Friday, February 18, 2011
Varsity Xtra: Sun is setting on Schenley High
Skiers should wear helmets - coroner | Stuff.co.nz
All skiers and snowboarders should wear ski helmets, the Canterbury Coroner says.
Regional coroner Richard McElrea made the comment at an inquest in Ashburton yesterday into the death of American student Rachel Swett, 21, on Mt Hutt last year.
''The fact is that had she been wearing a ski helmet properly, there would have been much greater chance of survival,'' he said.
Iowa wrestling star refuses to face girl - Sports - Salon.com
A standout Iowa high school wrestler refused to compete against a girl at the state tournament on Thursday, relinquishing any chance of becoming a champion because he says wrestling a girl would conflict with his religious beliefs.
Joel Northrup, a home-schooled sophomore who was 35-4 wrestling for Linn-Mar High School this season, praised his first-round opponent, Cedar Falls freshman Cassy Herkelman, and Ottumwa sophomore Megan Black, who became the first two girls to make the state wrestling tournament in its 85-year history.
But in a brief statement issued through his school, Northrup said he defaulted on his match with Herkelman because he doesn't think boys and girls should compete in the sport.
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Swimmer found near start line: Sport: Other Sport
Swimmer found near start line: Sport: Other SportOther links:
Swimmer found near start line
2011-02-17 09:42
Midar Dam in KZN Midlands
Durban - Police Search and Rescue teams have recovered the body of the swimmer who went missing during the aQuelle Midmar Mile over the weekend.
Nico Mellet, 45, is thought to have drowned during the event on Saturday.
Officials realised he was missing when his coded tag did not register at the finish line on Saturday.
More than 16 000 swimmers participated in the event, which is the largest open water swim in the world.
According to the EastCoastRadio website, Jack Haskins, who is with the Police Search and Rescue Unit, said they found Mellet's body on Wednesday afternoon near the starting line following a massive search operation at the dam in the KwaZulu-Natal midlands.
“At approximately 14:00 the deceased surfaced. He was approximately 500 metres from the start of the Midmar Mile,” Haskins said.
"We've had eight navy divers, as well as 10 South African Police divers from Pietermaritzburg and Port Shepstone, as well as two Search and Rescue dog handlers that were all involved," he said.
Haskins says the discovery will give the family some closure.
"The family has been by our sides from day one. They've sat with us from day one, right up until the last minute," he said.
A post mortem will be conducted.
http://www.midmarmile.co.za/
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/Midmar-Mile-swimmer-still-not-found-20110216
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Another County Executive Race is brewing in Pittsburgh this year.
The RMU Documentary program presents "Portrait of a Campaign", a behind the scenes look at the 2003 race for Allegheny County Chief Executive.
Tuesday 3/1/2011, 10:00 AM
Tuesday 3/1/2011, 10:30 AM
Thursday 3/3/2011, 7:00 AM
Monday 3/7/2011, 9:00 PM
Thursday 3/10/2011, 7:00 AM,
Thursday 3/10/2011, 7:30 AM
Monday 3/21/2011, 11:00 PM
Ex- UConn hooper (W) get off the hook in doping troubles in Europe.
------Original Message------
From: SI com Alerts
To: mark@rauterkus.com
ReplyTo: cnnalerts@cnn.com
Subject: 2004 Athens Summer Games News
Sent: Feb 16, 2011 2:04 PM
Alert Name: 2004 Athens Summer Games News
Turkey lifts provisional doping ban on Taurasi
02/16/11 12:44 PM, EST
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkey's basketball federation lifted American star Diana Taurasi's provisional doping suspension Wednesday after a lab retracted its finding that she tested positive for a performance-enhancing substance.
Read the full story at http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/wnba/02/16/taurasi.ban.removed.ap/index.html
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Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Fw: Tiger Polo Spring League
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
With the assistance of a couple of club parents, we’ll be launching our marketing/communications for the Spring League this week. The competitions dates are:
April 3rd and 10th
May 8th, 15th and 22nd (on the 22nd we will be at Chartiers Valley
All but the last date will be at North Allegheny and times are TBD but likely noon to 4.
Entry deadline will be Monday, March 28th which will give us about one month for people to sign up. More details to come this week, but wanted to get you guys in the loop early so that you can start recruiting. We hope to make this much bigger than last year.
Jim
Loss of school pools linked to drownings | Stuff.co.nz
Loss of school pools linked to drownings | Stuff.co.nz"We are losing our culture of swimming education and it is having disastrous effects," she said.
"We really need the government to make this a priority... it is a life or death issue."
Monday, February 14, 2011
Pittsburgh schools want more students in AP courses
Pittsburgh schools want more students in AP coursesThey needd to say that more students are desired for AP and IB courses.
Airport here desires overflow from East Coast
Airport here desires overflow from East Coast
Fw: SSSNA E-Blast 2/14 - Meeting Tomorrow 2/15, Soup Contest this Saturday
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
The next meeting of the SSSNA is February 15 at 7:00 PM. The rescheduled program from our January meeting includes Dr Lindenbaum from UPMC Urgent care Center, Zone 3 Police, and Councilman Bruce Kraus. The meeting is held in the main lounge of St Paul of the Cross Retreat Center, 148 Monastery Ave. in the south Side Slopes.
Last year's event far exceeded expectations, raising over $20,000 and more than 1,000 canned food items for The Brashear Association Food Pantry. This is a wonderful event that showcases the South Side neighborhood and a great opportunity for South Side residents and local business owners to work together for a good cause.
A large event such as this takes a lot of time and energy, which is why we're reaching out for volunteer support. Right now, we're specifically in need of Soup Captains. The Soup Captain acts as the onsite manager at each of the soup stops overseeing volunteers, checking in contest attendees, and monitoring soup and other supplies. In addition, the Soup Caption will be the direct point of contact for the event management staff. The Soup Captain must be present at the retail location for the duration of the event and are integral to the management and success of the event.
Below is a link to WQED OnDemand, who did a feature on last year's event. The short video provides further information about the contest and the Brashear Association's Food Pantry.
http://www.wqed.org/ondemand/onq.php?id=734
If you're interested in being a Soup Captain this year, please contact me. There will be a Soup Captain Orientation meeting on Wednesday, February 16th at 6pm at the Brashear Association, where we will go into further detail. If you aren't able to be a Soup Captain but would still like to volunteer, please let me know. We have many duties available for our volunteers. Any time that can be offered is greatly appreciated!
For more information about the South Side Soup Contest, please visit www.southsidepgh.com.
Thank you for your time,
Jennifer Jeffers
Committee Chairperson
jeffersjh@hotmail.com
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Helmets and heads
In hockey, some have called for the removal of helmets to make the game safe. Rather than remove the helmet, make it a helmet that breaks if it has an impact that is too hard. Then the player and his broken helmet would need to sit out the rest of the game.
I favor throw away helmets, not toss away players.
Post-Gazette.com: ".
After rejecting a proposal that would have forced players to sit out at least one play if their helmet is dislodged, the committee decided to gather data on how prevalent the problem is in college football."
The Eagle gives insights into Wikipedia and some kid named Donovan
-Ah Wikipedia, it’s the first thing up when you Google something, it contains more than 17 million articles, and has more than 365 million readers. Almost every kid in America has seen its white pages at least once in their lives. Wikipedia even has its sister sites that range from anything that focuses from video games to military secrets. But in schools Wikipedia and all of its sister sites are shunned, exiled, and segregated from the other articles on the internet. Teachers, or at least some of them, believe that Wikipedia will contain false information. And they don’t want anything Wikipedia-related in a student’s work. But just how reliable is Wikipedia?"
Chuck Tanner: The Last World Series Manager That Mattered

Yesterday, Major League Baseball lost a unique player, marvelous manager, and an incredible man.
Rest in Peace Charles William Tanner.
Welcomed to this world in New Castle, PA on the 4th of July in 1928, Chuck Tanner was born to be a baseball man. A left-handed and hitting left-fielder, Chuck Tanner recorded a unique feat. On April 12, 1955, in his first at-bat for the Braves, Chuck Tanner laced a home run in Milwaukee. It was a statistic that would be remembered countless times, and duly so.
After a journeyman career, Tanner transitioned to a managerial career, starting in 1963 in the minor leagues. In 1970 his Major League Managerial career began with the Chicago White Sox. He piloted that team for five years before being fired. He immediately was hired by Oakland in 1976. His team recorded a ML record 341 stolen bases that year but Chuck didn't impress.
In another one of the most unique twists in Major League history, Chuck Tanner—a manager—was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Two years later, Tanner's “We Are Family” Bucs, lead by Wilver Dornell Stargell, won the World Series when Omar Moreno snagged a rather routine fly-ball in Baltimore.
Baseball in Pittsburgh has not been the same since.
Tanner had his share of ups-and-downs in the remaining six seasons of his Pirates career. He was let go for young Jim Leyland and moved on to Atlanta for three more seasons. Tanner's major league managerial career was 1,352 and 1,381.
In the years since, Tanner had been a regular site at Three Rivers Stadium, and then PNC Park. Most recently, Tanner was a Senior Advisor to management. He could be seen leaving the ball park early, taller than you might expect, thin and always in a good mood.
As a kid, Chuck Tanner was seen exclusively as a good man and a fantastic motivator. When Phil Garner, then the manager of the Houston Astros, managed the National League All-Stars in the game at PNC, he chose Chuck to be a special guest coach. Tanner also threw out a ceremonial first pitch.
A couple of years ago, I'd see Chuck leave PNC Park. One day in particular I excitedly saw him talk with the ticket takers near the Home Plate Gate, as I worked Security just outside the gate. I was impressed that a “Big League” personality by any gauge, was talking to the part-time workers in red vests. I couldn't imagine Tony LaRussa or Lou Pinella (who also was traded once as a manager) talk to the riff-raff at the ball park.
Then Chuck Tanner came my way.
“Hello Mr. Tanner, how are you?”
“I'm good. How are you?”
Chuck stopped in his tracks.
I extended my hand and he shook it.
“Do you know what I refer to you as,” I asked.
He looked inquisitive and smiled.
I smiled broadly back to him.
“You are the manager of the last World Series team THAT MATTERED.”
With that, Chuck Tanner registered the words. And smiled ever more broadly.
As I remember, he reached out and put his left hand on my shoulder.
Chuck Tanner then laughed with me and said, “Thank you.”
It was a light-hearted moment between two guys who loved the Pittsburgh Pirates.
At that moment, Chuck Tanner treated me like a friend.
Just like he has countless other baseball fans. They too were his friends.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, one of the most storied teams in the history of all baseball, lost one of its most storied managers. A true leader. A Man. Rest in Peace Chuck Tanner. And thanks.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Murphy pushes bill to shield U.S. from China's currency
Murphy pushes bill to shield U.S. from China's currencyMurphy's meddling isn't what I want him to do.
After their efforts were rebuffed at the end of the last Congress, Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, reintroduced a bill Thursday targeting China for its allegedly undervalued currency.
Read more: http://post-gazette.com/pg/11042/1124607-84.stm#ixzz1Deq2l2rd
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Fw: [school-discuss] Open Source (and Open Data) bills in NH
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
| I don't know how many of you are following the activities of Open Source for America, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to pass this along. Hopefully, it will at least provide more useful material for discussions--so spread the word. I'm wondering if this could somehow come up during the fight for the 2012 New Hampshire presidential primary.... :-) Joel --- On Thu, 2/10/11, Cohn, Seth <Seth.Cohn@leg.state.nh.us> wrote:
|
435 volunteers
With redistricting we will have 435 new US congressional districts by 2012.
How about creating a loose network of 435 non-partisan, non-aligned Facebook
Pages for each district?
Each page would be designed for people who live in the new district to
exchange views across the political spectrum.
My experience is that participation in each page will need to be built and
someone(s) needs to tend the garden so to speak to remove spam and really
abusive stuff IF you want sustained quality participation. (If you prefer
pitched battles among the most partisan 1% then run it on auto-pilot.)
So, why not have each page built as a student project with students from
different ideological perspectives working together to make it work and
learn how to facilitate and recruit online. Key is seeding discussions with
news and links of direct relevance to the district and local implications of
national policy.
Anyone want to take this idea and run with it? Contact us:
http://e-democracy.org/contact team@e-democracy.org
(P.S. There is actually an example of a virtual parlimentary constituency
discussion in Kenya like this. Why not in the U.S.?)
My mentor, Fletcher Gilders, talked about as a glory day flashback from Kenyon College
Kenyon Vaults Back ino Diving After a Decade of Rest - The Kenyon Collegian - Sports: "It wasn't until the mid-1980s that the diving program really came into its own. 'The diving team of the mid '80s up to the late '90s was better than any team in that time,' Steen said. The reason? The hiring of the 'best diving coach of all time,' according to Steen — Fletcher Gilders. Gilders, an NCAA Division I record-setting national champion for Ohio State University, was one of the most successful divers in collegiate history. He was so successful as a diver that his national record, set while at OSU, was not overturned until Greg Louganis came along. After a very successful and decorated career as the swimming and diving coach at Ohio University (developing three Olympic divers and winning eight Mid-American conference titles), he came to Gambier to coach the diving squad in 1985. During his 12 years coaching at Kenyon, Gilders produced three Division III champions and won three NCAA Division III Coach of the Year honors. Now deceased, he is remembered much fondness and respect.Fletcher retired -- but really, he died way too young. The guy was a lot like the recently departed Jack LaLane. Fletcher was shorter, fit like a bull, functional in his problem solving, and clever with his insights as to what movements to coach and what to ignore until later.
The diving team took a turn for the worse after Gilders' retirement. Without such a dedicated, consistent and 'high-caliber, absolutely adored' coach as Gilders, according to Steen, the program had since fallen into somewhat of a rut for the latter part of the '90s and into the 2000s."
Raja for Commissioner - Raja’s Story
Raja for Commissioner � Raja’s Story: "A first generation American, Raja was born in Bangalore, India, known as the “Silicon Valley of India.” After graduating from the region’s leading university with a degree in electrical engineering, he moved to Pittsburgh to attend graduate school earning a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh and an MBA with Honors from Carnegie Mellon."