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Home » IICRC Year in Review: Top Accomplishments of 2013
Breaking NewsRestoration and Remediation Industry News
IICRC Year in Review: Top Accomplishments of 2013
From the purchase of the new Global Resource Center to the development of new communication and educational resources, IICRC makes new tools available to help constituents
KEYWORDS cleaning / Global Resource Center / IICRC / IICRCA / restoration / Tony Wheelwright
As 2013 draws to a close, the IICRC is celebrating several milestones achieved throughout the year. With a goal of continually enhancing the resources available to registrants, Certified Firms, instructors and schools, the Institute has launched several new initiatives to enhance its value. These include the development of The Journal, a peer-reviewed technical magazine, new e-newsletters and the establishment of a new Global Resource Center in Las Vegas.
"This has been a banner year for the Institute," said Tony Wheelwright, Chairman of the IICRC. "Our leadership is filled with numerous individuals who have worked tirelessly on behalf of our registrants and stakeholders to enhance the value of the Institute and make it an even better resource for them. Many of these individuals donate their time, and we couldn't be more appreciative of their efforts."
Advancements in the first half of the year included the appointment of a new global marketing and communications firm to oversee the IICRC's public relations programs. In addition to promoting the IICRC in the press, the firm has also developed the IICRC's new e-newsletter and an e-newsletter written specifically for Certified Firms.
The IICRC's search engine optimization firm has substantially enhanced the visibility of the IICRC website, leading to an increase in 52,000 unique page views a month. The IICRC will soon host a webinar series for Certified Firms so they can learn best practices for enhancing the SEO of their website.
In addition, a new social media agency has substantially grown the IICRC's followers on Facebook and Twitter. It held its first live "Twitter Chat" this summer where people could "tweet" questions related to spot removal.
In July, the Institute announced the purchase of a property in Las Vegas that will serve as its Global Resource Center, a decision that has been included in the Institute's long range plan for the last 10 years. Conveniently located between the Las Vegas strip and McCarran International Airport, the facility is outfitted for a number of potential uses, including meetings, conferences, video production, laboratory space, storage and documenting the history of the industry with a library or museum. The IICRC is planning for its official opening this January in conjunction with the Surfaces show and invites the industry to join us in this celebration.
This fall, the Institute finalized plans for its new technical magazine, The Journal of Cleaning, Restoration & Inspection (The Journal). The publication will provide in-depth technical articles focusing on the four disciplines represented by the IICRC: hard-surface cleaning, textile cleaning, disaster restoration and inspection. It will be available to registrants, Certified Firms, schools and instructors in print and online versions in early 2014.
In addition, the IICRC is working closely with the IICRCA to enhance the benefits available to Certified Firms. It has developed a program for 2014 that would save an average participating business with approximately $1.5 million in sales and 10 employees an estimated $12,450 per year in discounts. The organizations now affiliated with IICRCA total 29,000 firms from its industry partners across many disciplines.
For more information about the IICRC, visit www.iicrc.org.
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Have you invested in a 3D camera (like Matterport) to assist with estimating?
Yes, but don't use it often.
Yes, love it!
No, but plan to buy one soon.
No, and have no plans to purchase.
Get Paid! (ebook)
Over 30 authors – over 40 articles…from attorneys, contractors, consultants, instructors and others, both inside and outside the restoration industry. R & R, C & R and Cleanfax, opened their archives and gave us the best they had, other chapters were created just for the "Get Paid!" book and its readers. And every one of them has ideas for how to get paid what you are owed.
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Check out the January 2020 edition of Restoration & Remediation: Burnout in the restoration industry, mold remediation round table discussion, odor removal, changes in the insurance business and much more!


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Barry Nathanson Oct. 21, 2015 at 4:41 pm
I have an unabashed love of all things beverage. For 24 years now I've had the pleasure of being a part of the joy that this industry has to give. I consider myself lucky to be sought as counsel and sounding board, to have been brought on as an informal critic for launches, re-positions and postmortems for hundreds of brands. I have been privy to business plans, graphic executions and ad programs. I've sampled more than my share of formulations, and am always as brutally honest as I can be. As I've written in these columns, it's all about the taste.
More often than not, I'm immersed in the day-to-day and don't have an opportunity to step back and put in perspective the life cycle of the industry. Last week, though, in three meetings, I got a chance.
The first meeting was a joy. A young, excited man came to me to present a concept, a few sketches and the rough framework of a brand he wanted to launch. The unbridled enthusiasm, and naïveté, were reminders that the entrepreneurial spirit still lives. I tried to temper him with doses of reality. Distribution, logistics, co-packers, funding, and the obstacles in his path. He would have no part of it. He had a dream, and he was going to achieve it, no "ifs", no "ands", no "buts". If energy, positivity and good karma are the final arbiters, he just might reach his goal. I will be pulling for him, and I'm thankful he took me away from the skepticism and negativity for a little while. I've steeled myself over the years because of harsh reality, but listening to him re-kindled why I love this industry so much.
My second meeting was with a long- time friend and serial beverage sales person. I've known him through many incarnations and companies over the years. I think he's terrific, but he has too many dots on his resume. He came because he's on the prowl for a new position, and figured I'd be a good resource in his search, which is somewhat correct. I've connected many people to companies over the years, and helped situate them into new positions. I enjoy helping friends. The visit helped me focus on the nomadic life so many people in the industry have, and how unusual it is for someone to remain at one company for their career. Stability is not a term often used in relation to the industry. I wish it were the case, and feel for the many players who don't have it. There are so many good people out there just trying to make a living. I hope they can continue to do so.
My third visit was with a friend from beverages past. He left the industry many years ago. He felt his opportunities were diminishing and jumped. He's achieved much success there, but still looks back to his beverage days as the most enjoyable of his career. He wished he could be back in the mix.
I think what the meetings reminded me of is the fact that once you've had beverages in your blood, it's hard to separate from it. Last week I met with different cycles of the beverage life, the start, the trying to hang on, and the regret of leaving. It's a microcosm of life. I wish them all well.
Great Tasting Hemp Ingredients
Head Brewer - Brewers at 4001 Yancey - Artisana...

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Remember These Important Pet Dates This August!
Make your pets a priority this month by making note of three important days. Mark on your calendars August 15 for Check the Chip Day, August 22 for Take Your Cat to the Vet Day, and August 26 for National Dog Day. Each one is meant to raise awareness and serve as reminders for pet owners to take special action concerning their pets.
If you already own a cat or dog, remember to schedule an appointment this month with your veterinarian in Egg Harbor Township, NJ as part of one of these three days dedicated to responsible pet ownership.
Microchipping pets has become extremely common. Without them there is nearly no practical way to reconnect lost pets with their owners. Microchips are painless and form a permanent way to track a pet. For a lost or stolen pet, a microchip is absolutely invaluable in order to get them back to your care.
It is important that your pet has a microchip, and that the registry information on the microchip is accurate. Check the Chip Day on August 15 is meant to raise awareness about the importance of microchipping, and serves to remind pet owners to either get one for their pet, or to ensure that the registry information on the microchip is correct. Schedule an appointment with your veterinarian in Egg Harbor Township, NJ to ensure your pet is correctly microchipped.
Few pets are more neglected when it comes to routine vet visits than cats. Many people often think there is no reason to take a cat to the vet unless it's an emergency, whereas most dog find themselves adhering to a more strict vet visit schedule. Make time every six months to a year for a routine vet visit with your cat.
August 22, Take your Cat to the Vet Day, hopes to remind cat owners about the importance of vet services for cats. A routine visit should include a physical, immunizations, checking for and preventing parasites and some routine lab work. A simple visit to a veterinarian in Egg Harbor Township, NJ with your cat is inexpensive and is a great way to ensure your cat is in healthy shape.
August 26 is National Dog Day. This holiday is dedicated to celebrating the wonderful and historic bond that exists between dogs and their owners. It serves as a time to remember all the courageous dogs that serve in the military or with law enforcement, and assist in other services such as helping the disabled.
Part of National Dog Day is also about raising awareness of things like homeless dogs, the large number of dogs euthanized every year and to inform the public on ethical and non-ethical breeding practices. There is no better time to adopt a dog than right around National Dog Day.
Another easy way to celebrate is by giving your dog some extra special attention that day, perhaps with a visit to the veterinarian in Egg Harbor Township, NJ, along with a nice long walk. Maybe a few extra treats before bed wouldn't hurt either. Contact Newkirk Family Veterinarians today to schedule a visit.


Archangel Gabriel, whose name means "The Strength of God" is commonly known as the Messenger of God. Keep the lines of communication open always with our magnificently detailed Gabriel Archangel Figurine. Gabriel is depicted in a flowing robe and is proudly blowing his trumpet.Gabriel is stamped on base of figurine.


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Home » News » Obasanjo's 'disappointment', Atiku's planned 'insurrection' and Buhari administration
Obasanjo's 'disappointment', Atiku's planned 'insurrection' and Buhari administration
On May 22, 2019 9:15 amIn News, Viewpointby vanguard
By Rotimi Fasan
FORMER President, Olusegun Obasanjo, has stirred the hornet's nest once again. The redoubtable soldier, war hero, ex- ruler, farmer and two times president claimed in a talk that he gave at an Anglican Church in Oleh, Isoko South Local Government Area of Delta State, that the entire purpose of the Boko Haram insurgency is the Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria. Which is saying that the spate of kidnappings, sacking of communities, armed robberies in the form of cattle rustling and above all, the imposition of the Islamic legal and religious codes in places under the control of Boko Haram are well-orchestrated plans aimed at making Fulani and Muslims out of other Nigerians.
Buhari and Obasanjo
Hold Obasanjo responsible for constitutional loopholes – Falana(Opens in a new browser tab)
As is now the case with most of his interventions, Obasanjo said nothing new. Nothing that other Nigerians have not said over and over again. His remarks have, however, elicited instant responses from many quarters, highlighting the fault lines in our peculiar federation that has made the country's unity a project perpetually in the future. While some have condemned his remarks as unbecoming of his status, he has received enthusiastic approbation from others. The problem, again as usual with Obasanjo, is not necessarily the message but the messenger.
Obasanjo acknowledged the fact that Boko Haram has been with us for quite a while. But its activities were viewed, he said, as a revolt of the poor and dispossessed. They were seen as an economic issue that could be resolved by tinkering with those policies through which the governing elite in the North have kept most Northerners away from the gains of our commonwealth. Now Obasanjo thinks such reading was essentially flawed and naïve as it beggars the fact now at our disposal, namely, that Boko Haram had and has a far more sinister agenda. This is to impose Islam as well as Fulani rule on the rest of Nigerians. All of this became clear, according to Obasanjo, from the concerted manner in which Boko Haram has escalated its activities while teaming up with other murderous groups like the Islamic State of West Africa Province and Al Qaeda, among others.
For quite a while, Nigerians from the Southern and Middle belt parts of the country have raised fears about the possible Islamisation of Nigeria. Those fears have been accentuated since Muhammadu Buhari took over as president. Things were nowhere helped by the fact that Buhari himself exhibited a high degree of revanchist provincialism in his appointment of ministers and other public officers. He displayed a clear bias for Muslims from the North of the country while quietly ignoring the concerns of others like the Igbo who did not vote for him and have never supported his presidency. His recent reappointment of Godwin Emefiele as Central Bank governor is being seen as a mere sop that would not do much to assuage the feeling of alienation his administration has engendered among the Igbo.
His weak response to herdsmen attacks in many parts of the North, seen as a lack of concern for other Nigerians, makes his stance appear like subtle endorsement of the activities of the insurgents. Buhari, like most of the elite from the North, at some point adopted a casual stance that suggested he was satisfied with the activities of Boko Haram. This was in the early days of its activities when prompt condemnation could have gone a long way. Things remained this way until a strange twist in the tale would result in Boko Haram hunting after prominent Northerners. Buhari was a target of one such attack and only escaped narrowly. Only then did the scale fall from the eyes of the Northern elite. And they began to align with the rest of Nigerians to reject the extremist ways of Boko Haram. By this time, however, matters had got to a head and the group had become a monster with a life of its own, answerable to nobody.
That Abuja was, as at last week, embroiled in an argument with Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo about the nature of its recognition of and dealings with Miyetti Allah, the Fulani cattle breeders umbrella organisation, feeds into the unsettled narrative that the government is all hunky-dory with the herdsmen and by extension, cattle herders – a step from Boko Haram. Activities of the herdsmen and those of Boko Haram directly or indirectly align with one another.
It was under these circumstances that a presidential aide, Lauretta Onochie, issued a statement suggesting that Atiku Abubakar, Buhari's opponent who has been in court since the conclusion of the 2019 elections, is under investigation for corruption at the United Arab Emirates. Abubakar, it should be said, has not been a favourite of the Northern elite or groups like Miyetti Allah that opposed his candidacy in the 2019 presidential election.
Atiku feels he has been defamed by Onochie's claim and has instructed his lawyers to demand compensation running into billions of naira. It is not surprising that Lauretta Onochie would attack Atiku in the manner she did. Her remarks were in consonance with the position of Abuja that Atiku is at the vanguard of a conspiracy determined to disrupt violently the Buhari government. What is, therefore, surprising is that Abuja has not thought it wise to arrest Atiku considering the gravity of their accusation, one that has been repeated by other administration officials, including the military chiefs.
What is Abuja and Buhari up to with their attack on Atiku? Why have they continued with their claim that he plans to disrupt Buhari's inauguration while failing, against the norm, to act on their accusation for which they say they have ample evidence? Is theirs a red herring to prepare the ground for a clampdown on Atiku or a move to undermine his challenge of the Buhari Administration in the courts?
Is Obasanjo's own remark about the Fulanisation and Islamisation of Nigeria an expression of his disappointment with the failings of the Buhari administration as Sule Lamido has alleged? Even if one could criticise Obasanjo for gross insensitivity and unbecoming utterance given his position as a former president and indeed, one of Nigeria's most respected (and vilified?) leaders, would it be right to assume that his remarks are so much blather? Or could there be some truth to his observation?
Nigerians, especially leaders, should be careful not to say things that could aggravate the tense cloud that has pervaded our country in the last few years. But should that stop us from telling one another some home truths? A church might not be the most appropriate place for Obasanjo to highlight the objectives of Boko Haram. Our greater concern, however, should be to ask what Buhari is doing to erase the perception that he supports Fulani domination and Islamisation of Nigeria.
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The PGA Tour Needs to Take a Look at What They Do In Phoenix at the Phoenix Open in Scottsdale. With all the talk today about growing the popularity of golf, the folks that put on the Waste Management Phoenix Open are definitely on to something.
I have to admit that I am not proposing this for the four majors, but for the rest of them it might not be a bad idea. The players seem to embrace it and get into the spirit of it, but that may be because it is so unique.
You can see everything from a robot named after Tiger Woods make a hole-in-one to seeing the Muppets show up.
With a final day crowd of 65,330 on Super Bowl Sunday the fans pushed the total to a record 618,365 people, shattering the previous mark of 564,368 set last year.
It will be interesting to see if anyone else takes a page out of their playbook.
NextDoes Tiger's caddie Joe LaCava know something we don't?
Tom Brady May Not Get Into Brookline Country Club — Wait, What?


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Coronavirus deaths: Are The Authorities Deceiving Us?
Picture: Buzzfeed
Yes we know we've used it before but we like it
Yesterday we reported that a Canadian outfit, CitizensLab had carried out a forensic data analysis of China's response to the Coronavirus outbreak and concluded that while politicians (anvious perhaps of the way authoritarian governments like China's can trample on human rights and civil liberties and silence critics by simply shooting them,) and academics (aka "scientists" or "experts") are heaping praise on the way the communist regime in Beijing has contained and controlled its Coronavirus epidemic, the Chinese have actually being lying, the epidemc is still raging and real numbers of infections by, and deaths from COVID – 19 to use its technical name are far higher than are being reported,
SHOCK! HORROR! A socialist government lying to cover up its failures, incompetence and illegal activities in developing biological weapons. How could any reasonable person have suspected such a thing?
Well it seems the governments of the liberal democracies are not avese to playing the same game. The extreme measures introduced in the UK to tackle coronavirus by virtually putting the entire nation in lockdown have been justified because of the need to save lives, but if we look a little way below the surface, these measures are based on some very dubious evidence.
Mathematical Modelling (yes that old demon again) carried out by Imperial College London has been used by "scientists" and "experts" to inform government that unless new powers were enacted and used to curtail freedom of movement, social interaction and necessary activities like food shopping as many as 500,000 could die in our epidemic. That is a worst case scenario of course, but the best case scenario, that for the majority of people who are healthy, well nourished and living in a reasonably good environment, Coronavirus will be a relatively minor infection, in fact many of us will be unaware we have been infected with the virus.
The 500,000 dead being quoted as if it is the most likely outcome, although it is a worst case scenario, has the sticky fingerprints of the deep state (i.e. the civil, military and security services all over it, these agencies have a long track record of using fear and panic to reassert their authority when they feel control is slipping away from them. Even the government's previous, more gentle strategy to slow the spread was likely to lead to 250,000 deaths, the research suggested. But where did these figures come from?
The warnings based on output from mathematical models remember, prompted ministers to announce on Monday the biggest assault on personal freedom in the UK since World War 2, with the public being told to stay in their homes as much as possible, not reduce shopping trips to a minimum, not to go to pubs, clubs or theatres, and to work from home if possible. Sporting events had been shut down the previous wee
The move has hit the economy, putting jobs at risk and prompting schools to be closed and exams cancelled. In other words chaos rules, but then as author Terry Pratchett said, "In any conflict between order and chaos, chaos will win because it's better organised."
But is there any substance in those figures or are they plucked out of the air as previous estimates of the threat of pandemic diseases were. It was predicted millions would die, in reality a few people here ad there felt a bit poorly. Professor Neil Ferguson, a senior academic involved in modelling the course of the epidemic told the BBC's Today Programme earlier this week there was "no alternative" to the curtailment of personal liberty if 250,000 lives were not to be risked. Not the weasel words there, if lives were not to be put at risk. Everything we do carries some degree of risk, whether we drive to work, take a bus or walk there is always the risk of us being involved in an accident. If we eat at a restaurant there is a risk of food poisoning and if we cok at home there could be a house fire or an electrical fault could kill us. Lives being put at risk is a universe away from lives being put in danger.
Another expert, Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's chief scientific adviser, told BBC Radio 4's Today program he had advised The House Of Commons Health Select Committee, the parliamentary overseer of health issues, that the hope was to keep the death toll below 20,000 by suppressing the virus.
That would still be worse than those killed by flu, he said, giving a number of 8,000 per year. But again there is no evidence to suggest this figure is in any way accurate. In fact there is strong evidence, when we analyse the modelling techniques, that the figures they produce are not only unreliable but are simply made up to grab headlines. The question the "scientits" and "experts" don't want us to ask is
Would these people be dying anyway?
The quoted figures for likely deaths from coronavirus are astounding but what is not clear because to put it bluntly, the modellers deliberately avoided factoring into the alogrithms is, to what extent the deaths predicted would occur without coronavirus?
The answer to that question can never truly be known or predicted with any degree of accuracy until the pandemic is over, which is why modelling is pointless unless qualified by numerous caveats. Given that the old and chronically ill are most vulnerable, would these people be dying anyway, of seasonal 'flu, common colds, breathing problems brought on by extremes of cold or hot weather? My wife's final illness was triggered by a very cold spell in the winter of 2019 although she survived some months. There was no infection; scoliosis – a lifelong condition – put pressure on her lungs, the cold spell exacerbated that and … well several months later we are still waiting for the hospital to tell us exactly what happened. But whatever it was, it was neither the cold itself nor a cold weather infection, our home is well heated and Teri did not have to go outside.
Every year over 500,000 people die in England and Wales: inclide Scotland and Northern Ireland, and that goes up to over 600,000. The models being used to predict coronavirus deaths are not on top of this but included in the figure. Many of those deaths assigned to "The Corona Virus pandemic would be within this "normal" number of expected deaths. In short, they would have died anyway.
It was a point conceded by Sir Patrick at a press conference on Thursday when he said there would be "some overlap" between coronavirus deaths and expected deaths – he just did not know how much of an overlap. To put it another way the numbers of deaths likely to occur because of Coronavirus infection are expected quite small, but in a time of pandemic almost every death can be described as coronavirus related as most of us will have been in contact with someone carrying the virus, or in a public building that infected people of people who have been in contact with others carrying the virus have passed through.
As the 19th century British Prime Minister George Canning said: "I can make statistics tell me anything except the truth.
MORE ON THE CORONAVIRUS EPIDEMIC
Daily update on Coronavirus pandemic, 8 April 2020
Here Comes Round Two - China Just Reported The Most New Coronavirus Cases In A Nonth
Last week we reported that even as the world's attention had shifted to the new global coronavirus outbreak epicenters of New York, Italy, Spain and other western nations, China – which rushed to restart its economy at any cost as the alternative was too dire to even consider – had put a major county on lockdown after a new cluster of coronavirus infection had emerged.
https://originalboggartblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/19/as-we-predicted-the-coronavirus-bill-is-the-biggest-assault-on-freedom-since-world-war-2/">>As We Predicted The Coronavirus bill Is The Biggest Assault On Freedom Since World War 2
Things have gone so far beyond what can be considered a rational response to an outbreak of a highly contagious but for most people relatively minor illness that I am starting to believe even the conspiracy theories I know I made up myself. Along with my fellow Boggart Bloggers I predicted weeks ago the current outbreak of the so – called coronavirus would see a massive hyping of the threat level leading up to an assault on our freedoms. And that is exactly what we have seen happening over the past week.
Germany's Official State TV Channel Cheers Coronavirus For Killing Old People
Trawling around the weirder fringes of the web, as we bloggers and cyberjournalists are sometimes obliged to if we want to bring you the news the mainstream will not report, one occasionally comes across something important but disturbing – like being brought face – to – face with how sick and warped the far left ecopsychos really are. Take a sketch recently broadcast as part of a satirical show the title of which translates as Bohemian Browser Ballet, shown by German state broadcaster ARD.
UK To Ask Citizens Over 70 To Self – Isolatate For 4 MONTHS As Coronavirus Fails To Kill Zillions
UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock today confirmed the government plans to ask people aged over 70 to isolate themselves for up to four months amid a coronavirus pandemic. The goal is to protect them.
It's quite obvious to us, experienced bloggers that we are, that the government, civil service, law encorgement and national security agencies and all the assorted experts and talking heads have forgotten the lesson our generation learned from The Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy …
Coronavirus: EU States Rebel Against Brussels As Van Leyen Demands Borders Stay Open
The cracks in European solidarity are growing deeper by the day as the coronavirus crisis threatens to split the bloc. The response of European leaders has varied from panic, as several member-states have takeen unilateral action including severe border closures, to a laissez – fair attidude, notably from France's idiot president Emmanuel Macron who favours total inaction, having said complacently that viruses don't recognise borders.
US John Hopkins University Prof Says Don't Believe Corona Virus Numbers
The number of confirmed cases outside of China roughly tripled once again this week, and if this outbreak continues to escalate at this pace there will be more than a million confirmed cases in less than a month. But as bad as the official numbers are, the truth is that there are a whole lot more people walking around out there that have caught the virus but have not been tested.
Is the World Health Organization involved in biological warfare research?
Dr. Francis Boyle, a professor of international law, talked in a recent interview with about the Wuhan coronavirus now sweeping through the far east, laboratory in Wuhan, China, where the genetically modified virus appears to have originated, and the World Health Organization's (WHO) clandestine involvement in biological warfare research …Continue reading
Coronavirus Contains "HIV Insertions": Claim Stokes Fears Over Genetically Modified BioweaponFor the past two weeks mainstream media reporting of the epidemic of a new strain of coronavirus in China has been getting more and more hysterical. However, reports have pushed back against one "conspiracy theory" about the origins of the virus that has now infected as many as 70,000+ people in the central China city of Wuhan alone (depending on whom you believe).
Corona Virus: Should We Worry
The official data coming out of China and from other sources including the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus continues to suggest an exponential growth rate. With more and more infectious disease experts are now openly calling the virus a full-blown global pandemic, many people are asking should we in the west be worried and how bad might things get?
Coronavirus Contains "HIV Insertions": Claim Stokes Fears Over Genetically Modified Bioweapon
The theory that China obtained the coronavirus via a Canadian research program, and started molding it into a bioweapon at the Institute of Virology in Wuhan before it somehow escaped could be an attempt by the establishment (the Davosocracy,) to spread fear and panic as they see resurgent nationalism across the developed world and growing scepticism about
EU States Rebel Against Brussels As Van Leyen Demands Borders Stay Open
Ebola outbreak caused by new strain never seen before; was it weaponized ask sceptical scientists?
Since we and other blogs reported the concerns of highly regarded virologists about the strain of ebola virus involved in the outbreak currently devastating three west African nations, several more experts have gone public to say that the current strain of Ebola virus plaguing Africa and slowly spreading to other continents is potentially much more lethal than previous strains identified by virologists.
Mind controlControlling the American Mind: The Viral Liturgical Psychodrama
Ebola and the Absent "Humanitarians"
When the FUKUS axis leaders, France, United Kingdom and the Unites States of America were calling for approval to intervene in Libya, Yemen, Syria and Ukraine, they justified their lust for war by claiming that bombing the crap out of those counties was necessary on humanitarian grounds. And the member of the FUKUS axis and their allies spent billions of $£€ on humanitarian bombs that wreaked hiumanitarian havoc among the innocent poor and middle class citizens of those nations. Now they have work out their 'The Jihad Is Coming' scare but have a new weapon Ebola …
Fear and Panic and Ebola Fever
The latest attempt to justify war has been the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine allegely by pro Russia separatists with support from The Kremlin. So far the 'compelling evidence' the American government claimed to possess has not been revealed but such evidence as has been seen points to another false flag even. Remember the Swine Flu pandemic?They're doing it again with Ebola fever, ramping up the scare factor and trying to spread enough fear and panic to justify suspending democratic rule by pretending this disease could potentially kill most of us.
Posted by Boggart Blogger at 3:45 PM
Labels: china, coronavirus, pandemic, virus


I have a friend who for some reason can't see the Filters button on the advanced search page.
Two other accounts tested, on the same machine, work fine. Also tested on another machine, same results. She is a premium member.
Is there another cause for the filter button to stay hidden for a specific user?
Thanks for sending in this feedback!
We have rolled out a new map experience to an initial cohort of 1000K users. Yes, that is very small number. The purpose of the slow rollout is to gather both both qualitative and quantitative feedback on the new map experience. The friend you mentioned in your post is a premium member and is part of this 1K user cohort.
To address the specific feedback related to advanced search and the Filters button - the new map does not have the advanced search page and the corresponding Filters button that you have noted. Some of this functionality can be found by using the Filters button on the list view on the new map. We are continuing to work on bringing more of that functionality to the new map.
When I filter out my finds the Done link is vanishing. I have to set the cursor into the search field again to make the link appearing.
The Groundspeak map is lacking a scale.
Sending all visible caches to a BM list is pretty cool. Would be nice to have an equivalent Gpx save function as well.
an initial cohort of 1000K users. Yes, that is very small number.
1000K -- you mean a million? That is a small number?
That was a typo! Thanks for catching it. I have corrected it - thanks again!
Is there some form of official explanation about what this "test group" has to do differently?
I am sorry to hear about your friend's experience. She can certainly opt out of the new map experience, by selecting 'What's This' from the upper right hand corner of the view on the new map page and then just following the directions on how to opt out.. I apologize if that wasn't clear. Your friend, as well as anyone in the test group, can revert back to the old map experience at any any time. If and an individual opts out of the new experience, we are actively soliciting feedback on what's missing and the reason for the opt out. I hope this explanation helps.
Being unable to test it myself, what exactly is the 'update'? What happened to Filters? Do test participants get some form of contact, info, instruction?
Actually, are you talking about a new map page? I'm referring to the Advanced Search. Or are both connected?
Yes, the filter button is now part of the map. When I called some formerly saved search urls I've been automatically redirected to the map. that was pretty annoying, so I opted out from this "test".
"show only my solved coordinates" is quite the same than ''has corrected coordinates''.
That was missing in your post above. But now I your issue having with the lack of a NOT state. Easiest way to get back to the old filter behaviour is to opt-out from the new map.
For me the filter button on the advanced search is still there.
It was vanished (and moved to the map age) when I was forced to use the new map page. And it comes back after opting out. That lets me guess there is an context.
When the "new search" was introduced, and had a "Map these Geocaches" would display the results on the map, the page would render without the left side bar, and one could only see other caches on the map by clicking on "Clear Search Filters". Apparently the issue was that the map page didn't support some of the new filters available on the search page (what do you mean by "Advanced Search Page"). It sounds like they're working on implementing these filters on the map page. I'd be curious if they're also working on implementing some of the filters on the PQ search criteria page in the Search Filters overlay (and in the map).
Right. these filters are now part of the "New Map". There are some other enhancements on the New Map as well, like preview description and hint from the list. Or saving the visible caches (depending on zoom levels) as a Gpx file, etc, etc. Looks challenging at all, despite the delete of the filter button from the search itself (which is nuts in my opinion).
Oooook. I discovered the confusion now. She let me use her account to try it out. It seems what was happening was she was going to the old map directly - it doesn't push her to the new map - so that's why she was saying the map hadn't changed but the Advanced Search (now just the search) page still wasn't showing the Filters button. She wasn't doing a search from that page, she just went to her bookmark for the (old) map page.
She'd go to the search page, be confused, then just go to the map page she always used. No "What's this?", no opt out, no difference.
If she'd executed a search from the query page then she'd have been moved to the new map page.
Seems inconvenient to me to actually cripple the search page which provided a list view of results - that can have a different practical purpose than pushing every search query to the full map view. Can I suggest leaving the Filters option and list results available for the Search page? A "Map this" link would be what makes sense to me to knowingly move from a list view to a map view. We've had those two versions of searching for ages.
Secondly, dropping people into a test group without their knowledge, without informing them, can have a pretty drastic effect. They should at least be notified beforehand of the change, if not also given the option to try it.
That's the part I can't figure out. If you want someone to test some new functionality, wouldn't you want to point it out to them, describe the changes, and explain the intended benefits so they can effectively test it? Otherwise, you simply get confusion as evidenced here and the testing doesn't give any useful results. I would think you'd also want to tell the testers how they can provide feedback, but they can't very well do that if they don't even know that they're testing something.
There are types of tests where the results depend on people not knowing they're part of a test. In A/B testing, you randomly present two different versions (e.g., the current version and a potential new version that you are uncertain of) to different users. Then you analyze their behavior to determine which version better meets your test criteria.
Yeah, so it depends what exactly they're testing. Are they testing the new map publicly? Or are they testing their manner of rolling out updates swiftly and silently?
From reading the forum it seems we have been chosen as one of 1,000 to test out the new system - we don't like it at all - please can you give us back the Filter button that used to show to the left of the search tab. Can't tell you just how much we preferred it - having to search with only what the map shows is hopeless for us - we live in a country with appalling internet connections and constantly having to load up maps does NOT work for us - please, please, please give us back the Filter button that other users still have - please rather test it on someone from the first world. That said, our third world problem aside we just do not like the new search map - the old search was easy to use and displayed a lot better than the new one does on our small laptop computer - we just want the old Filter button back please.
In the upper right corner is a link to begin the steps to return to the better search you desire.
So without any warning, today I find I am part of a group to test out the New Map Page. I played with it for a little while and can't find anything I like about it. The problem isn't just with the map page, the problem is getting rid of the Advanced Search Page. I want to see a list of the caches I'm searching for. I am opting out and hope this is not forced on me anytime soon.
So I went to Opt Out and it won't let me do that.
Strange. Something odd happened and some of the text on the page got into the URL somehow.
To opt out, you can click this link.


AACA - Compensation Survey Consultant - Culpepper and Associates, Inc.
Compensation Survey Consultant - Culpepper and Associates, Inc.
Culpepper and Associates, a leading provider of compensation survey data and consulting services, has a career opportunity for a Compensation Survey Consultant in Alpharetta, GA.
We are looking for a talented compensation professional to join our compensation survey team and serve our growing market.
If you are passionate about working with data and the opportunity to help companies with their compensation programs, we invite you to apply for this position.
Work directly with Culpepper Compensation Survey clients to facilitate participation and compensation market pricing activities.
Review and analyze compensation survey data submissions of participating organizations to validate and verify compensation data.
Assist survey participants with use of online reporting tools and compensation benchmarking.
Conduct data audits and analysis to ensure integrity of compensation survey databases.
Research new and emerging jobs and write job descriptions to increase scope of jobs offered in surveys.
Provide feedback and contribute to creation and overall improvement of survey design, content, and reports.
Provide market pricing advisory services to compensation survey participants. As needed, assist compensation consulting team with custom data analysis or benchmarking.
As needed, assist with other compensation survey related tasks.
Bachelor's or Master's degree in business, human resources, finance, economics, or other related degree.
Previous professional compensation or related analytical experience.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills using the English language.
Strong analytical, statistical, and mathematical skills.
Advanced Excel skills (e.g., conditional formatting, validation, pivot tables, vlookups, macros).
Must live in or be willing to relocate to the Atlanta metro area.
Certified Compensation Professional (CCP) and/or related compensation certifications.
Prior experience with compensation surveys and market pricing.
Able to collaborate with others to solve challenging business problems.
Highly detail-oriented while not losing focus on the big picture.
Passionate about learning, motivated to continuously improve skills, and able to easily adapt to new technologies and business solutions.
Value the importance of being customer centric and serving others.
We provide a competitive and comprehensive compensation and benefits package.
Our compensation plan includes a mix of base pay and performance-based cash incentives. Benefits include healthcare insurance, retirement plan, paid time off, short- and long-term disability insurance, and life insurance.
As a member of our compensation team, you will enjoy business casual dress, flexible hours, a healthy work-life balance, a family-friendly culture, and opportunities for training & career development.
At Culpepper, you can make a big difference on a small team. Everyone is given opportunities to take on new challenges and make a real impact.
Work with a group of people who are committed to excellence and passionate about providing the best possible solutions for our customers.
We have been in business for over 35 years and understand that it takes great people to run a great business. Our employees are our greatest asset.
If this opportunity looks like a good fit based on your experience, skills, and goals, we invite you to apply for this position.
Send your resume with a cover letter describing how you would be a good fit for this position to careers@culpepper.com.


Situated in Southern Goa, Varca stands apart from the other beaches with its fine white sand and pristine water. Peppered with palm trees and shrubs along its 10km coastline, the Varca beach paints a pretty picture of the typical, sun-kissed holiday destination. Its shallow and warm waters, along with its very own Rescue Tower, provide for a safe swim during any time of the day. Located at a distance of about 40km from Panaji, Varca beach is an ideal retreat for those seeking respite from the everyday din.
Our resort reflects the breezy mood of the beach with its spacious design and architecture situated 700mts away from the Varca beach. It has 71 rooms in all, including 45 Classic rooms that each come equipped with a balcony, 11 rooms without balcony, 13 rooms of the Premier range and 2 luxury suites. A state-of-the-art swimming pool and a fully furnished gymnasium lie in proximity to each other for easier access, while the air-conditioned boardroom and an elegantly decorated lounge add to the grandeur. The resort also offers activities like Dolphin watching, among various others water sports and adventure sports on Varca beach.
Dolphin-watching, water sports and adventure sports for an ideal getaway at the beach.


text:
4346 four farms road
4346 Four Farms Road Greensboro, NC 27410
PRIME LOCATION! Multifamily zoning. Owner thinks property can increase the zoning to 12 units an acre. Property is in desirable Northwest Guilford School district. Covenient to Loop, shopping, dining, and PTI Airport.
Allen Tate Summerfield
kernodle middle school
claxton elementary school
jesse wharton elementary school
the early college at guilford
general greene elementary school
joyner elementary school
sternberger elementary school
greensboro day school
bnai shalom day school
canterbury school
st pius x catholic school
Community - Greensboro
Greensboro is a centrally located city in the northern region of North Carolina boasting excellent schools, plenty of bikeways and family-friendly neighborhoods. Greensboro is the third-largest city in the state and serves as the county seat and largest city in Guilford County.
Greensboro hosts beautiful homes in well-kept neighborhoods dotted with trees. Greensboro homes include a range of sizes and styles, including traditional, Colonial, Craftsman and more. The cost of living and real estate price tags in Greensboro are lower than the national average, providing affordable residences in a wonderful setting. Neighborhoods throughout Greensboro boast unique and charming personalities, providing a desirable diversity for every buyer.
Greensboro provides the perfect combination of big-city attractions and a small-town feel. As the third-largest city in the state, it has its own collection of attractive features and is easily accessible from neighboring cities throughout the region. Greensboro is an ideal area for outdoor recreation, particularly bicycling, as it has arguably the best park system of any city in North Carolina, complete with more than 90 miles of trails. Greensboro is the county seat of Guilford County and has a lively downtown area, hosting the headquarters of many large corporations, including VF Corporation, which owns Wrangler, North Face, JanSport and other reputable brands. Greensboro was the host for the National Folk Festival from 2015 through 2017, which will become the NC Folk Festival in 2018.
Greensboro has an excellent road system, providing a lack of traffic congestion and an easy commute for residents to travel across or out of the city via nearby highways. The Greensboro Science Center is a popular family destination, hosting an aquarium, museum and zoo all in one location. Other attractions in Greensboro include Wet 'n Wild Emerald Pointe water park, the Weatherspoon Art Museum, Triad Stage and more. The Tanger Performing Arts Center is scheduled to be open in downtown Greensboro in 2019. The Greensboro Coliseum Complex is a multi-use facility with several buildings hosting large events, concerts, and sports teams, including the Greensboro Grasshoppers of the South Atlantic Baseball League. Jetsetters may access the nearby Piedmont Triad International Airport, which also provides employment for a number of Greensboro residents.
Greensboro has 66 public schools and 21 private schools, providing a variety of educational options for students. The city's high school graduation rate is 88.5 percent, which is higher than state and national averages, and Lucy Ragsdale High School was once ranked No. 6 in the state. Greensboro has six colleges and universities, including North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Bennett College, Greensboro College, Guilford College, and Elon University School of Law. UNC Greensboro is a public liberal arts and research university with nearly 20,000 students.
The first people occupying Greensboro were an indigenous people of the Cheraw tribe, and European Quaker settlers moved into the area around 1750. The city was named after Major General Nathanael Greene, who commanded the American forces at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in 1781. The city was officially established in 1808 and by 1821, the town's population reached 369. Greensboro saw major growth when it was included on a new railroad line, as textile mills and other businesses sprouted up throughout the region. Today, Greensboro is still a hub for regional train freight in addition to air travel, as the Piedmont Triad International Airport is located on the western edge of the city. The International Civil Rights Center and Museum located in downtown Greensboro was the site of the first sit-in movement that brought positive changes to civil rights in America. A few notable people and inventions hailed from Greensboro, including the famous American short story author William Sydney Porter, known by his pen name O. Henry. Additionally, Vick's VapoRub was originally manufactured by a family-owned company based in Greensboro.
Durham: 53.5 Miles
Piedmont Triad International Airport: 11.5 Miles
Charlotte Douglas International Airport: 95 Miles
Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital: 2 Miles
Wesley Long Hospital: 2.5 Miles
Major Highways:
I-73: 10 Miles
I-85: 4 Miles
Properties within a 5 mile radius and similar in price (± 10%)
We're sorry, but no properties that meet this criteria are currently available.
I would like to learn more information about 4346 Four Farms Road. Thank you


text:
Q: iPad app -- long black screen before viewDidLoad fires we are relatively inexperienced with iOS programming, but we're getting there.  We're getting to the point where we are fine tuning, and in our current ipad app under development, we notice that when we launch the app there is about a full second of black screen (ie after the icon zooms to occupy the screen) before our screen appears.  In debugging mode, I see that this is happening before my main controller viewDidLoad event... which I think is my first opportunity to programmatically make anything visible.
Is this a common issue, or is there any way to avoid or lessen this?  I don't notice this in other apps we've downloaded from the App store.  We do have a medium amount of resources, I'm not sure if this slows it down or if there is anything we should be doing to precompile/preload resources.  Or if I had any control over this (pre-viewDidLoad) I could throw up a splash screen, that would look better than a black screen at least.
Basically I'm looking for any pointers or pro tips :)  Thank you.

A: That's supposed to be your launch image.
Your splash screen is supposed to go there. If you have not provided an image for a splash, it defaults to black.
From the Apple Human Interface Guidelines:

The placeholder image gives users the impression that your app is fast
  and responsive because it appears instantly and is quickly replaced by
  the first screen of your app. Every app must supply a launch file or
  at least one static image.

A: As Rory said - launch images. Although if you are targeting iOS 8 you could alternatively use a Storyboard file for your launch image to avoid having to define multiple resolutions. See this Apple Doc Reference.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Соревнования по плаванию  на дистанции 400 метров комплексным плаванием у мужчин на чемпионате мира по водным видам спорта 2013 года проводились 4 августа в «Палау Сант Жорди». В них приняли участие 39 спортсменов из 34 стран.

Отборочные

Заплыв 1

Заплыв 2

Заплыв 3

Заплыв 4

Финал

Ссылки
 Заплывы  (PDF)
 Финал  (PDF)

Плавание на чемпионате мира по водным видам спорта 2013

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Book Excerpt: Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam
When I reached the top of the driveway after getting off the school bus one April afternoon, I couldn't help but wonder why Dad was standing on the stepladder next to the tractor.
I had never seen my father use a stepladder to fix a tractor. He didn't have to climb on anything to reach the engine. I also knew he wasn't filling the tractor with gasoline. The 460 Farmall was too far away from the gas barrel underneath the silver maple tree by the garage, so the hose wouldn't reach that far.
"What's Dad doing Needles?" I asked.
Our dog, Needles, had come to meet me, his tail going in circles. Needles was a Cocker-Spaniel mix we had gotten when he was a tiny cream-colored puppy with wavy hair on his ears. Within the first week, he had nipped my sister's ankles while she was hanging clothes outside to dry. She had exclaimed, "Get those needles out of here!" And the name had stuck. As Needles grew older, his color had darkened to light caramel.
At the sound of the word, 'Dad,' Needles' ears perked up, and his round, dark-brown eyes stared at me with sharpened intensity. Needles was Dad's 'hired man.' That's what Dad said, anyway. When my father worked in the field, the dog would either trot behind the tractor or, on warmer days, would find some shade at the end of the field where he could keep an eye on things. When we milked cows, he stayed in the barn, sometimes nudging aside the cats so he could drink some milk from their dish. And when Dad went on an errand with the pickup truck, Needles often rode with him.
"What's Dad doing?" I repeated. "Go find Dad, Needles."
The dog, his feathery tail still wagging, spun around and took off toward the machine shed.
I stood for a minute, listening to the redwing blackbirds singing in the marsh below our driveway-on-ka-leeee-eeeeee, on-ka-leeeee-eeeeee. From the pasture next to the barn, meadowlarks joined in-tweedle-ee-tweedle-eedle-um, tweedle-ee-tweedle-eedle-um.
As I turned toward the house, my books tucked in the crook of one arm and my jacket draped over the other, I still couldn't quite believe that the sun was shining. For the past two weeks, the weather had been cold and rainy, but today the dark clouds had gone away and the sun had appeared. During afternoon recess at school, it was so warm that we had all taken off our jackets.
Last night at supper, Dad said he wished it would stop raining, and I knew this was the kind of weather he had been waiting for so he could plant oats and corn, although he wouldn't start for a few days, not until he was sure the fields were dried out and that he wouldn't get stuck in the mud with the tractor.
Although I usually went into the house right away when I arrived home from school, today I set my books on the porch steps. The house seemed bigger, somehow, now that the snow had melted and the grass was beginning to turn green. My mother said our house was nothing more than a glorified log cabin-and in fact, underneath the siding it was a log cabin that had been built by my Norwegian great-grandfather.
The rumbling in my stomach reminded me it had been a very long time since lunch. I liked to eat a snack right away when I got home from school, but with Dad working outside by the machine shed, curiosity got the better of me and I figured I could always eat a snack later.
When I drew closer to the machine shed, I saw a green bottle standing on the engine cowling next to Dad's elbow and a wad of rags hanging out of his back pocket. Dad was wearing faded blue work overalls, a blue short-sleeved chambray work shirt and brown leather work boots. During the winter, he wore long-sleeved plaid flannel shirts, but during the summer, he wore short-sleeved shirts.
"What're you doing?" I asked.
My father looked up quickly, as if he were surprised that someone had spoken to him. Needles sat beside the tractor, keeping a watchful eye on Dad.
"Home from school so soon?" Dad asked, reaching for his pocket watch. "Well, yes, I guess it is that time already, isn't it."
I had asked him once why he carried a pocket watch. He said a wrist watch would get too dirty from the dust and oil and grease and would probably stop working.
"Why are you standing on the stepladder Daddy?"
The four-sixty had been around for almost as long as I could remember. It had been brand new when Dad bought it. He called the four-sixty "the big tractor," and he called the Super C Farmall "the little tractor." He used the four-sixty for all of the heavy field work. Plowing and planting in the spring, cutting and baling hay during the summer, harvesting oats in August-right around the time of my birthday or maybe a little later-and for picking corn in the fall.
The four-sixty was the prettiest tractor I had ever seen, with its bright red fenders and the alternating red and white sections above the engine. The rear tires, as black and shiny as licorice, were much taller than me.
Sometimes when Dad went to our other place (a second farm that my parents owned about a mile away), he would let me ride on the four-sixty with him. It was tremendous fun to sit on the red fender, right next to Dad, while the wind blew through my hair and Needles trotted beside us.
Instead of answering my question about why he was on the stepladder, Dad grabbed the green bottle and tossed it in my direction.
I reached out with both hands and caught it up-side-down. When I turned it upright, I saw that the label had the letters T-u-r-t-l-e-W-a-x printed on it.
Turtle Wax?
"You're waxing the four-sixty?" I said.
Dad pulled another rag out of his back pocket. "Yup."
Now that I was close to the tractor, I could smell the wax, a bitter odor that reminded me of the way peach pits smelled. Every summer, Mom would buy a couple boxes of peaches to can. Homemade canned peaches tasted much better than the canned peaches from the store.
Several used rags occupied the little shelf on the front of the stepladder where Dad or my brother or sister put paint cans when they were painting. The shelf was knobby with drips of dried paint. Most of the drips were white because all of our farm buildings were white, although light blue drips from the kitchen and pale yellow drips from the living room were mixed in with the white drips.
I looked down at the bottle again. "But I thought this was for cars. And trucks."
Dad shrugged. "Well, yes, I guess it is."
"Then why are you using it on the tractor?"
My big brother, Ingman, waxed his car a couple of times a year, and my sister, Loretta, waxed her car as well. But I had never seen Dad wax anything.
"I wanted to get this done before I start the field work," he said, "to help protect the paint."
"Protect the paint? From what?"
"The sun," he explained. "Sun' s hard on the paint. Fades it."
I had to admit that the tractor did look nice. The red parts were bright and shiny, like an apple that's been polished, and the white parts looked as clean as puffy clouds drifting across a blue summer sky.
"The sun would fade the paint?"I asked. "Like the sun faded Mom's curtains in the living room?"
The curtains had been white with gold and brown patterns that reminded me of leaves drifting to the ground on a warm fall day. Mom said she liked the curtains because they were pretty and were made of heavy cotton and would be easy to wash. Except that after the first summer, the curtains didn't have gold and brown patterns anymore. They were mostly just white with pale brown streaks.
Mom said the streaks made her curtains look like they were dirty, so the curtains had been replaced with something Mom called "drapes" that were the color of ripe corn. Yellow was my mother's favorite color. Mom said if the sun faded her new drapes she was going to give up and leave the living room windows bare.
By the smile on Dad's face, I could tell he clearly remembered the episode with Mom's curtains.
"Yes, kind of like that," he replied.
He reached into his back pocket, pulled out another rag and held it up.
It was a piece of Mom's curtains.
"Mom's letting you use her curtains to wax the tractor?"
"Well, I don't know if she knows I'm using them to wax the tractor. They're not much good for curtains anymore, but they make dandy wiping rags."
I watched as my father rubbed a few more spots on the engine cowling. A breeze rustled the maple branches arched high above our heads. The maples didn't have leaves yet, but they were covered with fuzzy red buds that would soon turn into leaves. From the other side of the barnyard fence, one of our cows bellowed. "Mooooooo!" she said.
I turned toward the barn and saw a dozen of the cows standing by the fence, watching us. Most of our cows were black-and-white Holsteins.
Dad looked up and saw the cows too. "I guess they know it's almost time for their supper, don't they."
He climbed off the stepladder and turned to me. "Since they all seem to be expecting it, I suppose I'd better put them in the barn and feed them. And you should probably go in the house and change out of your school clothes."
"What's Dad doing?" Mom asked when I walked into the kitchen a few minutes later. She sat by the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and an oatmeal cookie and the newspaper spread out in front of her. We had lots of newspapers at our house. One that came once a week, and one that came every day. Mom was reading the one that came every day.
"How did you know I was talking to Dad?" I asked as I set my books on the table.
"When you didn't come in the house right away, I poked my head out the door to see where you were," she replied.
I might have known. My mother hardly ever missed anything that went on around the place.
"Dad just got done waxing the tractor," I said.
"Dad's waxing the four-sixty?"
"With Turtle Wax. And he used your curtains."
Mom frowned. "My curtains? What in the world is he doing using my curtains?"
She paused. "Oh-you mean the curtains I put into the rag bag. I knew he was doing something with the tractor, but I didn't know he was waxing it."
The hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach suddenly reminded me I still had not yet eaten a snack. "What's for supper?"
"Meatballs and gravy and mashed potatoes," Mom said. "I suppose you're hungry right now, though, aren't you."
"I'm starving."
She turned to look at the clock. "I don't think you're starving in the literal sense, but we won't eat for at least an hour, so I suppose a couple of cookies would be all right."
Last weekend Loretta had baked a batch of oatmeal cookies. I reached into the canister on the counter. Usually my sister made ordinary oatmeal cookies, but this time she had added coconut.
After I had finished my cookies, I went upstairs to change my clothes, and then a little while later, Dad came in the house.
"I hear you've been doing y our spring cleaning," Mom said.
"My spring cleaning?" Dad replied. "Well, yes, I suppose you could say that. We paid good money for the big tractor and it doesn't hurt to keep it looking nice."
"I also heard you used my curtains."
"They're not much good for curtains anymore," Dad said.
My mother sighed. "No, they're not."
Dad grinned. "Especially not since you ripped them up into rags."
Mom turned and made her way over to the table, grasping the back of one of the kitchen chairs to keep her balance. It wasn't so much that Mom sat down. She collapsed. The polio hadn't left her legs with enough strength to allow her to sit down gracefully.
"Roy," she said to Dad after she had settled into her chair, "since when do you have time to wax the tractor, of all things?"
My father shrugged. "What else am I going to do on a beautiful spring day when I can't get out in the field yet? Those curtains were just what I needed to do the job. If you don't mind, I'd like to keep them out in the shed to use for polish rags."
"Well," Mom said, "I'm glad my curtains are good for something."
Although that was the first time I saw Dad waxing the tractor, it certainly wasn't the last. In the following years on the first nice spring day, he would get the four-sixty out to wax it before he started the field work.
Every year, Mom and Loretta did their spring cleaning, too, washing walls and windows and curtains in the kitchen, the living room, the bathroom and all three bedrooms.
From what I could see, Dad had more fun than Mom and Loretta.
Instead of cleaning the curtains-he used the curtains to do his cleaning.
LeAnn R. Ralph is the author of the books "Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam" and "Christmas in Dairyland." ruralroute2.com" target="_new">http://ruralroute2.com; bigpines@ruralroute2.com
Book Review: Cities in the Anthropocene: New Ecology and Urban Politics by Ihnji Jon - USAPP American Politics and Policy (blog)
Book Review: Cities in the Anthropocene: New Ecology and Urban Politics by Ihnji Jon USAPP American Politics and Policy (blog)
Book Review: Seth Godin - All Marketers Are Liars
Let me start with a small disclaimer: I am a HUGE fan of Seth Godin, and have been ever since he wrote Permission Marketing and probably always will be. Seth has a very unique take on traditional marketing (he thinks it's dead) and I agree with him.
Book Review: If You Are Over Fifty, You Are Entitled To Some Very Interesting Discounts On Travel:
Title: Unbelievably Good Deals and Great Adventures That You Absolutely Can't Get Unless You're Over 50 (2005-2006 Author: Joan Rattner Heilman ISBN: 0071438297 Publishers: McGraw-Hill:The following review was contributed by: NORM GOLDMAN: Editor of Bookpleasures.REVIEWNo age group represents such an enormous market of potential consumers than those over the age of fifty.
Book Review for The Margaret Ellen, A Karen Cobia Mystery by RC Burdick
I've discovered a new favorite author, and his name is RC Burdick.The Margaret Ellen is an ocean-drenched mystery, filled with vibrant characters, palpable sea breezes, and spine-tingling suspense.
Be the Captain of Your Lifes Ship
In his book, "Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity," author David Whyte explores the concept of work from an internal perspective and how work allows us to become the individuals that we are. He refers to the works of the well-known poet and engraver, William Blake.
Headlong Into Quicksand: The Tale of Today in America
America�s 220 years of Democracy (of its 400 years) is longer than the Greek 100 (of 1000), the Roman 150 (of 1000), or the British 180 (of 1600.) These European democracies are the only large ones ever.
Introducing a New Web Site
You're Fired is a book that tackles the real stories behind the two little words that pack so much punch.This is in EBook format.
The Wal-Mart Decade - AchieveMax� Top Ten Book Review
The Wal-Mart Decade: How a New Generation of Leaders Turned Sam Walton's Legacy into the World's #1 Company was destined for publication. It was simply a matter of when it would be written and by whom.
The Southwest Airlines Way - AchieveMax� Top Ten Book Review
Over the years, several books and countless magazine and newspaper articles have been written about Southwest Airlines. Numerous MBA programs highlight the Southwest structure, its culture, its CEO, its low fares and other reasons as to why it is the bright spot in an otherwise dismally performing industry.
The Storyteller, Volume I - A Must Read Book
The Storyteller New Book Offers Supernatural Tales Involving Everyday PeopleMartha Whittington invites readers to take a break from the doldrums of daily routine and delve into a world where ordinary lives are blindsided by the bizarre. The Storyteller: Volume I (now available through AuthorHouse) provides a feast of paranormal delights that satisfy the imagination.
Book Review: Money Without Matrimony
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The Official NHL Thread
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Thread: The Official NHL Thread
guwapo_rocker
4. Wild - Benoit Pouliot
Hey Jackass! You need to [Register] or log in to view signatures on ROTHARMY.COM!
Member No
Yesterday @ 09:25 PM
A draft for guys, 99% of whom, you'll see in five years if at all.
Rockin' The SouthWest
09-25-2014 @ 10:19 AM
Fuck those NHL guys going on strike!
I haven't been to a MLB basebal game since it died with the strike of 1994.
NHL?
Originally posted by NightProwler
They were locked out...
Still...there was no season, so FUCK those guys!
∞ SHEEP PEN GYPSY
DIAMOND STATUS
Right! No reason......other than mismanagement of the League by Bettman!!!
Full Bug
Just Me And My Ganja....
Crazy Ass Mofo
12-09-2017 @ 06:01 PM
The Hydroponics Lab Next Door....
Originally posted by Matt White
It aint that simple, saleries going up by 550% didnt help matters....
You can thank Bob for that one, I loved it when the owners won.....
Va Beach VH Fan
ROTH ARMY FOUNDER
Old Fuckin' School
I still can't believe it....
The Crosby era has begun....
He's just a baby, he's gonna get killed!!
Lets get this straight, I have no idea....
Is Crosby playing this year?
Otherwise, who cares really, 3 years from now I will be dead.....
Dave's PA Rental
HOF '06
Full Member Status
Bean-Town
Dude, we get it. Everything post 94 sucks in your book.
Thanks for contributing.
He is supposed to step right in. He doesn't even turn 18 'til next
month. Where did he play junior? The Quebec Major Junior Pussy
league? The last time anyone got hit in that league was when a
rink attendant was run over by the Zamboni in 1976.
POJO_Risin
Roth Army Caesar
I Am The Lizard King
Shag Point, GA
Carolina traded one of their better players...Jeff O'Neill to Toronto for a conditional '06 draft choice...
he's just never reached his potential...and the common belief here is that O'Neill requested the trade because his older brother was killed 2 weeks ago...and he wanted to be closer to his family...
That's a good deal for Toronto.
Shame about his brother.
Christ...Mario looks like his dad...or granddad...
lmfao...the Crosby era...no pressure there...
It's a great deal for Toronto...O'Neill was counted on here in NC to carry this team as it's star...
in Toronto...he should be the role player he should be...
Originally posted by POJO_Risin
Wow he's only 29! It's about time the Leafs pulled off one of
these deals where they don't give up much. We are usually
watching other teams do this.
We have some old guys to cut loose somehow.
Well, he is 22 years older than him....
Pretty much towers over him too....
Most people forget that about Lemieux, for as amazingly talented as he is, he's done it at 6'5"....
Unlike Gretzky, at 6 feet even....
Yeah...Lemieux certainly had a size advantage...that's for sure...
God that picture makes me laugh whenever I see it...
Mario off to check is portfolio...
crosby to a mirror to pick a zit...
lmfao...
Sure hope they can sign Malkin....
Fortunate thing is, both Crosby and Malkin have the same agent....
They reported that Malkin's Russian coach is saying he thinks he'll stay in Russia...
Duh, of course he's gonna say that...
Show me the rubles !!!!!
Since when did these RUSSIAN teams start paying big money?:confused:\
I hear the SABRES' MAX AFINOGENOV might stay in his home country as well. Less hitting, longer career. Who wouldn't go for that?
Last edited by Nickdfresh; 07-30-2005 at 07:58 PM.
Originally posted by Full Bug
By why did the salaries go up FB? Because the free market allowed it. The owners, after listening to Bettman, thought the League was going to blow up like the NBA & NFL. Remember the skating Robots on FOX?!? THe TV ratings never materialized, leaving the small market teams, once again, holding the bag.
The BIG owners finally got put in thier place by the small market teams: SHARE OR NO NHL.
Heard some interesting (but very good) news last night on Pittsburgh Sports Tonight....
They may actually have to cut off season ticket sales at the Igloo, so that there will be ample opportunity to buy smaller packages, or individual game sales....
Just amazing what one lucky bounce of the ping pong ball will do for ya...
Hey Bugger, plenty of room for you on the Penguins bandwagon !!!!
Seems like you Leafs fans are losing abOOt all of your players....
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp...37&hubName=nhl
Panthers sign Nieuwendyk and Roberts
The Florida Panthers signalled the NHL's new era Monday by outbiding the Toronto Maple Leafs as the free-agent market opened with more tire kicking than actual signings.
The Panthers kicked off the free-agent period by signing veteran forwards Joe Nieuwendyk and Gary Roberts, long-time buddies who will play together on an NHL team for the third time.
It didn't take long for the Leafs to get their first taste of the new economic order, unable to match the two-year, $4.5-million US deals each player got from Panthers GM Mike Keenan.
"There were parameters with which we were working that didn't meet their needs," Leafs GM John Ferguson said Monday night from his Air Canada Centre office. "They made a decision in their best interest."
Meanwhile, the tantalizing free-agent duo of Markus Naslund and Peter Forsberg began shopping their services. Whether or not they can package themselves together remains to be seen.
"Markus's approach has always been `Who wouldn't want to play with Peter Forsberg?"' Naslund's agent Mike Gillis said. "But there has to be some things that need to come together for that to happen. We'll have to wait and see."
The New York Rangers are believed to be interested in the pairing although they certainly weren't the only team inquiring about Naslund on Monday.
"There's been tremendous amount of interest in him," said Gillis, who added that Vancouver was still in the mix to resign its captain. "We're going to be patient. When it begins to really catch fire it'll go quickly."
The agent for unrestricted free agent Scott Niedermayer was also a busy man Monday, the No. 1 defenceman on the market getting his fair share of calls.
"We've talked to at least 14 teams today," Kevin Epp said from his North Vancouver office. "Some of them are just wanting to see what the market might be.
"Some of them were just tire kicking, no real offers made today. I don't think there's any front-runners at this point. Out of the 14 teams, there's probably 10 legitimate possibilities though."
Other moves Monday:
- The Edmonton Oilers traded winger Brad Isbister to the Boston Bruins in exchange for a fourth-round draft pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft. In 51 games with the Oilers during the 2003-04 season, Isbister had 10 goals, eight assists and 54 penalty minutes.
- The Minnesota Wild signed unrestricted free-agent tough guy Andrei Nazarov. The 31-year-old had 125 penalty minutes in 33 games with the Phoenix Coyotes in 2003-04.
- The Los Angeles Kings signed unrestricted free-agent winger Tom Kostopoulos, 26, to a two-year deal.
The Leafs, meanwhile, were clearly outbid by the Panthers, something that wasn't possible under the old collective bargaining agreement when Toronto was among the biggest free-agent spenders. But the Leafs have about $9 million left of cap room and need to sign about seven players. They simply could not afford what the Panthers gave the veteran duo.
"Our discussions with Toronto were positive and right up until the end it was just as likely that they would be able to stay there," said Rick Curran, the agent for both players. "After the noon starting time (for free agency), I had almost immediately two proposals sitting on my desk from other teams.
"I had a further conversation with Toronto. It reached the point where the boys had to make a decision on what they wanted to do going forward."
And that was Florida, which anted up with $2.25-million salaries.
"It really wasn't a financial decision," Nieuwendyk said on a conference call, although he admitted, "clearly the terms of the deal I'm awfully excited about."
Roberts was slated to earn $3.75 million during the wiped-out 2004-05 season while Nieuwendyk was at $3 million. The long-time friends and teammates in both Toronto and Calgary were unrestricted free agents.
Roberts, 39, played four years with the Leafs and had 28 goals and 20 assists in 72 games in 2003-04.
The 38-year-old Nieuwendyk played just the one year in Toronto, scoring 22 goals and adding 28 assists in 64 games and making a huge impact in the playoffs in which he had six goals in nine games.
Keenan made the first plunge into free agency on a day where agents and GMs burned up the phone lines. Everyone is trying to figure out what exactly is the new market.
"You try to get a feel for what the market might bear," said Keenan. "It's certainly a complete unknown at this time. But you do have relationships with agents. I've known Rick Curran for a long time.
"There's has to be a level of trust when he says there are other offers at a `X' amount of dollars. I have to believe him."
Still, there seemed to be hesitation from both sides Monday.
"A lot of teams are expressing their interest and asking that we call them when it begins to happen," said Gillis, who also represents unrestricted free agents Bobby Holik, Mathieu Schneider and Pavol Demitra, among others. "Which is par for the course, everyone is dealing with a new world out there and no one is eager to make a mistake."
Roberts and Nieuwendyk were the first in a long list of unrestricted free agents to sign.
Among those available are Forsberg, Naslund, Mike Modano, Alexei Kovalev, Demitra, Ziggy Palffy, Holik, Alexei Zhamnov, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne. The defencemen are led by Niedermayer, Adam Foote, Sergei Gonchar, Brian Leetch, Derian Hatcher, Brian Rafalski, Mathieu Schneider, Mike Rathje, Roman Hamrlik and Adrian Aucoin.
Added to that is an already flooded market because of a large number of players who weren't tendered qualifying offers, therefore making them unrestricted free agents.
That list includes Miroslav Satan, who was cut loose by the Buffalo Sabres, as well as Martin Skoula (Anaheim), Ville Nieminen (Calgary), Bryan Berard (Chicago), Richard Park (Minnesota), Jason Ward (Montreal), Vladimir Orszagh (Nashville), Dan Blackburn (N.Y. Rangers), Martin Prusek (Ottawa), Brian Boucher (Phoenix) and Brad Lukowich (Tampa Bay).
http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=132133
Oilers trade Isbister to Bruins
EDMONTON (CP) - The Edmonton Oilers traded forward Brad Isbister to the Boston Bruins Monday in exchange for the Bruins' fourth-round draft pick in the 2006 NHL entry draft.
In 51 games with the Oilers during the 2003-04 season, Isbister had 10 goals, eight assists and 54 penalty minutes.
''Brad is a solid winger who brings good size to our forward lines,'' Bruins general manager Mike O'Connell said in a statement. ''We're happy to have him on our team.''
Isbister, 28, was originally drafted by the Winnipeg Jets with the 67th overall pick in the 1995 NHL entry draft. The 6-foot-4, 231-pound Edmonton native split his first three pro seasons between Phoenix and its AHL affiliate in Springfield. He spent three-plus seasons with the New York Islanders before being dealt to the Oilers in March, 2003.
Isbister has recorded 93 goals and 90 assists for 183 points with 517 penalty minutes in 409 career NHL regular-season games. He has one goal and two assists for three points with 31 penalty minutes in 14 career playoff games.
Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
LOL....
Not surprised they didnt get Roberts, but was surprised and dissappointed about Nieuwendyk...
The LEAFS will being picking up MIRO SATAN I bet. The SABRES just cut 'em loose.
Flyers set for 'multiplayer announcement'
TSN.ca Staff
The Philadelphia Flyers are set to make a big splash in the free agent market on Tuesday.
Amid reports the team had come to terms with defencemen Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje, the Flyers say a "multiplayer announcement" would be made on Tuesday.
After losing out in the Adam Foote sweepstakes, it appears general manager Bob Clarke has turned his sights to Hatcher, who was bought out last week by the Detroit Red Wings.
"Well, we've got a lot of lines in the water and we'll just have to see how it goes," Clarke tells the Philadelphia Daily News while refusing to specify which players the team is after.
Aside from Hatcher and Rathje, the Flyers are said to have also targeted Adrian Aucoin and Brian Rafalski.
Agent Larry Kelly who represents Aucoin says they are no longer in the mix because their asking price was too high. TSN has learned that Aucoin has signed a four year deal worth $16-million with the Chicago Blackhawks.
Kevin Epp, the agent for free agent defenseman Scott Niedermayer, says he's disappointed the Flyers have not called. It's believed Niedermayer's reported $7-million asking price was just too high for Clarke.
Clarke has reportedly budgeted $6.5-million to try and shore up the Flyers glaring need for a big defenseman.
Yzerman signs one year deal with Detroit
Steve Yzerman looks set to finish his career where it all began, signing a one year contract with the Detroit Red Wings.
Terms were not immediately announced.
"I'm very pleased to have Steve resign for another season with the Red Wings," said general manager Ken Holland.
"I'm confident that he has a lot of great hockey left to play and his return, along with return of Red Wings hockey to Joe Louis Arena this fall is great news for our fans and our organization."
The 40-year-old, who was scheduled to earn $4.5 million US during the wiped-out 2004-05 season, was said to be contemplating retirement after suffering broken bones near his eye during the 2004 playoffs.
Yzerman, who has helped lead Detroit to three Stanley Cup championships, has a franchise-record 70 playoff goals and 181 points in his 21-season career with the Red Wings. In regular-season games, Yzerman has 1,721 points, trailing only Marcel Dionne, Ron Francis, Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Wayne Gretzky in league history.
Still lots of Free Agents around, but getting a little antzy....
Where are these signings that the Pens promised ??
The main players they're been targeting haven't been signed, I guess that's a good thing....
Even read one report that says they're going after Forsberg and Naslund (former Pen)....
Plus Neidermayer or Rafalski on Defense... P-Burgh TV is reporting they offered Rafalski 4 Mil a year for 4 years....
Looking at Khavibulin at the Goal...
We'll just see....
Re: Yzerman signs one year deal with Detroit
Originally posted by guwapo_rocker
THE CAP 'N' gets his "Farewell" tour!!!
Iginla to sign 3-year deal with Flames
Jarome Iginla is staying in Calgary - for the next three years.
The Flames have scheduled a news conference for 4:30 ET at which they are expected to announce the signing of Iginla to a three-year deal worth $21-million. Iginla was a restricted free agent.
Calgary has been active in the early days of the free agent signing period. After losing playoff hero Martin Gelinas, the Flames countered by signing Tony Amonte to a $3.7-million, two-year deal and Darren McCarty to a $1.6-million, two-year deal.
And the Leafs do nothing!!!
Thats good news, since Toronto isnt going to do anything but make the team worse this year I will be cheering on the Flames....
Yep!!
We're back to the Ballard days it looks like.
Penguins sign Gonchar to $25-million deal
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sergei Gonchar, the NHL's highest-scoring defenceman over the last six seasons, agreed Wednesday to a $25-million US, five-year contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins - the team's first big-ticket signing in eight years.
With No. 1 draft pick Sidney Crosby on the way, an NHL salary cap in place and the twice-bankrupt franchise now on better financial footing, general manager Craig Patrick promised 10 days ago the Penguins would be active in free agency for the first time in years.
Gonchar, 31, would seem to be a perfect fit for a team that plans to rebuild what once was the NHL's highest-scoring offence now that the league plans to enforce obstruction rules and encourage offence.
Known for his passing skills and hard slap shot, Gonchar had 148 goals and 277 assists in 669 career games. Despite having a disappointing 2003-04 season - he had a career-low 11 goals in 71 games - he led NHL defencemen with 47 assists. He was the first Russian-born defensemen to score 20 goals in a season, netting 21 with Washington in 1998-99.
New Jersey's Scott Niedermayer was considered to be the top defencemen on the market, and he is expected to command a salary between $6 million and $7 million. Gonchar was thought to be on the next level, on par with or slightly above Adam Foote - who signed a three-year, $13.8 million deal with Columbus - and Adrian Aucoin, who agreed to a four-year pact with Chicago worth $16 million.
"Sergei had interest from numerous clubs over the past two days. The market for defencemen accelerated very quickly Monday night and all day Tuesday," J.P. Barry, Gonchar's agent, said Wednesday. "We had several teams interested, but from a hockey perspective Pittsburgh was clearly the best fit for Sergei. When we were able to finalize the compensation, it was an easy decision."
Gonchar, long a Penguins antagonist while with the Washington Capitals, has 113 goals and 213 assists since the 1998-99 season. After nine seasons in Washington, Gonchar was dealt to the Bruins late in the 2003-04 season and was offered a four-year by Boston last month. He had won a $5.5 million arbitration award for the 2004-05 season, which wasn't played due to the NHL labour dispute. He made $3.65 million in 2003-04.
With Crosby's arrival pumping up ticket sales - the Penguins have sold thousands of season tickets since winning the draft lottery July 22 - and restoring interest in a team that has missed the playoffs for three consecutive seasons, the team felt it could afford to re-enter the free agent marketplace.
Since signing former NHL scoring champion Jaromir Jagr to a $38 million contract extension in 1998, the team went into bankruptcy, then spent most of three seasons shedding players it could no longer afford, including Jagr, Alex Kovalev, Martin Straka, Robert Lang and Darius Kasparaitis.
Owner-player Mario Lemieux, who bought the team after the bankruptcy filing, also is selling the franchise, to San Jose-based businessman William (Boots) Del Biaggio - a move that should also improve the struggling team's finances.
The Penguins reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2000-01 after Hall of Famer Lemieux unexpectedly ended a 44-month retirement but has failed to reach the playoffs since. The Penguins lost 18 consecutive games and had the league's worst record during the 2003-04 season.
Coincidentally, Gonchar left the Capitals late in the 2003-04 season during a Penguins-like burst of salary shedding that included the departures of Jagr and Lang, who had come to the Capitals after Pittsburgh began downsizing its payroll, and team career scoring leader Peter Bondra.
And the Leafs do..........nothing!!!!!
Re: Penguins sign Gonchar to $25-million deal
GM ruining Leafs
So far, Ferguson out to lunch in new NHL
By STEVE SIMMONS
JOHN FERGUSON hasn't looked so cool with how he has handled some of the Maple Leafs' affairs. (Michael Peake, SUN files)
TWO DAYS into the brave new hockey world and already John Ferguson's reputation is taking a pounding.
What, players and agents are wondering, is the general manager of the Maple Leafs doing?
The answers, however varied, are not encouraging.
Ferguson's clumsy handling of negotiations with Gary Roberts and Joe Nieuwendyk -- where he attempted to have close friend Roberts undercut close friend Nieuwendyk -- sent a cryptic message to those within the industry. And then, to follow that up with a desperation offer to Nieuwendyk, after first trying an end run on him, only demonstrated his own inexperience in deal making.
Players talk. Word gets around fast. The Leafs have suddenly become an exit ramp instead of a destination. Those who play for the team and those who want to play for the team now wonder amongst themselves about the lack of buyouts, about free-agent qualifying offers, about a team that appears to be heading nowhere.
There were 57 messages on Roberts' cellular phone on Monday, almost of all them from players around the NHL. Not coincidentally, Adam Foote, hoping to play for the Leafs, signed a long-term contract in Columbus, where no one grows up dreaming of playing for the Blue Jackets.
Just last week, board chairman Larry Tanenbaum described the Leafs as the "No. 1 franchise in the National Hockey League." Today, we might demand a recount, as the No. 1 franchise is finding itself forced to dine out on other people's table scraps.
The way Ferguson has positioned this team in the post-lockout NHL has one wondering exactly why Pat Quinn was replaced as general manager in the first place.
Ferguson insisted the Leafs would be competitive this coming season. He has not wavered from that stance. But how is that going to be possible?
Ferguson has said he had a plan heading into the re-establishment of the NHL, but no plan is evident. And the notion that he is clearing cap room to take a run at younger free agents a year from now makes nice logic if: a) you believe it; b) you think players such as Vinny Lecavalier, Joe Thornton and Jarome Iginla won't be signed long term by then; c) he has the foresight and long-term confidence to write-off an entire season and deal with the fall-out from that.
The largest problem for the Leafs is how little money they have and how the player market -- post lockout -- hasn't corrected itself as much as many expected it to. Conventional wisdom was there would be a significant drop in player contract values in the new economic world.
So far, that hasn't been the case.
Quality defenceman such as Foote, Adrian Aucoin, Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje have all signed in the $3-million to $4-million range per season. That's more money than even some optimistic of agents were banking on.
Yesterday, quality forwards but not star players such as Glen Murray, Bobby Holik and Pavol Demitra all signed contracts for more than $4 million a season. Which is out of the Leafs' price range because of the way they've bungled their cap situation.
With only a maximum of $9 million left to spend -- and remember, the Leafs and every team have to leave some room available in order to make moves during the season -- Ferguson has the ability to sign one reasonably priced player and not much more than that.
So he will gamble on Jason Allison, who hasn't played a full season in four years and he will hope. And he likely will gamble on Eric Lindros, who he can afford because Lindros missed 100 days of hockey last time there was a season and qualifies for performance bonuses and he will hope.
The No. 1 team in hockey, built on gambling, hoping and inexperience.
A year ago, the Leafs had Nieuwendyk and Roberts and Alexander Mogilny and Owen Nolan and Brian Leetch and Tie Domi -- all of them real pros -- on a team that wasn't considered good enough.
How is John Ferguson going to fix that now?
Yep, read that over a beer after work.
The thing with Simmons though, is that he is buddies with Roberts.
But there are valid points in that article.
I prefer Al Stachan the writer from the Sun myself...
HOLY FUCK!!!!!!!!!!
Flyers land Forsberg
Peter Forsberg is going back where he started. TSN has learned that the Philadelphia Flyers have signed Forsberg to a two-year deal worth $10.7 million.
Forsberg will get $5.7 million in the first year of the deal and $5.0 in the second year.
The aquisition of Forsberg puts the Flyers over the NHL's salary cap, but GM Bob Clarke expects to make a trade within the next two days to get back under the league's financial limit.
The player most likely to go is veteran Jeremy Roenick, with NHL sources suggesting he is about to be moved to the L.A. Kings.
Forsberg was orginally drafted by the Flyers, 6th overall, in 1991. He was then traded to the Quebec Nordiques in the Eric Lindros deal in 1992 before ever playing a game with Philadelphia.
Forsberg has 741 points in 580 NHL games. He was considered the top forward available in this off-season's free agent crop.
AND THE FUCKING LEAFS DO.......NOTHING!!!!
We're done....toast...it's over before it began....again.
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