The northeast Marlborough Mall is planning to put pad sites into its parking lot to increase the number of stores at the shopping centre.
Kim Wiltse, marketing director of Marlborough Mall with 20Vic Management Inc. which operates the centre, said about 10,000 square feet is being added to the west side of the mall’s parking area.
“So we have some restaurant and food service going into the parking lot,” said Wiltse of the centre located at 36th Street and Memorial Drive N.E.
“We’ve leased up about 80 per cent of it. We’re primarily looking for food use. There should be about five or six new places coming in ... We wanted to put pad sites in for years. Basically we just want more things to bring people here. Added value for our shoppers.”
The enclosed mall itself is 568,818 square feet with 107 stores and is owned by the Hospitals of Ontario Pension Plan. It was built in 1972 and the last time it was redeveloped was 2002. Sales per square foot in the mall of non-anchor stores is just over $460, up 1.5 per cent from last year. Year-to-date sales are up about 3.8 per cent. Traffic in the mall has stayed consistent over the last few years at about 5.7 million people indoor Tracking.
“The combination of strong destination-oriented anchor stores such as Walmart and Sears, a successful food court and smaller format stores, the strategic location on high traffic arterial roadways at 36th Street and Memorial Drive and direct access to the city’s Light Rail Transit system are the key factors that keep Marlborough Mall a favourite with shoppers in northeast Calgary for 40 years.”
Wiltse said the mall is a community centre with a focus on family and local residents. The mall is 98 per cent occupied.
Lynne Ricker, senior instructor in marketing, teaching retailing, at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, said the biggest thing for a shopping mall, besides location, is having the right tenant mix that’s going to draw customers.
“You look at the way your mall is positioned. So you want to have stores that are going to be popular with who your consumer is. Who draws customers? Well, it’s stores like Walmart. The anchors. The big stores. But more these days it’s having the hot players. So having stores that are trendy, in the news that people are wanting to go visit,” said Ricker.
IdleAir is an air quality system that supplies truckers on rest breaks power to run heat and air-conditioning without idling their engines for hours on end. The system is is currently in use at the Pilot Flying J travel center off the Harrisburg Pike in Middlesex Township.
Thirty-six parking spaces at the travel center in Middlesex Township are fitted with the system, which is supported by the I-81 Coalition and the Clean Air Board of Central Pennsylvania for its ability to improve air quality by reducing pollution from diesel exhaust.
The board provided a letter of support to IdleAir that helped the company secure a $240,000 grant through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to offset some of the costs of installing a system at the Flying J, said Thomas Au, CAB board president.
The IdleAir facility provides an alternative for truckers who do not have onboard portable generators or battery powered heaters, Au said. He added many of the major trucking firms pay drivers to hook up to IdleAir so there is a recognition of the benefit the technology provides to air quality.
IdleAir currently operates 33 sites in 12 states, with another seven sites under construction, said Cynthia Perthuis, director of business development for the manufacturer, Convoy Solutions of Knoxville, Tenn.
“In the history of IdleAir, both old and new, we have been responsible for reducing the use of diesel by over 58 million gallons and mitigating over 614,000 metric tons of pollutants,” she said.
The original IdleAir company went bankrupt in 2008, but had its assets purchased in March 2010 by Convoy Solutions. One of the sites under the old company was located at the Petro Stopping Center, also on the Harrisburg Pike. That site has closed.
Aside from truck stops, IdleAir officials have approached two fleet terminals in the Carlisle area as part of a new company strategy to install systems at facilities that serve as regional headquarters for trucking firms, Perthuis said.
From an operational standpoint, fleet terminals would provide IdleAir with better control over how its hook-up stations are used, Perthuis said. While IdleAir has parking spaces set aside at Flying J, the law allows for any trucker to occupy a space even if they decide not to use the service, which also includes electricity, cable and wireless Internet access.
She said trucking firms could require drivers to use IdleAir as they wait in the parking lot to be dispatched to haul freight. The result could be an even greater reduction in pollution through the more frequent use of the hook-up stations. IdleAir has put little emphasis on locating systems at warehouses because those sites lack amenities in demand by long-haul truckers, Perthuis said.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Thursday, April 25, 2013
International government officials praise infrastructure
International government officials participating in the "International Conference on Users of Advanced Fingerprinting Systems", which concluded in the French capital Paris, praised the vision of the UAE and its achievements for developing world-reputed leading government services by capitalizing on the infrastructure of the advanced ID systems.
A number of the officials participating in the conference commended the success of the UAE in possessing the world's largest database of civil integrated biometrics within the population register system and the ID card project, which is being developed by the Emirates Identity Authority.
This was announced during a series of side meetings held by Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, on the sidelines of his participation in the International Conference onUsers of Advanced Fingerprinting Systems, which is held annually in Paris and concluded on Saturday after seeing the participation of government officials from about 150 countries.
In a worksheet presented during the conference, Al Khouri reviewed the UAE vision aimed at being one of the best countries in the world. He highlighted the plans and projects associated with the advanced ID systems implemented by the UAE to fulfill its vision through the provision of an integrated infrastructure that would contribute to creatingan environment of utmost safety and security together with innovative e-government services that would enhance the UAE competitiveness.
Al Khouri talked about the Emirates ID's new strategic plan 2014-2016 and the most prominent projects and initiatives that the Emirates ID is set to carry out over the next three years. He also reviewed the achievements of the strategic plan 2010-2013, which resulted in the possession of the world's largest database of civil integrated biometrics within the UAE population indoor Tracking with the aim of promoting the personal identity in the UAE, supporting decision-making and contributing to backing the shift towards e-government services through identifying, confirming and proving the identity in a modern and safe manner, depending on the biometrics of the population.
A comprehensive database of civil biometrics for the UAE population was built as per a long-term vision aimed at confirming the personal ID in digital transactions through the Internet, thereby contributing to putting an end to identity thefts, which are increasing day after day in the world and causing huge financial losses estimated at billions of dirhams annually to governments and individuals, he said,highlighting the UAE's success in developing a Digital Certification Center and its ongoing efforts to activate electronic linkage with all government entities concerned with civil incidents in the UAE.
In his speech, Al Khouri called on governments to encourage scientific research in the field of developing the advanced ID systems and the industries and applications associated with them. He also called on them to disseminate their tacit knowledge and challenges for use in developing the administrative concepts ofthe advanced technological projects with the aim of contributing to the success of these projects and hence the development of communities around the world.
The technique used by the Emirates ID for identifying fingerprints has won the first place in the world, according to the quality standards issued by the US National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST),which was the result of technical tests conducted on different ID systems to measure speed, accuracy and compatibility in all circumstances.
The UAE is one of the early countries that have implemented this top technology since 2003. It is still using the technology in the emulation of ID cards with the aim of identifying and confirming the identity of individuals through the fingerprints stored in the smart chip in line with the internationally accepted standards for smart cards.
Pay in Your Currency, gives eligible international customers the choice of paying in their home currency at the point of sale, offering significant benefits to TSYS merchants and their customers. Customers are handed a receipt, or pointed to an electronic terminal which displays the transaction amounts in U.S. dollars and their home currency, with the daily exchange rate and other service details. The customer chooses their currency on the receipt or device. International travelers enjoy a more comfortable shopping experience by knowing the amount of payment in their home currency, while simultaneously providing the merchants with an opportunity to increase their product range and thus increase their sales.
TSYS Merchant Solutions will also launch Shop in Your Currency, which enables e-commerce merchants to more effectively target foreign markets and more sales from international customers. This solution allows merchants to localize their offering and simplify the shopping experience for international customers who view pricing and pay in their home currencies, while the merchant receives settlement in U.S. dollars as they do today.
"Multi-currency solutions help our clients improve the payment experience for their customers by providing the option to shop and pay in their own currency. It is a win for us, our clients and their customers when we offer a product that improves the experience for all," said Chris McNulty, group executive of sales, TSYS Merchant Solutions. "Planet Payment is a partner that truly understands our business. They enable our customers with a multi-currency solution that adds value to our relationship and ultimately improves the businesses' bottom line. Improving people's lives with payment solutions and helping our customers grow their business is part of our "People-Centered Payments" brand promise. Offering multi-currency solutions from Planet Payment allows us to do both."
"Planet Payment is thrilled that TSYS Merchant Solutions will be expanding our multi-currency solutions presence in the U.S.," said Philip Beck, chairman and chief executive officer, Planet Payment. "We believe that our solutions will provide TSYS' merchants with the tools to increase customer service and improve profitability while improving the shopping experience for international customers."
A number of the officials participating in the conference commended the success of the UAE in possessing the world's largest database of civil integrated biometrics within the population register system and the ID card project, which is being developed by the Emirates Identity Authority.
This was announced during a series of side meetings held by Dr. Eng. Ali Mohamed Al Khouri, Emirates ID Director General, on the sidelines of his participation in the International Conference onUsers of Advanced Fingerprinting Systems, which is held annually in Paris and concluded on Saturday after seeing the participation of government officials from about 150 countries.
In a worksheet presented during the conference, Al Khouri reviewed the UAE vision aimed at being one of the best countries in the world. He highlighted the plans and projects associated with the advanced ID systems implemented by the UAE to fulfill its vision through the provision of an integrated infrastructure that would contribute to creatingan environment of utmost safety and security together with innovative e-government services that would enhance the UAE competitiveness.
Al Khouri talked about the Emirates ID's new strategic plan 2014-2016 and the most prominent projects and initiatives that the Emirates ID is set to carry out over the next three years. He also reviewed the achievements of the strategic plan 2010-2013, which resulted in the possession of the world's largest database of civil integrated biometrics within the UAE population indoor Tracking with the aim of promoting the personal identity in the UAE, supporting decision-making and contributing to backing the shift towards e-government services through identifying, confirming and proving the identity in a modern and safe manner, depending on the biometrics of the population.
A comprehensive database of civil biometrics for the UAE population was built as per a long-term vision aimed at confirming the personal ID in digital transactions through the Internet, thereby contributing to putting an end to identity thefts, which are increasing day after day in the world and causing huge financial losses estimated at billions of dirhams annually to governments and individuals, he said,highlighting the UAE's success in developing a Digital Certification Center and its ongoing efforts to activate electronic linkage with all government entities concerned with civil incidents in the UAE.
In his speech, Al Khouri called on governments to encourage scientific research in the field of developing the advanced ID systems and the industries and applications associated with them. He also called on them to disseminate their tacit knowledge and challenges for use in developing the administrative concepts ofthe advanced technological projects with the aim of contributing to the success of these projects and hence the development of communities around the world.
The technique used by the Emirates ID for identifying fingerprints has won the first place in the world, according to the quality standards issued by the US National Institute of Technology and Standards (NIST),which was the result of technical tests conducted on different ID systems to measure speed, accuracy and compatibility in all circumstances.
The UAE is one of the early countries that have implemented this top technology since 2003. It is still using the technology in the emulation of ID cards with the aim of identifying and confirming the identity of individuals through the fingerprints stored in the smart chip in line with the internationally accepted standards for smart cards.
Pay in Your Currency, gives eligible international customers the choice of paying in their home currency at the point of sale, offering significant benefits to TSYS merchants and their customers. Customers are handed a receipt, or pointed to an electronic terminal which displays the transaction amounts in U.S. dollars and their home currency, with the daily exchange rate and other service details. The customer chooses their currency on the receipt or device. International travelers enjoy a more comfortable shopping experience by knowing the amount of payment in their home currency, while simultaneously providing the merchants with an opportunity to increase their product range and thus increase their sales.
TSYS Merchant Solutions will also launch Shop in Your Currency, which enables e-commerce merchants to more effectively target foreign markets and more sales from international customers. This solution allows merchants to localize their offering and simplify the shopping experience for international customers who view pricing and pay in their home currencies, while the merchant receives settlement in U.S. dollars as they do today.
"Multi-currency solutions help our clients improve the payment experience for their customers by providing the option to shop and pay in their own currency. It is a win for us, our clients and their customers when we offer a product that improves the experience for all," said Chris McNulty, group executive of sales, TSYS Merchant Solutions. "Planet Payment is a partner that truly understands our business. They enable our customers with a multi-currency solution that adds value to our relationship and ultimately improves the businesses' bottom line. Improving people's lives with payment solutions and helping our customers grow their business is part of our "People-Centered Payments" brand promise. Offering multi-currency solutions from Planet Payment allows us to do both."
"Planet Payment is thrilled that TSYS Merchant Solutions will be expanding our multi-currency solutions presence in the U.S.," said Philip Beck, chairman and chief executive officer, Planet Payment. "We believe that our solutions will provide TSYS' merchants with the tools to increase customer service and improve profitability while improving the shopping experience for international customers."
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Grow Your Own: ready, set... sow
If this is your first year of Grow Your Own, then little and often is a good maxim to follow. There’s many a time in my early days of growing that I’d sow a whole packet of seeds and then have 100 beetroot or lettuce all ready at the same time. You can expect some seeds not to germinate or to get nipped off by your resident slug or cutworm, so it pays to sow a little extra – but don’t go overboard.
Because one of the least wonderful things about GYO (after the slugs) is the glut of produce you get if you don’t phase your growing over the whole season. You’ll need more friends than my children have on Facebook to be able to get rid of your glut, especially as everyone seems to have a glut of the same thing at the same time.
If you are clever, there are all sorts of ways you can cut costs. The first way is to sow direct into the soil – preparing a patch of land for growing to what is called a fine tilth (no stones, no weeds, texture like fine breadcrumbs) and sowing your seeds direct onto that. We tend not to use this method because our growing season in really short and our slugs are really active so starting off all except the hardiest plants under cover means we can grow more and longer.
If you can’t sow direct either, don’t despair! Empty 1 litre juice cartons (the ones you can’t recycle with normal cardboard because of the plastic lining) with one side cut away and between ten to twenty 2mm holes poked in the opposite side make perfect and totally free seed trays. And you can tuck your seed packet into the V of the spout so you know what you planted. It is also possible to use newspaper to origami your way towards free biodegradable pots – children especially like doing this (well, at least for the first thirty or so). No need to ship in biodegradable coir pots from the tropics via your garden centre when you have all the pots you’ll ever need sitting in your recycling bin. And then there are those stalwarts of the DIY plant pot world – the sturdy loo roll cardboard tubes we discussed last week.
Compost is another thing altogether. I would always recommend organic because I believe it’s best for the soil, for wildlife and for the rest of the natural world including the human bits of it. It is possible to make your own compost - before the rise of the garden centre, gardeners had no option but to make their own - but it’s never something I’ve tried. Partly because I love the idea of growing my food in a living soil with lots of beneficial microbes. For DIY compost I’d need to sterilise the soil to kill off the weed seeds, but then the bugs would go too. But also because it’s possible to use too strong a compost for the delicate thing that is seed germination and the perfect recipe for seed compost has so far eluded me - if you have one you’d recommend, let me know!
So I tend not to cut costs on compost. And I prefer organic seeds too (you wouldn’t believe all the chemical treatments non-organic seeds get before they go into the seed packet) but where possible, I save my own seeds from previous years or share seeds with other organic growers.
Sowing couldn’t be easier. Just about every packet of seeds has full sowing instructions, so follow those and you can’t go far wrong. A simple rule of thumb is to cover the seeds, once sown into your soil or seed tray, with about the same depth of soil as the size of the seed – so fine seeds like carrot will only need a very fine layer of compost to cover them, tough old brutes like beetroot will have a bit more. Big ‘fruit’ seeds (cucumber, pumpkin and courgettes) can rot if you lay them flat on the soil, so always plant them on their side.
A long time ago someone (probably one of those old gardeners that made all their own compost) taught me to water the compost before sowing the seeds on it – he claimed it stops the top layer of compost forming a crust which could make it harder for the seeds to break through.
Given how vital and tough some seeds are, I’m not sure I always believe him, but I liked his style so I do it anyway. He taught me to treat young seedlings like babies and toddlers. Treat them well and with kindness and you get the most amazing ‘adults’, neglect or mistreat them and they never fully recover. It’s not a bad analogy and I admire his idea of gardening with kindness.
“Poor people are not stupid about money. They are smart. They have to figure out a way to make a dollar go very far. They are making really pragmatic decisions, in many cases. They don’t want to pay bank fees,” said Pinsky. ”But you make sure people are getting products and services they need. Banks may be [the] best place, they may not, but we don’t want to just leave them vulnerable to the predators out there.”
Most CDFI account holders are required to take personal finance training, which increases the likelihood that they used banking services responsibly, Pinsky said. In fact, many CDFIs outperformed traditional banks during the recession because of this extra training.
“They were prepared for the crisis in a way traditional lenders were not,” Pinsky said. For example, CDFIs never stopped imposing strict lending requirements that traditional banks returned to during the recession.
Both Tescher and Pinsky say that the problem of the unbanked is simultaneously getting better and worse. The penalty for being excluded from electronic banking continues to grow more severe as the cash-free set grows, no-cash retail outlets grow, and critical tools like low-balance text message alerts become more important. On the other hand, financial innovations hold out a lot of hope for underserved communities. Pre-paid debit cards, once prohibitively expensive, have come down in cost dramatically. Meanwhile, the variety of alternative money systems that are evolving, such as cell phone payment methods, might provide a genuine alternative to unbanked Americans.
Because one of the least wonderful things about GYO (after the slugs) is the glut of produce you get if you don’t phase your growing over the whole season. You’ll need more friends than my children have on Facebook to be able to get rid of your glut, especially as everyone seems to have a glut of the same thing at the same time.
If you are clever, there are all sorts of ways you can cut costs. The first way is to sow direct into the soil – preparing a patch of land for growing to what is called a fine tilth (no stones, no weeds, texture like fine breadcrumbs) and sowing your seeds direct onto that. We tend not to use this method because our growing season in really short and our slugs are really active so starting off all except the hardiest plants under cover means we can grow more and longer.
If you can’t sow direct either, don’t despair! Empty 1 litre juice cartons (the ones you can’t recycle with normal cardboard because of the plastic lining) with one side cut away and between ten to twenty 2mm holes poked in the opposite side make perfect and totally free seed trays. And you can tuck your seed packet into the V of the spout so you know what you planted. It is also possible to use newspaper to origami your way towards free biodegradable pots – children especially like doing this (well, at least for the first thirty or so). No need to ship in biodegradable coir pots from the tropics via your garden centre when you have all the pots you’ll ever need sitting in your recycling bin. And then there are those stalwarts of the DIY plant pot world – the sturdy loo roll cardboard tubes we discussed last week.
Compost is another thing altogether. I would always recommend organic because I believe it’s best for the soil, for wildlife and for the rest of the natural world including the human bits of it. It is possible to make your own compost - before the rise of the garden centre, gardeners had no option but to make their own - but it’s never something I’ve tried. Partly because I love the idea of growing my food in a living soil with lots of beneficial microbes. For DIY compost I’d need to sterilise the soil to kill off the weed seeds, but then the bugs would go too. But also because it’s possible to use too strong a compost for the delicate thing that is seed germination and the perfect recipe for seed compost has so far eluded me - if you have one you’d recommend, let me know!
So I tend not to cut costs on compost. And I prefer organic seeds too (you wouldn’t believe all the chemical treatments non-organic seeds get before they go into the seed packet) but where possible, I save my own seeds from previous years or share seeds with other organic growers.
Sowing couldn’t be easier. Just about every packet of seeds has full sowing instructions, so follow those and you can’t go far wrong. A simple rule of thumb is to cover the seeds, once sown into your soil or seed tray, with about the same depth of soil as the size of the seed – so fine seeds like carrot will only need a very fine layer of compost to cover them, tough old brutes like beetroot will have a bit more. Big ‘fruit’ seeds (cucumber, pumpkin and courgettes) can rot if you lay them flat on the soil, so always plant them on their side.
A long time ago someone (probably one of those old gardeners that made all their own compost) taught me to water the compost before sowing the seeds on it – he claimed it stops the top layer of compost forming a crust which could make it harder for the seeds to break through.
Given how vital and tough some seeds are, I’m not sure I always believe him, but I liked his style so I do it anyway. He taught me to treat young seedlings like babies and toddlers. Treat them well and with kindness and you get the most amazing ‘adults’, neglect or mistreat them and they never fully recover. It’s not a bad analogy and I admire his idea of gardening with kindness.
“Poor people are not stupid about money. They are smart. They have to figure out a way to make a dollar go very far. They are making really pragmatic decisions, in many cases. They don’t want to pay bank fees,” said Pinsky. ”But you make sure people are getting products and services they need. Banks may be [the] best place, they may not, but we don’t want to just leave them vulnerable to the predators out there.”
Most CDFI account holders are required to take personal finance training, which increases the likelihood that they used banking services responsibly, Pinsky said. In fact, many CDFIs outperformed traditional banks during the recession because of this extra training.
“They were prepared for the crisis in a way traditional lenders were not,” Pinsky said. For example, CDFIs never stopped imposing strict lending requirements that traditional banks returned to during the recession.
Both Tescher and Pinsky say that the problem of the unbanked is simultaneously getting better and worse. The penalty for being excluded from electronic banking continues to grow more severe as the cash-free set grows, no-cash retail outlets grow, and critical tools like low-balance text message alerts become more important. On the other hand, financial innovations hold out a lot of hope for underserved communities. Pre-paid debit cards, once prohibitively expensive, have come down in cost dramatically. Meanwhile, the variety of alternative money systems that are evolving, such as cell phone payment methods, might provide a genuine alternative to unbanked Americans.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
Why aren't you using Android?
I’ve switched platforms so many times that I could never hope to count how many times I’ve used iOS, Android, webOS, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and/or Windows Phone, to Nokia’s efforts back in the day, to PalmOS for good measure. I’ve found good things in all of the mobile operating systems I’ve used, but it’s just as easy to find bad things in the same software, sometimes. Those bad things can make us switch unexpectedly, whether that’s back to the platform we just left, or to something else entirely.
Trying new things is fun, and can be exciting if you love to get your hands on new technology. Some people might say that being an early adopter isn’t worth it, but I disagree. Even if the software isn’t up to par, and has some bugs, it’s at least fun to use. I can see where you might draw the line at signing a new, two-year commitment to be an early adopter, though. Being stuck with faulty software for that length of time wouldn’t be much fun at all.
I have a friend who is a diehard iPhone fan. He has been ever since the first one released. But this is someone that, while I would call a “fanboy,” I’d also say that he’s level-headed. He works for a major wireless carrier, and he has to try all the phones his carrier equips. He’s tried the variations of Windows Phone, from 7 to 8, and he’s tried a ridiculous amount of Android handsets. He’s given time to webOS and BlackBerry OS – and most recently he just picked up a BlackBerry Z10 to try out.
He’s an iOS fan, though, through and through. Despite how many other platforms he tries these days, or how many difference devices, he’s perfectly happy with his iPhone 5. He’s told me that he loves Apple’s hardware and software simply because it works, and that he doesn’t have to do anything “extra” to get it where he wants it. Sure, he’s got to put some application icons where he wants them, but beyond that there isn’t much work to making iOS work the way he wants it to.
When we have these conversations, he’s referencing his time with Android. There was a time a few years ago when he was a huge Android fan. He absolutely loved the ability to root his phone, change the software as he saw fit, and make the device “his” versus anyone else who might be running around with the same hardware.
But then he stopped liking to do that. He stopped wanting to put the effort into rooting, into modifying his phone that much, and so he went to iOS. Well, back to iOS, I guess. I’m not sure if I can say he’s happier with iOS, because he used to have a lot of fun with rooting his Android phones, but he says he is so I guess I should take him for his word. He really does love all those accessories for his iPhone, too.
That actually isn’t the first time I’ve heard that argument, though, for leaving –or staying away from—Android. I’ve seen people leave Google’s mobile operating system in favor of other platforms like Windows Phone, simply because they want something that works the way they think it should out of the box. I see this mostly when someone likes a piece of Android hardware, but not the proprietary software.
So, in essence, they want a phone that’s running stock Android (or another company’s software, maybe), but since they can’t do that without some effort, it’s just easier to go with something else. We all know why companies like HTC and Samsung use proprietary software on their Android devices, and while the First from HTC is technically running stock Android if you disable Facebook Home, we know that HTC isn’t taking their sights of Sense UI anytime soon. And Samsung? The company’s TouchWiz UI looks to be sticking around for some time. It differentiates them from the competition, so we shouldn’t expect them to drop their tweaked software.
Of course, I’ve heard other reasons why people don’t switch to Android over the years. Ranging from, “There’s too much fragmentation,” to, “The hardware just isn’t all that great.” The reasons are diverse, but I think that many of them don’t register all that well anymore. I believe that devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Note II, or HTC’s One, have put Android on a whole new playing field within the mobile industry.
I didn’t have any issues with TouchWiz on the Galaxy Note II, simply because the features tied to the S Pen made the proprietary software easier to stand on a daily basis. Which is saying something, since I ultimately disliked the Galaxy S III for the TouchWiz experience. And the HTC One? That device has brought Android hardware to a whole new level as well, and hopefully we can expect other manufacturers to start putting the same effort into their own hardware designs moving forward.
I think Google’s mobile operating system has removed a lot of the shackles that may or may not have been holding it down in the past. Even stock Android has grown up quite a bit over the years. It no longer feels like an experiment, which I know a lot of people out there were using as an argument to stay away from Android in the past as well.
However, while I believe Android has grown up in all the right areas, and believe that it really is an operating system that can make a lot of people happy who have previously counted it out, I know that there are still folks out there who don’t want to switch to the platform. And that’s who I want to hear from today. I want to know why you have decided to skip Android, and go with something else. Which platform did you choose instead, and why? Let me know!
Trying new things is fun, and can be exciting if you love to get your hands on new technology. Some people might say that being an early adopter isn’t worth it, but I disagree. Even if the software isn’t up to par, and has some bugs, it’s at least fun to use. I can see where you might draw the line at signing a new, two-year commitment to be an early adopter, though. Being stuck with faulty software for that length of time wouldn’t be much fun at all.
I have a friend who is a diehard iPhone fan. He has been ever since the first one released. But this is someone that, while I would call a “fanboy,” I’d also say that he’s level-headed. He works for a major wireless carrier, and he has to try all the phones his carrier equips. He’s tried the variations of Windows Phone, from 7 to 8, and he’s tried a ridiculous amount of Android handsets. He’s given time to webOS and BlackBerry OS – and most recently he just picked up a BlackBerry Z10 to try out.
He’s an iOS fan, though, through and through. Despite how many other platforms he tries these days, or how many difference devices, he’s perfectly happy with his iPhone 5. He’s told me that he loves Apple’s hardware and software simply because it works, and that he doesn’t have to do anything “extra” to get it where he wants it. Sure, he’s got to put some application icons where he wants them, but beyond that there isn’t much work to making iOS work the way he wants it to.
When we have these conversations, he’s referencing his time with Android. There was a time a few years ago when he was a huge Android fan. He absolutely loved the ability to root his phone, change the software as he saw fit, and make the device “his” versus anyone else who might be running around with the same hardware.
But then he stopped liking to do that. He stopped wanting to put the effort into rooting, into modifying his phone that much, and so he went to iOS. Well, back to iOS, I guess. I’m not sure if I can say he’s happier with iOS, because he used to have a lot of fun with rooting his Android phones, but he says he is so I guess I should take him for his word. He really does love all those accessories for his iPhone, too.
That actually isn’t the first time I’ve heard that argument, though, for leaving –or staying away from—Android. I’ve seen people leave Google’s mobile operating system in favor of other platforms like Windows Phone, simply because they want something that works the way they think it should out of the box. I see this mostly when someone likes a piece of Android hardware, but not the proprietary software.
So, in essence, they want a phone that’s running stock Android (or another company’s software, maybe), but since they can’t do that without some effort, it’s just easier to go with something else. We all know why companies like HTC and Samsung use proprietary software on their Android devices, and while the First from HTC is technically running stock Android if you disable Facebook Home, we know that HTC isn’t taking their sights of Sense UI anytime soon. And Samsung? The company’s TouchWiz UI looks to be sticking around for some time. It differentiates them from the competition, so we shouldn’t expect them to drop their tweaked software.
Of course, I’ve heard other reasons why people don’t switch to Android over the years. Ranging from, “There’s too much fragmentation,” to, “The hardware just isn’t all that great.” The reasons are diverse, but I think that many of them don’t register all that well anymore. I believe that devices like Samsung’s Galaxy Note II, or HTC’s One, have put Android on a whole new playing field within the mobile industry.
I didn’t have any issues with TouchWiz on the Galaxy Note II, simply because the features tied to the S Pen made the proprietary software easier to stand on a daily basis. Which is saying something, since I ultimately disliked the Galaxy S III for the TouchWiz experience. And the HTC One? That device has brought Android hardware to a whole new level as well, and hopefully we can expect other manufacturers to start putting the same effort into their own hardware designs moving forward.
I think Google’s mobile operating system has removed a lot of the shackles that may or may not have been holding it down in the past. Even stock Android has grown up quite a bit over the years. It no longer feels like an experiment, which I know a lot of people out there were using as an argument to stay away from Android in the past as well.
However, while I believe Android has grown up in all the right areas, and believe that it really is an operating system that can make a lot of people happy who have previously counted it out, I know that there are still folks out there who don’t want to switch to the platform. And that’s who I want to hear from today. I want to know why you have decided to skip Android, and go with something else. Which platform did you choose instead, and why? Let me know!
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
How to choose the Best Young British Novelists
When I was asked to be a judge on the Granta Best of Young British novelists, I thought it would be a doddle. Then I realised that I had just turned 40, and most of the writers I've spent the last decade enthusing about (the likes of China Miéville, Nick Harkaway, Scarlett Thomas, Sophie Hannah and Rana Dasgupta) were of an age with me – and therefore ineligible.
Judging this list is, in some ways, a far more difficult job than judging the Man Booker. With the Man Booker we have a very clearly defined brief – choose the best book, on and only on its own merits. With Granta's BOYBN we had clearly defined rules – under 40, British, and novelist, none of which I find unproblematic – and a set of coalescing, coinciding and sometimes contradictory ways of evaluating. Were we looking for promise or performance; potential or realisation? When an author had published several works, were we looking for a refinement and honing and deepening of craft, or the daring to change, to experiment continually, to reinvent with each book? When an author was at the start of her or his career, were we willing to overlook initial flaws because of a present dynamism, or were we unbedazzled by present shininess, suspecting it lacked depth and persistence?
The answers to which are a series of affirmative yeses. I'm glad that there isn't a unifying aesthetic that all 20 of the authors we chose share. It is perfectly possible – indeed, it's fundamentally necessary – for a critic to be able to appreciate the "big bow-wow strain" of Walter Scott as well as the "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work" of Jane Austen. It is unashamedly the first best of British-Hyphen novelists, and even within "British" fiction, it seems as if writers are keen to explore the specificities of regionalism rather than the bland Tescopolis. The list shows that the novel can be both realist and metafictional, post-colonial and domestic, avant-garde and traditional.
During the judging process, I spent some time wondering "why was I chosen to be a judge?" This, in turn, made me think about the critical position I've developed over a decade of reviewing books. What has most impressed me in world fiction is the way in which an awareness of genre intersects and interacts with a knowledge of contemporary theory (my wife sometimes chides me for wanting a literature that is half Judge Dredd and half Jacques Derrida). Contemporary American fiction has plenty of practitioners in this vein: Junot Díaz, Lydia Millet, Shalom Auslander, Karen Russell and many others. Contrary to Damien Walter's view of the list, I'm proud that we have genre-inflected writers represented – Helen Oyeyemi, Ned Beauman, Sarah Hall, Joanna Kavenna, Steven Hall – and I should mention that I was as impressed by Naomi Alderman's Doctor Who novel, Borrowed Time, as by her brilliant evocation of early Christianity, The Liars' Gospel. What I dislike is mannered "fine writing", of which we were sent a great deal.
Whom do I regret not appearing on the list? Well, I wasn't the only judge impressed by Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists, and I was keen on Edward Hogan's Blackmoor (but not The Hunger Trace )and Peter Hobbs's The Short Day Dying (but not In The Orchard, the Swallows). As a wild card, I'd recommend readers to look at the work of Iphgenia Baal, whose The Hardy Tree is like Iain Sinclair's wayward, smart-mouthed niece: perhaps more conceptual art than prose fiction, but exhilarating nonetheless. And it's, to me, a bit of an off-piss that Hannu Rajaniemi was deemed ineligible over nationality.
Jericho’s never been one about ego, despite what his character says. He is more than willing to put over young talent; just ask Dolph Ziggler and Fandango. He even lost at WrestleMania XXVIII and Extreme Rules to CM Punk in the early days of CM Punk's 434-day WWE Championship reign.
He’s great in the ring and greater on the mic. As a Superstar who won’t hold any titles in the near future, Jericho can be featured on the mid-card of pay-per-views to put young talent over. The WWE roster isn’t as deep as it once was just a few years ago. The WWE’s use of Jericho to elevate the young talent so that they are ready to take over once the part-timers leave is a smart move.
There are plenty of Superstars that Jericho can feud with regardless of how long he sticks around. I, for one, would love to see him go one-on-one with Seth Rollins. A war of words between Jericho and Damien Sandow would be epic as well. Even a match with a heel Ryback wouldn’t be too bad.
Superstars always seem to have some of their best matches against Jericho—Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and Shawn Michaels just to name a few. Now, it’s time for Jericho to use his talents to provide some more great matches with new opponents.
Jericho is currently touring with Fozzy in Europe. According to the band’s website, they won’t be back until the end of April. However, this would be enough time for Jericho to reignite his feud with Fandango and give him another signature win at a pay-per-view.
If Jericho does decide to take a longer break after the May pay-per-view, expect him to be back for SummerSlam, an event that he’s missed only once in the last four years.
Most likely, The Rock and The Undertaker won’t be there, and possibly neither will Triple H or Brock Lesnar, so the WWE will need the star power of Jericho. A signature win over Jericho at a “big four” pay-per-view could do wonders for a young star.
No one is sure how much longer Jericho will be around, but the WWE should make sure they get everything out of Jericho that they can.
Even with the extended time off, Jericho proved he still can go in the ring. Once that day comes when he is just a shell of himself, Jericho will always look to perform to the best of his ability. And, lucky for us fans, that day is a long ways away.
Judging this list is, in some ways, a far more difficult job than judging the Man Booker. With the Man Booker we have a very clearly defined brief – choose the best book, on and only on its own merits. With Granta's BOYBN we had clearly defined rules – under 40, British, and novelist, none of which I find unproblematic – and a set of coalescing, coinciding and sometimes contradictory ways of evaluating. Were we looking for promise or performance; potential or realisation? When an author had published several works, were we looking for a refinement and honing and deepening of craft, or the daring to change, to experiment continually, to reinvent with each book? When an author was at the start of her or his career, were we willing to overlook initial flaws because of a present dynamism, or were we unbedazzled by present shininess, suspecting it lacked depth and persistence?
The answers to which are a series of affirmative yeses. I'm glad that there isn't a unifying aesthetic that all 20 of the authors we chose share. It is perfectly possible – indeed, it's fundamentally necessary – for a critic to be able to appreciate the "big bow-wow strain" of Walter Scott as well as the "little bit (two inches wide) of ivory on which I work" of Jane Austen. It is unashamedly the first best of British-Hyphen novelists, and even within "British" fiction, it seems as if writers are keen to explore the specificities of regionalism rather than the bland Tescopolis. The list shows that the novel can be both realist and metafictional, post-colonial and domestic, avant-garde and traditional.
During the judging process, I spent some time wondering "why was I chosen to be a judge?" This, in turn, made me think about the critical position I've developed over a decade of reviewing books. What has most impressed me in world fiction is the way in which an awareness of genre intersects and interacts with a knowledge of contemporary theory (my wife sometimes chides me for wanting a literature that is half Judge Dredd and half Jacques Derrida). Contemporary American fiction has plenty of practitioners in this vein: Junot Díaz, Lydia Millet, Shalom Auslander, Karen Russell and many others. Contrary to Damien Walter's view of the list, I'm proud that we have genre-inflected writers represented – Helen Oyeyemi, Ned Beauman, Sarah Hall, Joanna Kavenna, Steven Hall – and I should mention that I was as impressed by Naomi Alderman's Doctor Who novel, Borrowed Time, as by her brilliant evocation of early Christianity, The Liars' Gospel. What I dislike is mannered "fine writing", of which we were sent a great deal.
Whom do I regret not appearing on the list? Well, I wasn't the only judge impressed by Tom Rachman's The Imperfectionists, and I was keen on Edward Hogan's Blackmoor (but not The Hunger Trace )and Peter Hobbs's The Short Day Dying (but not In The Orchard, the Swallows). As a wild card, I'd recommend readers to look at the work of Iphgenia Baal, whose The Hardy Tree is like Iain Sinclair's wayward, smart-mouthed niece: perhaps more conceptual art than prose fiction, but exhilarating nonetheless. And it's, to me, a bit of an off-piss that Hannu Rajaniemi was deemed ineligible over nationality.
Jericho’s never been one about ego, despite what his character says. He is more than willing to put over young talent; just ask Dolph Ziggler and Fandango. He even lost at WrestleMania XXVIII and Extreme Rules to CM Punk in the early days of CM Punk's 434-day WWE Championship reign.
He’s great in the ring and greater on the mic. As a Superstar who won’t hold any titles in the near future, Jericho can be featured on the mid-card of pay-per-views to put young talent over. The WWE roster isn’t as deep as it once was just a few years ago. The WWE’s use of Jericho to elevate the young talent so that they are ready to take over once the part-timers leave is a smart move.
There are plenty of Superstars that Jericho can feud with regardless of how long he sticks around. I, for one, would love to see him go one-on-one with Seth Rollins. A war of words between Jericho and Damien Sandow would be epic as well. Even a match with a heel Ryback wouldn’t be too bad.
Superstars always seem to have some of their best matches against Jericho—Rey Mysterio, CM Punk and Shawn Michaels just to name a few. Now, it’s time for Jericho to use his talents to provide some more great matches with new opponents.
Jericho is currently touring with Fozzy in Europe. According to the band’s website, they won’t be back until the end of April. However, this would be enough time for Jericho to reignite his feud with Fandango and give him another signature win at a pay-per-view.
If Jericho does decide to take a longer break after the May pay-per-view, expect him to be back for SummerSlam, an event that he’s missed only once in the last four years.
Most likely, The Rock and The Undertaker won’t be there, and possibly neither will Triple H or Brock Lesnar, so the WWE will need the star power of Jericho. A signature win over Jericho at a “big four” pay-per-view could do wonders for a young star.
No one is sure how much longer Jericho will be around, but the WWE should make sure they get everything out of Jericho that they can.
Even with the extended time off, Jericho proved he still can go in the ring. Once that day comes when he is just a shell of himself, Jericho will always look to perform to the best of his ability. And, lucky for us fans, that day is a long ways away.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Overturned Vehicle In Texas Shuts Down Stretch Of State Highway 161
At least two people were killed and about three dozen were hospitalized after a charter bus careened off a Texas highway and flipped onto its side Thursday, drawing a large emergency response as rescue crews struggled to reach victims inside, authorities said.
The Cardinal Coach Line bus was traveling just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Irving when it suddenly weaved across the busy highway, struck a concrete barrier and toppled over into the center median, witnesses said. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
"We ended up swirling and weaving and then ended up on the side," passenger Daniel Risik, 73, told The Dallas Morning News. "People were screaming and hollering, a very traumatic situation to say the least."
The bus, which was carrying about 45 people, was headed to a casino in Oklahoma, officials said. Risik said most people aboard the bus weren't wearing seat belts.
"People were piled on top of each other," he said. "It was unbelievable. A lady had pinned me. Rescue got there and started pulling people out of a roof emergency hatch. People were hollering, screaming, there was blood all over the place. It was unbelievable."
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Lonny Haschel confirmed that two people were killed. About three dozen people were being treated at local hospitals, many of them suffering from fractured bones, hospital officials said.
Emergency vehicles could be seen swarming the bus as it lay in the grassy center median along the President George Bush Turnpike. Ladders were being used to pull passengers from some broken windows. Witnesses said one person appeared to be pinned by the bus which picked up passengers in Fort Worth.
A man who answered the phone at Cardinal Coach's offices in Mansfield, just south of Dallas, confirmed that one of the company's buses was involved in the Irving accident. But said he didn't have time to talk because he was trying to gather information about the crash.
Cardinal Coach has reported no crashes in the last two years that resulted in deaths or injuries, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company operates five buses and employs seven drivers, records show.
Law enforcement officers were interviewing bus passengers and other drivers who witnessed the crash. Haschel said he had no immediate information on where the bus trip originated.
A spokeswoman for Baylor Medical Center in Irving said 13 patients arrived at the hospital following the accident. Officials at Las Colinas Medical Center in Irving confirmed another six patients were there, though details weren't immediately available on their conditions.
Another 11 patients were transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital, including the driver of the bus, and another victim was airlifted to a fourth hospital in critical condition, hospital officials said.
On Monday evening, a motorist reported that a small male child was walking on US 281 carrying a portable house phone. The motorist stopped and put the child in her vehicle and called police. When deputies arrived they searched the area to attempt to locate where the child belonged. The child could or would not tell authorities his name or a parent’s name. Finally, officers located a residence where they thought the child lived. No adult was home when officers made entry into the home. Over an hour passed before the mother of the child showed up. She had been shopping at Walmart. She was placed under arrest for Child Endangerment and Resisting Arrest and transported to the Archer County Jail.
On Tuesday morning, a leaseholder on a piece of property off FM 2178 reported that several head of cattle keep getting out on of an adjacent property and damaging his property. The reporting person said that he had contacted the cattle owner several times to fix the problem but the cattle owner has refused to cooperate. A contract cowboy was summoned to impound the cattle and the owner was notified to fix his fence and the location of where the cattle had been taken.
Later that afternoon, officers responded to a Lake Kickapoo residence on a disturbance report. The reporting party told officers that she had let her daughter move in until she could find a place to live. She said her daughter and granddaughter had been having parties at her home and she did not approve of their behavior. She gave her daughter the money to move out and now says the daughter is trying to take some of her things. Officers arrived on scene and directed both parties to return items to each other that did not belong to them. The issue was settled and the daughter has moved out.
On Wednesday morning, an Archer County resident reported that someone had charged approximately $1600 on her debit card at a San Antonio Walmart. The resident advised that she had used her card the day before at a Wichita Falls Walmart. She was notified by her bank’s fraud department about the charge in San Antonio. If at all possible, DO NOT hand your card to a cashier or other business employee when making payment. Use the machine provided if at all possible. This will prevent anyone from getting your card number and 3 digit number located on the back of the card which makes it easy for a dishonest cashier to use your account for their personal gain.
On Thursday afternoon, deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle call on a ranch off Hwy 25 near FM 368. The reporting person advised that a silver or gray 4dr vehicle was on the property and his daughter was home and afraid. Officers responded but the vehicle was gone by the time they arrived. The reporting party told officers that the vehicle had a plastic bag covering the license plate. Anyone noticing a suspicious vehicle on a property especially in rural areas is encouraged to call 911 immediately to get officers in route as soon as possible.
On Friday afternoon, a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted by a family member for years but never reported it for fear of retaliation. She has since moved out of the home but is concerned for younger siblings still living in the home. An investigator has been assigned to the case and CPS notified. A full investigation is in progress.
The Cardinal Coach Line bus was traveling just east of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport in Irving when it suddenly weaved across the busy highway, struck a concrete barrier and toppled over into the center median, witnesses said. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
"We ended up swirling and weaving and then ended up on the side," passenger Daniel Risik, 73, told The Dallas Morning News. "People were screaming and hollering, a very traumatic situation to say the least."
The bus, which was carrying about 45 people, was headed to a casino in Oklahoma, officials said. Risik said most people aboard the bus weren't wearing seat belts.
"People were piled on top of each other," he said. "It was unbelievable. A lady had pinned me. Rescue got there and started pulling people out of a roof emergency hatch. People were hollering, screaming, there was blood all over the place. It was unbelievable."
Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Lonny Haschel confirmed that two people were killed. About three dozen people were being treated at local hospitals, many of them suffering from fractured bones, hospital officials said.
Emergency vehicles could be seen swarming the bus as it lay in the grassy center median along the President George Bush Turnpike. Ladders were being used to pull passengers from some broken windows. Witnesses said one person appeared to be pinned by the bus which picked up passengers in Fort Worth.
A man who answered the phone at Cardinal Coach's offices in Mansfield, just south of Dallas, confirmed that one of the company's buses was involved in the Irving accident. But said he didn't have time to talk because he was trying to gather information about the crash.
Cardinal Coach has reported no crashes in the last two years that resulted in deaths or injuries, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The company operates five buses and employs seven drivers, records show.
Law enforcement officers were interviewing bus passengers and other drivers who witnessed the crash. Haschel said he had no immediate information on where the bus trip originated.
A spokeswoman for Baylor Medical Center in Irving said 13 patients arrived at the hospital following the accident. Officials at Las Colinas Medical Center in Irving confirmed another six patients were there, though details weren't immediately available on their conditions.
Another 11 patients were transported to Parkland Memorial Hospital, including the driver of the bus, and another victim was airlifted to a fourth hospital in critical condition, hospital officials said.
On Monday evening, a motorist reported that a small male child was walking on US 281 carrying a portable house phone. The motorist stopped and put the child in her vehicle and called police. When deputies arrived they searched the area to attempt to locate where the child belonged. The child could or would not tell authorities his name or a parent’s name. Finally, officers located a residence where they thought the child lived. No adult was home when officers made entry into the home. Over an hour passed before the mother of the child showed up. She had been shopping at Walmart. She was placed under arrest for Child Endangerment and Resisting Arrest and transported to the Archer County Jail.
On Tuesday morning, a leaseholder on a piece of property off FM 2178 reported that several head of cattle keep getting out on of an adjacent property and damaging his property. The reporting person said that he had contacted the cattle owner several times to fix the problem but the cattle owner has refused to cooperate. A contract cowboy was summoned to impound the cattle and the owner was notified to fix his fence and the location of where the cattle had been taken.
Later that afternoon, officers responded to a Lake Kickapoo residence on a disturbance report. The reporting party told officers that she had let her daughter move in until she could find a place to live. She said her daughter and granddaughter had been having parties at her home and she did not approve of their behavior. She gave her daughter the money to move out and now says the daughter is trying to take some of her things. Officers arrived on scene and directed both parties to return items to each other that did not belong to them. The issue was settled and the daughter has moved out.
On Wednesday morning, an Archer County resident reported that someone had charged approximately $1600 on her debit card at a San Antonio Walmart. The resident advised that she had used her card the day before at a Wichita Falls Walmart. She was notified by her bank’s fraud department about the charge in San Antonio. If at all possible, DO NOT hand your card to a cashier or other business employee when making payment. Use the machine provided if at all possible. This will prevent anyone from getting your card number and 3 digit number located on the back of the card which makes it easy for a dishonest cashier to use your account for their personal gain.
On Thursday afternoon, deputies responded to a suspicious vehicle call on a ranch off Hwy 25 near FM 368. The reporting person advised that a silver or gray 4dr vehicle was on the property and his daughter was home and afraid. Officers responded but the vehicle was gone by the time they arrived. The reporting party told officers that the vehicle had a plastic bag covering the license plate. Anyone noticing a suspicious vehicle on a property especially in rural areas is encouraged to call 911 immediately to get officers in route as soon as possible.
On Friday afternoon, a woman reported that she was sexually assaulted by a family member for years but never reported it for fear of retaliation. She has since moved out of the home but is concerned for younger siblings still living in the home. An investigator has been assigned to the case and CPS notified. A full investigation is in progress.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
Acquiring Easements for Beachfill Is State Priority
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Bob Martin said acquiring easements for beach replenishment is a priority in the state, and the state would use legal means to get them if all else fails.
“The governor has made it crystal clear we want those easements, we need those easements, and we will get those easements,” said Martin during a press conference Tuesday, April 9, on Superstorm Sandy-related issues. “The Army Corps wants to build a coastal protection system, and they can’t leave any gaps. We have to have all the properties.”
Martin said the DEP and the governor have been working with the mayors of coastal towns to try to convince the oceanfront owners who have not signed their easement documents that it’s in their best interest to protect their property. “If they don’t sign them over, they are exposing not only their house, but the houses of their neighbors and their community.”
At last Friday’s Long Beach Township Commission meeting, Mayor Joseph Mancini said there were 68 oceanfront holdouts in various sections of the township. He said Beach Haven was down to one. Ship Bottom, according to an informational sign on Ninth Street, had 17 as of Tuesday.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there,” Martin said. “They (oceanfront holdouts) are worried that they have to give up something else, that if they sign they might see a bathhouse or a parking lot or a port-a-potty on their property. These are not the facts.”
Martin said the state is starting off with reasoning but will not end there. “The governor will be making a bigger deal of this as time goes on. We will explore all our options, our legal options. We would prefer not to go down those paths, but we will to protect the lives and safety of others.”
During the conference, DEP information officer Bob Constantine asked reporters in the field if they had talked with the holdouts and could say why people are reluctant to sign. Loss of property values due to the loss of ocean views was one suggestion.
“When a dune is built, some people may lose their view, but at the end of the day, a lot of people lost their homes (during Sandy),” said Martin.
Earlier in the conversation, the commissioner said if Sandy had taught people anything, it was that having a robust dune system and engineered beaches protected the towns. “This has been established; a full coastal protection system is the answer. The federal government has set aside $4.5 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers’ coastal protection plan, and New Jersey will get $1 billion of that to build a full coastal protection system. We are currently working with the Army Corps. This is a priority for the state, and we will do everything we need to do to make it happen.
“The governor and I are committed to the recovery and rebuilding of the coast and the state overall from Superstorm Sandy. The vast majority of my time, 90 percent of my time and the organization, is focused on how we are recovering and rebuilding. That is our priority, to bring back the residents and businesses and get them on their feet, to bring back the coastal area for the tourism season.
“The beach towns are open for business for the summer. Most beaches are in good shape. Most boardwalks are being rebuilt. The vast majority of the waterways are free and clear of debris and ready for boating and Jet Skis. The water quality is excellent right now, and we will continue to monitor that. The Intracoastal Waterway is cleared. Barnegat Bay is open for public use, though this summer there may be smaller areas closed while we do debris removal. There is a lot of work going on.”
Martin said now that the state has finished debris removal on land, the DEP is focused on wet debris removal from bays and tidal rivers.
For the first three months after Sandy, “the battle cry was to get the debris off the streets before it became a public health and safety crisis. A lot of mayors, county and local officials did a great job in supporting that effort.”
As a result, 8 million cubic yards of household and vegetative debris and sand were removed. “It’s a great success story and I give the mayors a lot of credit. Uur job was to coordinate that effort.”
Now with the second phase under way with waterway debris, the state has awarded contracts to three companies while retaining lead agency status. It’s a huge task with the state divided into northern, central and southern regions from Bergen County to Cape May and the Delaware River up to the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
“It’s a massive amount of effort to clean up everywhere, and everything is in there: building materials, cars, boats, docks and furniture,” Martin said. “In Mantoloking, 58 homes went into Barnegat Bay. Our goal is to have 75 percent of debris removed by June 1. Our crews are working seven days a week. Some of this will carry through to the summer season to remove floating materials and some pockets that we might have missed. The key areas are navigational channels, marinas and areas where recreational boating and fishing occur.
“Our priority is for the safety of the boating public, particularly in Barnegat Bay, Raritan Bay and Little Egg Harbor. We want to make sure that these are open for business.”
Martin asked the public to use common sense when boating and suggested anyone who is boating and sees debris should call 877-WARNDEP. Other debris in the ocean that washes up at some high tides is being cleaned up as it comes ashore.
The commissioner also addressed questions on the Federal Emergency Management Agency advisory base flood elevations, advising those who can wait before they elevate to do so.
“These are FEMA’s maps that they were working on two years prior to Sandy, and they were not completely ready, but we felt it was the best information we had based on scientific research and to get them out the public so they could rebuild to the highest standards and to provide consistency for residents doing their rebuilding.”
Martin said the ABFE maps were not “completely baked.” They are being updated, and preliminary maps are to become available in mid- to late summer. These maps may change some V-zones to A-zones, and they will become the maps to build by. Martin suggested people might want to wait to elevate their homes until the new maps come out. Waiting, he said, would also give them the chance to apply for Housing and Urban Development financial assistance grants that could provide up to $150,000 to elevate homes for low- and moderate-income households. HUD applications are expected to come out in a few weeks, he said.
“The governor has made it crystal clear we want those easements, we need those easements, and we will get those easements,” said Martin during a press conference Tuesday, April 9, on Superstorm Sandy-related issues. “The Army Corps wants to build a coastal protection system, and they can’t leave any gaps. We have to have all the properties.”
Martin said the DEP and the governor have been working with the mayors of coastal towns to try to convince the oceanfront owners who have not signed their easement documents that it’s in their best interest to protect their property. “If they don’t sign them over, they are exposing not only their house, but the houses of their neighbors and their community.”
At last Friday’s Long Beach Township Commission meeting, Mayor Joseph Mancini said there were 68 oceanfront holdouts in various sections of the township. He said Beach Haven was down to one. Ship Bottom, according to an informational sign on Ninth Street, had 17 as of Tuesday.
“There is a lot of misinformation out there,” Martin said. “They (oceanfront holdouts) are worried that they have to give up something else, that if they sign they might see a bathhouse or a parking lot or a port-a-potty on their property. These are not the facts.”
Martin said the state is starting off with reasoning but will not end there. “The governor will be making a bigger deal of this as time goes on. We will explore all our options, our legal options. We would prefer not to go down those paths, but we will to protect the lives and safety of others.”
During the conference, DEP information officer Bob Constantine asked reporters in the field if they had talked with the holdouts and could say why people are reluctant to sign. Loss of property values due to the loss of ocean views was one suggestion.
“When a dune is built, some people may lose their view, but at the end of the day, a lot of people lost their homes (during Sandy),” said Martin.
Earlier in the conversation, the commissioner said if Sandy had taught people anything, it was that having a robust dune system and engineered beaches protected the towns. “This has been established; a full coastal protection system is the answer. The federal government has set aside $4.5 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers’ coastal protection plan, and New Jersey will get $1 billion of that to build a full coastal protection system. We are currently working with the Army Corps. This is a priority for the state, and we will do everything we need to do to make it happen.
“The governor and I are committed to the recovery and rebuilding of the coast and the state overall from Superstorm Sandy. The vast majority of my time, 90 percent of my time and the organization, is focused on how we are recovering and rebuilding. That is our priority, to bring back the residents and businesses and get them on their feet, to bring back the coastal area for the tourism season.
“The beach towns are open for business for the summer. Most beaches are in good shape. Most boardwalks are being rebuilt. The vast majority of the waterways are free and clear of debris and ready for boating and Jet Skis. The water quality is excellent right now, and we will continue to monitor that. The Intracoastal Waterway is cleared. Barnegat Bay is open for public use, though this summer there may be smaller areas closed while we do debris removal. There is a lot of work going on.”
Martin said now that the state has finished debris removal on land, the DEP is focused on wet debris removal from bays and tidal rivers.
For the first three months after Sandy, “the battle cry was to get the debris off the streets before it became a public health and safety crisis. A lot of mayors, county and local officials did a great job in supporting that effort.”
As a result, 8 million cubic yards of household and vegetative debris and sand were removed. “It’s a great success story and I give the mayors a lot of credit. Uur job was to coordinate that effort.”
Now with the second phase under way with waterway debris, the state has awarded contracts to three companies while retaining lead agency status. It’s a huge task with the state divided into northern, central and southern regions from Bergen County to Cape May and the Delaware River up to the Delaware Memorial Bridge.
“It’s a massive amount of effort to clean up everywhere, and everything is in there: building materials, cars, boats, docks and furniture,” Martin said. “In Mantoloking, 58 homes went into Barnegat Bay. Our goal is to have 75 percent of debris removed by June 1. Our crews are working seven days a week. Some of this will carry through to the summer season to remove floating materials and some pockets that we might have missed. The key areas are navigational channels, marinas and areas where recreational boating and fishing occur.
“Our priority is for the safety of the boating public, particularly in Barnegat Bay, Raritan Bay and Little Egg Harbor. We want to make sure that these are open for business.”
Martin asked the public to use common sense when boating and suggested anyone who is boating and sees debris should call 877-WARNDEP. Other debris in the ocean that washes up at some high tides is being cleaned up as it comes ashore.
The commissioner also addressed questions on the Federal Emergency Management Agency advisory base flood elevations, advising those who can wait before they elevate to do so.
“These are FEMA’s maps that they were working on two years prior to Sandy, and they were not completely ready, but we felt it was the best information we had based on scientific research and to get them out the public so they could rebuild to the highest standards and to provide consistency for residents doing their rebuilding.”
Martin said the ABFE maps were not “completely baked.” They are being updated, and preliminary maps are to become available in mid- to late summer. These maps may change some V-zones to A-zones, and they will become the maps to build by. Martin suggested people might want to wait to elevate their homes until the new maps come out. Waiting, he said, would also give them the chance to apply for Housing and Urban Development financial assistance grants that could provide up to $150,000 to elevate homes for low- and moderate-income households. HUD applications are expected to come out in a few weeks, he said.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Random poker quick tips to help you along your way
Martha Stewart of all people — who as far as I can tell knows nothing about poker — once provided a good tip on her show about keeping things sanitary.
The more likely somebody is to hold an item, the more likely it is to carry germs. And people tend to grab small items much more than they do big ones.
Poker chips fit into that classification, and it's well documented that players tend to get sick during long tournament grinds because of the constant handling of dirty, grimy clay chips.
Playing in a tournament? Don't make plans that would ever bump into that if you happen to run deep and make the final table.
In cash game environments, just because many of the players are posting straddle bets doesn't mean you have to also — unless it's a strange home game rule that comes with the territory. It's not necessarily a sound poker decision.
If you deem that it is time to get up and leave a game that you are soundly beating, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Juicy tables don't come around every day.
If it's a game filled with players that you deem out of your league, leave as quickly as possible.
The blinds force a player to commit money to the pot before the cards are dealt out. That doesn't mean it's an iron-clad guarantee that you must defend them. Provided you haven't established the reputation as an easy target, it's OK to fold and let them go. You can always get that money back from somebody else.
There is also no obligation to play when you are on the button, even though it is the premier table position with each orbit.
Poker chips make terrific casino souvenirs. Since every property has its own unique branding, saving a $1 or $5 chip you visit can build a quick, legitimate collection. And if the property one day ceases operations, such as the most recent implosions of the famed Las Vegas Stardust and Sahara, they can collect additional value, too.
But when we get together to eat, there’s often more going on than meets the eye, or the stomach. As I write this, I’m preparing to put on the spring gala for our local Dollars for Scholars chapter, as its perennial president.
It’s a dinner, or a supper, depending on your terminology, and the tables are sponsored by individuals and businesses that want to eat, but also want to support the further education of young people from their community.
So, everyone gets to eat, but they also get a chance to buy something at the silent auction, or buy a chance at a fancy dessert for their table, or put money in a can to vote for the best decorated table of the night. And all those dollars? Well, they’re for the scholars, they’re for the students whom our little town graduates from high school and if they want to go on to college to earn a degree or learn a trade, we say, “good luck, here’s some help.”
It takes some help, and it takes a community to provide that help. If it weren’t for community, the Ivy League might have been the only league in the world of higher education. Fine education, but out of reach, financially, for a lot of us, and a pretty long drive, too.
So, together, we built good colleges and universities right here where we live, and we try to keep them affordable as a society and as a community. We maybe didn’t need to bid what we did on the coffee maker or the set of wrenches at the fundraiser’s silent auction, but by doing so, the business that donated and the bidder who bought it, helped a student with the cost of a book, a bit of tuition, or a few card swipes at the college cafeteria.
And, maybe, that student graduated and went to another community, or maybe even returned to our community, and fixed our tractor with their knowledge of diesel mechanics, or designed the new buildings with their newfound skills in architecture, or taught the next generation of students in our schools with a learned knack for engaging young minds.
They could do just about anything they set their mind to, if we take down the barriers that block the path between their minds and the shared goals that will likely benefit us all in the long run.
And, in our little town, in the fellowship hall of a church, we chip away at those barriers by sitting down to supper with friends and neighbors to visit and laugh and eat and drink … and raise money for everybody’s children, not just our own.
Having said that, the Democrats are in control of the White House and the Senate, so it’s not like America has turned against Democrats and our ideas. The problem is something else. I’ve often chalked it up, in part at least, to a lack of political marketing know-how, or even an appreciation of the need for political marketing, among Democrats. Democrats often don’t know how to fight, at least in the policy realm (for elections, oddly, they tend to do better). So we don’t win nearly as much as we should, and could, because the people fighting for our ideas don’t do it very well.
On gay rights, the most innovative, and some of the most influential, work in the past few years came from non-standard players. You had the gay Netroots, Get Equal, Dan Choi and a number of ticked off current and former servicemembers, which included upstart groups like OutServe and Servicemembers United, and some mainstream groups like SLDN. And all of them were effective because they were willing to exert more pressure than is polite on the administration, and Congress.
Now, it’s an interesting question as to whether gender played a role here, going back to the question I was asked on Twitter, about whether the presence of men in the gay movement made a difference. I have been told by a number of women that men tend to practice politics, and talk about politics, differently than women, in part because women face far more, and nastier, vitriol than men when they get involved in politics in the first place. It’s an interesting question as to whether an activist group that inclues men acts differently, comes up with different strategies and tactics, and challenges power more than a group made up exclusively of women (put another way, were gay advocates willing to be nastier, and less worried about blowback, because many of the activists were men?). I’m not entirely sure. GetEqual, for example, was run by a fierce woman, my friend Robin McGehee. But gender, per se, defines the women’s movement in a way that it doesn’t define other progressive movements, so it’s a question worth asking. It would be interesting to hear from more women as to whether they think a group of women might act differently, in a political context, strategically and tactically, than a group of men and women, or just men.
The more likely somebody is to hold an item, the more likely it is to carry germs. And people tend to grab small items much more than they do big ones.
Poker chips fit into that classification, and it's well documented that players tend to get sick during long tournament grinds because of the constant handling of dirty, grimy clay chips.
Playing in a tournament? Don't make plans that would ever bump into that if you happen to run deep and make the final table.
In cash game environments, just because many of the players are posting straddle bets doesn't mean you have to also — unless it's a strange home game rule that comes with the territory. It's not necessarily a sound poker decision.
If you deem that it is time to get up and leave a game that you are soundly beating, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons. Juicy tables don't come around every day.
If it's a game filled with players that you deem out of your league, leave as quickly as possible.
The blinds force a player to commit money to the pot before the cards are dealt out. That doesn't mean it's an iron-clad guarantee that you must defend them. Provided you haven't established the reputation as an easy target, it's OK to fold and let them go. You can always get that money back from somebody else.
There is also no obligation to play when you are on the button, even though it is the premier table position with each orbit.
Poker chips make terrific casino souvenirs. Since every property has its own unique branding, saving a $1 or $5 chip you visit can build a quick, legitimate collection. And if the property one day ceases operations, such as the most recent implosions of the famed Las Vegas Stardust and Sahara, they can collect additional value, too.
But when we get together to eat, there’s often more going on than meets the eye, or the stomach. As I write this, I’m preparing to put on the spring gala for our local Dollars for Scholars chapter, as its perennial president.
It’s a dinner, or a supper, depending on your terminology, and the tables are sponsored by individuals and businesses that want to eat, but also want to support the further education of young people from their community.
So, everyone gets to eat, but they also get a chance to buy something at the silent auction, or buy a chance at a fancy dessert for their table, or put money in a can to vote for the best decorated table of the night. And all those dollars? Well, they’re for the scholars, they’re for the students whom our little town graduates from high school and if they want to go on to college to earn a degree or learn a trade, we say, “good luck, here’s some help.”
It takes some help, and it takes a community to provide that help. If it weren’t for community, the Ivy League might have been the only league in the world of higher education. Fine education, but out of reach, financially, for a lot of us, and a pretty long drive, too.
So, together, we built good colleges and universities right here where we live, and we try to keep them affordable as a society and as a community. We maybe didn’t need to bid what we did on the coffee maker or the set of wrenches at the fundraiser’s silent auction, but by doing so, the business that donated and the bidder who bought it, helped a student with the cost of a book, a bit of tuition, or a few card swipes at the college cafeteria.
And, maybe, that student graduated and went to another community, or maybe even returned to our community, and fixed our tractor with their knowledge of diesel mechanics, or designed the new buildings with their newfound skills in architecture, or taught the next generation of students in our schools with a learned knack for engaging young minds.
They could do just about anything they set their mind to, if we take down the barriers that block the path between their minds and the shared goals that will likely benefit us all in the long run.
And, in our little town, in the fellowship hall of a church, we chip away at those barriers by sitting down to supper with friends and neighbors to visit and laugh and eat and drink … and raise money for everybody’s children, not just our own.
Having said that, the Democrats are in control of the White House and the Senate, so it’s not like America has turned against Democrats and our ideas. The problem is something else. I’ve often chalked it up, in part at least, to a lack of political marketing know-how, or even an appreciation of the need for political marketing, among Democrats. Democrats often don’t know how to fight, at least in the policy realm (for elections, oddly, they tend to do better). So we don’t win nearly as much as we should, and could, because the people fighting for our ideas don’t do it very well.
On gay rights, the most innovative, and some of the most influential, work in the past few years came from non-standard players. You had the gay Netroots, Get Equal, Dan Choi and a number of ticked off current and former servicemembers, which included upstart groups like OutServe and Servicemembers United, and some mainstream groups like SLDN. And all of them were effective because they were willing to exert more pressure than is polite on the administration, and Congress.
Now, it’s an interesting question as to whether gender played a role here, going back to the question I was asked on Twitter, about whether the presence of men in the gay movement made a difference. I have been told by a number of women that men tend to practice politics, and talk about politics, differently than women, in part because women face far more, and nastier, vitriol than men when they get involved in politics in the first place. It’s an interesting question as to whether an activist group that inclues men acts differently, comes up with different strategies and tactics, and challenges power more than a group made up exclusively of women (put another way, were gay advocates willing to be nastier, and less worried about blowback, because many of the activists were men?). I’m not entirely sure. GetEqual, for example, was run by a fierce woman, my friend Robin McGehee. But gender, per se, defines the women’s movement in a way that it doesn’t define other progressive movements, so it’s a question worth asking. It would be interesting to hear from more women as to whether they think a group of women might act differently, in a political context, strategically and tactically, than a group of men and women, or just men.
Monday, April 1, 2013
Grab your peanuts & Cracker Jacks
For those old enough to remember, the first three seasons were painful to watch and almost impossible to believe after the Yankees had reached the World Series in 15 of the previous 18 seasons. But if even one wild card were awarded from '65 through '75, never mind two, the Yankees would've made the playoffs in 1970 (a 93-win season) and 1974.
In 1973, the year George Steinbrenner purchased them, the Yankees were among the favorites to win the American League and were right there with Baltimore in the middle of August before an endless road trip west wiped them out. As it turned out, the Yanks had six winning records in the final eight years of their Dark Ages before Steinbrenner's free-agent fury drove his team to two titles, four trips to the World Series and five postseason appearances in six years.
Only now the game's signature team -- a playoff team 17 times in the past 18 years and a champion five times in that span -- is expected to look as bad as Alex Rodriguez's contract by season's end. This empire isn't supposed to strike back; it's just supposed to implode into a heap at the bottom of the new and improved American League East.
So butter your popcorn, pull up a comfortable chair, and get ready to watch the most fascinating season in the Bronx in a long, long time. All of baseball wants to see age and injury conspire to ruin those damn Yankees, a prospect more delicious to the rest of the sport than a fat new TV deal. Every competing owner and fan base would love to take in a season, and an era, that would make Horace Clarke's time in pinstripes feel like the good ol' days.
I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think a two wild-card system will allow the Yankees to devolve into the Kansas City Royals, even if Hal Steinbrenner insists on downsizing to a $189 million payroll next year and avoiding the kind of luxury-tax penalties his father would've paid in his sleep.
"We've been pretty good the last 15 years of finding a way of overcoming the obstacles in front of us. My job is to put together a team that can reach the postseason so we have a chance to win the World Series once we get there. I still think we can do that."
Before his previously fractured ankle betrayed him and cost him a spot in Monday's Opening Day lineup, Jeter made a good point about all the sluggers the Yankees had lost from their 2012 roster. "We didn't win with the home runs," he said. In fact, they lost because they fell in love with the home runs, or so many observers thought.
These Yankees will have to win with pitching, defense, and some small-ball ingenuity, something they usually keep in short supply. Can they pull it off? Can CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and Rivera stay healthy and productive long enough for the Yankees to remain in contention until they get their injured position players back?
In a division defined by the brilliance of Buck Showalter and Joe Maddon, and by the win-now approach of the Blue Jays, the Yanks will get no breaks from the competition and no sympathy from those who have cursed their ability over the years to absorb mistake contracts and pay setup guys the kind of money small-market teams wouldn't pay closers.
Payback is a pitch -- and one everybody's ace wants to fire at the Yankees, who were desperate enough to turn to the likes of Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch. Joe Girardi can't feel too comfortable entering the final year of his contract with this roster and with his old position, catcher, manned by Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart.
Hal Steinbrenner's budget-conscious Yankees didn't want to pay $17 million over two seasons for a much better option, Russell Martin, whose contract needs were met by the Pittsburgh Pirates, of all teams. On the night his Game 1 homer off Jim Johnson gave his team the ALDS lead over Baltimore, Martin, son of Canada, declared he wanted to be a Yank for life. "Playing for the Yankees," he said, "is like playing for the Montreal Canadiens."
Of course, a losing year ripped from the 1965 playbook would allow Mariano Rivera a definite goodbye at the close of the regular season rather than an awkward one at some uncertain point in the playoffs. Just like the old Yankee Stadium, a beneficiary of the home team's failure to qualify for the postseason in 2008, Rivera deserves a final night all his own.
The closer said he plans on making his last pitch the last one thrown in the World Series, a scenario that can't be ruled out. If nothing else, Rivera, Jeter and Pettitte have a lot of muscle memory working in their favor.
But the Yankees are old enough and injured enough for smart baseball people to predict their demise. Is Opening Day against Boston really opening day for another Dark Ages, or will the Stadium be up and running in October one more time?
The similarities between mixed martial arts and the timeless art of professional wrestling are many and they are obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it makes some MMA fans and practitioners a little bit nervous. They don't like being compared to professional wrestling, a farcical mock combat sport that many look down their noses at.
But harmonies between the two sports run deep, and not just surface connections and the visual deja vu of overly muscled men grappling in their underwear in front of thousands of screaming fans. The connections, instead, reach into the very heart of mixed martial arts, to the actual techniques and submission art that separates the scientific sport from the mere street fight.
The first foundation of mixed martial arts as a science is Gracie Jiu Jitsu, a grappling art that allows a smaller but smarter man to best an ignorant giant in a one-on-one battle to the finish. It's as graceful as you can imagine a fighting art being, a constant confirmation of the power of nature, of physics and gravity and a stark reminder of the frailty of the human body. It's an art the family has helped spread to the world, slowly and inexorably replacing the hoariness of hokey Eastern arts with a model of efficiency and beautiful brutality.
Activate, if you will, the darkest parts of your brain, the home of thoughts and urges you would never share with family or friends. In this dark place, stretch your imagination to its limits, searching for ways to twist the limb or limit oxygen to the brain. And no matter what you come up with, it's likely the Gracie family has beaten you to the punch.
In this they had a little help. The family would become famous for its challenge matches over the years, culminating with the ultimate extension of the Gracie Challenge called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. To the student of history, this is no surprise. After all, the man who taught the family who would go on to teach the world was himself a fighter of worldwide renown, an athlete and grappler who made his living traveling the globe and challenging its citizens to a fight as part of professional wrestling troupes or clinics in the mysterious Eastern arts of judo and jujitsu.
In 1973, the year George Steinbrenner purchased them, the Yankees were among the favorites to win the American League and were right there with Baltimore in the middle of August before an endless road trip west wiped them out. As it turned out, the Yanks had six winning records in the final eight years of their Dark Ages before Steinbrenner's free-agent fury drove his team to two titles, four trips to the World Series and five postseason appearances in six years.
Only now the game's signature team -- a playoff team 17 times in the past 18 years and a champion five times in that span -- is expected to look as bad as Alex Rodriguez's contract by season's end. This empire isn't supposed to strike back; it's just supposed to implode into a heap at the bottom of the new and improved American League East.
So butter your popcorn, pull up a comfortable chair, and get ready to watch the most fascinating season in the Bronx in a long, long time. All of baseball wants to see age and injury conspire to ruin those damn Yankees, a prospect more delicious to the rest of the sport than a fat new TV deal. Every competing owner and fan base would love to take in a season, and an era, that would make Horace Clarke's time in pinstripes feel like the good ol' days.
I don't think it's going to happen. I don't think a two wild-card system will allow the Yankees to devolve into the Kansas City Royals, even if Hal Steinbrenner insists on downsizing to a $189 million payroll next year and avoiding the kind of luxury-tax penalties his father would've paid in his sleep.
"We've been pretty good the last 15 years of finding a way of overcoming the obstacles in front of us. My job is to put together a team that can reach the postseason so we have a chance to win the World Series once we get there. I still think we can do that."
Before his previously fractured ankle betrayed him and cost him a spot in Monday's Opening Day lineup, Jeter made a good point about all the sluggers the Yankees had lost from their 2012 roster. "We didn't win with the home runs," he said. In fact, they lost because they fell in love with the home runs, or so many observers thought.
These Yankees will have to win with pitching, defense, and some small-ball ingenuity, something they usually keep in short supply. Can they pull it off? Can CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Hiroki Kuroda and Rivera stay healthy and productive long enough for the Yankees to remain in contention until they get their injured position players back?
In a division defined by the brilliance of Buck Showalter and Joe Maddon, and by the win-now approach of the Blue Jays, the Yanks will get no breaks from the competition and no sympathy from those who have cursed their ability over the years to absorb mistake contracts and pay setup guys the kind of money small-market teams wouldn't pay closers.
Payback is a pitch -- and one everybody's ace wants to fire at the Yankees, who were desperate enough to turn to the likes of Vernon Wells and Lyle Overbay, Ben Francisco and Brennan Boesch. Joe Girardi can't feel too comfortable entering the final year of his contract with this roster and with his old position, catcher, manned by Francisco Cervelli and Chris Stewart.
Hal Steinbrenner's budget-conscious Yankees didn't want to pay $17 million over two seasons for a much better option, Russell Martin, whose contract needs were met by the Pittsburgh Pirates, of all teams. On the night his Game 1 homer off Jim Johnson gave his team the ALDS lead over Baltimore, Martin, son of Canada, declared he wanted to be a Yank for life. "Playing for the Yankees," he said, "is like playing for the Montreal Canadiens."
Of course, a losing year ripped from the 1965 playbook would allow Mariano Rivera a definite goodbye at the close of the regular season rather than an awkward one at some uncertain point in the playoffs. Just like the old Yankee Stadium, a beneficiary of the home team's failure to qualify for the postseason in 2008, Rivera deserves a final night all his own.
The closer said he plans on making his last pitch the last one thrown in the World Series, a scenario that can't be ruled out. If nothing else, Rivera, Jeter and Pettitte have a lot of muscle memory working in their favor.
But the Yankees are old enough and injured enough for smart baseball people to predict their demise. Is Opening Day against Boston really opening day for another Dark Ages, or will the Stadium be up and running in October one more time?
The similarities between mixed martial arts and the timeless art of professional wrestling are many and they are obvious. So obvious, in fact, that it makes some MMA fans and practitioners a little bit nervous. They don't like being compared to professional wrestling, a farcical mock combat sport that many look down their noses at.
But harmonies between the two sports run deep, and not just surface connections and the visual deja vu of overly muscled men grappling in their underwear in front of thousands of screaming fans. The connections, instead, reach into the very heart of mixed martial arts, to the actual techniques and submission art that separates the scientific sport from the mere street fight.
The first foundation of mixed martial arts as a science is Gracie Jiu Jitsu, a grappling art that allows a smaller but smarter man to best an ignorant giant in a one-on-one battle to the finish. It's as graceful as you can imagine a fighting art being, a constant confirmation of the power of nature, of physics and gravity and a stark reminder of the frailty of the human body. It's an art the family has helped spread to the world, slowly and inexorably replacing the hoariness of hokey Eastern arts with a model of efficiency and beautiful brutality.
Activate, if you will, the darkest parts of your brain, the home of thoughts and urges you would never share with family or friends. In this dark place, stretch your imagination to its limits, searching for ways to twist the limb or limit oxygen to the brain. And no matter what you come up with, it's likely the Gracie family has beaten you to the punch.
In this they had a little help. The family would become famous for its challenge matches over the years, culminating with the ultimate extension of the Gracie Challenge called the Ultimate Fighting Championship. To the student of history, this is no surprise. After all, the man who taught the family who would go on to teach the world was himself a fighter of worldwide renown, an athlete and grappler who made his living traveling the globe and challenging its citizens to a fight as part of professional wrestling troupes or clinics in the mysterious Eastern arts of judo and jujitsu.
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