit well in the shade.
A little pruning for a lot of berries:
Finally, many berry shrubs require regular pruning — as do, again, forsythia, lilac and many other strictly ornamental shrubs. Pruning allows stems to bask in light and bathe in air, keeping a shrub productive and limiting disease problems. Regularly removing old stems also makes way for younger, more productive ones.
No great skill is needed to prune a shrub, and pruning is generally not needed until your plant's fourth winter. Just take your hand shears or lopping shears (the latter if stems are thicker than about 1/2 inch) and cut a few of the oldest, thickest stems to ground level, or to lusty, low-side shoots.
Shrubs differ in how many new shoots they send up at or near ground level each year, and the more new shoots that a particular shrub makes each year, the more old ones you will have to prune away.
The only other pruning needed is to clip back any stems that look out of place.
What looks and tastes good:
Spend the next few days looking around your yard for places that might be beautified by pretty shrubs. Fruit-bearing, ornamental shrubs include lowbush and highbush blueberry, juneberry, quince, gumi, seaberry, beach plum, Nanking cherry, red (white and pink) currant, rose, huckleberry, pineapple guava, pomegranate and clove currant.
For more about getting both fruit and beauty from trees and vines as well as shrubs, see my "Landscaping with Fruit" (Storey Publishing, 2010).


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Post up if you have dealt with me....
Post up if you have dealt with me....
Fast payment and a good guy to do business with. I would do business with him again anytime.
good buyer
very patient , great transaction,great contat.
great guy, bought a co2 tank off of him. He ships fast, reliably, and his items are pretty much in mint condition. Good job again !!! I would never hesitate to deal with him.
Another great transaction with hacker! Great guy to deal with! Will continue to do business with him any chance I get.
Yet another great transaction!!!
super smooth deal. he's an awesome guy to deal with. and i definitely would not hesitate to buy from him again
Incredibly great person to deal with! A++++++++++
He bought my orracle cocker, paid right away using paypal.
Always look forward to dealing with hacker
Traded him my Lasoya Timmy for a laptop, and I must say, he did a very good job yet again! I would trade with him again in a heartbeat if he had the right deal walk along! I'm very pleased with how smooth this went, and am looking forward to trading with him soon.
great guy, bought a CP long reg. Shipped fast. Always have been trading with this guy, and always will.
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Did we do business?


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E3 2008: Escape TV: Fable 2, Wii Music
Pages 1 2 NEXT
In the third episode of our E3 2008 video coverage, Russ and Julianne (try to) play Fable 2 and play (bad) music with Wii Music.
I want that cyborg arm. Seriously.
It was heavier than it looks. I'd want a cyborg shoulder to go with it.
What was it from? Fallout promo?
Bionic commando.
The sound prevented me from understanding anything of the Fable 2 stuff, Susan didn't like it, what do you guys think?
I think it was from a CAPCOM game. I don't remember what game exactly, but I recall seeing the arm in their room frequently throughout the conference.
Fable felt like more Fable, but a little simplified. I played a caster, and instead of scrolling through spells to find the one I want, or hotkeying favorites, I had to hold the x button till the magic meter thing filled up to reach the level of the spell I wanted to cast. Which was ... easy, but a little lame. It's rather simplified gameplay to begin with (which is not inherently bad, btw), but they seemed to have simplified it even more.
I did get sad when my doggie got hurt and was limping around the screen, but there was nothing I could do for him. It was very pitiful.
The breadcrumb thing didn't feel too intrusive. If you sometimes don't pay very close attention, um, kind of like me, it's not always super apparent. I did ask if there was a way to turn it off, and honestly, I don't think he answered. Did he, Russ?
If you liked the first Fable, you'll likely enjoy this one. It feels the same, a little button mashy, but certainly very pretty, and has a quirky sense of style/humor/pace. If you didn't, especially because of the simplicity, you'll dislike this one.
Indeed, Bionic Commando. I am miffed. I was all over the Capcom booth, and I didn't get to play with the neato bionic arm. Harrumph.
I don't think he heard the question, and I'm not sure either if there is a way to turn it off. I'd hope so, but you never know. The bread crumb trail and the dog are part of Molyneaux's Grand Plan to do away with mini-maps.
He told me at GDC a year or two ago that he thinks it's criminal the developers spend years making pretty games only to have players spend most of their time staring at the tiny mini-maps. So the bread crumb trail is supposed to point you toward your quest locations, and the dog alerts you to the presence of enemies and other interesting things by barking or pointing or whatever.
I like the idea in theory, but since we're all so used to the mini-maps at this point, it will probably not be a flawless transition. Still, I'm hopeful.
As for the game, I liked it. I wasn't blown away, and I think the levels they choose to demo at the show were really poorly chosen and didn't ease players into the game as well as I think might be necessary. But for all of that it looks like more Fable, which, to me, is a good thing.
Aw man...I knew I recognised it.
The arm wasn't at the booth. They were walking it around and we happened to catch them outside the Into the Pixel gallery. They were letting people take turns wearing it. The inside was warm and slightly damp. I overcame my Howard Hughes-like germaphobia to bring you that entertaining video. It's a hard, hard life I lead.
Yeah, they offered it to me. I saw how fitted it was inside, and how many people had been wearing it. Thanks for taking that hit for the team, Russ.
I still shiver and cry when I think about it, but the footage was worth it. I do these things because I am a river to my people. Don't ever forget that.
Note for next time: Someone remember to pack the hand sanitizer.
Dude. Ask next time. I'm a germaphobe, too. I had some in my bag.
Hah, you city-dwellers are always sissies. "Eww, I'm not sticking my hand in there, other people was wearing that! Gaah!" Boo, you might catch the gay, beware! Heh, I'm just kidding, but seriously, when someone offers me to become part-cyborg, even for a minute, I'm sure as hell not gonna turn them down just because other people used it before me. I might just have fun like them. I'm doing my current girlfriend fairly often, though she came "pre-done", if you know what I mean ;) And I'm not shoving her under a carbon-acid shower before every "woo-hoo" time. Germaphobia? Ah, please...
Wow man. Let's see how frequently you'll be "doing" her after she reads that. FFS. Grow some manners ;)
Anyway, photographic evidence suggests I was able to suck it up and deal. Doesn't mean I'm not still having nightmares about it. I mean come on ... moist and warm ... ick. Maybe next time I'll just pretend it's Playbahnosh's current GF.
Why stop there? I want an entire suit!
Fable looks fairly desent from what I've seen so far. There are a lot of complants about the combat, but I think it's a bit hard to tell unless I've played it. Still, it at least have to be better then Fable 1's system.
Oh burn. Score 1 to Pitts.
She read that, and had a good laugh. For the record, she doesn't understand what you people are so worked about either. Germs? It's not black death season, for God's sake. You can always wash your hands you know. ;)
Yeah, that's what I mean. Nightmares about germs? Dude, grow some balls. You do that, and I go grow some manners, deal? ;)
You are not touching my gf with that hand! It was in that cyborg-germ-fortress! EEEK! ;)
You don't have to be a germaphobe to get icked out around E3. Every year, without fail, someone gets very, very ill. Sometimes it actually happens at the show, but most years it percolates until everyone is home. You think you've managed to dodge the bullet and then BAM -- you're down for the count for a good two or three days.
Also, the people at E3 seem to be unusually sweaty. I'm just sayin'.
Can't be any sweatier than GenCon, I hope...
-- Steve
Yet through the magic of "Hollywood" you all manage to come through it looking pristine.
I got icked out about E3, but not because of the germs, more like the "main course". All the E3 this year seems to be about just showing us stuff, glamorous game videos, developer presentations...etc, but nothing concrete. It's more about expectations, hopes and tons of promises. I've seen this movie before...
Also, being icked by sweaty people and murky stuff is one thing, but I don't think it has anything to do with germs. That's why I don't understand that whole germaphobe thing. That's too alien for me, to be afraid that I can contract some horrible diseases by just touching something somebody else used before me... even toilet seats, and THAT is hardcore ;) Your lives must be a living nightmare. I don't envy you, seriously :/
I'm one of those Susan referred to about getting sick every time I go on a trip, so that's why I'm germaphobic. Last GDC, I was on antibiotics for a month following, trying to get rid of various respiratory infections. This time, well, projectile was part of it. Eep.
But you know what? I will power through for you guys. <3 Just don't make fun of my hand sanitizer. ;)
That's what doctors warned us about for years. The overkill use of disinfectants, sterilizers, anti-bacterial soaps/detergents and most importantly the overuse of anti-biotics are the main cause we have even worse immune system than in the middle-ages. Breeding super-bacteria that is resistant to all known anti-biotics. It's not the government doing that, it's we who breed those horrible things. Yeah, if you thought you are germaphobe now, try again ten years later...
The other thing is the psychosomatic side of the coin. If you are paranoid about germs, about getting infected, and you await it every time you go to some media-fest, well, you will get sick. You can show symptoms of illnesses you don't even have, if you can make yourself believe you have it (or will have it). That's something your subconscious does, or something like that, I don't really know the mechanics of it.
So, don't be afraid to get dirty. It's your body's way of training you immune system.
This reminds me of The Great GDC Flu of 2008. KO'd over two dozen people in three of my company's four offices. Going to a nerd conference without hand sanitizer and a big ol' dose of vitamin C is like asking to get punched in the face by sickness.
Every convention I've ever been to has had some form of "Convention Flu", I think it's just one of the attractions, along with "Who can crash the system projecting onto the Plasma Screen?", "Who can spot the bit-part Sci-Fi Actor hamming for all he's worth?", "Who can guess which A list Celeb will actually turn up?" and of course the mystery meat game at the canteen.
I myself fell victim to that particular epidemic. Awful, it was, positively awful.
At least you lot get to go to E3. Surely it must be worth the germs.
You're a charmer.
Anyway, current topic germ thread aside, I want to know if you guys hit up any of the other big stands. I wanna see some Dawn of War 2 after watching that trailer. Also a litte Res Evil 5 could go down well. Just wondering, how many more videos do you have to go?
There will be at least three more of these videos, perhaps more. Stay tuned!
I am actually quite well-versed in germs and treatment. I worked in the Infectious Dieseases division at UNC-Chapel Hill doing research for two years before joining Themis and starting up The Escapist. ;)
Unfortunately, the combination of air travel (drying out air passages makes them more susceptible) and shaking all kinds of hands who've shaken all kinds of other hands, plus not getting enough sleep or good food is bad news. Rubbing a little handsanitizer on before wolfing down a granola bar between interviews is a good idea.
Re: the GDC flu 2008 ... I admit it! That was likely totally my fault. I came down with the Flu on the way beack from DICE, was laid up with it all the following week, then had to go out to GDC. I was Outbreak Monkey for that. o.o
On topic: Yes! There's more. Interestingly, a lot of people weren't interested in having video of their product, cuz this is the point in the dev cycle where they are putting on final polish, and they don't want people to think they are finished. But we do have a few more things on the way. :D
Absolutely. Best job in the world.
Seconded. I'd have given up air travel and hand shaking long ago if it weren't for all of this.
You lucky bastard, Fable is looking great and I have been waiting since i finished Fable1
I so want to play Fable 2.
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Logo Design Needed for Exciting New Company Silver River Coaching
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IC1078L6OR - ICC Cat 6 EZ Modular Keystone Jack, Orange
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Four Genealogy workshops will be held at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, 1300 Locust Street, on Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. The first workshop, "Getting Started in Genealogy," takes place on October 28. "Genealogical Resources at HSP" on November 4; "Tracing Your Civil War Ancestry" on November 11; and "Conserving Your Family Records" follow it on November 18.
If you've been thinking of tracing your family history but don't know where to begin, these workshops will help orient you. You may register online There is a nominal fee for each workshop.


text: Ages 5 - Adults. Want to build a castle? Or a spaceship? Or something totally new and different? Join us for a LEGO® program where you can build whatever you would like! We supply the blocks and you supply the creativity! Bring your dad or your mom and build together!


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BEIJING — A Chinese woman who was certified as the tallest in the world has died, an official from her hometown said.
Yao Defen, of eastern China's Anhui province, was listed as the world's tallest woman by Guinness World Records in 2010, when she stood 2.33 metres (seven foot eight inches) high, according to the record compiler's website.
"Yao Defen died in the middle of last month," a spokesman for the government of Shucha township, where Yao lived, told AFP by telephone.
The official, who refused to give his name, said that he was not certain of the cause of her death.
Yao, recorded as the third tallest woman who ever lived, was 40 when she died. Her gigantism was reportedly due to a tumour in her pituitary gland.
An Anhui newspaper reported that she died on November 13, having reached a height of 2.36 metres, adding that she was already more than two metres tall when she was 15. - AFP
Source: AFP, pix1, pix2, pix3


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Physical & Occupational Therapy for Parkinson Disease: The Science and Practice of LSVT® BIG
You are invited to attend a two-hour interactive symposium on movement disorders and physical and occupational treatment for people with Parkinson disease (PD) on Saturday, September 9, 2012 at the JFK Conference Center in Edison, NJ.
This symposium is FREE so it is a wonderful opportunity for people with PD, family members and friends, and other healthcare professionals who want to learn more about movement and PD to attend.
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"That's been canned," said Jeremy Clarkson speaking of Top Gear USA in this video. "[Americans] just don't understand a single word we're on about."
Clarkson and his midget mate Richard Hammond were down under for Top Gear Live, which is sort of like Muppets On Ice, but with cars. We've already heard Top Gear USA was canceled, but it's interesting to hear the less-PC version of events.
We do however think Clarkson is wrong on one key point: it's not Americans who "just don't get it, really" it's NBC. [via CarsGuide]


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National Women's History Month - Day 1
For National Women's History Month Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has provided 31 blogging prompts that may interest you. They are also being promoted by GeneaBlogger on Facebook.
I'll try to do a few. However, in the meantime, here is a neat blog post to get us in the mood.
And, I'll simply start with some of my favorite women - I get in trouble naming just one...
My wife, my mother, my grandmother and my three daughters - a few years ago!
Families are Forever! ;-)


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Sarah Silverman is known for her particular brash form of comedy. But this time a number of people are laughing at the comedienne, not with her.
Silverman is getting slammed on social media after she mistakenly tweeted a picture of what she believed were swastikas on a city sidewalk.
Only the markings weren't swastikas. As many quickly pointed out they were construction markings used to designate the locations of underground pipes and wires.
Silverman later acknowledges her mistake. But she also took the opportunity to go after Donald Trump and his current administration in part for her error.
"I'm seeing swastikas in everything fratboys. It started w Bannon's rise & festered when trump decided not 2 mention Jews re the Holocaust," she wrote.


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COLUMBIA - The latest maneuver in the battle over Georgia's harbor deepening comes back to the question: Who is in charge of the Savannah River?
On Thursday, South Carolina's environmental board will consider whether to grant an appeal hearing to the Georgia Ports Authority and the Savannah District of the Army Corps of Engineers, which are both challenging a South Carolina panel's efforts to restrict the Savannah harbor expansion project.
The corps and the ports authority argue the South Carolina Savannah River Maritime Commission, a panel created by the South Carolina Legislature in 2007, does not have the authority to impose its own terms and conditions on Georgia's harbor deepening. They want the Department of Health and Environmental Control board to invalidate the Maritime Commission's May 8 notice, which includes limiting the deepening to 45 feet from its current 42 feet, instead of allowing it to be deepened to 47 feet, which is the depth the corps recommended.
The reason the corps appealed to the DHEC board on May 23 was to maintain its legal standing before the body while waiting for the South Carolina Supreme Court to resolve a lawsuit filed by the Savannah Riverkeeper, the Maritime Commission and others against DHEC, the corps' Savannah District spokesman Billy Birdwell said Wednesday morning.
In that conflict, the environmental groups argued the DHEC board usurped the powers of the Maritime Commission in November when the board granted the corps permits for water quality and construction in navigable waters.
The South Carolina Supreme Court suit is just one amid a tangle of legal and legislative challenges centered on what is considered to be Georgia's most crucial public works project.
Environmental groups, represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, are also challenging the massive project in federal court on the grounds that a pollution permit should have been sought but was not.
Correspondence last week from the corps and ports authority to DHEC indicate there is confusion over the proper channels to oppose the Maritime Commission's efforts to restrict the $653 million deepening. Both note that they are also petitioning for a contested case hearing before the South Carolina Administrative Law Court.
The DHEC board has been friendly to Georgia Ports Authority's cause.
In November, the six-member board - all appointed by Gov. Nikki Haley - voted to accept the DHEC staff's reversal of its initial Sept. 30 denial for the project's 401 Water Quality Certification and Navigable Waters Permit.
Members of the South Carolina Legislature remain angry with Haley for granting Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal's request that the board hear Georgia's appeal. Palmetto State lawmakers also battered DHEC for the November reversal, with some calling it the most destructive decision the agency had ever made.
Among South Carolina critics' concerns is the prospect of a deeper port of Savannah further outstripping the Port of Charleston in global commerce.
A host of other objections are detailed in Maritime Commission chairman Dean Moss' "Notice of Proposed Decision," dated May 8.
The commission detailed a new complaint: That the settlement that DHEC staff and board members ultimately approved when they tossed aside the Sept. 30 denial was drafted with significant involvement by the corps and Georgia Ports Authority.
"Even the five-page DHEC decision was not really DHEC's own decision but one crafted by the Savannah Corps and GPA to meet their needs and desires," wrote Moss, citing e-mails exchanged between the parties.
The commission's notice also criticized the project's proposed dissolved-oxygen injection system, the funding assurances to keeping it in operation and the potential harm to the Savannah estuary. It also contends that the corps' Environmental Impact Statement in April didn't fully address the disposal of toxic material, specifically "high levels of cadmium" in the dredge material.
The commission also questioned the corps' and GPA's commitment to a proposed bi-state Jasper Ocean Terminal.
"The environmental impacts on wetlands, water quality, and fish and wildlife, independently and collectively, dictate that a shallower depth be authorized," wrote Moss.
"The difference in adverse environmental impacts between controlling depths of (45 and 47-foot depths) is significant, and the difference in economic benefits is minimal."
The deeper water is intended to service larger container vessels coming through the expanded Panama Canal in 2014. Georgia officials have said the deepened harbor will bring economic benefit to both Georgia and South Carolina and will boost the prospects of a shared Jasper Ocean Terminal on South Carolina's side of the river.


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This may seem like another "kick 'em while they're down" entry, but it is not. This is something Houston sports fans should embrace.
I say let's step into the ring against all these wannabe losing sports cities and wear our non-championship belt proudly.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist Mark Bradley, an otherwise fine gentleman I am sure, has the nerve, the gall, the absolute audacity to feel so tortured by a losing sports town that seeing Falcons fans exit a playoff game early led him to say to Atlanta sports fan "I feel your pain."
I'm not saying Bradley is wrong for feeling that way. I mean he has spent almost 27 years in Atlanta and the city has enoyed just one championship (the Braves in 1995) in that time. Atlanta is a pitiful sports city.
But I can't allow Bradley to bathe in his city's sports misery as if Atlanta is the only town with dirty sports bath water.
Try Houston, Mark.
According to Bradley, Atlanta has one championship in 148 major sports seasons. Well, by Forbes' count, Houston has four titles in 131 major sports seasons: the Rockets' two NBA championships in 1994 and '95 and the Oilers' two AFC championships in 1960 and '61.
Forbes ranked Houston as the sixth-most miserable sports city in America in 2008 and the 10th-most miserable sports city last year. Each time the magazine ranked Atlanta as worse than Houston.
On a side note: Hey Forbes, what the heck happened from 2008 to 2010 that improved Houston's position in such a ranking? Was the Rockets win over Portland in the first round of the playoffs that special? Methinks not.
Anyway, do the Oilers' championships in a fledgling league really count as a huge positive toward Houston's ledger? I mean, they came 50 years ago in the first two years of a football league that had just eight teams and no playoffs. They won their four-team division then played a game for the championship.
For goodness sakes, Dwight D. Eisenhower was our nation's President when they won the first title.
Sadly, however, Houston can't run from the Oilers' depressing legacy after the NFL-AFL merger, even though those sorry scoundrels have left this town for another.
Put it like this, the Oilers' AFL championships are like two children your ex-wife had with another man when she was real young, before you even knew her. Stagger Lee and GBC (the Great Buffalo Collapse) are your children and always will be.
Don't make me call Maury Povich.
Back to Bradley. Sorry Mark, Atlanta does not stand alone atop Mediocrity Mountain.
I contend Houston ranks ahead of (or is it below) Atlanta as a sad sports city. We may have better fans (translation: we're front runners; Atlanta fans are pathetic), but our franchises haven't necessarily been better.
The Braves have played in almost twice as many playoffs as the Astros (17-9), gone to 11 National League Championship Series and five World Series. The Astros were swept in their only World Series appearance and have lost in the NLCS three times.
The Falcons have gone to a Super Bowl. The Oilers and the Texans have not. Overall, the Falcons have been worse than Houston's teams, but your Dirty Bird run to the Super Bowl tops the Luv Ya Blue days, because y'all actually kicked that you-know-what in.
In Bradley's blog entry on Atlanta's misery, he posted a clip of the Falcons' falling apart against the Cowboys in losing a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter. That is mere child's play compared to the run-and-shoot-yourselves-in the-foot Oilers, who in the aforementioned great collapse barfed up a 32-point lead against the Bills.
The Hawks … well, you got us there, Mark. Besides two championships the Rockets, Houston's lone pride and glory, have two other trips to the NBA Finals. The Hawks have none.
The Thrashers have posted only three winning seasons in their first 10 years in the NHL. Well, at least you HAVE an NHL team. And if the Texans had done as well as the Thrashers as an expansion franchise, Houston couldn't challenge Atlanta for the title of Gloomtown.
Houston is so desperate a sports town that this is the point where some sad Houstonian is subject to throw the Dynamo and the Comets on the table. I'm not going to embarrass the city with such talk.
Another thing must be emphasized. Bradley's post stemmed from the Georgia Dome crowd's reaction to a playoff loss.
All together now (in Jim Mora's voice): PLAYOFFS?! Don't talk about PLAYOFFS?! Are you kiddin' me?
Which brings us to another edge Houston has over Atlanta.
Current situation.
Take the following quiz …
From each category below, choose the collection of players you would prefer to have play in your city.
A.) Atlanta Falcons B.) Houston Texans
A.) Atlanta Braves B.) Houston Astros
A.) Atlanta Hawks B.) Houston Rockets
A.) Atlanta Thrashers B.) None
Yeah, A is for Atlanta. If you answered anything other than A, A, A and A, please remember that mental disorders are real and you don't have to suffer alone. Seek help.
This is how it is in Houston these days. Almost all we're left with are "how bad things are" arguments. But if we're going to argue, by golly, we're at least going to win those.
Near the end of the NFL regular season, I had a little debate on Denver radio with a couple of nice chaps who had the nerve to claim the Broncos had the league's worst defense.
Yeah, I know, funny huh?
I tried to explain to them that at the time the only reason the Broncos were giving up more points than the Texans is Denver's offense wasn't as good, so opponents probably had more and better chances to score than Houston's foes did.
Before the interview ended, I told them the fight would be decided that Sunday.
After Rev. Tebow laid hands on the Texans' secondary, Mills Lane stepped into the ring and lifted my arm in victory.
And it is the same thing when it comes to which city is the more miserable sports city, Houston or Atlanta?
Houston wins! Houston wins! Houston wins!