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KLYD's Closet at Fort Collins High School: Spotlight on High School Entrepreneurship
by Nick Scheidies
JuniorBiz wouldn't exist if we felt that the public school system was already giving kids a fair chance to explore entrepreneurship. Most schools in the U.S. don't even try.
But Cathy Hettleman has taken on the challenge. She is the new coordinator of ACE Transitions at Ft. Collins High School (FCHS) in Ft. Collins, Colorado.
ACE is a program that has traditionally helped kids develop career skills through special programs and internships. It's also traditionally full of students who don't fit the 'straight-A' mold. Since Cathy started at the beginning of the year, four of her 18 students have already dropped out of high school.
KLYD's Closet is Born
But the remaining students have proven that high school is a great place to dive into entrepreneurship. They've started a consignment store to sell used, donated, or unclaimed doodads – everything from iPods to old VHS tapes. The only space the school would give the students was a storage closet, so they named their store KLYD's Closet.
Says Cathy, "I was even surprised we got a closet."
Since opening in November of 2009, KLYD's Closet hasn't exactly been a cash-cow, but it has quietly sold a growing stream of products. The store gives the school a way to get rid of its lost-and-found items, it gives the students a chance to buy products on the cheap during passing periods, and it gives the ACE kids a chance to learn about business by managing and operating one first-hand.
For all this, KLYD's Closet recently won the 'Career Education Project of the Year' award in the Poudre Valley School District. Cathy plans on using the profit from the project (about $800, so far) to give her students and the ACE program more opportunities to grow.
A Closer Look at an ACE Student
While I was chatting with Cathy, we were lucky enough to be joined by James, a senior at FCHS. With long hair and a black 'Slayer' t-shirt, some people would guess that his greatest talent was head-banging.
Not so. James was using his class time to create a survey for fellow classmates. It was market research for his grand entrepreneurial plan: bringing in a pair of old-school arcade machines into KLYD's Closet. At $150 per console and 50 cents per play, James had already calculated how much students would have to play the games during passing periods in order for the revenue to top expenses.
For James, entrepreneurship started with a passion for videogames. He has been buying used videogames at stores, pawn shops, and KLYD's Closet – then flipping them on eBay and Craigslist for big profit. In one case, James bought 'Chrono Trigger' (a 15 year old Super Nintendo game) for $1.00 and sold it back for $50.00.
By using his videogame expertise, James demonstrates what high school kids are capable of accomplishing when somebody gives them the chance.
Where does KLYD's Closet go from here?
James is just one of 14 students in the ACE program – and they all have unique skills and ideas. Cathy makes a point to encourage all of them. "If they come to me with an idea, I say, 'Try it'. The word 'no' is the worst word for these kids," she said.
One fresh idea is to resell the slightly wilted or damaged flowers that grocery stores often throw out. The manager of a local Safeway offered to donate imperfect flowers so that ACE could set up a flower shop at FCHS, in a now-defunct security area near the cafeteria.
When you can make money out of something that other businesses just throw away, then you know you're thinking entrepreneurially. But the flower shop is just one of many ideas for the program to grow; Cathy eventually hopes to make KLYD's Closet an LLC, give students a cut of any profit, and start a clothing shop in a dusty corner of the school library.
KLYD's Closet with Cathy Hettleman and Patty Daniels
At JuniorBiz, we're always excited to see educators introducing their students to entrepreneurship. We wish the best of luck to Cathy Hettleman, her students, and all of their entrepreneurial endeavors!
Do you want your high school entrepreneurship program to be spotlit on JuniorBiz.com? Contact us detailing what you're up to, how you're doing it and we will get back to you shortly.
Tagged as: High School Spotlight, Video Games
Article by Nick Scheidies
Nick has been working as a freelance writer, editor, and designer since he graduated cum laude from Colorado State University in May of 2009, with a degree in English. He has recently started his own company at WeAreNewborn.com after becoming immersed in entrepreneurship.
Nick has written 2 article(s) for JuniorBiz.com.
Visit Nick Scheidies's site
Written and Passed Through Congress: JJ Entry #6 0
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Catherine Cook Interview: myYearbook at $20 Million at 20 33
Giveaway: Kidpreneurs Book and a Review 6
Keith J. Davis Jr. Interview: Entrepreneur of All Trades 39


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Pine Gap: an historical perspective on Australia's intelligence-sharing partnership with the United States in a time of political change
MHHV > Articles > War, Society, Memories, Commemoration and Heritage > Pine Gap: an historical perspective on Australia's intelligence-sharing partnership with the United States in a time of political change
Royal United Services Institute
A paper based on an address to RUSI on 30 July 2019 by David Rosenberg.
The Australia-United States Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap near Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory, was established in 1970. Mr Rosenberg explains what the facility does, providing an insider's perspective on the intelligence-collection operations; and why the facility is located at Pine Gap. He emphasises that, since 1980, intelligence collection has been an equal partnership between Australia and the United States and concludes that Pine Gap is likely to remain a part of the United States-Australia intelligence partnership well into the future.
Perhaps no other relationship in Australian history has been as controversial as the presence of the Joint Defence Facility at Pine Gap just outside Alice Springs. Established by a treaty signed in 1966 during the short time when Harold Holt was Prime Minister2, it became operational on 19 June 1970 with the launch of its first satellite, codenamed Rhyolite.
For Australians, Pine Gap has always been shrouded in secrecy, with misleading initial claims that it existed to conduct 'upper atmospheric research', a vague term that avoided disclosing its true mission: using satellites to intercept wireless transmissions from the former Soviet Union.
Opposition to Pine Gap began early in its history, with concerned citizens protesting about Canberra's lack of access to the intelligence gathering going on there. Around 1980, though, this situation changed when Australian officers were given equivalent roles to United States personnel and the position of Deputy Chief – to be held by an Australian – was established, commencing the joint American-Australian leadership structure at 'The Base', as it is known internally. Protests would continue, however. Fears held included that Pine Gap (and Alice Springs) was a target for America's nuclear-armed adversaries; there were claims that it was being used to direct drone strikes that were causing civilian deaths; and a further claim that its intelligence-gathering role in the United States-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 caused many more civilians to be killed. Nevertheless, The Base continued to quietly perform its role, gaining in size and importance as satellite technology became increasingly more complex.
Unsurprisingly, Pine Gap maintains a low profile and remains unknown to many Australians, particularly younger generations, although information about it is readily available on the internet. And it appears in news stories from time to time, most sensationally when former U.S. National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden exposed the U.S. National Security Agency's domestic surveillance programme – a development that launched a worldwide debate about the legality of governments seeking to access individual personal and/or telecommunications information. It is, therefore, important that Australians know more about Pine Gap: its purpose; what it does; what it does not do. In this paper, I shall endeavour to answer these questions.
The Joint Facility And The Intelligence Benefit
Pine Gap is an intelligence-collection facility located in Alice Springs. In the news, it only appears occasionally, usually during publicised protests against its presence. These tend to occur when rumours link its capabilities to an offensive military action involving civilian casualties. These rumours, in turn, cause journalists or conspiracy theorists to express concern over Australian culpability in this action. Intelligence from Pine Gap, however, is not used in isolation, and The Base has no capability or responsibility in making decisions to initiate offensive strikes.
Although it is sometimes reported that innocent civilians have been killed in operations such as drone strikes, the information and intelligence contributed by Pine Gap in any such scenario is used to minimise harm and eliminate the unnecessary deaths of noncombatants. To achieve this goal, electronic intelligence normally is fused with human intelligence, overhead imagery, and any other available source of relevant information.
In fact, most of the signals intelligence collected at Pine Gap is associated with weapons testing and communications systems, and, although The Base supports military operations, it only has a passive role in collecting signals intelligence. It does not play a tactical role in any offensive military missions and its target countries are all outside the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing community of the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and their territories. Pine Gap conducts surveillance on countries that produce weapons that may be used against the United States and Australia, such as Russia, China, Iran and North Korea, or on communication systems that might help to identify individuals who pose a threat, such as those in a terrorist network.
Pine Gap also may be tasked to collect signals that are a threat to the United States or Australia, such as communication signals linked to the Iraqi leadership prior to, during, and after the initial Gulf War in 1991; weapons-related signals, such as radars, that are used to guide surface-to-air missiles into their targets; and telemetry on board weapons undergoing testing and development. The Base was on the frontline of intelligence collection during the fall of South Vietnam, the end of communism in some regions, the two wars in Iraq, the Balkans conflict, Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda, the war on terror, and the emergence of Islamic State.
The facility is jointly led by the Chief, an American, and the Deputy Chief, an Australian, who share the equivalent executive rank. A phrase often quoted to describe the shared decision-making at Pine Gap is that everything is done with the 'full knowledge and concurrence' of the Australian and United States governments. Both countries can equally and equitably task Pine Gap to collect signals intelligence, but the bulk of the tasking comes from the United States as its military is larger and has a greater global presence. In spite of this, both countries have equal access to signals intelligence collected by the Pine Gap satellites, regardless of which country has tasked the collection, a situation that has existed since the 1980s when Australians were granted access to The Base's signal processing centre.
This level of intelligence sharing has produced an enduring relationship – there are no secrets within the walls of Pine Gap regarding any signals intelligence collected by the Pine Gap satellites, a situation that has fostered a trusting, collaborative and co-operative environment between the two countries at Pine Gap. It is at the heart of Australia's intelligence-sharing partnership with the United States. The mission also comes at an incredibly low financial cost to Australia, last disclosed as $14 million in 2011-20123. For that small amount, Australia's security benefit is immense – Australia may task Pine Gap to collect information on anything it believes is necessary for its security. Some information may be unique to Pine Gap, and so The Base remains a crucial part of Australia's defence strategy.
The Need For Satellites
When Pine Gap was initially constructed, its mission was to collect intelligence from the Soviet Union, the United States' most powerful adversary in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. The Soviet Union was a closed landmass to the West that spanned 11 time zones. Electronic intelligence from the interior of the Soviet Union was typically only accessible by aircraft over -flying its airspace, or, alternatively, developing satellite technology that could more safely collect data and relay it down to the ground site without risk to personnel or aircraft.
The U2 spy plane frequently overflew the Soviet Union, taking photographs and utilising electronic eavesdropping equipment, but when Francis Gary Powers was shot down on one of these missions on May Day 1960, the United States realised it needed an alternative to the U2 or risked more shoot downs. Satellites could close the intelligence gaps with the Soviet Union by safely collecting electronic signals, transmitting them to a ground site, analysing and interpreting them, and presenting the results to intelligence planners. Importantly, the capability of satellites was needed, because weapons testing primarily occurred well within the border of the Soviet Union. Collecting signals intelligence associated with these tests was a main objective of Pine Gap.
The Decision To Select Alice Springs
So, why select the small town of Alice Springs in remote inland Australia to host the ground site for such new, sophisticated satellites? Politically, the choice of a location in Australia to host the ground site for the satellites, from an Australian perspective, was wise, as it would help to solidify the post-World War II alliance with the world's most powerful country. From a United States perspective, Australia was a trusted ally. There was already a defence agreement in place between the two countries, both countries being signatories to the ANZUS Pact of 19514. More importantly, Australia had signed the United Kingdom-United States of America Signals Intelligence Sharing Agreement in 19565, making Australia a member of the eventual Five Eyes community. This treaty formed the basis for signals-intelligence sharing between the two countries, but, as most Australians know, the bedrock of the alliance with the United States goes much deeper than simply signed agreements. It has been an historically supportive, continuing and enduring relationship between the two countries – one that is ever present in spirit and kinship, the countries having gone into battle together and its soldiers having died alongside one another as brothers-in-arms.
Australia's geographic location on the opposite side of the globe to the United States also played a significant role in the selection of Alice Springs to host the new ground site. A ground site on the Australian land mass could maintain 24 hours a day/7 days a week coverage of a satellite that can see into the western part of the Soviet Union. This is not possible from the continental United States as Russia is on the other side of the globe.
But Australia had many more hospitable places for the Americans to construct its ground site, so why choose Alice Springs? Firstly, it is an established town with schools, organised sporting activities, entertainment and an infrastructure that could support the Americans who moved there, particularly families with children. It is also remote and isolated and had a relatively low population in the late 1960s – around 6000 to 7000 people. From a security perspective, this was acceptable to the United States government, because a location with few people would constitute less of a security risk than would a location with many people, as the latter would more readily enable a person who posed a risk to The Base to blend into the crowd. The relatively low population made the detection of threats more likely, e.g. of someone setting up an operation to tap into the beam being transmitted down to the ground site by the satellites; or of someone who might be there to collect information about The Base or about the people who work at Pine Gap.
From the town's perspective, Pine Gap has provided a 'second-stream' economy to Alice Springs, helping the town to grow and prosper with the millions of dollars spent each year by Americans who moved to Alice Springs, and by locals who were hired to work at The Base or in support jobs. Regardless of protests against Pine Gap throughout the years, the town of Alice Springs has always supported The Base's presence due in part to the economic support provided to the town by Pine Gap and to the good relationship that continues to exist between the townspeople and the Americans.
Politics And The Future Of Pine Gap
The leadership of the United States and Australia will determine the future direction of Pine Gap. The current agreement permitting Pine Gap to remain operating now requires one country to give the other three-years' notice6 to terminate operations at the joint facility. Previously, the facility's presence had been renewed at ten-year intervals7. Only once in its history has there been serious consideration by the Australian government of terminating the operations at Pine Gap – during the prime-ministership of Gough Whitlam in the early 1970s.
As communications technology advances and broadens, and the use of various social media platforms expands, lawmakers and the laws that govern communication intelligence may not always be able to keep pace with these rapid changes in how people communicate. This includes the oversight processes in place to regulate potentially intrusive communications surveillance.
When Edward Snowden released information showing that the U.S. National Security Agency was collecting what appeared to be excessive communication information on its own citizens, possibly in violation of United States law including the fourth amendment to the Constitution, public outrage and mistrust of the National Security Agency by United States citizens and some federal lawmakers reached a climax. Pine Gap, however, was not a part of this domestic eaves -dropping as the satellites do not collect communications information from the United States, Australia or other Five Eyes member countries or territories –directives and agreements limit its use of satellites to collecting electronic signals from outside these territories. In the 18 years the author worked inside operations at The Base, Pine Gap adhered to these agreements; and there were no plans in place that had been made known to the workforce to change the status quo.
Politically, this is the correct course for Pine Gap as it would be untenable for either country to utilise the Pine Gap satellites to collect communications from citizens or residents of either country. To do so would violate the very directives and agreements in place to prevent that from happening. In addition, it is highly unlikely that either country would allow individuals from the partner country to access communications informa – tion from its own citizens at Pine Gap. Preventing Pine Gap from collecting communication signals from United States and Australian citizens and residents has historically contributed to maintaining the trusting relationship that exists at Pine Gap, and this is unlikely to change.
The political and strategic relationship between the United States and Australia historically has been strong, enduring and based on long term goals. This has been true regardless of who has been prime minister or president. The relationship always has been stronger than one individual. Indeed, for almost five decades behind the scenes, Pine Gap has been helping to strengthen the ties that bind the United States and Australia as allies. Looking to the future, leaders will come and go in both countries. At any given time, though, the leaders of the day would be wise to value and to continue the special relationship at Pine Gap as it benefits the security of both countries.
So, Pine Gap's future seems assured, regardless of any individual leader's foreign policy ambitions. The United States and Australia will continue to need the intelligence collected by the satellites. Although no one can guarantee whether Pine Gap will still be there in 10 or 20 years, the satellites designed today are, and in the future will be, 'future-proofed', i.e. designed to detect signals the intelligence community is expecting, even while the technology to transmit these signals is yet to be developed. In short, Pine Gap is likely to remain a part of the United States-Australia intelligence partner ship well into the future.
The Author: David Rosenberg, an engineer, mathematician and electronics intelligence analyst, was a United States National Security Agency officer for more than 20 years. From 1990 to 2008, he was posted to the Joint Defence Facility, Pine Gap, where he was responsible for identifying, evaluating and reporting the military capabilities of countries that posed potential threats to the United States. He established an advanced training programme for new analysts in the signals intelligence community and managed teams that evaluated the function, capabilities, performance, and vulnerability assessment of all types of radar and weapon systems, such as surface-to-air missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and associated counter measure tactics and techniques. Subsequently, he wrote Pine Gap: the inside story of the NSA in Australia (Hardie Grant: Richmond, Victoria, 2018) and was a Technical and Creative consultant to the Netflix/ABC television series, Pine Gap, 2018.
Fraser, Malcolm, and Roberts, Cain (2014). Dangerous allies (Melbourne University Publishing: Melbourne).
Greenwald, Glenn (2014). No place to hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. surveillance state (Metropolitan Books: New York).
Hayden, Michael (2016). Playing to the edge: American intelligence in the age of terror (Penguin Press: New York).
Contact Royal United Services Institute about this article.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Movesets of a bunch of Jump Force DLC characters datamined
By:Anel Imsirovic
Published: 14:20, 27 February 2019
Updated: 19:45, 27 February 2019
Yami Yugi doesn't seem to stand a chance against Dai's sword skills.
A dataminer named Mizumi has managed to further datamine the Jump Force game files on PC. His findings have presented him with complete movesets of four upcoming DLC characters, with the likes of Seto Kaiba, All Might, Biscuit and Toshiro.
In addition to its existing roster of 40 playable characters, will be expanding its lineup with 9 additional fighters that will be added to the game as DLC. The first batch of the new fighters will reportedly be introduced in , and thanks to SergioM3's , we have a safe guess of who the DLC characters are going to be.
Apart from SergioM3, there are some other dataminers who have dug further into the game's files, such as a YouTuber named . Aside from finding the same DLC names as SergioM3, Mizumi has managed to find the complete movesets of four upcoming characters.
The fighters whose movesets Mizumi managed to find are Seto Kaiba from Yu-Gi-Oh!, Biscuit Krueger from Hunter X Hunter, All Might from My Hero Academia and Hitsuyaga Toshiro from Bleach. You can find the videos featuring the datamined movesets of said characters on Mizumi's .
According to this dataminer, the most complete moveset currently found in the game's files as far as DLC characters go, is that of Seto Kaiba. Using the character model of Yugi Muto - a fellow Yu-Gi-Oh! character - Mizumi was able to demonstrate all the movesets that Kaiba is going to be using once he joins the game.
Now of course, since this is only early datamining so far, there are no proper character models, no visual representations of special and ultimate moves, nor are there any sound files from Kaiba or the beasts he summons. We can only see the way the character model Mizumi picked moves and behaves, which gives us room to create our own assumptions as to what monsters and cards Seto Kaiba is going to be using in his battles.
Some are quite obvious though, for example, his Awakening move is evidently the summoning of Obelisk the Tormentor. This doesn't come as a surprise at all of course, as Obelisk is a god card that Kaiba owns, with Yugi owning the second one, Slifer the Sky Dragon, and Marik Ishtar owning the third and final card - the Winged Dragon of Ra.
Bandai Namco Jump Force
His other special moves include the summoning of his signature card, the Blue Eyes White Dragon, as well as a multiple-hit move that leaves the ground in flames upon impact. This could be the effect of Kaiba's Ring of Destruction card, which is essentially a fiery ring that wraps around its target and explodes.
Mizumi's also shows us Kaiba's light and heavy combos, as well as numerous other moves, such as his grabbing technique, high-speed dashes, counters and so on.
With Obelisk the Tormentor and his divine powers joining the fray, we wonder if we'll ever see Marik Ishtar and his celestial beast join the game's roster. After all, Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is being supported with additional DLC content to this day and that game came out in 2016, so nothing is impossible, right?
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20-Year-Old Brother of Josh Duggar is Running for Arkansas State House November 5, 2019 Hemant Mehta
20-Year-Old Brother of Josh Duggar is Running for Arkansas State House
Jed Duggar, one of the Duggar boys who's not that one, just announced his candidacy for Arkansas State Representative. The 20-year-old is running on a campaign of being pro-life, pro-gun, and apparently pro-irony.
… I'm a Christian and I will stand up for religious liberties.
I'm pro-life, and I will be an advocate for the unborn. And I will always defend our Second Amendment. With your prayer, support, and help, I look forward to serving you as a strong conservative voice in Little Rock.
In short, he's no different from every other while male Republican who runs for office in the South. What's interesting is that he plays down the whole connection with his family. Even his campaign website only says he's the "10th of 19 biological children"… which is an interesting way to avoid dwelling on the only reason anyone might be familiar with his name.
Can't blame him. I wouldn't want to be associated with a child molester either. (What's the campaign slogan? "Don't Google my family"?)
So why this race? In 2018, a Democrat, Megan Godfrey, won the seat by an extremely narrow margin: 1,859 – 1,830. She's vulnerable even as an incumbent.
But her résumé is lengthy. She's earning a Ph.D. She helps run English Language Learning for Fayetteville Public Schools. She passed legislation in a state where Republicans dominate the legislature. She's been an important voice in Arkansas politics.
Jed Duggar's main accomplishment appears to be his ability to parrot right-wing talking points by staring into a camera.
It wouldn't be the family's first foray into politics. His father, Jim Bob Duggar, was a member of the State House from 1999-2002. In 2014, his mother was the voice of a robocall to rally voters against a local non-discrimination ordinance. I repeat: The mother of Joshua F'ing Duggar said that protecting trans people would enable predatory behavior.
But those family connections don't mean he'd be a good representative. Voters would theoretically be putting their pensions and health care plans in the hands of someone who can't even legally drink. Not that age is a concern if we're talking about someone with serious knowledge of the issues, but Jed Duggar has yet to prove he has a grasp on them.
But he has a shot here. The amount of red in Arkansas can't be understated. It's not even close. The State House has 76 Republicans and 24 Democrats. The State Senate has Jason Rapert, who placed a Ten Commandments monument outside the Capitol, lawsuits be damned. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is rumored to be in the running for governor in the near future.
With that much ignorance in one building, Jed Duggar can't resist the pull to be a voice of conservative Christian conformity. Or maybe he just doesn't have very many other options.
Consider chipping in to Godfrey's campaign to help her defend one of the handful of blue seats in her state.
(via Raw Story)
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I love the Beach Boys and, for a sunshine and surfing band, they have quite a lot of Christmas songs. However, there are good reasons why you don't know most of them. This one, though, is properly great. I especially love the solemn refrain of "Christmas comes this time each year" – which is perfectly true, whichever way you look at it.


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TBT: When Gary Busey and Howie Mandel Starred in the Christian Thriller 'Apocalypse III: Tribulation'
Possibly because of the massive popularity of the Left Behind franchise, the Apocalypse series of the early 2000s has largely been forgotten.
Even though years later, a reboot of the Left Behind series would go on to star the likes of Nicolas Cage, Chad Michael Murray and Jordin Sparks, 2000's Apocalypse III: Tribulation still boasts one of the most random casts of all Christian end times' thrillers.
Fronted by Gary Busey, Howie Mandel and Margot Kidder (aka, Lois Lane in the '80s Superman movies), it is truly a strange, and extremely ambitious film, as you can see from the trailer below—which, warning, shows Gary Busey getting hit by an 18-wheeler.
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If you're having a slow afternoon, then we have good news: The entire film is now on YouTube.
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It's not rare for masterpieces to be stolen, but it is rare for them to be recovered! And this time Van Gogh fans can rejoice and be relieved as a stolen painting worth $50 million was recovered at a Cairo airport. Two Italian bandits were caught by the airport security as they were trying to flee the country. The painting in contention was flicked from the Mahmoud Khalil Museum in Cairo.
Known as "Poppy Flowers" or the "Vase with Flowers" the one foot high and one foot wide painting depicts yellow and red flowers and was painted by the illustrated artist in 1887, three years before he committed suicide. This is the second time that a Van Gogh art has been stolen, it happened for the first time in 1974, but the art was recovered a decade later.


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Twins Acquire Monroe From Cubs
Once upon a time, Craig Monroe was exactly the type of player that the Twins should be targeting. A minor-league veteran who didn't get his first extended chance in the majors until the age of 26, Monroe was claimed off waivers by the Tigers in 2002 and showed that his strong track record was no fluke by providing them with productive, low-cost seasons from 2003-2006. He's an example of the overlooked talent that's often available if you trust a player's minor-league performance.
Unfortunately, rather than go after a low-cost, mid-20s minor leaguer of their own who fits the Monroe mold, the Twins traded for the original version yesterday afternoon, sending a conditional player to be named later to the Cubs for his rights. Five years ago Monroe was in his prime and cost little, making him a good value. Now he's on the wrong side of 30 with production that has declined sharply over the past two seasons and is set to make around $5 million in 2008 via arbitration.
With that said, even after acquiring him the Twins aren't obligated to actually take Monroe to arbitration and hopefully the reasoning behind the trade was to simply give the Twins an exclusive negotiating window with him. The Cubs were going to non-tender him and the Twins could still do the same next month, so Monroe might be willing to accept a pay cut from last season's $4.8 million salary given that he's unlikely to get much interest on the open market.
In other words, by conditionally trading what figures to be at most a marginal prospect to the Cubs the Twins gave themselves a chance to talk privately with Monroe about accepting a lesser salary for 2008. If he agrees, then they pick up a useful role player for a reasonable price and lose the prospect. If he declines, then they can simply non-tender him next month at no monetary cost and be done with him while not giving the Cubs anything.
Indications are that the Twins have little interest in retaining Monroe for $5 million, which is good news considering that would be a mistake. Bill Smith no doubt wants to acquire a right-handed bat capable of adding power to a punchless, primarily left-handed lineup. Monroe fits that bill, with an average of 22 homers per 550 plate appearances during his career, but focusing on homers while overlooking the rest of his all-around game is the same error that they made with Tony Batista two offseasons ago.
To be clear, trading for and signing Monroe isn't akin to signing Batista, although it's interesting to note that his .256/.303/.446 career hitting line is nearly identical to Batista's .251/.299/.453 career mark. Monroe is a better player than Batista was when he signed with the Twins in 2006, but they're not totally dissimilar in that they both have low on-base percentages and mediocre defense that wipe away much of the value that comes from their power. Here are Monroe's season-by-season numbers:
YEAR       G      AVG      OBP      SLG      OPS     IsoP     IsoD
2003     128     .240     .287     .449     .736     .209     .047
Major-league left fielders as a whole batted .277/.347/.453 in 2007, which means that Monroe has been above average for his position offensively exactly once, back in 2004. In the three years since then he's hit just .254/.300/.439, including a career-worst .219/.268/.370 this season, which looks an awful lot like the ugly .246/.276/.365 hitting line that Rondell White posted for the Twins in 2006. Quite simply, Monroe is overmatched as an everyday player.
As a part-time player who's limited to starting against left-handers, Monroe has plenty of value to a team. For his career he's hit .273/.319/.495 versus southpaws, including .271/.309/.496 against them in 2007. On the other hand, he's hit just .249/.296/.425 against right-handers, including .194/.247/.308 against them in 2007. However, the Twins aren't (or at least shouldn't be) in a position to pay $5 million for someone who plays 2-3 times per week.
Even if Monroe bounces back to his pre-2007 level of performance--when he hit .263/.310/.461 prior to a career-worst season--the best-case scenario is essentially getting slightly below-average offensive production from a mediocre defender in left field. That's not worth $5 million to begin with for a team with a $75 million payroll and Monroe's secondary numbers suggest that the odds may be against that bounce back taking place.
YEAR      SO%     BB%
2003     19.4     5.5
Monroe has been swinging at everything dating back to his minor-league days and his walk rate has essentially remained unchanged from year to year. He draws a non-intentional walk about six percent of the time, which is basically the same walk rate that the free-swinging Torii Hunter posted during his 11 seasons in Minnesota. Monroe once managed a high enough batting average to somewhat make up for the lack of plate discipline, but that hasn't been the case over the past two years.
From 2001-2005, Monroe batted .266 while striking out in 17 percent of his plate appearances. Since then he's batted just .240 while striking out in 23 percent of his plate appearances. Increasing your strikeouts by 35 percent is a good way to go about lowering your batting average and his recent lack of contact is also perhaps a sign that Monroe isn't aging especially well upon entering his thirties. In other words, his decline looks real.
As a .270 hitter, Monroe's power is enough to make him a relatively valuable player despite little plate discipline or defensive value. As a .240 hitter, he eats up far too many outs for a corner outfielder who's mediocre defensively and can't make up for it by simply smacking 20 balls over the fence. As a fourth outfielder asked to hit against left-handers, Monroe is a good role player. As a starting outfielder asked to hit against everyone, Monroe is overmatched.
All of which is why Twins fans should hope that Smith made the trade with an eye toward getting Monroe to accept a pay cut for 2008. If the Twins can get him to agree to that--for example, let's say a one-year deal worth $2.5 million plus some incentives--then he's a solid bench bat capable of giving the lineup some much-needed right-handed pop against lefties. If instead the Twins intend to keep Monroe around at full price, then there are two options and neither of them are very good.
The first option is that the Twins plan to use Monroe as a platoon corner outfielder who'll play primarily against lefties, in which case they'll be utilizing him optimally while paying $5 million to fill a part-time role that can be filled rather easily for far less. The second option is that the Twins plan to use Monroe as an everyday player, in which case they'll be trotting out a starting left fielder who's well below par offensively about two-thirds of the time.
Whether it's significantly overpaying for a part-time player or sticking a sub par hitter in the lineup against right-handers, neither option is especially appealing. For now though, there's reason to believe that Smith wants nothing to do with Monroe at $5 million. "It gives us an opportunity to meet with his agent and talk about it by ourselves," Smith said of the trade. "I think that's a plus for us." Monroe can also be a "plus" for the Twins, but not at $5 million or as an everyday player.
Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.


Why am I in the ELCA?
The road to integration is an unforgiving assault on the hearts and minds of black clergy that serve in predominately white denominations. The continuous reshaping to make one's authenticity fit into another's warped shape of the Gospel becomes a perpetual task that tries to hijack one's sense of being. The tragedy of being present, in spaces, where my humanity is only confirmed by my acceptance to assimilation is a solidarity to injustice, which I refuse to accept.
It is clear that the many within the ELCA camp voted for Donald Trump. (Lenny Duncan wrote a good piece about it) I am left to wrestle with this problem, "Why I am in the ELCA?" Why do I continue to connect with people who are so opposed to equality, equity, and justice? I used to say it was a sense of calling to the mission fields of whiteness but now I stand bewildered beyond reasonable thought. The constant awareness of having to explain your presence is insulting. I was assisting with the officiating of a funeral at the church. It was a very small funeral so there were no ushers. I took the liberty to greet friends and family as they arrived. Well, as I was opening the door, a lady comes to the door and says, "I almost ran when I saw this big, black man standing at the door." Why am I in the ELCA?
Every day, it feels like the very essence of my being is sucked out of me. There are a lot of good people in the ELCA but there is no emotional safety. The task of naming and eradicating racism has been co-opted as racial reconciliation: the place where Black and Brown must become like us (white) instead of us becoming like them.
There were moments, when I thought that being in the ELCA was an honorable journey. I understood that it would be a hard road ahead, but I never considered the theological racism that masks itself as legacy and doctrine to be such a high mountain to climb. My faith has run out of faulty forgiveness that amounts to more opportunities to be dehumanized. I am tired of hearing that this is just how Lutherans are…The truth is that a Lutheranism that is still steeped 1517 rhetoric and liturgy never really had me in mind from the beginning.
Why am I in the ELCA? Well….


text:
Q: can we retrieving text messages from iPhone memory in iPhone sdk? hello friends  i just want to know that whether we can access or fetch or retrieve the text messages which are in iPhone memory so that we can make a PDF of these text messages.
Thanks for your help in advance.

A: No. It would be pretty bad from privacy and security standpoint if you were allowed to do that.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Daniel Sullivan served for over a decade as Aide to the Dean of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. He serves as Regional Representative to the United Nations Association Steering Committee and as North American Representative to the Youth Advisory Board of UN- HABITAT. Daniel is a Truman National Security Project Partner, Fellow of the New Leaders Council, and Volunteer at the Clinton Global Initiative. He received his ALB in Government from Harvard University Extension School, a Certificate in Health and Human Rights from the Harvard School of Public Health, and is a graduate of the Leadership for Change program at the Winston Center on Leadership & Ethics at Boston College. He is an Education Policy Fellow, American delegate to Young Turkey/Young America, and a Pundit at policymic.com. He hails from Plympton, Massachusetts.


soft heart by unremitting news of inhumanity.
with the fading shapes and figures frescoed on every wall.
your sorrow in warm flesh, bathe you in earth-green light.
Jean Morris lives in London, translates from French and Spanish, and thanks the Internet for a latish-life discovery of creative interests. Her recent online work includes an article on Reading in Translation, book reviews at Shiny New Books, translation at the Asymptote blog, photos and poems at Gnarled Oak and poems in Otata.


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