Thursday, November 25, 2010

Fw: Lawyers are the problem..not the solution

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From: "Bob Logue" <ucblogue@verizon.net>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:29:57 -0500
To: <Undisclosed-Recipient>
Subject: Lawyers are the problem..not the solution

You know, Bob, I've been thinking. We, as a country, need to stop electing attorneys to govern us. Think about it, every bill proposed is 2000 pages or more. Why? Because they are written by attorneys. Lawyers only know legal speak, so just like the religious hierarchy 1000 years ago told every one that only they could interpret the Holy Scriptures, politicians today tell us only they can understand the law, so we must have them or we would be lost. The convoluted property tax laws play totally into the hands of our politician attorneys in that,  every facet  of these laws involves an attorney of one type or another. Attorneys are like doctors: they support one another, they protect one another, and they get as many of their own involved in a case so that as many of them as possible  make money or increase power.
     We can never hope to break this strangle hold on the public until we stop putting lawyers in charge. We need to start electing plumbers, truck drivers, bank tellers, firemen, Wal-Mart associates, farmers, janitors; in short, normal everyday people who have had to live day to day, keep on a strict budget, maybe get to go on a vacation once every ten years, you know, Common People. Successful business people who have met a payroll, kept up with technology, kept good employees happy, and produced a product or service people want, could guide the country in the direction it needs to go.
     If we are to solve this issue of property taxes, we must first have politicians who are sympathetic to the everyday problems of the common people. Obviously, the current ruling class does not care that the poor and elderly are being dispossessed, as long as they can hold onto their power and they hold the purse strings. Attorneys live in their own little bubble, making more than enough income to cover their needs. They have no feel for the rest of the world. Until "we, the people" realize how this affects us, we cannot win our point about the unfairness of property taxes. I hope you will share this viewpoint, if not this message, with all who read about STOP. Bob, I must applaud your personal efforts against this heinous tax. You are our leader and mentor, God bless you and yours. Hope to see you soon somewhere, Ray Fallon, Punxsutawney, PA

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Erik presented his LTP (long term project) from last year at Duquesne Univ today for other PPS students in CAS

Here are the slides from Erik's presentation:


Had a great day with the students. I got to see five presentations. Erik gave his in the first period.

Fw: The Benefits of Weight Training for Kids

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From: Fred Gohh <fgohh@gbsware.com>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 08:14:51 -0500
To: <undisclosed-recipients>
ReplyTo: fgohh@gbsware.com
Subject: The Benefits of Weight Training for Kids

Back in the 1970s, researchers in Japan studied child laborers and discovered that, among their many misfortunes, the juvenile workers tended to be abnormally short. Physical labor, the researchers concluded, with its hours of lifting and moving heavy weights, had stunted the children’s growth. Somewhat improbably, from that scientific finding and other similar reports, as well as from anecdotes and accreting myth, many people came to believe “that children and adolescents should not” practice weight training, said Avery Faigenbaum, a professor of exercise science at the College of New Jersey. That idea retains a sturdy hold in the popular imagination. As a recent position paper on the topic of children and resistance training points out, many parents, coaches and pediatricians remain convinced that weight training by children will “result in short stature, epiphyseal plate” — or growth plate — “damage, lack of strength increases due to a lack of testosterone and a variety of safety issues.”

Kids, in other words, many of us believe, won’t get stronger by lifting weights and will probably hurt themselves. But a major new review just published in Pediatrics, together with a growing body of other scientific reports, suggest that, in fact, weight training can be not only safe for young people, it can also be beneficial, even essential.

In the Pediatrics review, researchers with the Institute of Training Science and Sports Informatics in Cologne, Germany, analyzed 60 years’ worth of studies of kids and weightlifting. The studies covered boys and girls from age 6 to 18. The researchers found that, almost without exception, children and adolescents benefited from weight training. They grew stronger. Older kids, particularly teenagers, tended to add more strength than younger ones, as would be expected, but the difference was not enormous. Overall, strength gains were “linear,” the researchers found. They didn’t spike wildly after puberty for boys or girls, even though boys at that age are awash in testosterone, the sex hormone known to increase muscle mass in adults. That was something of a surprise. On the other hand, a reliable if predictable factor was consistency. Young people of any age who participated in resistance training at least twice a week for a month or more showed greater strength gains than those who worked out only once a week or for shorter periods.

Overall, the researchers concluded, “regardless of maturational age, children generally seem to be capable of increasing muscular strength.”

That finding, which busts one of the most pervasive myths about resistance training for young people — that they won’t actually get stronger — is in accord with the results and opinions of most researchers who have studied the subject. “We’ve worked with kindergartners, having them just use balloons and dowels” as strength training tools, “and found that they developed strength increases,” said Dr. Faigenbaum, a widely acknowledged expert on the topic of youth strength training. (His most recent book is in fact titled “Youth Strength Training.”)

But interestingly, young people do not generally add muscular power in quite the same way as adults. They rarely pack on bulk. Adults, particularly men but also women, typically add muscle mass when they start weight training, a process known as muscular hypertrophy (or, less technically, getting buff). Youths do not add as much or sometimes any obvious muscle mass as a result of strength training, which is one of the reasons many people thought they did not grow stronger. Their strength gains seem generally to involve “neurological” changes, Dr. Faigenbaum said. Their nervous systems and muscles start interacting more efficiently. A few small studies have shown that children develop a significant increase in motor-unit activation within their muscles after weight training. A motor unit consists of a single neuron and all of the muscle cells that it controls. When more motor units fire, a muscle contracts more efficiently. So, in essence, strength training in children seems to liberate the innate strength of the muscle, to activate the power that has been in abeyance, unused.

And that fact, from both a physiological and philosophical standpoint, is perhaps why strength training for children is so important, a growing chorus of experts says. “We are urban dwellers stuck in hunter-gatherer bodies,” said Lyle Micheli, M.D., the director of sports medicine at Children’s Hospital Boston and professor of orthopedic surgery at Harvard University, as well as a co-author, with Dr. Faigenbaum, of the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s 2009 position paper about children and resistance training. “That’s true for children as well as adults. There was a time when children ‘weight trained’ by carrying milk pails and helping around the farm. Now few children, even young athletes, get sufficient activity” to fully strengthen their muscles, tendons and other tissues. “If a kid sits in class or in front of a screen for hours and then you throw them out onto the soccer field or basketball court, they don’t have the tissue strength to withstand the forces involved in their sports. That can contribute to injury.”

Consequently, many experts say, by strength training, young athletes can reduce their risk of injury, not the reverse. “The scientific literature is quite clear that strength training is safe for young people, if it’s properly supervised,” Dr. Faigenbaum says. “It will not stunt growth or lead to growth-plate injuries. That doesn’t mean young people should be allowed to go down into the basement and lift Dad’s weights by themselves. That’s when you see accidents.” The most common, he added, involve injuries to the hands and feet. “Unsupervised kids drop weights on their toes or pinch their fingers in the machines,” he said.

In fact, the ideal weight-training program for many children need not involve weights at all. “The body doesn’t know the difference between a weight machine, a medicine ball, an elastic band and your own body weight,” Dr. Faigenbaum said. In his own work with local schools, he often leads physical-education class warm-ups that involve passing a medicine ball (usually a “1 kilogram ball for elementary-school-age children” and heavier ones for teenagers) or holding a broomstick to teach lunges safely. He has the kids hop, skip and leap on one leg. They do some push-ups, perhaps one-handed on a medicine ball for older kids. (For specifics about creating strength-training programs for young athletes of various ages, including teenagers, and avoiding injury, visit strongkid.com, a Web site set up by Dr. Faigenbaum, or the Children’s Hospital Boston sports medicine site.)

As for the ideal age to start weight training, Dr. Faigenbaum said: “Any age is a good age. But there does seem to be something special about the time from about age 7 to 12. The nervous system is very plastic. The kids are very eager. It seems to be an ideal time to hard-wire strength gains and movement patterns.” And if you structure a program right, he added, “it can be so much fun that it never occurs to the kids that they’re getting quote-unquote ‘strength training’ at all.”

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/phys-ed-the-benefits-of-weight-training-for-kids/?partner=rss&emc=rss

--   Fred Gohh  President  Gray Bridge Software  fgohh@gbsware.com  412-401-1045  

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Counterattack saves Civic Arena for now

Counterattack saves Civic Arena for now

Parents want to keep preschool program at McCleary

Got some ink today in the P-G as I spoke at last night's school board meeting. Parents want to keep preschool program at McCleary

South Side resident Mark Rauterkus spoke against another proposed revision to move Pittsburgh Obama 6-12 from Shadyside to the Pittsburgh Peabody building in East Liberty in 2011, instead of 2012, as planned.

"The promise was made," Mr. Rauterkaus said. "There's big trust issues if you move it earlier."

The board may vote on the proposed revisions today.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10327/1105458-298.stm#ixzz167oE16y2

Monday, November 22, 2010

Mind your matter.

A parent and professor.


My kids are not playing football.

David Nolan past away last night...

Sender: libertarian-304-announce
Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2010 03:07:50 -0500
To: <libertarian-304-announce@meetup.com>
Subject: [libertarian-304] Fwd: David Nolan past away last night...



http://beforeitsnews.com/story/275/018/David_Nolan_LP_Founder_Passes_Away.html

David Nolan – LP Founder – Passes Away

Sources close to David Nolan tell IPR he passed away last night.
Mister Nolan is survived by his Wife Elizabeth.  IPR does not have information about other family members.

No cause of death is known at this time, confirmed by the same sources.

Mister Nolan was one of the original founders of the Libertarian Party.  He famously founded it in his living room in Boulder Colorado along with a generous handful of other founders.  Some credit him with 'inventing' the diamond political chart with two axis', used often as a tool to debunk the left-right politica paradigm.

Mister Nolan was a sitting Board Member of the National Libertarian Party








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This message was sent by DaveP (depst8@gmail.com) from The Libertarian Party of Pittsburgh Meetup Group.
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Meetup, PO Box 4668 #37895 New York, New York 10163-4668 | support@meetup.com

Saturday, November 20, 2010

For Cullen Jones, golden chance to teach swimming - WSJ.com

For Cullen Jones, golden chance to teach swimming - WSJ.com

Cullen Jones was about to race in his biggest meet of the year when he heard that six teenagers had drowned in Shreveport, La.

Just over three months later, the Olympic gold medalist went to the city last week to give swim lessons.

"It was so big for me being in Shreveport after something like that had happened," Jones said Thursday.

This is why he spends months traveling the country even as he trains to get back on that podium at the 2012 Olympics. Jones has visited 12 cities in two years as part of USA Swimming's "Make a Splash" program to prevent drowning by minority children.

Maurice Lucas stands tall in mourners' minds

Maurice Lucas stands tall in mourners' minds

Boyhood friends, however, recalled that he had first been a competitive swimmer. "He wasn't going to lose at nothing," Schenley teammate Ricky Coleman told mourners.
Swimming to the other side! Rest in peace.

Shooting and melee disrupt festivities

Shooting and melee disrupt festivities

"You have a large number of people coming Downtown, trying to have a good time and enjoy the festivities. And then you have some people who just don't know how to act and they cause the trouble."


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10324/1104889-455.stm?cmpid=localstate.xml#ixzz15q6kgLDI
Here is the bottom line: Some people don't know how to act. I agree.

So, what do you do? I say a plan should be in place to TEACH people how to act. Put people, mostly kids, into high pressure situations and give them great leadership. Give them opportunities to practice how to act. Teach. Instruct. Coach. Then, when they are elsewhere, out of the schools, out on the weekends, out on their own, they'll have the understanding, the grounding, the philosophy and the experiences of acting in a friendly, caring, sporting and strong way.

When you walk through metal detectors at the gates of the schools, as well as the football games -- feel safe for an hour or two. When you are split with one crowd sitting on one side of the stadium and the other side over there, apart, isolated, buffered, patrolled, -- that safe feeling lasts until you get to the bus stop or go to the parking lot.

People are going to act with a mentality of being in a street gang or being in a community. Both are learned. Both have to be tested in real life settings.

Portland's push and Pittsburgh's reality

Introducing The MARC from marcpdx on Vimeo.


Or, we can cancel varsity swim practice for Light Up Night, go downtown, rumble, dodge bullets, see 30 to 50 in handcuffs and watch fireworks.

Fw: [libertarian-304] Sat Nov 20: End The Fed event sponsored by PittCollege Libertarians and We Are Change PGH

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From: DaveP <depst8@gmail.com>
Sender: libertarian-304-announce@meetup.com
Date: Fri, 19 Nov 2010 16:13:06 -0500
To: <libertarian-304-announce@meetup.com>
Subject: [libertarian-304] Sat Nov 20: End The Fed event sponsored by Pitt College Libertarians and We Are Change PGH

I hope you can join us on Saturday...there's a lot of energy in the student group and WAC-PGH.
Jake Towne is a good speaker - check out his website (linked at bottom of even details) I'm looking forward to seeing him speak.

Let's get together and network with the students and other activists!

-DaveP

Link with details and RSVP:

http://www.meetup.com/wearechangepgh/calendar/15222347/


ETF EVENT DETAILS:

12pm-3pm End The Fed Educational Outreach
Schenley Park, across from Phipps Conservatory

We will be passing out FREE educational pamphlets as well as DVD's throughout the day at various manned table locations which will start at 12pm, everyone is to meet at the entrance to Schenley Park across from the Phipps Conservatory. These educational materials will explain in detail about the Federal Reserve Banking System and why it is directly responsible for our current economic crisis and what we should be doing to protect ourselves.


6:30pm-11pm Speaker and Movie Presentation
William Pitt Union, Dining room A, Pitt Campus, Oakland

At 6:30pm, we will join members of The Publius Foundation as well as members of the Pitt College Libertarians Organization and other liberty groups/individuals on the PITT Campus in the William Pitt Union, Dining Room A, for speakers as well as a movie screening of, Aaron Russo's, America: Freedom to Fascism. This event will be free to the public and all ages are welcomed to attend, event will be open to the public from 6:30pm-11pm.

UPDATE:
Joe Kennedy, Activist and Independent Political Candidate who ran against Scott Brown and Martha Coakley for the Special Elections Senate Seat in Massachusetts in 2010, has confirmed that he will be one of the ETF speakers to present at Pitt Campus! For more information on Mr. Kennedy, please feel free to visit his site: http://www.joekennedyforsenate.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=frontpage&Itemid=1

Jake Towne, Independent Political Candidate who ran for Congress in Pennsylvania's 15th District in 2010 against John Callahan and Charlie Dent just confirmed that he will also be speaking as well as giving a presentation about fractional-reserve banking as well as how we can return to sound money after ending the Fed! For more information on Mr. Towne, please visit his site: http://towneforcongress.com/




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Thursday, November 18, 2010

China's Sun Yang sets record in Asian Games pool - More Sports - SI.com

China's Sun Yang sets record in Asian Games pool - More Sports - SI.com

un Yang of China swam the second-fastest 1,500 freestyle race of all time on the last night of an Asian Games pool program, which finished with the country being disqualified in a relay event.

Sun set the Asian Games record in the 1,500 in 14 minutes, 35.43 seconds on Thursday, finishing within a second of the world record set by two-time Olympic and four-time world champion Grant Hackett in 2001.

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/more/11/18/sun.asian.games.ap/index.html#ixzz15fBHdQMa

Moving into Pgh Peabody High School seems to be back to fall 2012

Hi All,

The school move into Peabody for the IB school (also known as Pgh Obama) was talked about again at the PPS Board of Education meeting last night (WED, Nov 17, 2010). Their "agenda review" meeting had a conversation about this topic. We've been organizing a bit on this issue. I was there for a while and did have a couple of conversations with administrators and board members.

Watch the meeting:
Go to MINUTE 52:20 on the slider on the bottom of the frame.
http://ppstube.pps.k12.pa.us/play.php?vid=618



Recap: Ms. Sherry Hazuda put forth some questions to Mr. Lopez. It goes for about 8 minutes.

The push to MOVE the Pgh Obama Academic program from Pgh Reizenstein to Pgh Peabody in the fall of 2011 was pulled. This acclerated move was put in the newspapers last week and caught some by surprise. So, the move is back on for 2012, as the original promise states, and as the past board votes confirmed. However, in the month of December and January 2011, there may be a SURVEY of the parents and students asking them if they would WANT to rush to the new site sooner, in fall 2011. If there is overwhelming support for the rushed move, then the matter could go before the PPS Board again in January 2011 for an amended vote.


Whew.

The last time a survey was taken by PPS Administrators, the name "OBAMA" was chosen among the students. Let the record show, the Barack Obama Academy of International Studies was not the top vote getter in the prior survey. The top vote getter was Schenley. That poll also had strong votes in 2nd and 3rd for Hogwarts and Frick. But Obama was picked (4th choice) and it is what it is. I love democracy. But, I worry a bit about polls. Who is counting the votes? How are questions asked?

In my not so humble opinion, the best solution: I want trust to be earned by PPS. I want PROMISES to be kept. I hate the trend and feeling of being yanked around by Pittsburgh Public Schools.

The class of 2012, the first to graduate from Pgh Obama, (i.e,, NOT Schenley), has had a rocky road. They should NOT move again at the start their senior year, Give time for the facility at Peabody to be made ready for the new school. Give time for the school to focus on academics, not moving and boxing materials and so on. That was a promise made to them and it should be honored.

In the 2011-2012 school year, it would be GREAT if the facilities of BOTH Peabody AND Reizenstein were made available in AFTER SCHOOL TIMES to the students of the city and the 6-12 school. The middle school setting and the high school needs are hard pressed to fit within one school. The schools were built for either middle school or high school. Not both. The crunch is GREATEST after school as multiple teams with multiple sports try to fit in one pool, one gym, one field. It doesn't work well -- especially if the goal is to develop kids, teams and programs to compete with the WPIAL soon.

On MONDAY, Nov 22, 2010, another PPS Board Meeting happens where the board listens to PUBLIC COMMENT in 3 minute chunks. To speak, or get onto the speaker list, call 412-622-3600 and ask to be included on the agenda. That meeting begins at 7 pm. I am speaker #3. My topic: Moving IB to Peabody in fall of 2012. I will also talk about using all the available facilities for all sorts of after school activities.

Then on Tuesday, the board will vote. But, the question of a rush to Peabody for the fall of 2011 has been removed from the agenda as of now.

Thanks for caring about our kids and their opportunities -- both in and beyond the classrooms.




One of the reason why it is NOT prudent to move into Peabody in the fall of 2011 is the fact that the PPS Summer Dreamers is slated to use Pgh Peabody for five weeks in the summer of 2011. The fix up work, even a fresh coat of paint and removal of the Highlanders markings would take longer than the two open weeks to prep for the new school year for the new school population. It is great to have Summer Dreamers at Peabody. And, it will be great to have the facilities people have a number of months in the next year to spruce up the space.

National Opt Out Day at the Airports



Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Cullen Jones gives children gold-certified swim lessons - USATODAY.com

Cullen Jones gives children gold-certified swim lessons - USATODAY.com

Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones was back in the pool Wednesday, sharing his story with a community where six teenagers drowned in the Red River this summer because they couldn't swim.

Jones' appearance was part of Make A Splash, the USA Swimming Foundation's child-focused water safety initiative. Make a Splash partners with cities, schools, swim clubs and non-profit groups across the country to offer swimming lessons.

Cook: Steelers make wrong move with Reed

Cook: Steelers make wrong move with Reed It's never a good thing to take on the paying customers.

As inane as his ramblings were, Reed was much more inflammatory during the summer after he failed to reach a long-term contract with the Steelers. "I was told one thing and another thing happened. I'm not a big fan of lying," he said,

Possibly the Greatest Arcade Basketball Rapid Fire Dominance You’ll Ever See

Possibly the Greatest Arcade Basketball Rapid Fire Dominance You’ll Ever See