Thursday, August 12, 2010

Judge orders identities of commenters be revealed

Different strokes for different folks. I just saying that I'm free to post as I choose -- and put my name to my comments.
Judge orders identities of commenters be revealed: "Anonymous bloggers beware. You may not be as anonymous as you think.
Forward Township Supervisor Thomas DeRosa has won a court victory in the action that he filed in November to uncover the identities of people who posted comments on an online bulletin board that he said defamed him."
I understand that some are not so fortunate to post freely. And, I also wish that we'd have more civility as well as hopes of privacy.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

This was last year.... and we want to do it again!

Here we were in 2009 at Citiparks Swim Pool at Ammon Rec Center, Hill District.



We should do it again in 2010. We've been playing at Peabody High School. But, that ends in 2 more days. So, it would be great to move outdoors to either Ammon Rec or else Highland Park Pool.

I just sent this to Shelley, the boss of City of Pgh aquatics. I CCed to the Mayor and the Operations Director, Mr. Ashley. Mr. Ashley helped us get this started last summer.



Hi,

The City Swim Meet was fun. Thanks! Good job.

I've struck out in recent months trying to get water polo at Citiparks
in the summer of 2010. Still, I'd love to hold another clinic / set
of practices this summer too. We have been playing at Peabody as I've
been helping with PPS Summer Dreamers Camps for middle school kids in
the afternoons. So, I might be able to get some of those kids into the
fold with a new effort.

Here is what I'd love to propose.

We could hold practices at Ammon Rec Center from August 16 to August
27, M-F, for 90 minutes. I think we did this from 11:00 to 12:30 pm in
the past.

I do not know when you are going to close Ammon. But, if you close it
the second week, I'd love to move the practices to Highland Park Pool. (FYI, Ammon closes as do most of the other swim pools as school begins and lifeguards go back to colleges.)

Is that possible? Do you have the hours for the guards?

Last year we had 50 kids playing water polo in The Hill District at
Ammon -- one day. It was great. POSITIVE stuff. Now they want to build
a new Y. Fine. Let's do this as a city thing so folks get into the
hill.

Furthermore, we've got some kids coming to play with us from Shaler.
And, a Pitt player too.

I know this request is late -- but -- I think it is worth it if we can
get a guard to open and get those water polo goals back in the water.
I have the balls, hats, and a number of kids in tow.

Do let me know. If it is out of the question -- let's be sure to make
a plan earlier this year for next year. We ran into the snow emergency
stuff when I wanted to meet with those at City Hall this year.

Ethics in Politics



Good job to Wayne Allen Root, Libertarian.

New Turf at South Side Cupples Stadium looks to be finished -- sans track

The new grass (artificial turf) at South Side's Cupples Stadium, a PPS facility, seems to be done. However, they are not going to do the track that circles the football field until later. There were some problems and the time to do the track is not present now as football season nears.

The best thing about the field is that it is flat and without a big crown. The soccer players will love it as the past field had a slant so that the balls would roll too fast to the sidelines.

Crying me a river: Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » All Statewide Minor Party Petitions in Pennsylvania Challenged

Ballot Access News » Blog Archive » All Statewide Minor Party Petitions in Pennsylvania Challenged: "An earlier blog post today said that a challenge had been filed to the statewide petition of the Pennsylvania Green Party. Since then, the Libertarian and Tea Party statewide petitions have also been challenged. See this story.
Tolerance for minor party and independent candidate election activity in Pennsylvania has drastically declined during the last 70 years. After 1938, and until 2004, no minor party or independent candidate statewide petition was ever challenged in Pennsylvania. But starting in 2004, such challenges have been filed every even-numbered election year in that state. A challenge to Libertarian Party presidential nominee Bob Barr was defeated in 2008, but challenges succeeded against Ralph Nader in 2004, and the Green Party statewide slate in 2006."

Here is my solution to this mess -- and I've been here and done that dance in the past.

If a challenge knocks the ONLY opponent off of the ballot, then the replace for that candidate is "NONE OF THE ABOVE."

If we had NONE OF THE ABOVE put onto the ballot, either by the force of a knock off or else as an automatic slot in all elections in PA -- then we'd be sure to have some choice and more competition for these elections.

West Mifflin school director cites death threats

West Mifflin school director cites death threats: "In the report, the workers said they made repairs to Dr. Graham's swimming pool and installed a new dishwasher. Later, the workers provided photos of the work alleged to have been done at Dr. Graham's pool."

Swimming pools are in the news again. But, not in a good way -- and with mentions of deaths -- and that's never in a good way. But here, it swirls in with ethics. Good golly. The Mon Valley is so special, isn't it.

All Choice Model -- can't happen -- back of the room whispers

At the meeting last night, there were a few board members attending and I had a short, whispered conversation with one from the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Sherry Hazuda. She asked some questions at recent meetings that goes along with my thinking that we should make the move to eliminate all feeder patters in the city for high school students. I want to advocate for an all-choice model.

Seems she heard that an all choice model is 'illegal.' What if the student does not make a choice? That student needs to be assigned to go to some school. That's the reasoning, so it seems.

Say what?

Okay, then. Let's assign all the kids in the city to attend Brashear High School. Then if they do NOT make a choice, they go there. Otherwise, they can make choices and go to CAPA, IB (Obama), Sci Tech, Allderdice, Carrick, Gateway Vo Tech (whatever Oliver is to be called), Single-Gender Westinghouse, U-Prep, Langley, -- etc.

Next objection, anyone????

City schools official makes pitch for single-gender academies

My question at last night's community meeting was hit upon in the discussion and then found its way into the Post-Gazette article today. I posted the question in the past at my blog and elsewhere (see comments).
City schools official makes pitch for single-gender academies: "Their inquiries about the plan were wide-ranging, addressing everything from the safety of the neighborhoods of the school campuses to how the Westinghouse campus would accommodate all of the boys' and girls' basketball teams with only one gym.
'This is not rocket science,' Mr. Lopez said, addressing the latter concern. 'This is about adults talking about a schedule.'"
Okay, let's take a deep breath and look at what was said in this answer.

First of all, my real question that I sent into the PPS site and also at A+ Schools was not asked. Only part of it was asked. And, my follow up question was a question -- based upon what Mr. Lopez said.

Mr. Lopez did do his homework. He knew what was coming, of course. His answer was blended to cover some of the un-asked parts of the question even.

A strange element of the answer he gave was to imply that things would work at Westinghouse with its six basketball teams because the adults involved at Westinghouse would communicate with each other and that those positive results have not unfolded at the other 6-12 school known as Schenley and Obama (both at Reizenstein) because that doesn't happen there.

My jaw dropped.

He also said that when he was in Michigan at a high school with one gym and six basetball teams, he could make the space work. There, at Berkley High School, they had varsity, JV and 9th grade teams for both boys and girls. Well, in Pittsburgh Westinghouse, as well as in Pittsburgh Obama/Schenley (also 6-12), we'll have varsity, JV and MIDDLE-SCHOOL teams. If a middle school program was put into Berkley, that should couldn't work. And, PPS does not do much with 9th grade teams -- and it should. Plus, you don't want to put middle school kids onto the court nor into the locker rooms with the high school kids. A 9th grade team and a JV team are very similar. Not so with a JV team and a MIDDLE-SCHOOL team.

Let's do the math. Even if the boys and girls teams can practice at the same time, with a big gym, then we'd have Varsity at 3 pm to 5 pm, JV at 5 pm to 7 pm and Middle School at 7 pm to 9 pm. Furthermore, I think Westinghouse might be an extended day school. The school day might end at 4:15 or 4:30 pm for others as the students are going to have work placements and job training and internships. So, the practice time of 7 to 9 pm might be welcomed as that might be when they are off of work, have eaten and back to the gym.

Even with 90 minutes per practice on the court, the schedule would be 3 to 4:30 pm, 4:30 to 6 pm and 6 to 7:30 pm. Then there are out of season conditioning times and open gym and such after 7:30 pm.

Then there are games, wrestling matches in the gym, baseball's pitches and catchers, volleyball's pre-season, cheerleader tryouts, etc.

And, this is to be a 'single-gender landscape.' So putting both the boys and girls into the same, but big, divided gym is happening too. Oh well.

Stay tuned for video, later this week, I hope.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Water polo play on August 10, 2010 at Peabody High School



Great day. We had three swimmers join us from Shaler as well as their coach. She had played water polo at Penn State University and has been coaching the kids in long-course swimming.

Max was there too -- as he is trying to stay in shape so he can swim and play polo in college in CT.

Jan had to get out early -- with a leg cramp.

A new swimmer came to practice straight from the Highland Park Pool and the Kingsley Stingrays practice. He is a swimmer, I think, with Allderdice.

We need to get the girls of Schenley to get into the groove.

Our goalies are playing very well. We can't get many balls past them. Keep it up S and C.

We'll play the rest of the week from 10:30 to noon. I have a few other bits of info to gather before we announce when play is going to happen next week. We might be able to play at North Park some time soon as well.

Tomorrow I expect to see Marshall and Grant as well as some others from Shaler.

Some of the footage above is from the ball-handling and shooting drills we did first, before splitting into two teams and playing a game. So that's why the caps are not on all the players in the early photos.

The Information War by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com

The Information War by Justin Raimondo -- Antiwar.com: "The Information War
We're winning – and the War Party is losing…"

'Dogs coach Hill agrees to pay cut, new contract - Fresno State Football - fresnobee.com

'Dogs coach Hill agrees to pay cut, new contract - Fresno State Football - fresnobee.com: "'Dogs coach Hill agrees to pay cut, new contract
Says he's trying to help the athletic department, community."

Go Fresno State!

Fw: games of Mt. Lebo

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®


From: leifevans@comcast.net
Date: Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:13:25 +0000 (UTC)
To: <mark.rauterkus@gmail.com>
Subject: games

Pittsburgh Friends and Neighbors:

We have around 200 folks for the games so far but we need to fill 300 t-shirts so sign up now or condemn a very nifty t-shirt to the unspeakable limbo of having no-one to get sweaty on...

Larry Evans     c 412-445-2951

 Mt. Lebanon Village Intergenerational Games

Saturday, August 14, 2010

9am-2pm at Mt. Lebanon Park and Tennis Center

Mt. Lebanon Village (MLV) is a community oriented, non-profit organization established in 2009 to give residents of Mt. Lebanon, age 50 and older, the practical means, confidence and peace of mind to enjoy life while residing in their own place of residence in the environment they value as they grow older, and to serve as a model and mentor to other such villages.

The Mt. Lebanon Village Games present a way to get to know our neighbors, to enjoy a day of playing together and to celebrate our common bonds. The Village Games are designed to bring together old friends and new acquaintances, pairing people of different ages and generations.  The idea is to partner adults over 50 with someone under 50.  The pairings could be with a son, daughter, grandchild, friend or neighbor – or maybe even some husband and wife teams!  You can also come on your own and enjoy the festivities.  Partners will spend the day participating together in the activities of their choice.  It will be a fun-packed day of gently competitive team sports, individual pursuits and group games, followed by a picnic and prizes.  Participants will be given a chance to win prizes for every event in which they partake.

START THE DAY WITH A FUN RUN OR WALK! At 9 a.m. the Village Games will open with a "Chase Your Elders" one mile fun run/walk in Mt. Lebanon Park where older folks start first, followed by a staggered progression by their younger partners so that all may finish at about the same time.  A pre-race warm-up, led by fitness instructor Gurney Bolster, will begin at 8:45 a.m. at the Mt. Lebanon School District Entrance on Horsman Drive.

THEN PLAY BALL AND OTHER FUN STUFF! From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. in Mt. Lebanon Park, choose from a wide variety of friendly coed, intergenerational team sports including volleyball, softball, soccer, basketball, tennis and bocce.  Then measure your athletic skills in a 50 yard dash, punt, pass and kick, free throw, target toss, and radar gun stations.  There will be old fashioned games like a treasure hunt, relay races, water balloon toss, horseshoes, shuffleboard, hula hoops, scrabble, checkers, and chess.  You can also engage in creative activities such as an inter-active story-telling session led by the Wing & a Prayer Pittsburgh Players.

Throughout the day, be prepared to share your favorite Mt. Lebanon memories with a roving MLV volunteer camera crew.

DON'T MISS THE PICNIC! Beginning at noon, enjoy a delicious picnic provided by Pittsburgh Barbecue Company.  Come to the Mt. Lebanon Tennis Center Founder's Room and Deck to share great food and listen to live banjo music provided by "The Entertainers".  Ted Sohier of WQED will be our MC and prizes will be drawn.  (Participants must be present at the picnic to receive prizes.)

BOWLING BONUS! Wear your Games T-shirt and enjoy two free games of bowling (shoes included) at Mount Lebanon Lanes (AMF) on Washington Road between 2-4pm Sunday, August 15th!

REGISTER TO PLAY on line or by mail by August 12th  to receive a nifty Mt. Lebanon Village Games T-shirt!

REGISTRATION FEES: Individual (over 50)  $15.     With Partner (under 50)  $25.     Family (up to 6 members)  $40.

 

Or Volunteer  – students can earn community service hours! – plus get a t-shirt & free lunch!

info@mtlebanonvillage.org or (412) 343-4054 | 710 Washington Rd, Pgh., PA 15228.  www.mtlebanonvillage.org

 

The Mt. Lebanon Village Games Registration Form

 

Individual (over 50) __________________________________________________________________

Age (as of August 14)_________________Gender_______________ T‐shirt size_________

Address___________________________________________________________Zip_________________

E‐Mail_________________________________________Phone__________________________________

 

Partner (under 50)____________________________________________________________________

Age (as of August 14)_________________Gender_______________ T‐shirt size_________

Address___________________________________________________________Zip_________________

E‐Mail_________________________________________Phone__________________________________

 

Additional Immediate or Extended Family Members (indicate pairing, any age mixture is ok)

3.________________________________________________Age______Gender______T‐shirt size_____

4.________________________________________________Age______Gender______T‐shirt size_____

 

5.________________________________________________Age______Gender______T‐shirt size_____

6.________________________________________________Age______Gender______T‐shirt size_____

 

 

Please check below the events in which you & your partner/family wish to participate

 

OPENING EVENT 9AM

___ Chase Your Elders One Mile Fun Run/Walk  (8:45 a.m. group aerobic warmup at start line)

Onsite registration and Village Games packet pickup begins at 8AM at the Tennis Center Founder's Room off of Cedar Blvd

 

TEAM SPORTS     10AM – 1PM  (select no more than 3 since games are scheduled on hourly intervals)

___ Soccer___ Softball___ Doubles Tennis___ Basketball___ Volleyball___ Doubles Bocce

 

___ ATHLETIC SKILLS     10AM – 1PM  (come when you want)

Includes Free Throws (Basketball), Radar Gun (Softball & Soccer & Football), Target (Softball & Soccer & Football), Punt, Pass and Kick (Football & Soccer) and a 50 Yard Dash

 

___ OLD FASHIONED GAMES     10AM 1PM  (come when you want)

Includes Relay Races, Treasure Hunt, Horseshoes, Shuffleboard, Water Balloon Toss, Chess, Checkers, Scrabble, Hula Hoops

 

___ INTERACTIVE STORY TELLING    11AM to Noon  (with the Wing and a Prayer Pittsburgh Players)

 

Upon arrival at the Tennis Center's registration headquarters participants will receive a program mapping out the event locations and an individualized schedule of activities. (The schedule is a guideline (not etched in stone) so you can freely move among the games.)

 

REGISTRATION FEES: Individual (over 50)  $15.     With Partner (under 50)  $25.     Family (up to 6 members)  $40.

 

Send the Registration Form with a check payable to:

Mt. Lebanon Village, 710 Washington Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15228   info: 4123434054

 

www.mtlebanonvillage.org



Larry Evans
417 Kurt Drive
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
c412-445-2951
h412-341-1486
f412-571-1647
leifevans@comcast.net

Monday, August 09, 2010

NCAA Market - Job Search - Duquesne University

NCAA Market - Job Search

D.U. has a job opening for an Assistant Athletic Director. Go figure. Last year the Dukes cut men's swimming, men's baseball, men's golf and men's wrestling. Here is a tip. Hire someone who will promise to bring back all the men's teams recently cut.

Fw: New version 5.04 of CmapServer / Nueva versión 5.04 del CmapServer

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®


From: "Cmap Support" <cmapsupport@ihmc.us>
Date: Mon, 09 Aug 2010 08:32:58 -0500
To: <cmapsupport@ihmc.us>
Subject: New version 5.04 of CmapServer / Nueva versión 5.04 del CmapServer

(Español al final)

Hi,

You are receiving this message because at some point you downloaded or showed interest in the CmapServer program.

We are pleased to inform you that a new version (5.04) of the CmapServer has been released and is available for download.
This new version includes substantial improvements over previous versions.

If you are running an old version of the CmapServer (e.g. v4.18) you are not taking advantages of many of the recent additions to the
program, including thumbnails for Cmaps and resources in the Views window, incremental index submission to the
IndexServer and automatic classification of Cmaps based on the topological taxonomy for better retrieval by the Cmap search at the
Cmappers.net site, and a significant number of bug fixes and performance improvements.

CmapServer v5.04 is available for download at http://cmap.ihmc.us or through the "Check for Updates" program installed with the
CmapServer you are running. V5.04 of the CmapTools client has also been released.

If you have any questions or doubts please go to the CmapForum at http://cmapforum.ihmc.us.
 
Sincerely,
 
CmapSupport
Institute for Human & Machine Cognition
www.ihmc.us

-------

Hola,

Está recibiendo este mensaje porque en algún momento descargó o mostró interés en el programa CmapServer.

Nos complace en informarle que una nueva versión (5.04) del CmapServer has sido liberada y está disponible para ser
descargada. La nueva versión incluye mejoras substanciales sobre las versiones anteriores.

Si está corriendo una versión vieja del CmapServer (e.g. v5.04) no está tomando ventaja de muchas de las mejoras recientes al
programa, incluyendo "thumbnails" para Cmaps y recursos en la ventana de Vistas, envío incremental del índice al IndexServer y
clasificación automática de Cmaps basada en la taxonomía topológica para mejor recuperación en el buscador de Cmaps en el
sitio Cmappers.net, y un número significativo de correcciones y mejoras en el programa.

El CmapServer v5.04 está disponible para descargarse en http://cmap.ihmc.us o a través del programa "Check for Updates" que se
instaló con el CmapServer que está corriendo. La v5.04 del cliente CmapTools también está disponible.

Si tiene preguntas o dudas vaya al foro CmapForum en http://cmapforum.ihmc.us.
Cordialmente,
 
 
CmapSupport
Institute for Human & Machine Cognition

Third-party candidates may be key in Pa. governor's race

This is NOT a news article, it is an editorial.
Third-party candidates may be key in Pa. governor's race: "In addition to his Democratic opponent, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, the ballot will include Marakay Rogers, the Libertarian Party candidate, and John Krupa, running under the banner of the tea party.
Libertarians tend to diverge from the current Republican Party on social issues. Tea Party supporters criticize both major parties. Still, it's at least broadly accurate to say that both of those constituencies, with their common opposition toward bigger government, are more likely to overlap with Republicans than Democrats."
What is the news?

The Libertarians are unlike the Rs in many ways beyond social issues. How about the war? How about privacy? How about corporate welfare? How about stimulus funding? How about size of government?

Look at the lead of this article too. In recent decades, no independent candidate has mounted a credible challenge for a statewide office in Pennsylvania. THAT is what James O wants to say first! He'll give a history lesson and think it is newsworth.

Complete crap from the P-G, as usual. There is no credible journalism.

Mr. Krupa could not be reached for comment. But some tea party activists are wary of his candidacy. Pick up the phone P-G reporter. He could not be reached yet this article is about his running. Give us a break.


Ms. Rogers, the Libertarian contender, said there are plenty of reasons for independents to run that have nothing to do with political mischief.

"The mere fact that you might not win or probably won't win is not an excuse for not running," said the York County lawyer. "The fewer candidates that run, the fewer ideas that will be discussed -- the vote for women, Social Security -- and those were originally third-party ideas. If third parties didn't raise the issue first, the other parties would never adopt them."

Ms. Rogers is a veteran tilter at the major party windmills. She ran for governor as a Green Party candidate in 2006. After migrating to the Libertarians, she ran for attorney general in 2008 and for Superior Court in 2009.

A tilter at windmills.

Sunday, August 08, 2010

Crew chief overturns McCutchen's homer | pirates.com: News

Crew chief overturns McCutchen's homer | pirates.com: News: "Saturday's review marked the fifth in PNC Park history, four of which have now been overturned."

PNC Park is defective. Right?

Literacy nonprofit for poor children closes

Literacy nonprofit for poor children closes: "Literacy nonprofit for poor children closes"

This is the first I heard of the meltdown. So, the news of a shut-down. Did I miss the news of their struggle or did they only tell other literacy providers?

Sounds like the Center for Creative Play and Beginning with Books should hook up and have a joint misery ride.

If I'm in charge, Pittsburgh would be branded as the best place to parent. And, the loss of both of those organizations in recent years isn't good.

Woman trapped in hole in Sheraden

The crew had their hands full with this urban rescue.

Woman trapped in hole in Sheraden: "Woman trapped in hole in Sheraden"
They are very lucky that both didn't fall into that hole.

Tackling a tough issue head on - Brain injuries and football

So, play football. Hurt brain. The one can't think the rest of your life, if it gets bad enough.

Tackling a tough issue head on: "'You don't think about it. You can't think about it,' Clark said."

Or, don't think about it before playing and while playing.

Humm... Think again.

Hill District YMCA to break ground today at 10 am

New Y to open in a year or two.

Fw: Sad Health News from Anne Feeney ... can you help?

From: "Anne Feeney" <anne@annefeeney.com>
Date: Sat, 07 Aug 2010 23:49:23 -0700
Subject: Sad Health News from Anne Feeney ... can you help?

Hi,

How much one conversation with a doctor can change your life!

This time last week I thought the next time I'd be writing to you would be with my exciting September news and Labor Day special...

This time last week I thought I'd be in Sweden tonight  packing to go to Ireland to meet up with all my wonderful tourmates.

Instead, here I am in Pittsburgh packing to go Shadyside Hospital.  On August 3rd, in Sweden, a lung specialist advised me that I have an 11 cm tumor on my lung that is stressing both my heart and lungs in dangerous ways.  As terrifying as this diagnosis is, it is in many ways a relief to get an explanation for the several mysterious and troubling symptoms I've had for the past few months... including increasing fatigue, shortness of breath, terrible coughing, and bizarre heart rhythms. 

I could have stayed in Sweden for the bronchoscopy, biopsy and surgery ... my health insurance would have covered everything in Sweden that it covers here.  But even the best case scenario here will involve a protracted recovery period and probably at least six months out of work.  It was also hard to think about being so seriously ill so far away from my children, and my lifelong network of friends in Pittsburgh.

So here I am, at home in Pittsburgh, surrounded by friends and family.

Luckily, Tom Pigott and I have been able to arrange full and wonderful coverage for both the Ireland tours in August.  The wonderful Charlie King will be joining the August 10-19th tour, and Tom will be hosting the August 22-31st tour with some of my favorite folks in Ireland.  Both tours will continue uninterrupted, but, alas, without me this year.


My friend Jan Boyd has set up a Caring Bridge page for those of you who want regular medical updates on my condition.  The URL is http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/annefeeney ...  (The only reason you have to log in to the site is to keep spam robots from posting stupid messages...)

I hope to be posting updates on Facebook as well as soon as I feel up to it.

I'm pretty sure it will be difficult for me to talk on the phone for a while.  I would love it if you'd post get well wishes, stories & jokes for me on my guestbook... http://annefeeney.com/guestbook.html  ... (It's a moderated guestbook, so what you write won't appear on the guestbook until I read it and approve it--- otherwise I'm pretty sure the guestbook would be nothing but ads for viagra and such..)

This diagnosis has wiped out most of my meager folksinger's savings.  I've had to cancel a lot of work that I was counting on, and incurred a lot of unexpected travel expenses.  Although most of my medical bills will be covered (now that I've come up with the $6000 in deductibles and copay), it seems unlikely that I'll be able to return to my hectic tour schedule, or any full time work, for several months.

If you want to help me out with what are going to be fairly staggering expenses by folksinger's standards... I'm hoping to find 1000 folks who'll pony up $50 ...   I really *don't* want any larger donations ... I don't want anyone to dig deep for this... and if $50 is hard for you to come by, PLEASE don't think about sending me a cent.   I know I have enough dear friends who are doing okay that those of you who are struggling shouldn't spend a second worrying about my finances.

You could send a check to me:

Anne Feeney
2240 Milligan Ave
Pittsburgh  PA 15218

or you can send a donation via Paypal to getwellanne@annefeeney.com.  If you're not sure how to do that...  there's also a "donate" button you can click about 4 inches down on the right hand side of http://fellow-travelers-advisory.blogspot.com/ ... clicking on that "donate" button will also allow you to make a safely encrypted online donation.


I'll have a lot more to say and share about health care... especially the amazing Swedish health care system, when I'm not so tired.

I hope that you'll spread the word to any of our friends that may not subscribe to the Fellow Travelers' Advisory.

As I'm wandering around the sweet little house I get to spend so little time in, I keep finding boxes and boxes of thank you cards that I have purchased and never mailed.  My heart overflows with gratitude to all of you for your daily work for justice, art and truth - for your steadfast support of the many projects I've brought to you in the past...   I am so honored to call you my friend.

Many of my oldest and dearest friends are gathering here with me at the house to help me prepare for the coming ordeal.  I cherish them, and you, and hope to be in touch with all of you soon.


Anne Feeney
http://annefeeney.com/
http://cdbaby.com/all/unionmaid - Buy CDs!
412-xxx-xxxx (cell)

"Anne Feeney is the greatest labor singer in North America." -- Utah Phillips

Saturday, August 07, 2010

Hundreds vie for spot on "Biggest Loser"

Hundreds vie for spot on "Biggest Loser": "Staff with the show pointed to one man who clearly had that strong desire -- Larry Culley, 58, a lawyer and aspiring voice artist from Staten Island, N.Y., who drove into Pittsburgh and arrived at 11 a.m. yesterday. Mr. Culley, who weighs 366 pounds and wants to get down to about 200 pounds, said this is his fourth audition attempt.
He said he wants to be selected for the show because his weight is interfering with his life and his health. He said he believes he has what it takes to connect with the audience."

I wonder. What was Larry's weight the other three times he auditioned for the show? And, what did he eat as he arrived in Pittsburgh?

There is no time like the present, pal.

By the way, I found out in our recent trip to Peoria that one of my friends from the good old days was on a past season of "The Biggest Loser." He was a firefighter who had a vintage firetruck and owned an ACE Hardware Store -- and his kids were swimmers. His son was a very fast swimmer and swam in the Big 10 Conference -- and is now a high school swim coach.

I'll need to go back and look online at hulu at the past seasons to find some of his segments.

The Rauterkus Scholarship: 365 Days on a Budget


365 Days on a Budget: "All proceeds from the book generated by students enrolled in classes at our university will be donated to our department.
The funds that we donate will be restricted to be used only for The Rauterkus Scholarship given in the following semester to a Finance major who meets our criteria.
We will make the final decision on which student(s) will receive the Rauterkus Scholarship."
FYI, this is the same name -- but remote relative.

City Swim Meet: Aug 7, 2010



The 2008 team is above.



This team must be from 2007, or prior.


We have also been watching results from USA Nationals. http://www.star-meets.org/results/Nats/2010/

Sports question pitched to the A+ Schools question sink hole


Sports within a school that ranges from grades 6 to 12 require gyms and athletic spaces for both high school and middle school teams. One gym or one swim pool, even large gyms, can't work for two schools.
The sports teams will not fit into PPS WESTINGHOUSE 6-12, just as they do not work at Schenley / Obama @ Reizenstein (another PPS 6-12 school) and soon to be @ Peabody.

In basketball season, for example, six different teams (Varsity, JV, Middle School for both boys and girls) must practice and play games. Gyms are used for wrestling, dances, Physical Education, spring sport conditioning, intramurals, and hopefully community-club teams with wrap around services.
There have been no plans nor answers on how to fix this serious problem with the schools -- except to drop the ball with athletics.

To combat street gangs, we need sports gangs and school gangs with challenging and high quality enrichment in realms where parents and coaches and educators control.

If sports are a priority, then PPS MUST double the size of its athletic facilities at all 6-12 schools, including locker-rooms.

Does PPS really care about sports and afterschool?

If PPS does care, when and how are the athletic facilities going to double? And, how much does that investment cost?

Friday, August 06, 2010

Our next big trip looks like this

Everything is now booked for South Africa.  We will fly out on Friday, October 22nd.  We will arrive in Durban in the evening on Saturday, October 23rd.  We will be at the Sports Champagne Resort in the Drakensburg Mountains through Wednesday October 27th.  Wed afternoon we will drive to Johannesburg (long drive).  We'll stay the night by the airport.  The next day we'll fly to Kruger National Park (Nelspruit airport).  We'll be driven to the private lodge.  We'll have a safari that afternoon and then two the next day (Friday October 29th).  We'll spend the early morning of Saturday, October 30th in the park and then be driven to the airport. We'll fly to Cape Town and have a family room at a hotel by the water there.  The evening is on our own.  Sunday, October 31st we have an all day private tour.  Being a private tour means we have a plan but we can deviate from it.  On Monday, November 1st we have another tour (around the cape) but again, it is private, and we can deviate from it as we like.  We'll leave for Pittsburgh on November 2nd, arrive in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, November 3rd.

http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/seal-commuters/262ttp0n Seal Island Video

Fw: [DW] IdeaHub from the Department of Transportation

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-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Clift <clift@e-democracy.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 14:04:57
To: newswire<newswire@groups.dowire.org>
Reply-To: clift@publicus.net
Subject: [DW] IdeaHub from the Department of Transportation

This caught my eye:

DOT launches IdeaHub (08/03/2010) Transportation launched an online
community where its employees can share and collaborate on new ideas
with their 55,000 colleagues across the country. The online community
will allow the department to post challenges to employees as a way of
getting people to think about specific questions or problems.
http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/08/ideahub-to-engage-dotemployees-tap-their-expertise.html

I wonder if state and local transportation officials might participate?

A decade plus ago I recall running into a transportation listserv that
sparked my interested in inter-governmental effective practices
exchange. Not sure if it is alive today, but many niche groups are
still out there:
http://www.google.com/search?q=transportation+listserv

Speaking of intergovernmental exchange, I think the UK has some action
worth noting:
http://www.communities.idea.gov.uk

Cheers,
Steven Clift


Steven Clift - http://stevenclift.com
Executive Director - http://E-Democracy.Org
Follow me - http://twitter.com/democracy
New Tel: +1.612.234.7072



From: <lisa.nelson@gsa.gov>
Date: Fri, Aug 6, 2010 at 12:37 PM
Subject: [MuniGov2.0] August 6 Weekly Research and Best Practices Email
To: munigov@googlegroups.com



Happy Friday,

Here is the August 6 research and best practices email. As always,
feel free to pass the information along to others who might be
interested or refer them to
https://forum.webcontent.gov/?page=research_newsletters.

Last week a few people had difficulty opening the usability links. I
am attaching the article that it came from with the links. The
checklist and 25-minute video links are IN the article and available
to the reader.

Lisa Nelson, GSA
Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies

Research

IT Trends in State Government (07/27/2010) NASCIO/TechAmerica/Grant
Thornton survey finds tough economic times have presented new
opportunities for CIOs. Many have been able to implement new
cost-saving strategies, innovative business models and emerging
technologies. http://www.nascio.org/publications/documents/NASCIO-2010StateCIOSurvey.pdf

Canadas Global Positioning Strategy (06/2010) The Canadian
International Council considers the shift in the global balance of
power. Three "game changers" are identified - the rise of China, India
and other players in the global economy, the entry of the United
States into a period of relative economic decline and the hardening of
the border between our two countries since 9/11. http://bit.ly/aNPgok

News

Federal Agency Social Media Hubs (08/02/2010) Many federal agencies
are creating hubs for their social media connections. Some provide
access to specific media links, such as agency bloggers, others
provide links to policy and training.
http://www.businessofgovernment.org/blog/federal-agency-social-media-hubs

DOT launches IdeaHub (08/03/2010) Transportation launched an online
community where its employees can share and collaborate on new ideas
with their 55,000 colleagues across the country. The online community
will allow the department to post challenges to employees as a way of
getting people to think about specific questions or problems.
http://fastlane.dot.gov/2010/08/ideahub-to-engage-dotemployees-tap-their-expertise.html

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Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire now contains the following file

http://groups.dowire.org/r/file/9582-2010-08-06T190459Z
Name: Rocket Surgery Made Easy_external2.docx
Tags: "attachment"
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 14KB


You can view all the file that have been added to Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire at
http://groups.dowire.org/s/?g=newswire&amp;t=0&amp;p=0&amp;f=1

-----------------------------------------
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Replies go to members of Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire with all posts on this topic here:
http://groups.dowire.org/r/topic/2ZwPUEZ6HcVjSB55pJQzTo

For digest version or to leave Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire,
email newswire@groups.dowire.org
with "digest on" or "unsubscribe" in the *subject*.

Newswire - Steven Clift's Democracies Online Newswire is hosted by Democracies Online - http://dowire.org.

Thursday, August 05, 2010

So sad. Really sad.



We must teach our kids to swim.

The other day it was 102-degrees, after the sun went down, in Nashville, TN. It wasn't that hot here, but we've got three rivers.

Finally, splash parks don't cut it in my opinion. You can't learn to swim n a splash park.

On a much more positive and happy note, we had a great water polo practice today, Thursday, at Peabody High School, from 10:30 am to noon.


All of our players are swimmers and the game was well matched. We need more players too. Visit us on Friday or all next week, Monday to Friday, 10:30 am to noon at Peabody High School.

NCAA probe into WVU football - so let's get this straight

The P-G has an article about the NCAA looking into rule problems with WVU's football program.

NCAA probe into WVU football alleges improprieties
• Exceeding the permissible number of coaches from 2005-09, when non-coaching staff members engaged in on- and off-field coaching activities.
• Graduate assistants, a student assistant, student managers and non-coaching staff members, in the summers between 2005-09, monitored voluntary summer workouts.
• Rodriguez 'failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.'
• Stewart 'failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.'
• The first two violations indicate the West Virginia athletic department failed to sufficiently monitor the football program to assure full compliance.

So, let me get this straight. The players had optional practices in the summers and supervisors were present because the coaches are not permitted. These voluntary practices had supervisors who were a student assistant, grad students, student managers and non-coaches. So, the problem is that the Athletic Department failed to sufficiently monitor the football program. Yet the rules do NOT allow the real experts, the coaches, to be there to help with the students athletes. So, the kids practice on their own. But, getting some helpers for the players from the ranks of the students is not permitted.

How many water boys are they allowed?

The NCAA is punishing WVU for failure to monitor because WVU had too many peers monitoring.

Think again.

Tuesday, August 03, 2010

Big day in the summer!

AM swim practice: 7 to 9. Erik does workout and I float for 1 hour in outside lane.

AM water polo practice: 10:30 to noon. I coach and we play a cool 3 on 3 game, widths, shooting only after a dry pass.

I teach PPS Summer Dreamers, 12:30 to 3 pm. Kickball until it rains. Then water polo passing in gym.

Erik and running mate, Tobias, bike to Sq. Hill and then to Washington Road's bike oval for some practice.

Eat and rest to 6 pm.

Back to the oval for evening races: Erik's third of the summer and Tobias in his rookie ride. About 22 riders in the junior and women's race. Erik gets 11th and does NOT get dropped by the pack. He wins a lap and is in the hunt pulling the pack up to two break-away riders after 10 laps.

Newsletter text for pre-baseball for the PPS Summer Dreamers field trip to PNC Park for game tomorrow, vs. Reds.

Erik is sleeping on floor -- zonked out -- by 10:15 pm.

Meanwhile Grant played about 5 hours of golf at Schenley with his clinic / tournament play with First Tee. He is hitting par on many holes now.

Donovan is in town and paid us a visit. Sleepover isn't possible as we've got cats.

Summer!

Fw: 6 teens drown in Louisiana river; 7th rescued

------Original Message------
From: Swimmer Erik Rauterkus
To: Mark Rauterkus
ReplyTo: Swimmer Erik Rauterkus
Subject: 6 teens drown in Louisiana river; 7th rescued
Sent: Aug 3, 2010 10:22 AM

6 drown story

http://m.usatoday.com/1927979/news/;jsessionid=C95711B12AF68E890B022BA76A3B328F.wap2
Erik
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Monday, August 02, 2010

Pittsburgh day camp mixes learning, dreaming

Pittsburgh day camp mixes learning, dreaming: "In Pittsburgh, Superintendent Mark Roosevelt said the summer camp was specifically designed for middle school students because district academic achievement data shows they tend to do well on proficiency tests, but their performance generally tapers off as they advance into higher grades."

Sunday, August 01, 2010

MGR Foundation Youth Peace Rally

We invite you to the 2010 MGR Foundation Youth Peace Rally on August 12, 2010. The event will take place at Market Square, Downtown Pittsburgh from 12:30 PM-2:30 PM.

The Summer Dreamer's Academy

Hundreds of people will come together to support and witness Pittsburgh youth express themselves and speak out against violence. In partnership with the Pittsburgh Public School's Summer Dreamers Academy and other community groups, our students will share live performances that promote peace. You will be inspired by their visual art work and creativity. Come and see how our youth are using music, art, drama, and dance to promote peace in our communities!  Support Pittsburgh Youth and come see what they have to say at this year's rally. 

Peace,

Phil Koch, Executive Director, MGR Foundation
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Newspaper Death Watch and curation

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From: Newspaper Death Watch <pgillin@gmail.com>
Sender: noreply+feedproxy@google.com
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:29:34 +0000
To: <Mark@Rauterkus.com>
Subject: Newspaper Death Watch

Newspaper Death Watch


Tools to Empower a New Kind of Journalism

Posted: 30 Jul 2010 05:12 AM PDT

Adapted from an earlier post on paulgillin.com.

All of a sudden, "curation" is one of the hottest words in the Web 2.0 world. That’s because it's an idea that addresses a problem humans have never confronted before: too much information. In the process, it’s creating some compelling new ways to derive value from content.

Amount of data published in 2010 depicted as iPads stacked on the playing field of Wembley Stadium

Content curation is about filtering the stuff that people really need from out of all the noise around it. In the same way that museum curators choose which items from a collection to put on display, content curators select and publish information that’s of interest to a particular audience.

This function is becoming more and more critical as the volume of information on the Internet explodes. It’s projected that the amount of digital information that will be created in 2010 could fill 75 billion 16 GB Apple iPads (fun infographic here). Yet, as influencer relations expert Katie Paine points out, 90% of it is crap. As more and more crappy content pervades the Internet, the value of curation should grow.

The problem is that curation is labor-intensive. Someone has to sift through all that source information to decide what to keep and what to throw away, and human decision-making isn’t easy to automate. Keyword filtering has all kinds of shortcomings and RSS feeds, while useful in many contexts, are basically headline services.

We’ve recently been working with a startup that's developed an innovative technology that vastly improves the speed and quality of content curation. CIThread has spent the last 15 months building an inference engine that uses artificial intelligence principles to give curators a kind of intelligent assistant. The company is attacking the labor problem by making curators (or you can call them “editors”) more productive rather than trying to replace them.

Full disclosure: We have received a small equity stake and a referral incentive from CIThread as compensation for our advice. Other than that, the pay has amounted to a couple of free lunches. We make no money unless this idea is as good as we think it is.

CIThread (the name stands for "Collective Intelligence Threading" and yeah, they know they have to change it) essentially learns from choices that an editor or curator makes and applies that learning to delivering better source material.

The curator starts by presenting the engine with a basic set of keywords. CIThread scours the Web for relevant content, much like a search engine does. Then the curator combs through the results to make decisions about what to publish, what to promote and what to throw away.

As those decisions are made, the engine analyzes the content to identify patterns. It then applies that insight to delivering a better quality of source content. In effect, it learns to “think” like the curator. CIThread can be linked to popular content management systems to make it possible to automatically publish content to a website and even syndicate to Twitter and Facebook without leaving the curation dashboard.

That’s what happens on the back end, but there's intelligence on the audience side, too. CIThread can also tie in to Web analytics engines to fold audience behavior into its decision-making. For example, the curator can set the engine to overweight content that generates a lot of views or clicks into its decisions and to deliver more source material just like it to the curator. All of these factors can be controlled via a dashboard.

Shhhhh!

CIThread is still pretty early stage. It has some  test customers, but none can yet be identified. Here’s a general description of what one of them is doing, though.

This company owns a portfolio of properties throughout the US and uses localized websites as both a marketing and customer service tool. Each site contains frequently updated news about the region, but the portfolio is administered centrally for cost and quality reasons.

Using CIThread, individual editors can now maintain literally dozens of these websites at once. The more the engine learns about their preferences, the more sites they can support. That's one of the coolest features of inference engines: they get smarter the more they’re used.

The technical brain behind CIThread is Mike Matchett, an MIT-educated developer with a background in computational linguistics and machine learning. The CEO is Tom Riddle (no relation to Lord Voldemort), a serial entrepreneur with a background in data communications, storage and enterprise software.

The two founders started out targeting professional publishers, and that’s a pretty safe bet. But we think the opportunity is much bigger. Nearly any company or organization today can develop unique value for its constituents by delivering curated content. Using tools like CIThread, they can do it more quickly and productively than by training humans. They can also capture the knowledge of their editors so that experience doesn’t walk out the door due to resignation or layoff.

If you want to hear more, e-mail curious@cithread.com or visit the website.


Since we first wrote this, a couple of other tools have come to our attention that attack this same curation task. Curata has an engine that scours the Web for content and auto-posts it to blogs and social network sites. The company has a shipping product and real customers. Curata is positioning its service as more of a lead generation tool than an editorial productivity aid. See the two-minute video below.

CurationStation looks a lot like Curata. It’s a low-cost service that filters content based upon keywords and publishes automatically to multiple destinations. The $2.99 signup incentive is attractive, but set a reminder on your calendar, because it turns into a $279 monthly fee after the first 30 days. If anyone has experience with either of these products, or is aware of other solutions, please comment.


Fw: Still Time to Apply! - 2010-2011 Education Policy Fellowship Program

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From: "Ron Cowell" <cowell@eplc.org>
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:43:18 -0400
To: <cowell@eplc.org>
Subject: Still Time to Apply! - 2010-2011 Education Policy Fellowship Program

There is still time to apply for the

2010-2011 PENNSYLVANIA EDUCATION POLICY FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

 

Applications are available now for the 2010-2011 Education Policy Fellowship Program (EPFP).  The Education Policy Fellowship Program is sponsored in Pennsylvania by The Education Policy and Leadership Center (EPLC).

 

With nearly 300 graduates in its first eleven years, this Program is a premier professional development opportunity for educators, state and local policymakers, advocates, and community leaders.  Act 48 credits are available to individuals holding Pennsylvania teaching or administrative certificates, and State Board of Accountancy (SBA) credits are available to certified public accountants.

 

Past participants include state policymakers, district superintendents and principals, school business officers, school board members, education deans/chairs, statewide association leaders, parent leaders, education advocates, and other education and community leaders.  Fellows are typically sponsored by their employer or another organization.

 

The Fellowship Program begins with a two-day retreat on September 16-17, 2010 and continues through June 2011.

 

Applications are being accepted now.   The class is now two-thirds filled, but there is still time to apply!

 

Click on http://www.eplc.org/fellows.html to see:

 

·         2010-11 Schedule

·         2010-11 Application

·         Past Speakers

·         Program Alumni

·         More Information

 

Since space is limited to approximately 30 positions, it is advisable to submit an application as soon as possible.  The application may be copied from the EPLC Web Site, but must be submitted by mail with the necessary signatures of applicant and sponsor.

 

If you would like to discuss any aspect of the Fellowship Program and its requirements, please contact Ron Cowell at 717-260-9900 or cowell@eplc.org.

 

 

Growing up poor can affect brain development

Growing up poor can affect brain development: "'Why isn't this part of the social fabric, this notion that it takes a village to raise a child? How did we lose sight of that?'"