[AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Their superstar center sat out because of a stomach virus. So did their starting point guard. So did their top perimeter defender. So did their backup shooting guard.
Even the third-string power forward hurt his foot in the first half and did not return, leaving the Magic with just eight healthy players to face the Detroit Pistons.
The Magic beat the Pistons 104-91 anyway.]
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-magic-pistons-game-1204-20101203,0,1671556.story
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Prison Labor Clears Camps of Homeless Humans at Behest of Foreign Owners
[CHARLOTTE COUNTY - In the woods near the Port Charlotte Town Center mall, a weathered, plastic red and blue flowered wreath marks a path where sheriff's deputies and a prisoner crew will navigate heavy equipment to clean out 16 homeless camp sites today...
Charlotte County sheriff's officials emphasized the camps' "environmental hazards."
"It's a quality-of-life issue," said Billie Hatmaker, an environmental crimes investigator, nodding to the retail stores. "Look how close we are to businesses."
The county treats the abandoned camp sites as environmental hazards because of possible human waste, so Hatmaker is accompanied by an agent from the state Department of Environmental Protection to oversee the cleanup.
Charlotte officials cannot say where residents cleared from the dozens of camps have gone. But they draw a distinction between those who are chronically homeless and unwilling to accept help and those who are merely "homeless" and economically displaced.
There is a difference, deputies insist, and it has to do with alcohol and drugs.
"People with economic issues will normally accept our help," said Hatmaker.
That usually means referring people to the Charlotte County Homeless Coalition, the area's only shelter, which has room for 52 people and typically has a waiting list.
The county does not offer transportation.
Charlotte deputies have initiated the camp sweeps by tracking down property owners and giving them a choice: Sign an order that declares the campers trespassers, in which case the county offers to use prisoners to clean up the sites at no cost, or resist.
"If the owner won't agree, then it's a code enforcement issue" and county workers will clean it up and send a bill, Hatmaker said.
Tracking down landowners has involved international calls to people as far away as Hong Kong and Japan.
"Many of these people have bought the property sight unseen," he said, adding that they "are more than happy" for the cleanups...
He said the cleanups do not cost the county anything because officers work their normal hours and the prison labor is free.] Emphasis added
Friday, December 3, 2010
"Ron Santo: Remembering the quintessential Cub"
[Widely regarded as one of the best players never to make the Hall of Fame, he was perfect for Chicago
...In the case of Ronald Edward Santo, I'd spent a month with him in the summer of 2000, eating with him, watching him rage, witnessing him charm men and women alike, recoiling in horror as he'd bark at innocent passersby merely because he was teed off about something stupid his beloved Cubs had done. And in the 40 years he'd been associated with that silly baseball team, he'd been made mad by their stupidity more times than the world's combined computer capacity can calculate...
He had a long life, a great life. Played major league baseball. Was an All-Star. Had fun. Loved pizza. Made more money after he retired from the game than he made in it. Then, for the last two decades of his life, sat in the radio booth high above home plate, trying to will the Cubs to win. But he couldn't do it, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how loud he roared, no matter how broken his heart always was by that silly, stupid team. Maybe only an omnipotent deity can will the Cubs to win. Then again, it's possible even the creator of the universe lacks the power to bend nature's rules so much.
Yep, it was a great life, albeit one with two gaping holes in it, one very personal and the other shared with millions of Chicagoans and countless emigres thereof. Santo never made the Hall of Fame. And that silly, stupid team never even got to the World Series, much less won one.] emphasis added
This Guy Should Die: Hacker Responsible for 33 1/3 % of Spam
"Last month, Russia was the No. 1 source of spam in the world. It's probably because of Oleg Nikolaenko, a 23-year-old who was recentlyarrested for flooding the world with 10 billion spam emails a day.
Using a network of over 500,000 zombie computers known as the Mega-D botnet, Nikolaenko churned out 10 billion spam emails a day at the height of his operation. These advertised mostly counterfeit goods and herbal remedies--one Rolodex counterfeiter who was his client said he spent $2 million on spam advertising. But starting in 2007, the FBI began closing in on Nikolaenko. He was arrested on Nov. 4th, while in Las Vegas for a car show, and now faces a $250,000 fine and up to three years in prison."
RIP Ron Santo: "Wanted to have fun... and talk baseball"
[Legendary Chicago Cubs player and broadcaster Ron Santo died Thursday night in Arizona. He was 70.
Friends of Santo's family said the North Side icon lapsed into a coma on Wednesday before dying Thursday. Santo died of complications from bladder cancer, WGN-AM 720 reported.
"He absolutely loved the Cubs," said Santo's broadcast partner, Pat Hughes. "The Cubs have lost their biggest fan."
Hughes noted that with all the medical problems Santo had--including diabetes with resulting leg amputations, his heart and bladder cancer--"he never complained. He wanted to have fun. He wanted to talk baseball."]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-ron-santo-chicago-cubs-obit,0,1699814.story
Photos of Santo's life in baseball
Friends of Santo's family said the North Side icon lapsed into a coma on Wednesday before dying Thursday. Santo died of complications from bladder cancer, WGN-AM 720 reported.
"He absolutely loved the Cubs," said Santo's broadcast partner, Pat Hughes. "The Cubs have lost their biggest fan."
Hughes noted that with all the medical problems Santo had--including diabetes with resulting leg amputations, his heart and bladder cancer--"he never complained. He wanted to have fun. He wanted to talk baseball."]
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseball/cubs/chi-ron-santo-chicago-cubs-obit,0,1699814.story
Photos of Santo's life in baseball
Colleagues recall commitment of churchwomen slain in El Salvador
[By Laura Dodson
Catholic News Service
MELBOURNE, Fla. (CNS) -- Dec. 2 marks the 30th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, lay missionary Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, the four churchwomen of El Salvador who were savagely brutalized and killed for spreading the good news and teaching people to read and pray.]
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1004884.htm
The 38-year-old Filipina-American, a Boston-area anesthesiologist and mother of two, is among those who say the life, witness and martyrdom of Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan still hold meaning today.
Catholic News Service
MELBOURNE, Fla. (CNS) -- Dec. 2 marks the 30th anniversary of the martyrdom of Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel, lay missionary Jean Donovan and Maryknoll Sisters Maura Clarke and Ita Ford, the four churchwomen of El Salvador who were savagely brutalized and killed for spreading the good news and teaching people to read and pray.]
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1004884.htm
[The women won’t let us go'
Nov. 30, 2010
On Dec. 4, 1980, three Maryknoll sisters pray beside the bodies of the four American Catholic women who were kidnapped and slain two days before in El Salvador. (AP)
Isabel Legarda was only 8 years old when the abduction, rape and shooting death of four American churchwomen 30 years ago in El Salvador drew the world’s attention to the tiny Central American country, raised questions about U.S. support for rightist forces there, and inspired a movement of religious activism.
The 38-year-old Filipina-American, a Boston-area anesthesiologist and mother of two, is among those who say the life, witness and martyrdom of Ita Ford, Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Jean Donovan still hold meaning today.
Legarda has assembled a multiethnic and ecumenical mix of artists to perform next month in Boston the New England premiere of “Missionaries,” award-winning composer Elizabeth Swados’ choral drama based on the women’s letters, journals, lives and work.]
"Google Guilty of Trespassing"
Moral of the story: a $ litigated is a $ earned and liberty secured.
[DG News Service - After a legal battle that lasted two-and-a-half years, Google has been found guilty of trespassing on a Pennsylvania family's property to take photos of their property for its Maps website.
However, the penalty is nominal: Google will have to pay only US$1 to Aaron and Christine Boring, who sued Google in 2008, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.Earlier this week, Judge Cathy Bissoon, from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, wrapped up the case with a consent judgment, which means both parties agreed to the final resolution terms.
Back in 2008, the Borings charged Google with invading their privacy, acting negligently, being unjustly enriched and trespassing after a Google Street View car entered and photographed their Pittsburgh property -- which includes a private road leading to their house -- and the photo was published in the Maps site.
"This is one sweet dollar of vindication," the Borings said in a statement.The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2009, but the Borings appealed to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to the lower court.
A Google spokesman said via e-mail that the company welcomes the case's resolution. "We are pleased that this lawsuit has finally ended with plaintiffs' acknowledgement that they are entitled to only $1," he said.] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9199218/Update_Google_guilty_of_trespassing_in_Street_View_case?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-12-02
[DG News Service - After a legal battle that lasted two-and-a-half years, Google has been found guilty of trespassing on a Pennsylvania family's property to take photos of their property for its Maps website.
However, the penalty is nominal: Google will have to pay only US$1 to Aaron and Christine Boring, who sued Google in 2008, seeking compensatory and punitive damages.Earlier this week, Judge Cathy Bissoon, from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, wrapped up the case with a consent judgment, which means both parties agreed to the final resolution terms.
Back in 2008, the Borings charged Google with invading their privacy, acting negligently, being unjustly enriched and trespassing after a Google Street View car entered and photographed their Pittsburgh property -- which includes a private road leading to their house -- and the photo was published in the Maps site.
"This is one sweet dollar of vindication," the Borings said in a statement.The lawsuit was dismissed in February 2009, but the Borings appealed to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed the dismissal and sent the case back to the lower court.
A Google spokesman said via e-mail that the company welcomes the case's resolution. "We are pleased that this lawsuit has finally ended with plaintiffs' acknowledgement that they are entitled to only $1," he said.] http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9199218/Update_Google_guilty_of_trespassing_in_Street_View_case?source=CTWNLE_nlt_pm_2010-12-02
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
NCAA Myth of the Student Athlete
As 1 who had the blessed fortune for his family to reach FL before Disney started buying property for Disney World, have rooted for the Gators since age 10 in 1968.
The University of Miami ranks as my second favorite team because Howard Schnellenberger first went into the projects, the slums of Miami, to recruit black football players and allow them to get a college education.
Now, the whole country recruits in FL and Miami area in particular.
So now while the NCAA peddles the myth of the scholar athlete, the "U" has fired Randy Shannon, by all accounts a decent man and football coach, despite the fact his team has the second best graduation rate of teams in the Bowl Championship Series division.
"The U" has had only 6 players arrested since 2005 while UF (University of Felons) had 24 arrests of players in the same period.
[The University of Miami was right to fire Randy Shannon.
I wish college football wasn't a sham. I wish colleges didn't treat their football programs like corporations. I wish graduation rates mattered more and having a trouble-free program was considered a significant accomplishment.
I wish there was a place for coaches like Shannon, a decent man whose academic progress rate (APR) ranked third among Division I football coaches.] by Jemele Hill at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=5867137
[John Matuszak had a great moment in North Dallas Forty. "Every time I call it a game, you say it's a business," he rants to a coach. "Every time I say it's a business, you call it a game!"]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/sports/20100517/mccarthy17_st.art.htm
The University of Miami ranks as my second favorite team because Howard Schnellenberger first went into the projects, the slums of Miami, to recruit black football players and allow them to get a college education.
Now, the whole country recruits in FL and Miami area in particular.
So now while the NCAA peddles the myth of the scholar athlete, the "U" has fired Randy Shannon, by all accounts a decent man and football coach, despite the fact his team has the second best graduation rate of teams in the Bowl Championship Series division.
"The U" has had only 6 players arrested since 2005 while UF (University of Felons) had 24 arrests of players in the same period.
[The University of Miami was right to fire Randy Shannon.
I wish college football wasn't a sham. I wish colleges didn't treat their football programs like corporations. I wish graduation rates mattered more and having a trouble-free program was considered a significant accomplishment.
I wish there was a place for coaches like Shannon, a decent man whose academic progress rate (APR) ranked third among Division I football coaches.] by Jemele Hill at http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/commentary/news/story?id=5867137
[John Matuszak had a great moment in North Dallas Forty. "Every time I call it a game, you say it's a business," he rants to a coach. "Every time I say it's a business, you call it a game!"]
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/sports/20100517/mccarthy17_st.art.htm
Monday, November 29, 2010
"What will it take for you...to join us in fighting back?"
[Because let's face it, even if things are looking up just a little for some of us, and looking better than ever for Big Business, there are still millions of Davids, millions of thankless human question marks scattered across every corner of the American landscape this Thanksgiving.
Given such a situation, the real question mark for all working, out of work and middle class people who failed to vote in 2010 or who voted for Republican Party candidates, is this:
What will it take for you to put aside issues of race, religion, abortion, homosexuality, citizenship status, for you to overcome feelings of frustration, anger, apathy or hopelessness, for you to join the rest of us who are victims, just like you, of a Corporate-Republican war to impoverish, discard, divide and conquer us, for you to join us, in fighting back?
HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYBODY!] emphasis added
Found link at Beach Peanuts..
WTF Has Sarah Palin Done?
http://wtfhassarahpalindonesofar.com/1/
"Bashed Obama's health care bill while she herself admitted crossing over the border health care in Canada."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000152-503544.html
"Bashed Obama's health care bill while she herself admitted crossing over the border health care in Canada."
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20000152-503544.html
Sunday, November 28, 2010
"...If those professing religion shared the life of the poor..."
" … If those professing religion shared the life of the poor and worked to better their lot, and risked their lives as revolutionists do, and trade union organizers have done in the past, then there is a ring of truth about the promises of the glory to come. The cross is followed by the resurrection."
- Dorothy Day
Saturday, November 27, 2010
"Hunger Endures Despite Our Bounty "
[Good news.
An average of 17.7 percent of all Americans were at times unable to feed themselves in the 12 months prior to September of this year. That’s according to an analysis of data from the Gallup-Healthways Index, conducted and newly released by the Food Resource and Action Center, an advocacy group.
You may be wondering: In what universe does a 17.7 percent hunger rate qualify as good news?
In this one, actually.
That figure, after all, represents a slight drop from the average 18.5 percent rate recorded at the end of 2009. But even the smaller figure is hardly reassuring, given that it means just under 55 million Americans had to do without food at least occasionally.
Hunger endures. It seems a timely point to make as we enter upon that season wherein we express profound thankfulness by gorging on turkeys and hams and yams and greens, potatoes by the mound, dressing by the mountain, and groaning tables full of puddings, pies, cookies and cakes.
Hunger endures.
The point also seems salient given an often niggardly political environment in which it is common to hear people speak of poverty as a defect of birth or character, and an Andre Bauer — lieutenant governor of South Carolina — can get away with likening children who receive free and reduced price lunches to stray animals you feed at the back door.
Hunger endures.
And maybe, as your humble correspondent did once, you respond to that by spending some part of Thanksgiving at a shelter, ladling food onto paper plates held forth by less fortunate people. It makes you feel good — or at least, not so guilty about your relative plenitude. Just don’t think too hard about them, about where they will go when they leave this place, and how they will eat tomorrow.
Hunger endures.
“It’s great that people at this time of year make donations to food emergency charities,” said FRAC president Jim Weill. “But that’s ultimately not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is a better food-stamp program, better school lunch programs and a more robust economy which shares the prosperity more with struggling families.”
Hunger, said Weill, “existed unnecessarily before the recession and has gotten worse unnecessarily since the recession. As Congressman Jim McGovern says, hunger in America is a political condition. It’s not something that exists because of lack of food or lack of resources.”
And yes, some of us still view poverty as a sign of laziness. But as recent victims of the Great Recession will no doubt testify, reality does not conform to that stereotype.
People are poor because of untreated mental conditions or lack of education. They are poor because there are no jobs. They are poor because the jobs they do find don’t pay enough to live on.
You and I are often asked to care about the plight of people who are not like us. But this is different. After all, if you are not a member of some mistreated racial, religious or sexual subset, you can be reasonably certain you never will be.
But any of us can be poor. Some of us already are or have been. And any of us can be hungry. Some of us are just a crisis away. So while it’s all well and good to spend Thanksgiving ladling food at a soup kitchen and breathing that well-worn prayer about the grace of God, it might not be a bad idea to also drop a line to your elected representative and let her or him know you consider it unacceptable that children — and even their working parents — hunger in the richest nation on Earth.
To draw that line in the sand is to take the critical first step in becoming a nation where everybody eats.
And that would be very good news, indeed.
Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.] emphasis added
An average of 17.7 percent of all Americans were at times unable to feed themselves in the 12 months prior to September of this year. That’s according to an analysis of data from the Gallup-Healthways Index, conducted and newly released by the Food Resource and Action Center, an advocacy group.
You may be wondering: In what universe does a 17.7 percent hunger rate qualify as good news?
In this one, actually.
That figure, after all, represents a slight drop from the average 18.5 percent rate recorded at the end of 2009. But even the smaller figure is hardly reassuring, given that it means just under 55 million Americans had to do without food at least occasionally.
Hunger endures. It seems a timely point to make as we enter upon that season wherein we express profound thankfulness by gorging on turkeys and hams and yams and greens, potatoes by the mound, dressing by the mountain, and groaning tables full of puddings, pies, cookies and cakes.
Hunger endures.
The point also seems salient given an often niggardly political environment in which it is common to hear people speak of poverty as a defect of birth or character, and an Andre Bauer — lieutenant governor of South Carolina — can get away with likening children who receive free and reduced price lunches to stray animals you feed at the back door.
Hunger endures.
And maybe, as your humble correspondent did once, you respond to that by spending some part of Thanksgiving at a shelter, ladling food onto paper plates held forth by less fortunate people. It makes you feel good — or at least, not so guilty about your relative plenitude. Just don’t think too hard about them, about where they will go when they leave this place, and how they will eat tomorrow.
Hunger endures.
“It’s great that people at this time of year make donations to food emergency charities,” said FRAC president Jim Weill. “But that’s ultimately not going to solve the problem. What will solve the problem is a better food-stamp program, better school lunch programs and a more robust economy which shares the prosperity more with struggling families.”
Hunger, said Weill, “existed unnecessarily before the recession and has gotten worse unnecessarily since the recession. As Congressman Jim McGovern says, hunger in America is a political condition. It’s not something that exists because of lack of food or lack of resources.”
And yes, some of us still view poverty as a sign of laziness. But as recent victims of the Great Recession will no doubt testify, reality does not conform to that stereotype.
People are poor because of untreated mental conditions or lack of education. They are poor because there are no jobs. They are poor because the jobs they do find don’t pay enough to live on.
You and I are often asked to care about the plight of people who are not like us. But this is different. After all, if you are not a member of some mistreated racial, religious or sexual subset, you can be reasonably certain you never will be.
But any of us can be poor. Some of us already are or have been. And any of us can be hungry. Some of us are just a crisis away. So while it’s all well and good to spend Thanksgiving ladling food at a soup kitchen and breathing that well-worn prayer about the grace of God, it might not be a bad idea to also drop a line to your elected representative and let her or him know you consider it unacceptable that children — and even their working parents — hunger in the richest nation on Earth.
To draw that line in the sand is to take the critical first step in becoming a nation where everybody eats.
And that would be very good news, indeed.
Pitts is a columnist for the Miami Herald, 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132. Readers may contact him via e-mail at lpitts@miamiherald.com.] emphasis added
Team of All that is Right With the World 104-Axis of Evil 95
The Magic team that defeated the Heat 104-95 on Wednesday night answered a late Miami run, played energetically and hit big shots.
"All big games are statement games," Magic forward Rashard Lewis said. "It lets you know that we're going to be there at the end of the season and competing for that title."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-magic-heat-game-1125-20101124,0,554047.story
"All big games are statement games," Magic forward Rashard Lewis said. "It lets you know that we're going to be there at the end of the season and competing for that title."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/orlando-magic/os-magic-heat-game-1125-20101124,0,554047.story
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