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Downy mildew is a common problem for Southeastern vegetable producers and a new strain that can be devastating to cucurbits has been found in areas of coastal South Carolina, prompting vegetable specialists to encourage growers to pay special attention to managing the disease prior to planting 2008 crops.

The disease started showing up in vegetable fields and monitoring plots in south Florida in March, progressed slowly from south to north, and despite severe drought throughout most of the 2007 growing season, caused sporadic problems for vegetable growers throughout the Southeast.

Downy mildew, caused by the fungus Pseudoperonospora cubensis, is found annually on squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, and muskmelons grown in all areas. Although downy mildew of all cucurbits is caused by the same species, strains of P. cubensis exist. For example, it is not uncommon to see squash, cantaloupe, and cucumber severely diseased by downy mildew, whereas watermelons, nearby, show no signs of the disease. Strains like the one infecting cucurbits in the Carolinas is not uncommon.

Downy mildew causes severe vine and leaf problems, which reduces the number and size of fruit. Typically, the disease does not cause fruit rot, as is the case with many cucurbit diseases, but it does reduce sugar content, especially in watermelons and cantaloupe.

In South Carolina, a particularly troublesome strain of downy mildew struck cucurbits in the early fall. Clemson University Vegetable Pathologist Tony Keinath says the disease damaged cantaloupe, cucumber, summer and winter squash, pumpkin, watermelons and bottle gourd.

In late September Keinath says downy mildew was found in Charleston County near the South Carolina coast on various crops, including watermelon. The watermelon planting is a 60 acre field that is estimated to be 10 percent infected. Keinath says sporulation on the leaves was very heavy, which doesn’t bode well for susceptible crops in the area.

Downy mildew infections were confirmed on cucumbers as early as June 26, in eastern North Carolina. The 25 acre farm, on which the initial infection was detected, was over 90 percent infected by the time reports were filed, suggesting some levels of infection may have been present as early as mid-May. Of particular concern to vegetable specialists is both the earliness of the infection and that it occurred in an area that was in the early stages of a drought and not prone to irrigation.

Heat and drought from southern Virginia to South Carolina appear to have blunted spread of the disease, though sporadic outbreaks were reported in eastern North Carolina and southern Virginia in late August. The disease was confirmed on cucumbers in two eastern North Carolina counties, but at low (5 percent) infection levels. It was also confirmed in late August on a 35 acre field of cucumbers near Cape Charles, Va.

In South Carolina, Keinath says the disease was widespread on cucumber and squash in the middle part of the state. Keinath, who works at Clemson’s Coastal Education and Research Center in Charleston, says downy mildew disease spores are usually found on the bottom of the leaf, although spores may be formed on top of the leaf in severe infections.

The best time to look for spores is in the morning before dew has dried. The spores are brownish-purple and the mold growth is white to colorless.

Keinath says symptoms on watermelon are different than symptoms on other cucurbits. Leaf spots on watermelon are dark brown and irregular in shape. Slight yellowing may be seen around the edges of the spots or in small patches in other parts of the leaf. Leaves that are infected curl inward as the leaves die.

Gummy stem blight is often confused with downy mildew damage on watermelon. For growers not familiar with the two diseases, Keinath suggests looking at the size, shape and position of leaf spots. Leaf spots on plants infected with gummy stem blight are much larger individual spots of downy mildew, he explains.

Growers who find downey mildew in their crops are faced with some difficult challenges. The best approach, according to Keinath is to alternate available fungicides and to mix the newer more efficacious materials with chlorothalonil or mancozeb, which have been used to manage fruit and vegetable diseases for many years.

Mobile (systemic, translaminar) fungicides with an active ingredient that specifically targets oomycete fungi are recommended beginning when downy mildew is forecast to occur in the area or symptoms have just started to develop.

These materials can be applied every 5-7 days, depending on disease severity. Fungicide resistance is a concern with downy mildew and with these fungicides due to their specific mode of action. Alternating among systemic fungicides in different chemical classes and tank-mixing with protectant fungicides when the systemic is not formulated with a protectant are highly recommended, as is planting resistant varieties when possible.

Fortunately growers have several systemic fungicides available to mange this rapidly changing disease.

Both downy mildew and powdery mildew have shown an ability to adapt to fungicides. In 2005, researchers in Georgia and North Carolina documented resistance of these diseases to strobilurin fungicides, which had provided easy and relatively inexpensive management for a number of years. Fortunately a number of good fungicides remain available to growers.

Of the fungicides available, Tanos and Previcur Flex have provided consistent protection from the newer strains of downy mildew.

Tanos, which is marketed by DuPont, is labeled for use in commercial and/or farm plantings on cucurbits (including cantaloupe, cucumber, honeydew melon, muskmelon, watermelon, pumpkin, summer squash, and other cucurbits), head lettuce, peppers, potatoes and tomatoes.

Tanos contains 25 percent cymoxanil and 25 percent famoxadone. Famoxadone is an oxazolidinedione contact fungicide and affects susceptible fungal pathogens through inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. The maximum application rate is 72 ounces of product per acre per year (1.1 pound per acre/year of cymoxanil and 1.1 pound per acre per year of famoxadone).

Previcur Flex, marketed by Bayer Crop Protection, is a fully systemic fungicide that penetrates the leaf and stem surface and moves throughout the plant to protect new growth. A long-time favorite of potato and vegetable growers, this fungicide has flexible use rates and application timing can be used with a variety of tankmix partners to control early blight, late blight and downy mildew.

Broad-spectrum contact fungicides (Bravo, Maneb, Dithane, copper), used to protect against infection, provide some downy mildew control.

Researchers in North Carolina regularly conducting fungicide efficacy trials for downy mildew rated chlorothalonil better than mancozeb and maneb, both of which were rated higher than copper.

Forum (dimethomorph), is a new 2006) formulation labeled for use at 6 ounces per acre tank-mixed with a protectant fungicide, such as chlorthalonil, on a 5-10 day schedule for a maximum of five times with no more than two sequential applications.

Gavel (mancozeb and zoxamide) can be used on cucumber, melon, summer squash, and watermelon. Gavel is labeled for use at 1.5 to 2.0 pounds per acre and can be applied every 7-10 days, or when conditions are favorable for disease for a maximum of eight applications.

New phosphorus acid fungicides, including Phostrol, ProPhyt, and Fosphite) can be applied to cucurbits at 2.5-5 pints per acre on a 7-14 day interval up to 6-7 times per crop per season. Phosphite ion, the active ingredient for these fungicides, effects fungal pathogens directly and promotes the plant’s defense system.

Ranman is labeled for use at 2.1-2.75 fluid ounces per acre on a 7-10 day schedule for a maximum of six applications per season. This fungicide has some specific use limitations and should be used in a tank-mix with a protectant fungicide.

Cucurbit downy mildew updates are available from the North American Plant Disease Forecast Center at or by contacting vegetable specialists at any Land-Grant University.


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All U.S. tobacco production for 2007 is forecast at 775 million pounds, up 7 percent from 2006 and 20 percent above 2005.

Area harvested is forecast at 354,070 acres, 4 percent above last year. Yields for 2007 are expected to average 2,189 pounds per acre, 45 pounds greater than 2006.

Flue-cured tobacco production is expected to total 496 million pounds, up 4 percent from the previous forecast and 11 percent above 2006. Growers plan to harvest 224,000 acres in 2007, unchanged from the previous forecast but up 5 percent from last year.

Yields are expected to average 2,212 pounds per acre, up 86 pounds from the July 1 forecast and 117 pounds greater than a year ago.

Growers in North Carolina, the leading flue-cured tobacco state, expect production to total 361 million pounds, up 11 percent from 2006.

Harvest is under way in all flue-cured states, but is a little behind schedule in all states except Virginia.

Hot, dry weather has been a concern for growers in all flue-cured states, but recent rainfall in most states has increased optimism for good yields.

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Organizing Notes

Bruce Gagnon is coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space. He offers his own reflections on organizing and the state of America's declining empire....

My Photo
Location: Bath, Maine, United States

Saturday, April 09, 2011

The Peasants Need Pitchforks
By Robert Scheer

A “working class hero,” John Lennon told us in his song of that title, “is something to be/ Keep you doped with religion and sex and TV/ And you think you’re so clever and classless and free/ But you’re still fucking peasants as far as I can see.”

The delusion of a classless America in which opportunity is equally distributed is the most effective deception perpetrated by the moneyed elite that controls all the key levers of power in what passes for our democracy. It is a myth blown away by Nobel Prize winner Joseph E. Stiglitz in the current issue of Vanity Fair. In an article titled “Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the 1%” Stiglitz states that the top thin layer of the superwealthy controls 40 percent of all wealth in what is now the most sharply class-divided of all developed nations: “Americans have been watching protests against repressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an elite few. Yet, in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to regret.”

That is the harsh reality obscured by the media’s focus on celebrity gossip, sports rivalries and lotteries, situations in which the average person can pretend that he or she is plugged into the winning side. The illusion of personal power substitutes consumer sovereignty—which smartphone to purchase—for real power over the decisions that affect our lives. Even though most Americans accept that the political game is rigged, we have long assumed that the choices we make in the economic sphere as to career and home are matters that respond to our wisdom and will. But the banking tsunami that wiped out so many jobs and so much homeownership has demonstrated that most Americans have no real control over any of that, and while they suffer, the corporate rich reward themselves in direct proportion to the amount of suffering they have caused.

Instead of taxing the superrich on the bonuses dispensed by top corporations such as Exxon, Bank of America, General Electric, Chevron and Boeing, all of which managed to avoid paying any federal corporate taxes last year, the politicians of both parties in Congress are about to accede to the Republican demand that programs that help ordinary folks be cut to pay for the programs that bailed out the banks.

It is a reality further obscured by the academic elite, led by economists who receive enormous payoffs from Wall Street in speaking and consulting fees, and their less privileged university colleagues who are so often dependent upon wealthy sponsors for their research funding. Then there are the media, which are indistinguishable parts of the corporate-owned culture and which with rare exception pretend that we are all in the same lifeboat while they fawn in their coverage of those who bilk us and also dispense fat fees to top pundits. Complementing all that is the dark distraction of the faux populists, led by tea party demagogues, who blame unions and immigrants for the crimes of Wall Street hustlers.

My book on the banking meltdown, “The Great American Stickup,” begins with the following words. “They did it. Yes, there is a ‘they’: the captains of finance, their lobbyists, and allies among leading politicians of both parties, who together destroyed an American regulatory system that had been functioning splendidly. …” They got to rewrite the laws to enable their massive greed over everything from the tax codes to the sale of toxic derivatives over the past quarter century, smashing the American middle class and with it the nation’s experiment in democracy.

The lobbyists are deliberately bipartisan in their bribery, and the authors of our demise are equally marked as Democrats and Republicans. Ronald Reagan first effectively sang the siren song of ending government’s role in corporate crime prevention, but it was Democrat Bill Clinton who accomplished much of that goal. It is the enduring conceit of the top Democratic leaders that they are valiantly holding back the forces of evil when they actually have continuously been complicit.

The veterans of the Clinton years, so prominent in the Obama administration, still deny their role in the disaster of the last 25 years. Yet the sad tale of income inequality that Stiglitz laments is as much a result of their policies as those of their Republican rivals. In one of the best studies of this growing gap in income, economists Emmanuel Saez and Thomas Piketty found that during Clinton’s tenure in the White House the income of the top 1 percent increased by 10.1 percent per year, while that of the other 99 percent of Americans increased by only 2.4 percent a year. Thanks to President Clinton’s deregulation and the save-the-rich policies of George W. Bush, the situation deteriorated further from 2002 to 2006, a period in which the top 1 percent increased its income 11 percent annually while the rest of Americans had a truly paltry gain of 1 percent per year.

And that was before the meltdown that wiped out the jobs and home values of so many tens of millions of American families. “The top 1 percent have the best houses, the best educations, the best doctors, and the best lifestyles,” Stiglitz concludes, “but there is one thing that money doesn’t seem to have bought: an understanding that their fate is bound up with how the other 99 percent live. Throughout history, this is something that the top 1 percent eventually do learn. Too late.”

- Robert Scheer, editor in chief of Truthdig, has built a reputation for strong social and political writing over his 30 years as a journalist. His columns appear in newspapers across the country. Between 1964 and 1969 he was Vietnam correspondent, managing editor and editor in chief of Ramparts magazine. From 1976 to 1993 he served as a national correspondent for the Los Angeles Times.

The U.S. government loves to call on everyone else to "renounce the use of violence."

Anyone notice the hypocrisy?

Our new governator in Maine has added to the state welcome sign a new bit that reads "Open for business". Basically this means he wants to turn Maine into a total corporate colony.

Mr. LePage, elected in a three-way race by a whopping 38%, formally was the CEO of a cheap discount chain called Marden's.

So some friends made a big banner with some Marden's type-themes on it and posed for the photo above. (Click on the photo for a better view.) Quite fitting.

The governator just returned from his week-long vacation trip to Jamaica. In his Saturday radio address he said he wants Maine to be more like our neighbor New Hampshire which historically has been a model of right-wing governance - "Live free or die," free market, no-tax, few social programs, few government regulations - you get the idea. Yes, a corporate colony.

At the same time we witness the "big deal" that was cut in Washington DC last night to "save the federal government from shutdown". The deal will slash another $40 billion from social programs as the Republican controlled House of Representatives, the Democrats, and Obama continue their relentless assault on social progress. This $40 billion is equal to what the Pentagon spends on the Afghanistan occupation in about three months. But we are not supposed to notice.
In many respects the public is stunned and listless. They have no feeling that their voice matters in the face of the 24-7 corporate onslaught that is shattering the country these days. How can you claim to be a democracy when the people basically have their hands tied behind their backs and a gag on their mouth? The ever increasingly rich oligarchy has the bases covered with the courts, the media, and the majority of the politicians in their pocket.

Humanity has seen feudalism before. It still exists in many parts of the world today - like in Saudi Arabia. Many countries though had thought they had broken the backs of feudalism and moved on to democracy. But the global corporate forces are making their comeback. In some places they are using military force to retake control. In countries like the U.S. it is a mean-sprited budgetary process that is returning us to the days of lords and masters by cutting back on public education, health care, retirement security, and more.

Our new governator in Maine is already sending the message to workers that they must forget their noble history of social gains through unionization and must relearn to bow and scrape before the business overlords. We shall see how much of this shit the public is willing to swallow. History also shows that eventually people have enough of it and react. Time will tell.

Some of us though are already at that point and will keep refusing to bow to those who say we must be their servants. Resistance to the new feudalists is the only way back to real justice and sanity.

Friday, April 08, 2011

Yumi Kikuchi writes on her blog:

Tetsuo Jimbo is an old friend of mine. He and the crew went to Fukushima Daiichi Neclear Power Plant and took the footage you can see above. It is so sad to see the dogs and cows walking around trying to survive...

With the geiger counter exceeding 100 mSv/hr I can only say Tetsuo and his crew have guts!! Of course, we should be thankful to them for showing the world what is happening there!

No More Fukushimas!

No more nuclear power plants! They all must be closed down! All of them.
There is no safe place for them in Japan, or the world, for that matter!
April 10th 'Stop Nuclear Power Plants! Global Action Day'!

The Global Network mourns for the people of Japan following the recent disastrous chain of events that began with the earthquake, tsunami and then the nuclear power plant. Sadly Japan is now the victim of three gargantuan nuclear disasters: Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukushima.

The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan tragically demonstrates, again, the dangers of nuclear power, an energy source that must be abandoned--as a clear and present threat to life. Instead there must be full implementation of safe, clean energy technologies --- which are here today.

The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space has long challenged the use of atomic energy in space. The network has emphasized that there are safe alternatives to energize space devices. In recent times, NASA, at long last, has begun substituting solar energy for nuclear power in space. Indeed, in coming months NASA's solar-powered Juno spacecraft will be launched on a five-year mission to Jupiter. It was not long ago that NASA emphatically insisted that solar power could not substitute for nuclear beyond the orbit of Mars. Suddenly, it now can be done.

Likewise, as numerous studies have documented, safe, clean, renewable energy technologies now here can provide all the power we need on earth. Nuclear power and its deadly dangers are unnecessary. As the conservative scientific magazine, Scientific American, in its October 26, 2009 cover story, "A Plan for A Sustainable Future," declared, "Wind, water, solar technologies, [and conservation] can provide 100 percent of the world's energy needs."

The issue of switching to safe, clean energy is not technological -- it's political.

The problem involves vested interests: the government agencies which push nuclear power, notably in the United States the national nuclear laboratories and the entity that owns them, the Department of Energy (headed currently by a former national nuclear laboratory director), and the nuclear industry as it seeks to profit from selling nuclear technology despite the cost in people's lives.

These same entities are pushing nuclear power world-wide as evidenced by GE’s involvement in the construction of Japanese reactors and the recent U.S.-India Nuclear deal. China and other emerging nations are also expanding plans for nuclear power despite the horrific memories of Chernobyl and now Fukushima.

A disgrace in demanding nuclear power on earth and space has been President Barack Obama. As president, he has reversed the critical position he espoused as a candidate and now, even in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan, is seeking to "revive" the nuclear industry with the building of new nuclear plants using billions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, his administration has been pushing to also "revive" the use of nuclear power in space by restarting U.S. production of Plutonium-238 for use on space devices.

The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space calls for:

* The end of nuclear power on earth. Although the nuclear establishment claims this is impractical, it is not. In the U.S. where nuclear power provides 20% of the electricity, there's a 20% reserve capacity in the electrical system. All 104 U.S. nuclear plants could -- and must -- be immediately shut down. The reserve capacity can deal with their absence.

And, meanwhile, a concentrated effort could -- and must -- be made to swiftly bring the safe, clean energy technologies on line. Instead of promoting nuclear power expansion globally the nuclear power industry should be dismantled or converted to a green technology industry.

* The end of nuclear power in space. Accidents such as the 1964 SNAP-9A disaster in which a plutonium-powered satellite fell from orbit, disintegrating and spreading the plutonium widely -- a plutonium release long seen as causing an increase in lung cancer on earth -- have demonstrated the folly of using nuclear power overhead.

* The closure of all national nuclear laboratories. They have been breeding grounds for developing lethal atomic energy -- on earth and in space. There's an effort now underway in Washington to cut back on the federal government spending. Here is a federal government activity that must be cut back -- a string of national nuclear laboratories, including Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, Lawrence Livermore, Idaho, Sandia, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley, Argonne, spending billions upon billions in taxpayer money annually while developing deadly nuclear technology.

Unless the nuclear juggernaut is stopped, we all live in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Fukushima.

Global Network Board of Directors & Advisors:

Bob Anderson (Stop the War Machine, New Mexico)
Dr. Helen Caldicott (Pediatrician/Anti-nuclear activist, Australia)
Sung-Hee Choi (Artist/teacher/activist, South Korea)
MacGregor Eddy (Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, California)
Stacey Fritz (No Nukes North, Alaska)
Atsushi Fujioka (Professor of Economics Ritsumeikan University, Japan)
Bruce Gagnon (Global Network Coordinator, Maine)
Holly Gwinn Graham (Singer/songwriter/activist, Washington)
Karl Grossman (Professor of Journalism SUNY/College of Old Westbury, New York)
Regina Hagen (Darmstadter Friedensform, Germany)
Matthew Hoey (Military Space Transparency Project, Massachusetts)
Filip Ilkowski (Lecturer Political Science/History Warsaw University, Poland)
Helen John (Peace activist, England)
Dr. Michio Kaku (Professor Theoretical Physics CUNY, New York)
Tamara Lorincz (Halifax Peace Coalition, Canada)
Dr. Hannah Middleton (Anti-Bases Campaign Coalition, Australia)
Agneta Norberg (Swedish Peace Council, Sweden)
Lindis Percy (Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases, England)
J. Sri Raman (Movement Against Nuclear Weapons, India)
J. Narayana Rao (All India Peace & Solidarity Organization, India)
Tim Rinne (Nebraskans for Peace, Nebraska)
Makiko Sato (Anti-nuclear activist, Japan)
Wolfgang Schlupp-Hauck (Friedenswerkstatt Mutlangen, Germany)
Alice Slater (Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York)
Koji Sugihara (No to Nukes & Missile Defense Campaign, Japan)
Bill Sulzman (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)
Jan Tamas (Humanist Party, Czech Republic)
Dr. Dave Webb (Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, United Kingdom)
Carol Urner (Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, Oregon)
Loring Wirbel (Citizens for Peace in Space, Colorado)
Lynda Williams (Physics teacher/activist, California)
Wooksik Cheong (Peace Network, South Korea)
Hibiki Yamaguchi (People’s Plan Study Group, Japan)

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011
(207) 443-9502

Thank God men cannot fly, and lay waste the sky as well as the earth. ~Henry David Thoreau

Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) has become a consistant anti-war voice in the House of Representatives. Especially amazing because he comes from the conservative south.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Arm the government and then arm the opposition....a tried and true way to create instability and make money at the same time.

Next step? Occupation to bring "stability" - and of course control of Libya's oil.

Can you say - scam?

Wednesday, April 06, 2011

These images were created during the rally on Monday at the state capital in Augusta, Maine. Artists from around the state once again gathered during the protest to ask people there to envision how our war $$ could be spent here at home.

These are some of the offerings made that day.

As we organize here in Maine we've been trying to reach out beyond our normal confines. So two years ago we began working with artists on this campaign and now they are making and distributing posters across the state from some of the images that have been created. Art helps the public "see" the issue in a different kind of way. Many people, myself included, are visual learners and these images can often say more to a person than hours of speeches ever could.

We are lucky in Maine to have artists like Natasha Mayers, Kenny Cole and Robert Shetterly to work alongside.

I woke up this morning to my emails and found news that Global Network board member Sung-Hee Choi had been arrested along with Yang Yoon-Mo from the Gangjeong village on Jeju Island in South Korea. Yang has been a key activist in the village struggle to stop the Navy base construction. Sung-Hee has moved to live in Gangjeong and has played a key role building international support for the overwhelmed villagers.

Apparantely Yang had tried to block a construction truck with his body and somehow got underneath the truck. When Sung-Hee heard about it she ran to the site and crawled under the truck with Yang. Knowing Sung-Hee I can see her doing just that. Already I have had emails from Koreans living as far away as Denmark so Sung-Hee's wide network of friends are speading word.

See a message below that I got from one Korean woman on Facebook.

You can follow the latest happenings on Jeju from Sung-Hee's blog here

You can also watch a Korean news video of them being dragged out from under the truck

Hi, This is Jungjoo. I have heard about you from my friends who work with different orgnization such as Life and peace fellowship and also I got to know you from Sunghee Choi. I assume you might visit Sunghee's blog sometimes. so maybe you know what has been going on in Jeju island now.Unfortunately this morning Sung-hee got arrested while she was trying to block the truck carrying stones and tetrapots for naval construction. she was laying down under the truck for a while eventually police took her to prision. I don't know exactly what happened there because I wasn't there. our community members and other activists were with her. another guy who has been protesting against naval base construction for 4 years alone also was arrested with her. we don't konw she would be setenced or be free with some fine. it is very sad she got arrested because she has been working so hard on this issue and keep updating date to date news. We do hope she could be set free soon without any fine. but Navy seems so determined this time and rushed to keeping doing construction by ignoring local people. I don't know what we should do. but Absolutely we need solidartiy and friends who can help her. please share this situation with your friends. thank you for reading this note. if you have any question, please ask me. thanks.
JungJoo Park

From Sung-Hee after getting out of jail:

I was just released around 12:53 am, April 7 from the Dongbu Police Station, Jeju city (A couple who manage a restaurant in the Jjeu city thankfully drove me to the village) but movie critic Yang Yoon-Mo was not released and he is still in a confinement cell of the police station. He has been once imprisoned for his former actions against naval base and this time, has been accumulated with two more charges beside today. We are planning to accelerate the struggle against the Jeju naval issue to the Pan-Nation struggle, while doing the movement for the prompt release of him. We are asking people whether the Peace Island can stand with illegal and violent entry of naval base. No.

Professor Yang and I had been locked up in the Dongbu police station confinement cell for about five hours after we were moved from the Seogwipo police station where we were carried after arrest around 9am on April 6. We resolutely claimed that the forceful construction of the naval base and arrest upon us was violent and illegal therefore we are innocent and the police station chief should make apology to us. We also strongly resisted against their moving us to the Dongboo police station. We also carried out hunger strike for a day and determined to do it more days until this illegal construction is stopped and some violent policemen are punished. Still, they charged us with the business-interruption crime. It is another process whether the prosecutors will indict us later or not.

While I was relatively gently dealt with, the arrest on movie critic Yang was really violent and inhumane. He was handcuffed with wounds in his arms and violently hit by and inhumanely dealt by some police men who even tried to hit him inside a police wagon but was restrained by a policeman. He needs the hospital check tomorrow morning with a lawyer and we will see how much degree of wounds he has gotten during the violent arrest.

Many young activists here not only helped us to spread the struggle through photos and videos but were also told to block six trucks in the morning after we were arrested. A leader in the organization called the Frontiers was told to have thrown his body under the crane as part of making efforts to prevent the construction. He was not arrested. The construction was told to resume again in the afternoon after all the people gathered in the village hall to discuss the aftermath strategy and to inform the news to nationwide media. The struggle to prevent illegal construction will go on with higher intensification afterward. We will do our best efforts and people will eventually win.

Tuesday, April 05, 2011

At the capital in Augusta, Maine

As more and more Americans face mortgage foreclosure, banks' crucial ownership documents for the properties are often unclear and are sometimes even bogus, a condition that's causing lawsuits and hampering an already weak housing market.

In the United Kingdom activists are protesting at the banks by doing sit-ins. Isn't it time that we began to hold civil disobedience actions inside the banks, Hedge funds, and insurance companies?

Following the defeat of the Japanese imperial Army the U.S. essentially took control of Korea. The U.S. put right-wing Koreans, who had collaborated with the Japanese during their occupation of Korea, in charge of the newly "liberated" country. This betrayal is what eventually led to the Korean war.

On April 3, 1948, the right-wing police on Jeju island fired on a demonstration commemorating the Korean struggle against Japanese rule. Outraged, the people of Jeju attacked 12 police stations. In the fighting many policemen and civilians were killed. They then issued an appeal urging the local population to rise against the occuping American military government. Up to 60,000 individuals were killed in fighting or execution on the island.

The brutal suppression of the rebellion by the South Korean army resulted in tens of thousands of deaths, the destruction of many villages on the island, and sparked rebellions on the Korean mainland. The rebellion, which included the mutiny of several hundred members of the South Korean 11th Constabulary Regiment, lasted until May 1949, although small isolated pockets of fighting continued into 1953.

Reporters from the U.S. military Stars and Stripes newspaper provided vivid and uncensored accounts of the South Korean Army’s brutal suppression of the rebellion, the local popular support of the rebels as well as the rebels' retaliation against local “rightist” opponents. The Koreans committed these atrocities in front of the U.S. military. The Americans documented the massacre, but never intervened. On May 13, 1949 the American ambassador to South Korea wired Washington that the Jeju rebels and their sympathizers had been, "killed, captured, or converted."

On the 63rd anniversary of the Jeju April 3 uprising, about 1,300 workers from the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) gathered for a cultural and peace evening event held near the naval field office in the Gangjeong village to express their solidarity with the Gangjeong villagers' struggle against the current naval base construction.

After the KCTU rally, villagers, workers and other citizens gathered together in the village ceremony hall. Jeong Young-Hee, a woman in the Gangjeong village sang a traditional song.

Monday, April 04, 2011

Obama's ready to declare his candidacy for reelection.

Obama is expected to formally kick off his re-election bid on April 14, and his campaign could raise as much as $1 billion. In a move criticized by progressives, Obama has appointed former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina as his campaign manager. Obama’s move has drawn scrutiny over Messina’s ties to corporate America, his push to drop the public option from healthcare reform, and his lack of support for gay rights. Democracy Now speaks with journalist and author Ari Berman about his new profile of Messina in The Nation. "Messina has a ‘take no prisoners’ style; the problem is, the people he’s often taking prisoner are Democratic activists and grassroots organizers,” Berman says.

No surprises here....but for those who still hold illusions about Obama being a "progressive" this should be more water on the stone.

Projected onto the state capital building in Augusta, Maine.

Maine artist and president of the Union of Maine Visual Artists Rob Shetterly was the first to speak at the mural rally held at the State House on Monday.

Early on (the governor's office is right behind the stairs but he was hiding out on the beaches in Jamaica after only three months on the job) Dud Hendrick, president of Maine Veterans for Peace CodePink Maine's Lisa Savage talks about the Bring Our War $$ Home campaign Former State Senator Michael Brennan (Portland) on impact of proposed social spending cuts in Maine The view from the top of the stairs during the "mural" controversy portion of the protest double-header

It was a great day in Augusta today. We had long planned this as our day to hold a rally calling on all elected officials in Maine to demand that we Bring Our War $$ Home. Due to bad weather last Friday we were asked by the Union of Maine Visual Artists to share our rally permit with them. Without hesitation we agreed and by the end of the day 400 people had turned out to take part in a protest double-header.

The Bring Our War $$ Home campaign led off the event with an hour of speakers and music. One stirring moment occurred when the fiery Mayor of Biddeford, Joanne Twomey, joined us and took the microphone to say that she is tired of cutting jobs and social programs in her city. She said that at the last city council meeting she brought up cutting war spending as an alternative to these cutbacks and then told the roaring crowd "I offer a challenge to every mayor in Maine to say we need to Bring Our War $$ Home." Maine public radio aired some of her strong words in their evening news report from the capital.

The rally began with singing by the Raging Grannies and then Dud Hendrick, president of Maine Veterans for Peace, underscored the importance of the day as it was the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. who many believe was killed because he spoke out against the Vietnam War - calling it a war on "programs of social uplift" as well as morally bankrupt.

Following a quick change of signs the chanting crowd switched gears and gave their full attention to speakers lined by the Union of Maine Visual Artists who came to protest the controversial decision by our new governor to pull down a labor oriented mural from the walls inside the state Department of Labor. You can see some news coverage of the rally here

Today was a good example of group solidarity and connecting the dots between the issues. I was proud that the Bring Our War $$ Home rally showed how addiction to war is tied to our addiction to oil. Our speakers linked climate change, militarism, social spending cuts, attacks on labor and civil liberties, and the need to protect one another.

In my opening words I said the following: "We're at a crucial time - No more going it alone - no more of the 'business model of organizing' where everyone/every group just looks out for themselves. Those days are over. They will pick us off one at a time if we continue to do that. We are all in this together now - it's gotta be all for one and one for all.....or nothing. It's time we showed the links between all the issues and put out an alternative sustainable vision for the future."

See more coverage here and here

Sunday, April 03, 2011

In 1932, unemployed veterans marched on Washington, DC demanding payment of a bonus due in the future. The "bonus marchers" were routed by the military on orders of President Hoover. The idea of World War I veterans who had come home as heroes being confronted by the army was a national shock and doomed whatever hope Hoover had for reelection.

See longer version of this story here

Message from the Mayor of Minami-Soma City; filmed on March 24, 2011. The mayor talks about how the city lacks supplies and that there is no means to deliver supplies to the citizens stranded at home.

See a news article with more info here


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Monday, April 2, 2012

Script Frenzy Day 2: In Which the Muse Changes My Script

Script Frenzy day 2. After I got home and posted my first Screnzy entry, I started writing. But the muse refused to write my visual novel script! She's still hyperfixated on Spanner. She wants me to adapt it, and she won't let me do otherwise.

And so I put my visual novel aside for now, and started Spanner where I left off last year. In other words, episode 4 and later. So I upgraded Celtx, signed up for their online cloud service (web app and cloud storage), and resumed writing the TV scripts. Starting with yesterday's Chapter 7 preview, no less. After that, I went back two chapters to write the climactic sequence to Episode 5, which so far I haven't yet written for the novelization's fourth draft. And then I went back again to start completing Chapter (Episode) 4.

Don't worry, though, visual novel fans! I'll still get to The Jennifer Theory. Thing is, I still have to climb my way up the learning curve first, and that's going to take a little time...

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Feng, Zhen (2005) An empirical evaluation of an agent-supported electronic negotiation system. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

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Spectrummy Mummy

Asperger's, Allergies, and Adventures Abroad

with 7 comments

Pudding’s American Girl doll came back to us this week, following a brief stay in hospital.  Did you know there was a hospital for dolls?  I remember reading stories about dolly hospital when I was a girl, though no such thing existed back then.

So, shortly after Pudding cropped Kelly’s hair, I discovered that for about 1/3 of the cost of a new doll, we could send her to hospital to be made good as new.  That was the easy part.

The hard part was deciding if that was the right course of action.  If the doll could be fixed, would Pudding ever learn the consequences of her actions?  Would she just do the same thing all over again.  I didn’t know the answer to that, so I decided to let Future Me decide.

Over the following weeks, Pudding’s interest in her doll dwindled to nothing.  She went from playing with her all the time, to discarding her completely.  It seems like a big part of her interest in the doll was her hair.  I don’t know to what extent that was because it made her “pretty” or because she enjoyed the tactile sensation of the hair.  It doesn’t really matter.

What mattered to me was that a source of play had gone from her life.  Some might say that the way Pudding played with her favourite doll- changing her diaper and dressing her up- was repetitive, a hallmark of her autism spectrum disorder.  I would say that she played in a way that made her feel comfortable.  In a challenging, confusing, and out-of-control world, Kelly was hers, she’d earned her, and she played with her just the way she wanted.

So then all the clothes and accessories that relatives had bought Pudding for Christmas went unused too.  There was not only a emotional investment, but a financial one too.  That very pragmatic reason, is what prompted me to finally check Kelly into hospital.

Or so I told myself.  I knew the real truth as we watched her open the box to find her friend complete with pigtails and hospital gown.

Do you see that smile?

That is why.

Sorry, she was moving too fast to get any good ones, but you can definitely see the glee.

I’d do just about anything for that smile.  Even run the risk of another hair-cutting incident.  She adores the gown, her new pinktails, the little get well soon card that came with it.  Most of all, she is happy to have her doll back.  Her real doll, not the short-haired imposter she couldn’t play with.

Pudding is incredibly lucky in that she comes from an advantaged family who can afford to replace a doll.  Goodness knows there is a settlement a little further on from her new school with kids living in shacks without water or electricity.  American Girl dolls are from an entirely different world.

She is growing up learning that we need to help out others who aren’t so fortunate.  Whatever challenges our family might face, they pale into insignificance compared with the way others are struggling.

We’re incredibly lucky in that we get to see that smile.  We get to connect with her, share in her enthusiasm, and see her happy-flappy joy.  Oh, I know how fortunate we are!

Pudding will always be an American Girl, just one growing up with a wider view of the world.

Written by Spectrummy Mummy

June 14, 2012 at 11:48 am

7 Responses

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  1. That is one fantastic smile!

    Nomads By Nature

    June 14, 2012 at 12:17 pm

  2. That’s incredible. I had no idea that such a hospital existed. And after looking at the pictures of Pudding, it was money well spent. I too would do anything to make my son smile. I wonder if the people at the hospital had the doll on a gurney while they performed the operation? If only it was that easy for me to get a full head of hair.

    Jim Reeve

    June 14, 2012 at 2:52 pm

  3. What a beautiful smile! You can see the absolute joy with being reunited with her doll. Love it!

    June 14, 2012 at 3:52 pm

  4. That 2nd photo is priceless. Worth every penny.

    June 14, 2012 at 4:06 pm

  5. Who wouldn’t do anything for that smile-beautiful girl.

    June 14, 2012 at 9:10 pm

  6. We’re not up to American girls yet…. Thank goodness! But I’d be lying if I told you I’d never perused the American Girls catalog for a sweet little Asian American girl doll ;-)

    So happy to see Pudding got er special doll back and that the reunion was totally worth the wait (and the money)

    June 15, 2012 at 3:21 am

  7. She has a contagious smile. I’m such a sap – I got teary seeing her open the box. (I understand how the disparity could induce some guilt but as long as we do what we can for others, bringing our own child joy should never make us too guilty). xoxo

    June 18, 2012 at 11:03 pm

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Roberto Castaneda

Roberto Castaneda

Roberto Castaneda has worked in senior finance positions for Fortune 500 companies including McDonald’s Corporation, PepsiCo, and American Express. He currently works as a financial and strategic corporate consultant. He has a passionate interest in helping nonprofit organizations grow financially, and he serves as president of the Illinois Literacy Foundation, as treasurer for Friends of the Orphans, on the board of the Center for Economic Progress, and as a grants panelist for the Chicago Cultural Center. Dr. Castaneda spent over ten years as a founding board member of the National Museum of Mexican Art (formerly the Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum). He has lived and worked in Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil.

In addition to teaching at Spertus, Dr. Castaneda is an adjunct professor for Walden University, which offers an online degree program for international students. He deals with Latin American students in the program, and has been doing so since 2006

Nonprofit Management

DBA, Argosy University
MM/MBA, Northwestern University
BS, DePaul University

Management and Leadership in Nonprofit Organizations
Management of the Work Environment


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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Greg Mortenson Must Step Down

Greg Mortenson must step down.

It is hard to say, but since none of my colleagues in the nonprofit industry have said it yet, I must take a stand for nonprofit business best practice.

To start with, here is a quick primer on the key legal responsibilities of nonprofit boards of directors (Boardsource, Legal Responsibilities of Nonprofit Boards):

Duty of Care, or, "care that an ordinarily prudent person would exercise in a like position and under similar circumstances." A board member must exercise reasonable care when he or she makes a decision as a steward of the organization.

Duty of Loyalty is shown when a board member gives undivided allegiance when making decisions affecting the organization. “This means that a board member can never use information obtained as a member for personal gain, but must act in the best interests of the organization.”

Duty of Obedience requires board members to be faithful to the organization's mission and central goals. “A basis for this rule lies in the public's trust that the organization will manage donated funds to fulfill the organization's mission.”

Three facts, which can be drawn from the Central Asia Institute (CAI) website alone, bring all three of the above duties into question:

1. Greg is one of only three members of the CAI Board of Directors. The legal minimum is often five and sometimes (apparently in Montana where CAI was formed) three. By comparison, the average size of a nonprofit board is 16 members, and organizations with budgets of $10 million or greater (CAI's income was at least that every year since 2008) have an average size of 18 members (2010 Governance Index Survey). Anyone who has worked with a nonprofit organization of any size knows that there are hundreds of questions to consider annually with the three above duties in mind - so a reasonably sized board ensures due diligence, simply by way of managing the workload.

2. Greg is a board member and the organization’s highest paid executive. This is extremely rare in the nonprofit industry for two reasons: The executive has a long list of responsibilities already as the organization’s operational manager without also adding on board member work, and, the separation of board and staff simplifies board decision making because of obvious and constant considerations around conflict of interest when a paid staff member is voting. For example, one major board responsibility is to select and evaluate the executive director. So in the case of CAI, only two other board members are able to evaluate Greg’s performance and make salary decisions (assuming he takes himself out of those votes because of a conflict of interest/duty of loyalty).

3. The Montana Nonprofit Association, where CAI was founded, published as part of its nonprofit principles and practices that “a nonprofit with annual total revenues in excess of $500,000 should subject its financial reports to an annual audit by a certified public accountant.” The more regularly accepted best practice is to undergo an annual external audit once the budget hits $1 million. CAI has had annual revenues in excess of $500,000 since 2003, with only one external audit, ever. This does not follow duty of obedience, and shows a clear lack of transparency and accountability to thousands of donors.

Greg, as chief executive AND board member, IS responsible for these issues. There is no one to pass the blame to. I don’t care how shy he is or how quickly the organization grew. By agreeing to be executive director and board member, he took on the very highest duty of care.

These concerns, coupled with the fact that the organization was so dysfunctional as to not have, at the very least, a PR professional instantly on the ground seeking out 60 Minutes the moment they learned of the investigation, make me very worried about the overall health of CAI.

As a donor to CAI, I got a form email from Greg on Sunday night in which he answered none of the questions raised by the 60 Minutes story or Jon Krakauer, or even simply about the above concerns over generally accepted nonprofit best practices. It is clear to me he is unfit to run the organization, no matter how well intended he is, not matter how much good he has done in the past.

What he has done right is create a strong, timely mission that CAN survive this huge bump in the road – IF he and the other two board members have the sense of duty to step down right now.

maldaly said...

Great article Janet, I've sent it out to my board for consideration. Way too many nonprofits stumble, flail and fail because of dysfunction of the board. I don't necessarily think that Greg needs to resign though. If it handled correctly and they immediately put together a real board, Greg can still function as the great inspirational leader he is.

Janet said...

Hey Malcolm, thanks for reading it, I appreciate your thoughts. I agree, he is one of the most inspirational leaders of our modern times. Unfortunately, he has also proven to be a poor manager and governor at CAI. I think there are many creative and sensible ways to keep him involved going forward though - we will see what happens.

AlpineEssence said...

Thanks for your commentary Janet, some big challenges here. Agreed it is VERY odd for him to be both the ED and Board Chair.

AlpineEssence said...

Correction, not the chair. Nonetheless I have no idea how a board would navigate having their ED on the BOD considering that the board is supposed be able to reprimand or terminate the ED in case of issues with competence of financial problems. Oh, and the BOD is supposed to oversee the financial operations of the agency which are carried out in many ways by the ED!

Janet said...

Yeah, it can get pretty messy pretty quickly, Sam. I am still dumbfounded by the whole thing.

Marty said...

Interesting article and opinion piece. Thanks for posting it.

I still find it hard to see whom could replace him. Any ideas?

Yes, he may not reach all the standards that have been set for for non-profits, but his methods are the most successful to date aren't they? Maybe the rules should change?

lynb said...

Thanks Janet. One of the best pieces I've seen on BOD responsibilities.
For me the crux is how Greg's strengths can continue to be used in the delivery of the mission (he clearly has had some phenomenal successes) and in parallel a strong and legal BOD developed that will do its job. Perhaps that is asking too much of a miracle but the thought of throwing away the relationships and networks that Greg has developed is horrifying.

DirtGirl said...

Thanks Janet, well written and nice to be informed from this perspective.


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Magic smother Duncan, who is 1 for 10 as Spurs fall

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tim Duncan sat stiff and stared aimlessly on the bench watching his San Antonio Spurs get blown away in the final minutes.

His movement wasn't much better on the court. The Orlando Magic made sure of that.

Vince Carter had 24 points and eight assists, and the Magic smothered Duncan to beat San Antonio 110-84 on Wednesday night.

"I liked our defense on him. I thought we did a good job," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. "At the same time, he can make a lot of the shots he was taking. What you try to do is just not make things easy and then you live with the result."

The result for the Magic couldn't have been better.

Duncan had five points and was 1 for 10 from the field in the worst shooting percentage game of his career, a big reason the Spurs lost for only the second time in their last 10 games. Duncan's previous low was a 1-for-8 night against Minnesota on April 20, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

"Just a bad night," Duncan said. "Mainly myself. It kind of starts with me."

Rashard Lewis finished with 20 points, and J.J. Redick had 10 points to help the Magic win for the ninth time in 10 games. Orlando moved four games ahead of Atlanta and Boston for second in the Eastern Conference, but is still six games behind Cleveland.

"We want to win it. We're not one of those teams that are happy just making the playoffs," said Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, who played through a sinus infection. "We want to win it. We want to have a team that wants to win it. That's what we're building toward."

A matchup of two of the NBA's dominant big men fell flat.

Howard was hardly a part of the offense with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, with two makes coming late with the Magic up big. Duncan made the first basket of the game for the Spurs -- a short hook -- and then went silent.

"It's a very good feeling," said Magic backup center Marcin Gortat, who had a big hand in locking up Duncan. "He's a great player. If you stop a guy like that, you're confidence is going up, and you feel good about it. It's Tim Duncan. Everybody will have a bad game. He's still a great player. We just played better."

The difference was a deeper and more rested Orlando team.

The Magic held the Spurs scoreless for almost 6 minutes in the second quarter, shutting down San Antonio with almost entirely reserves. Not even Howard -- the reigning Defensive Player of the Year -- was needed.

Backups Gortat, Redick, Brandon Bass and Jason Williams teamed with Matt Barnes for most of the stretch to help Orlando score 14 straight points, part of a run that gave the Magic a 48-28 lead.

"We see the energy. The ball moves more, and the game looks really nice," Gortat said of the second string.

The only downside during the stretch was Michael Pietrus sprained his left ankle trying to make a pass. He got twisted up and fell to the ground, grimacing in pain. Van Gundy said Pietrus will miss Thursday's game at Miami but shouldn't miss any more time.

Richard Jefferson had 20 points, and Manu Ginobili added 18 for San Antonio, which fell to 4-2 since point guard Tony Parker broke his right hand.

The Spurs briefly came back behind a pair of 3-pointers by Matt Bonner and another by Ginobli, slicing the deficit to 10 points at the half.

Then Carter opened the third quarter with a trio of hard-driving layups. Carter also added an alley-oop pass to Howard -- for a hard slam over Jefferson -- to highlight a 13-4 Magic run that put them ahead by 22 points and all but sealed the win, pushing Duncan to the bench early.

"It's hard to play with Tim having an off night," Ginobili said. "I totally, blindly trust him. Just one of those game."

Game notes
Spurs coach Greg Popovich said he had planned to sit Duncan in some of the second games of a back-to-back late in the season. But with his team beginning Wednesday seventh in the Western Conference, he's had to change plans. "Because of our situation, it just doesn't allow me to sit him as much," Popovich said. ... Barnes returned after missing Sunday's game with a sprained left big toe.


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Truex passes stone, will race at Atlanta

3/8/2009 - NASCAR

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Martin Truex Jr. is ready to go racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway after a bout with kidney stones.

Truex was taken by ambulance to Spalding Regional Medical Center in nearby Griffin on Saturday after experiencing brief bouts of intense pain during practice. After being examined and given fluids, he was released from the hospital and passed the stone at about 10 p.m.

Driver spokeswoman Amanda Jones said Truex is doing great and eager to hit the track. He'll start 23rd in the Kobalt Tools 500 on Sunday.


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Rediff News  All News  » Sports » Abhinav Bindra named India's flag bearer

Abhinav Bindra named India's flag bearer

October 01, 2010 16:25 IST

Beijing Olympics gold medallist Abhinav Bindra was on Friday named India's flag bearer for the Commonwealth Games' opening ceremony.

India's chef de mission Bhubneshwar Kalita made the announcement before he got a blasting from Indian media personnel following confusion he created over naming the torch bearers for the last leg of the Queen's Baton relay for the opening ceremony, on Tuesday.

- Commonwealth Games 2010

Kalita named Bindra, Vijender Kumar, Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar, Samresh Jung and the Delhi Games' brand ambassador MC Mary Kom as torch bearers.

But Indian Olympic Association president Randhir Singh contradicted Kalita's statement, saying Bindra could not be a part of both and would only be the flag bearer.

"India will be having a large contingent of 619 athletes for the Games, comprising 379 male athletes and 240 female athletes," Kalita said.

"India would be participating in all 17 events at the Games. We are hoping to do well and finish third or higher. We are hoping to make most of the home advantage and the support of our home crowd," he added.

He also clarified that there would be a marching and non-marching contingent.

"The athletes who would be having an event next day won't be taking part in the marching; they will be part of the non-marching contingent. We don't want them to get tired a day before their event," Kalita said.

And Kalita, who introduced himself as "Member of Parliament", then tried to abruptly end the press conference, saying all details would be mailed to reporters later.

However, a few scribes vented their anger on Kalita, saying he has absolutely no information and always ended up giving out something wrong.

They were also angry that they were not allowed to enter the Major Dhyanchand National Hockey Stadium cover the warm-up matches by the Indian hockey team.

It required the intervention of Randhir Singh to calm the media personnel, allowing Kalita to make a hasty retreat.

The opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium will begin at 1900 IST. President Pratibha Patil, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Prince Charles are the guests of honour.

All participating nations will take part in the march past and each country's contingent will be led by a flag bearer.

Australia, hosts of the previous edition of the Commonwealth Games in 2006, will begin the march past followed by other countries in alphabetical order, while hosts India will be last.

Harish Kotian New Delhi


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Aaron Hernandez arrested at his home, taken into custody, then released by Patriots

Aaron Hernandez is in police custody after being arrested at his home on Wednesday morning. He was later charged with murder.

The Patriots tight end has been part of an investigation into the death of Odin Lloyd, an associate of Hernandez's who was found dead near the player's house. Police believe Lloyd, 27, was killed by a gunshot to the head sometime between 1 a.m. and 6 a.m. on June 17.

Multiple reports said Hernandez, 23, was taken from his North Attleborough home in what appeared to be handcuffs at about 8:45 a.m. Eastern time.

Nine police officials showed up at Hernandez's door on Wednesday morning in five police cars, according to NFL Network. Hernandez answered the door and the police entered. Hernandez had a white shirt pulled over his arms, which were secured behind his back, and he was led into a police cruiser. The arrest was captured on video by the cameras that have been camped out by Hernandez's house for a week.

Monday, Hernandez's attorney, Michael Fee, scolded the media for subjecting his client to "a relentless flood of rumors, misinformation, and false reports in the media. These include the repeated publication of a supposedly confirmed report that an arrest warrant had been issued for Aaron, a report that was exposed as untrue."

Lloyd, who played semi-pro football, was reportedly dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee. Lloyd's body was found on June 17 in an industrial park about a mile from Hernandez's home. Police searched Hernandez's home several times last week. Hernandez was reportedly uncooperative with police in the initial stages of the investigation. He reportedly had a cleaning service at his house the morning that Lloyd's body was found, turned over to police a destroyed cell phone and police discovered that the security system at his home had also been destroyed.

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Tim Thomas will be trolled by Obama mask, White House sign toting Capitals fans

As the Boston Bruins head to D.C. for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals on Monday night, the inevitable (and predictable) has occurred: Goalie Tim Thomas' decision not to attend a White House celebration of the team's Stanley Cup championship, for political reasons, is being revisited.

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Bruins Coach Claude Julien (via Tarik El-Bashir of the Washington Post), when asked about potential razzing from Washington Capitals fans about it: "As far as I'm concerned, he's here to play hockey."

Ah, and the fans are there to watch hockey, and some of them will do so behind President Obama masks.

Dan Steinberg of the Washington Post reports that a few Capitals blogs are leading the effort to troll Thomas with Obama and White House iconography from the stands during Game 3. They include Russian Machine Never Breaks, which offered the posters seen above and wrote:

Despite the mewling whines of "Leave Timmy alone!" coming from the Boston area— we believe this is a winning strategy. An angry Tim Thomas gives up goals. A scored-on Tim Thomas gets angrier. And then he gives up even more goals. It's a vicious cycle, and we just need to get it started.

Distraction is the name of the game. (Actually, the name of the game is still hockey but we don't play hockey, so we're gonna do this instead.)

Brooks Laich Year and Sick Unbelievable have their own signs as well.

Thomas reopened this storyline by refusing to address it before the playoffs, and when Capitals fans troll, they troll hard.

So here's our question: How many Republicans that can afford lower bowl tickets for the playoffs will participate in the weaponization of Obama to mock Thomas?

Hopefully, it's a bipartisan spirit in D.C. Monday night, as everyone reaches across the aisle to work together in the name of hockey snark.

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Carmelo Anthony shows off his juggling skills at Real Madrid's training session in LA

Dirty Tackle

NBA star Carmelo Anthony visited Real Madrid's training session in Los Angeles on Wednesday with his friend Dontaye Draper, who played for Real's basketball team for two years. Anthony said that he is a Madridista and his favorite player is "of course" Cristiano Ronaldo. He then demonstrated his juggling skills, penalty taking, and heading ability that rivals Peter Crouch.

Once he had the champions of Europe thinking about asking for a refund on the 80 million they just spent on James Rodriguez, Anthony met the Real Madrid players and Alvaro Arbeloa asked him about his new five-year deal with the New York Knicks and new teammate Jose Calderon. Everyone — including manager Carlo Ancelotti — then got together for a group photo.

Xabi Alonso concluded the visit by inviting Melo to Madrid.

“I’ve been trying to get to Madrid to see a match for a couple of years because I want to experience the atmosphere in the Bernabéu and their fans," he told the club's official website. "I’m really excited and I want to take my son, who is also a football fan.”

Ronaldo, Bale, Kroos, James, Benzema and Carmelo kind of has a ring to it...

View photo

Not the best choice of shoes. (Real Madrid)

Not the best choice of shoes. (Real Madrid)

- - - - - - -

Brooks Peck is the editor of Dirty Tackle on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him or follow on Twitter!

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text:
Oklahoma State

Commitment Status:Signed LOI

Nigel Nicholas

Rivals Rating3 stars

29 no rating 49
Rivals Rating 5.6 About
Rankings index »

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
Oklahoma St.COMMITTED (12/21/2007)Offered12/15/2007Doug Meacham
Georgia TechNoneNone
N.C. StateNoneNone

Latest News

Nicholas makes the switch12/21/2007 OStateIllustrated.com

The Cowboys' run of recent football commitments added another name to the list last night when Rossville, Georgia defensive end prospect Nigel Nicholas switched his commitment from the Duke Blue Devils to the Oklahoma State Cowboys. O-State Illustrated caught up with the 6-foot-3, 247-pounder to find out what led him to pull the trigger. Get our full report insideâ€¦

Nicholas talks about OSU visit12/16/2007OStateIllustrated.com
Nicholas: I will always be a Blue Devil12/12/2007Devils Illustrated
Duke to host nine official visitors12/07/2007Devils Illustrated
Daniels and Nicholas talk about visit10/11/2007Devils Illustrated
Georgia Notebook: Parks is back09/12/2007Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Nicholas & Butler talk about commitment09/11/2007Devils Illustrated
Georgia notebook: 4-star RB goes down09/05/2007Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Video: Nigel Nicholas does his part08/28/2007Rivals.com
Nicholas still loves Duke06/19/2007Devils Illustrated
Top prospects set to compete at Athens NIKE Camp04/20/2007Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Major recruiting weekend04/02/2007Devils Illustrated
Nicholas is a Blue Devil03/31/2007Devils Illustrated
Notebook: Hokies on Atlanta DB02/11/2007Rivals.com Football Recruiting


text:
Big League Stew - MLB

This and every weekday a.m., let's rise and shine together with the most recent and decent major league happenings. Today's Roll Call starts on the Boston Celtics team plane, which logically is the next ordeal for Mets manager Willie Randolph to endure. After jetting to California for the team's western road trip, he lasted only one day, despite a win.

Game of the Day: Mets 9, Angels 6

Minaya Conventions: As soon as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the United Nations curb water boarding, they promise to crack down on the Mets for what they just did to Willie Randolph, sending out a press release announcing his departure at 3:14 a.m. Eastern time. Yes, you read that right. Randolph was cowardly axed with pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto in the middle of the night when most of us were counting sheep.

This is a full flight: Omar Minaya, the team's GM, made the trip all the way to Orange County, too — which he rarely does. But if he was going to dump Randolph and the coaches anyway, why did them make him fly all the way across the country to face the firing squad? Did he want them  to have one last shot at clocking some free frequent flier miles? A chance to have a good cry while looking over the Pacific Ocean? A meeting with Mickey and Minnie. I'm sure the players will be very understanding of the whole ordeal and side with the front office. In fact, you can no doubt now consider the NL East finally won now that Jerry Manuel's in charge as interim manager. The good news is that the Mets still owe Randolph $2.25 million in salary for 2009. If only we all had such a lovely parting gift.

Power brokers: Carlos Beltran, it was reported, said the players were told Randolph would finish the season. The players were told no such thing, Minaya says. We might not be able to count Carlos as a source on Willie, but consider him integral to the Jerry Manuel era starting well. He hit a pair of homers against Jered Weaver. Mike Pelfrey pitched unwell, but he won for the first time in 11 starts. Billy Wagner, that's two good ones in a row after a hat trick of bad.

Interleague activities: They should have included a pregame ceremony to honor Nolan Ryan and thank the Mets for trading him to the Angels for Jim Fregosi in 1971. ... In the Bobby Grich Room at 6 p.m.: "Teaching New Tricks to the Old Hit Dog: What it's like to have Mo Vaughn past his prime." Art Howe and Terry Collins moderate, with special guest Steve Phillips.

* * *

Feelin' Rundown (Monday's other games):

Marlins 6, Mariners 1 — Not a good year for Bill Bavasi, who lost his dad, Buzzie Bavasi, on May 1. So, the new guy, Lee Pelekoudas, has some work to do. Gotta bring back Tully's Coffee as a sponsor at Safeco Field. There's the complete roster overhaul. Getting Carlos Silva kicked out of every game, but before it starts. And, for heaven sakes, more PDA.

Braves 7, Rockies 1Jair Jurrjens, Jair Jurjjens, Jair Jurrjens, Jair Jurrjens, Jair Jurrjens, Jair Jurrjens, Jair Jurrjens (one for each win). The Coxswains have won three of four on the road. Epic — it's nearly a third of their road wins for the entire season. Chipper. Good report. 2-4, .403. The Rockies expect Troy Tulowitzki and Clint Barmes to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A today.

Phillies 8, Red Sox 2 — And the words of the prophets were written on the scoreboard at Citizens Bank Ballpark: "I believe we're destined to play each other in the World Series," Cole Hamels said. Moses, Muhammad, Hamels. ... Ryan Howard is about to slip past 100 strikeouts, he's still 100 points off his career slugging percentage — nearly 200 points behind 2006 — but he's also 8-for-18 with four homers, 13 RBIs and seven runs scored in his past four games. So, maybe he's come around. Colon pulled something swinging the bat. Get him a semi-private room with Wang.

Giants 8, Tigers 6 — Enticing pitching match-up between Verlander and Lincecum ends up in semi-offensive splendor. Another two-homer performance, this one by Marcus Markley Thames (love his river), but John Bowker — he who gets no Baseball Prospectus love — spoils the return of Rodney with a go-ahead three-run Kingman into the right-field arcade.

Cubs vs. Padres ppd. (rain) — Lou hopefully tried his best to avoid putting on his "Crotchety Old Man" face for this exhibition game, canceled after his team inconveniently made its way from Toronto, and the Pads from Cleveland. No more Hall of Fame Game with major leaguers after seven decades in Cooperstown. Too much of a hassle. Greg Maddux had a nice quote about going: "When you look at the schedule back in spring training you're like, 'Oh, that's an off day. We don't want to go.' But once you're here you're kind of glad you're here. For me it's a great place to spend an off day."

* * *

Photo of the Day: The bus better still be here

Padres catcher Luke Carlin, batting .164, really gets the feeling the team left him behind at Doubleday Field in Coopertown, N.Y. "It probably was that jerk Kouzmanoff," Carlin said. "He told me to go back to the dugout and pick up the key to the batters box because Mr. Black needs it. I really am starting to wonder if there's such a key, because I've never seen the skip use a key."

* * *

Fantasy Freaks

Jimmy Rollins (Phillies) 3-5, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI

Howard (Phillies) 3-5, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Hamels (Phillies) 7 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, Win

Jurrjens (Braves) 7 2/3 IP, 8 H, 2 BB, 7 K, Win

Beltran (Mets) 2-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI

Andrew Miller (Fish) 7 IP, 6 H, ER, BB, 2 K, Win

Thames (Tigers) 2-4, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Fred Lewis (Giants) 2-5, HR, 3 RBI

Bowker (Giants) 3-4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI

* * *

Fantasy Flakes

Manny, Lowell, Varitek (Red Sox) 0-12

Weaver (Angels) 6 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, BB, 5 K, Loss

Jose Vidro (Mariners) 0-4, .215 BA (he's the DH and hits third)

Silva (Mariners) 4 2/3 IP, H, 3 ER, BB, 4 K, Loss, ejection

* * *

Words of Mouth

"I honestly don't think we go out there thinking, well, I've got to make sure we win this game so Willie can keep his job, because that's out of our control." — Billy Wagner.

Related Articles

Big League Stew

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text:
Oklahoma State

Commitment Status:Signed LOI

Dantrell Savage

Rivals Rating4 stars

no rating no rating no rating
Rivals Rating About
Rankings index »

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
Oklahoma St.COMMITTED (12/19/2005)Offered12/09/2005Joe Wickline
Southern MissLowOffered01/27/2005Mitch Rodrigue
Iowa St.NoneOfferedNone

Latest News

Big 12 Blitz: Texas recruits impress01/11/2006 Rivals.com Football Recruiting

The recently completed U.S. Army All-America Bowl attracted many of the top prospects from all over the nation, but the game and week of practices definitely had a burnt orange hue surrounding it. Texas currently has the nation's No. 2 recruiting class, and Longhorn commits like Deon Beasley showed Mack Brown has plenty of impact players coming in next year.

Savage still seeing orange01/05/2006OStateIllustrated.com
Savage makes decision12/19/2005MagnoliaPreps.com
Savage rates visit a 1012/12/2005OStateIllustrated.com
Two visits set for Savage11/29/2005BulldogBlitz.com
Video: Savage on the run11/07/2005Rivals.com
JUCO running back picking up steam10/21/2005BulldogBlitz.com
Bulldogs in on two Gulf Coast JUCO stars10/20/2005BulldogBlitz.com


text:
Commitment Status:Signed LOI

Jabari Gorman

College Choices

School Interest Offer Visit Recruited by
FloridaCOMMITTED (01/05/2011)Offered12/10/2010Travaris Robinson
Arizona St.NoneOfferedNone
Boston Coll.NoneOfferedNone
Florida AtlanticNoneOfferedNone
Florida St.NoneOfferedNone
Miami (FL)NoneOfferedNone
Ohio St.NoneOffered09/24/2010Paul Haynes
South CarolinaNoneOfferedNoneJeep Hunter
South FloridaNoneOfferedNone
Texas TechNoneOfferedNone
UCFNoneOfferedNoneDavid Kelly
Wake ForestNoneOfferedNoneRay McCartney

Latest News

Golden has eyes on recruiting south Florida02/23/2011 Rivals.com College Football

New Miami coach Al Golden knows signing the best prospects from south Florida -- which he calls the "Eye of the Storm" -- is key if the Hurricanes want to return to the nation's elite. But Miami did not sign any of the top 21 prospects in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties in the Class of 2011. What's Golden doing to turn it around? Steve Megargee has more on the Canes' new coach.

Getting to know Jabari Gorman02/10/2011InsidetheGators.com
Ranking the SEC by position02/10/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Class of 2011 Superlatives02/08/2011InsidetheGators.com
Position recruiting ranking: Defense02/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Florida Football announces Class of 201102/02/2011InsidetheGators.com
Gorman solid to UF, doing some recruiting01/27/2011InsidetheGators.com
SEC Blitz: Plenty of drama left01/26/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Three factors to focus on over the final 10 days01/24/2011InsidetheGators.com
Breakdown: UA Commits & Targets Evaluated01/11/2011InsidetheGators.com
Gorman talks Florida commitment01/06/2011InsidetheGators.com
Gators land Gorman01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Gators add Gorman to commit list01/05/2011InsidetheGators.com
SEC dominates Under Armour pledges01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Top talent still feels they have plenty to prove01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
U-A declarations: Our predictions01/05/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
UA matchup: Red WR vs. White DB01/02/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Players hit the field at Under Armour01/01/2011Rivals.com Football Recruiting
RBs highlight Under Armour12/31/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Gorman closing on decision12/29/2010CaneSport.com
Recruits react to Golden hiring12/12/2010CaneSport.com
Muschamp makes an impression12/12/2010InsidetheGators.com
Florida still interests Gorman12/09/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
FSU benefits from Meyer's departure12/08/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Relationship with head coach key for DB12/04/2010CaneSport.com
Gorman shakes things up11/30/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Sho Time: Recruiting takes center stage11/23/2010CaneSport.com
Ask Mike: Ohio State not done yet11/05/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
DB attended UM-UNC game, moves Canes up list10/25/2010CaneSport.com
One stands out for Gorman10/19/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Future Buckeyes in action10/04/2010BuckeyeGrove.com
High priority DB will be in recruiting section Sat.10/04/2010CaneSport.com
Ask Mike: Miami needs Watkins10/01/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Gorman looked for answers at Ohio State09/26/2010BuckeyeGrove.com
Gorman had to keep tabs on two favorites09/12/2010BuckeyeGrove.com
Texas tops preseason look at recruiting rankings08/25/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Dade County's top 55 for 201108/16/2010PantherRage.com
DB back to even08/02/2010CaneSport.com
Gorman has a final 407/08/2010CaneSport.com
Gorman planning LSU official visit07/05/2010TigerBait.com
Gorman wowed by commit at Shannon Camp06/13/2010CaneSport.com
DB high on Canes, attending summer camp06/11/2010CaneSport.com
Miami safety has top five and an open mind05/26/2010RebelGrove.com
Whispers: Miles, LSU off to solid start in-state05/20/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
DB: UM has what I'm looking for05/19/2010CaneSport.com
Miami safety Gorman lands offer from UVa05/17/2010CavsCorner.com
Top Florida safety picks up NU offer05/14/2010HuskerOnline.com
LSU sitting well with Gorman05/10/2010TigerBait.com
Gorman to make spring visit04/07/2010BuckeyeGrove.com
DB enjoyed Cane experience04/04/2010CaneSport.com
Gorman picks up another offer03/30/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Miami Nike Camp full of stars and surprises03/28/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Local DB has offer, connection to Canes03/16/2010CaneSport.com
Florida commit leads star-studded 7-on-703/14/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Rebels looking to dip into Miami again in 201103/09/2010RebelGrove.com
Miami product pulls in big offer02/23/2010BuckeyeGrove.com
Fla. talent shines at BadgerSports Elite 7on702/12/2010Rivals.com Football Recruiting
Week in review: Miami Booker T. vs Miami Pace05/26/2009PantherRage.com
Spring Tour: Miami Monsignor Pace High School05/06/2009PantherRage.com


text:
Buzzing on Yahoo Sports:

Judge off Jordan case, denies calling him 'hog'

AP - Sports

CHICAGO (AP) -- A federal judge in Chicago withdrew from a civil case involving Michael Jordan after lawyers for the former Chicago Bulls star accused the jurist of comparing Jordan to a ''hog'' and ''Dr. Frankenstein,'' though the judge denies the descriptions were aimed directly at the former NBA player.

The legal fracas arose in a 4-year-old civil case in which Jordan star sued Dominick's Finer Foods LLC after the grocery store chain invoked his name and persona without permission in a 2009 Sports Illustrated advertisement.

Jordan's lawyers this week succeeded in getting Judge Milton I. Shadur to remove himself from the case after they alleged he described the six-time NBA champion as ''greedy,'' comparing him to a ''hog'' and to ''Dr. Frankenstein.''

In the ad, Dominick's congratulated Jordan on his induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame and offered a $2-off steak coupon. The court already found Dominick's liable, and the lingering dispute is over damages. Jordan, 50, is seeking $2.5 million.

Shadur, a recent Jordan filing argued, also showed bias in slapping down the star's assertion that his actual damages may run to $10 million. At one hearing, Shadur said in an allusion to the stock market, ''The bulls may make money and the bears may make money, but the hogs get slaughtered.''

In reluctantly removing himself, the 89-year-old judge issued a defiant, scathing attack on Jordan's legal team for ''launching a groundless and unwarranted personal attack on this Court's integrity.''

''That out-of-bounds ($10 million) claim is what has occasioned this Court's characterization ... in terms of greed, a characterization that is not altered by the response that billionaire Jordan plans to turn over any recovery to his not-for-profit foundation,'' he wrote.

At earlier hearings, Shadur also denied calling Jordan a ''hog'' or ''Dr. Frankenstein.'' He employed those descriptions, he insisted, in reference to Jordan's damages claims - not to Jordan himself.

Technically, Shadur denied the defense motion that he recuse himself. But given the hub-hub created by Jordan's lawyers in arguing judicial bias, Shadur wrote in his ruling that he was exercising his prerogative as a senior judge to withdraw.

He was worried, he explained, that his consternation over the lawyers' accusations presents ''a danger that subliminal forces could perhaps unwittingly affect the decisional process in this case.''

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text:
Wednesday, June 09, 2010

Awkward encounters on the recruiting trail

Sorry this post is so late in the day, but I just got back from the Washington Post's annual All-Met luncheon honoring the best and brightest in high school athletics around the DC area. Since I just started with the Post last August, I had never attended one before. I must say, the event is pretty cool.

This year they had Sheila Johnson, owner of the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and John Thompson III of Georgetown as the guest speakers. Because I cover Georgetown basketball for the Express during the winters, I was paying particular attention to Thompson.

That being said, I got the sense Thompson was keeping tabs on someone else in the crowd: The Washington Post's All Met Basketball Player of the Year, DeMatha junior Quinn Cook. A smooth shooting point guard, Cook has offers from just about every major basketball school in the country -- including Thompson's Hoyas (check out his ESPN recruiting page, it lists Kansas, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, and Georgetown).

For the record, I've seen Cook play live once -- last year during an ESPNU game against rival O'Connell of Northern Virginia. In that game, he absolutely torched Kendall Marshall, a McDonald's All-American who's off to play at UNC this fall. You'd think Wednesday's luncheon would be a perfect opportunity for Thompson to mingle and chat up the star recruit, maybe even show a side Cook wouldn't get to see on the recruiting trail.

Except it's a quiet period on the recruiting trail. So not only did Thompson avoid conversation with Cook (as far as I could tell), he barely looked him in the eye when Cook came up to accept his award for being named All-Met. All in all just an awkward encounter that I guess is a reality with the NCAA's stringent rules concerning what's right and what's wrong when it comes to recruiting.

Afterwards, as I was taking the escalator out of the Grand Hyatt, Thompson was right behind me. So I turned around and asked, "Did you have to write to the NCAA in order to attend this?" His answer was interesting. "No, but now that you mention it, maybe I should."

Just in case anyone NCAA-related is reading this, I maintain that I saw Thompson have no actual contact with Cook other than the aforementioned handshake on stage. Duke commit Josh Hairston is another story; another reporter joked Thompson was making one final run at him when he sidled up and talked with the kid.

Long story short, I'm just curious how often things like this happen. It just doesn't make sense to me that Thompson couldn't even go have a normal conversation with Cook -- although I guess a normal conversation would have eventually turned to basketball, and therefore been a no-no according to the NCAA.

Also wanted to address yesterday's post about a certain right handed pitching phenom. Turns out the hype was not only warranted, but Stephen "Jesus" Strasburg seems to have embraced it. I know it's only one start against the woeful Pirates, but wow. This kid is already a phenomenon here in DC and I fully expect each of his starts the rest of the year to be a bonafide event for area fans.

Though I wasn't able to watch the game live (to give you a sense of how big this was for DC, they were giving inning-by-inning updates over the PA at the girls' lacrosse games I covering) I've been tracking all the aftermath. And one quote when Strasburg was asked what he'll do differently in his next start made me go "wow."
"The big difference now is that tonight they didn't really talk to me about a game plan and how to attack certain hitters, they just wanted me to go out there and enjoy it, so that's going to be a new experience, to make up a plan to attack the Indians' hitters."

So there was no plan, Stevie? None at all?
Yeah, I mean they wanted me to go out there ... I really don't have a scouting report to begin with cause it's my first game, but, you know, you've got so much experience behind the plate (in Pudge Rodriguez) ... so I was just trusting whatever he called."

I know some (cough cough Hartman) thought my post yesterday was pessimistic, but I can't wait to watch the Strasburg era unfold over this summer and many years to come.

Matt Brown said...

Kind of funny that you told me a conflicting story about your encounter with JT III. Get your story straight Giannotto.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for good information that comes out to


text:
Copying azure database more then once.

Apr 3, 2013 at 10:59 AM
I am trying to use SQL Database Migration Wizard 4.0.14 to get data from azure to my local database.
The process of retrieval looks to work fine but takes two hours.
I then run it against the local database and it failed with one of the tables inserting data.
The problem is now i have to start again, it will take two hours to do.
Is there a way i could just try to re-run all the files that already have been downloaded from azure?
Since the first part takes much longer but appears to work with no errors, i would like to be able to retry only the second part.
Apr 3, 2013 at 2:47 PM

You what was the error? In regards to do you have to start over, it depends on the error. Did all the tables, views, stored procs, ... get transferred correctly? If so, then you can tell SQLAzureMW to just transfer data AND select only the tables you want to transfer again. Actually, all of the data should be on your local drive after the export. Once it is local, you can just create your own BCP command to upload the data to your local SQL database to the tables that failed (after you correct the error). You can also save the script after the export process and before the import process and put it in SQL Server query windows and run the script only the select sections of script that you want to modify.

So, the short answer is yes.

If you have any questions, please let me know. If nothing else, we can setup a quick con call to discuss.


text:
I spoke with a few senior people from Microsoft’s SQL Server group recently and they shared a sentiment that surprised me. Apparently, some reasonably large customers, who might otherwise be very open to running large parts of their business on SQL Server, are opting to stay on Oracle because they perceive that there simply isn’t a large enough supply of very senior SQL Server DBAs and professionals in the work force compared to the Oracle space.

That thinking wouldn’t have surprised me a decade ago, but in 2010? I’m surprised. I learned the adage “perception is reality” early in my consulting career. So, in this case, does it really matter if there’s an actual lack of qualified staff if business decision makers are acting based on that perception being true?

In the short term, this perception might influence whether a company uses SQL Server regardless of whether the perceived lack of senior staff is real. However, if the perception isn’t based on reality addressing the matter with a company is an exercise in helping them understand that there are senior SQL Server technologists available to hire and where and how to find them.

I suspect that reality is a little bit of both.

There are certainly many world-class SQL Server experts, and there have been for quite some time. I suppose it’s more of a matter if there are enough available to satisfy demand. One observation I’ll make is that many of “famous” SQL Server experts I know are consultants who presumably aren’t interested in working full-time for a single company in a DBA capacity. Note that I didn’t say the best SQL Server people are consultants; I used the word “famous.” I’ve long suspected that for every PASS pre-con speaker there are dozens of people who are just as talented on a technical level and don’t desire to be famous or simply haven’t had the break that propels them to attention on the community stage. So, I wonder—am I right about that? If I’m right, then I suspect that the lack of expert and very senior SQL Server technologists is largely perception rather than reality.

I’m not going to share any more of my thoughts on this topic this week. Instead, I could really use your help. I’d love to know what you think. Is there a shortage of very senior SQL Server professionals? If yes, what skills do you think are most lacking? What do you see in your company or companies that your friends work at? I’m thinking that a bit of grass roots detective work can help uncover the truth behind this perception.  Please feel free to email me directly at bmoran@solidq.com or comment on this article. I’d really like to know what you think.

By the way, I plan to cover this topic more than once over the coming weeks and months. Yes, I said weeks. I’m not going back to writing more than one time per month in SQL Server Magazine UPDATE, but I’m excited to announce that I’ll soon be launching a new blog on www.sqlmag.com that will focus on SQL Server business decision maker’s and those who aspire to be business decision makers. I’ll be writing there at least weekly, and sometimes more often. We hope to launch the blog sometime in September.


text:
Death's not a bad guy, he's just really good at his job.
-- Terry Pratchett, author of the Discworld series
po dolphin Март 14, 2005
The only guaranteed part of life.
Death is just a part of life.
po The_James Фабруар 17, 2008
a possible side effect from doing many things
such as: stepping in front of on coming traffic, drinking too much, thinking that signs that say "hazard" "dangerous" "poisonous" are just bluffs and running with scissor outside while flying a kite at night near a power plant
po Chili-D Јул 16, 2003
Nature's way of reminding you that health foods don't work.
She had a lovely death, up to her eyeballs in water biscuits and cucumber sandwiches.
po Fearman Јун 9, 2007
some call it the end, some call it the beginning.

1. I call it the time of my life when I am settled firmly in the ground, rotting and beginning to smell and occupying space that will inevitibly violated by desperate citizens of the future world who, fearful of the diminishing land mass of their landfills, unearth my shrunken corpse of bones and worms and hastily send me to a creamatorium. There, and only there will I be able to reak havoc on those retched, materialistic bastards by unleashing my virulent, miniscule dust cells into their children's sleeping nasal cavities.

2. Or, you could call it the end of life.
Death Death Death Death Death Death Death Death
po Chadwick Jones Март 18, 2004
When everthing goes dark,
When everyone is gone,
When you finally see what that bright light really is.
Th eonly thing i fear in life is death,
Not beacause Everything's over,
Not because everyones gone,
Because of the darkness...
po Molly Фабруар 28, 2005
What happens after the Grim Reaper touches you.
Grim Reaper: "Hello, im Grim Reaper, pleased to meet you.
*Holds hand out to shake hands*
Person: *Drops dead*
Grim Reaper: Ive got to stop doing that.
po Anadonia Октобар 20, 2003

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text:
Take the 2-minute tour ×
Stack Apps is a question and answer site for apps, scripts, and development with the Stack Exchange API. It's 100% free, no registration required.

I'm trying to build an app that requires me to get the user notifications for a particular Stack Exchange user.

Now, I'm trying to use Java to accomplish this and I came across this wrapper library: StackWrap4J. However, I can't find a method to help me.

Any input would be appreciated.

share|improve this question

1 Answer 1

You can try below java wrapper, notification support is there.

For more detail, follow docs https://github.com/sanjivsingh/stackoverflow-java-sdk/wiki

Query Example :

StackExchangeApiQueryFactory queryFactory = StackExchangeApiQueryFactory.newInstance(
    applicationKey, accessToken,StackExchangeSite.STACK_OVERFLOW);

// get all notifications
PagedList<Notification> notifications = queryFactory

//  get unread notifications
PagedList<Notification> notification1s = queryFactory

// get notifications by userId
PagedList<Notification> notification2s = queryFactory
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