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November 2009

Rams' run defense remains problem area

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 22:03 — admin

ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis Rams' run defense has been horrible lately, even though the personnel's pretty much the same. It's becoming a weekly sore spot for rookie coach Steve Spagnuolo, who built his reputation on stopping opponents.
On Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks more than doubled their NFL-low average with a season-best 170 yards in beating the Rams 27-17. Before that, the Rams (1-10) gave up a season-high 183 yards to Arizona, and 203 yards to the Saints.
To defensive end Leonard Little, the numbers are disgraceful.
"I've been doing this since I was 5 years old," Little said. "If you don't know how to tackle, then you might not need to be in this business."
Justin Forsett, a seventh-round pick last year, had a career high 130 yards and two touchdowns on Sunday while the Seahawks averaged 5.5 yards per carry overall. Tim Hightower has 480 yards for the Cardinals this season, 110 of them with a 7.9-yard average two weeks ago against St. Louis.
"There were situations where we had them at the line of scrimmage and whatnot and they broke tackles," defensive end Chris Long said after losing to the Seahawks. "I don't think they outschemed us, I think we should have tackled better."
Just like last week and the week before that, Spagnuolo cites a combination of poor tackling and mistakes across the board in gap responsibility. Regarding the mistakes, he said it's not something that can be pinpointed, except for the fact it's not a case of getting physically manhandled.
"It's a little bit of everything," Spagnuolo said. "I keep saying that, but I'm not lying to you. If I thought it was one person every time, that person would be out. That's not the case."
Rams coaches revise tackle counts from the Sunday statistical sheet after reviewing game tape, and credit rookie linebacker James Laurinaitis and safety O.J. Atogwe with 10 tackles apiece along with Laurinaitis' first career sack. Laurinaitis, a second-round pick, leads the team with 106 tackles, 25 more than any other player.
Revised totals do not include missed tackles, and Spagnuolo declined to reveal the count from the Seahawks setback.
"I'm not going there," Spagnuolo said. "We had enough that caused us to not play good defense. Too many."
Players are not shirking responsibility after losing their 11th in a row at home and 10th straight against the Seahawks. St. Louis is 6-37 the last three seasons.
"All that matters is the next snap, and we've got to have that mentality," Long said. "Nobody is going to dig us out of a hole except ourselves."
Running back Steven Jackson, who had a full load against the Seahawks after missing three days of practice with lower back spasms, is likely to get light duty this week before Sunday's game at Chicago. Jackson fell short of a fifth straight 100-yard game but had 89 yards rushing and totaled 116 yards from scrimmage.
"He's not looking to take any time off, but we're going to be careful," Spagnuolo said.
Jackson said after the game the back bothered him throughout the game.
"A lot of people questioned why did I play," Jackson said. "Well, I play because I love to play."

Northwestern State holds off Centenary 83-80

Mon, 11/30/2009 - 21:56 — admin

SHREVEPORT, La. – Will Pratt scored 16 points and Northwestern State held off a late Centenary rally to beat the Gentlemen 83-80 on Monday night and snap a five-game road skid.
The Demons (3-2) led by as many as 22 points and were ahead 74-56 with 4:04 to go. David Perez got Centenary (3-2) within 79-75 with a 3-pointer with 46 seconds remaining.
Northwestern State made foul shots to lead 82-78, then Roman Tubner scored on a layup with 7 seconds left.
After Shamir Davis hit another free throw, Perez got across midcourt with under 2 seconds left, but was stripped of the ball by Michael McConathy in the final second.
Davis had 13 points and McConathy had 12 and six assists.
The Gentlemen, who snapped a three-game winning streak, were scoreless the first 6 minutes and shot 16.1 percent (5-for-31) in the first half.
Perez scored 18 points to lead Centenary and Maxx Nakwaasah added 17.

Sarah Palin coy about 2012 run, but door is open

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 12:59 — admin

NEW YORK – Sarah Palin said in an interview broadcast Tuesday that a 2012 presidential bid is "not on my radar," but wouldn't rule out playing some role in the next presidential election.
"My ambition, if you will, my desire is to help our country in whatever role that may be, and I cannot predict what that will be, what doors will be open in the year 2012," she told Barbara Walters.
When asked whether she'd play a major role, the former Republican vice presidential candidate replied that "if people will have me, I will."
Palin is making the rounds to promote her new book, "Going Rogue," which came out Tuesday. On Monday, she appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Palin said she's gotten plenty of offers during the past few months, including to open up her family for a reality show, that she has rejected. She also said she wasn't sure whether a talk show would be best for her family.
"I'd probably rather write than talk," she told Walters.
The former Alaska governor said she'd rate President Barack Obama's performance a 4 out of 10. She criticized the president for his handling of the economy and for "dithering" on national security questions.
"There are a lot of decisions being made that I — and probably the majority of Americans — are not impressed with right now," she said on ABC. She said Obama's Nobel Peace Prize was "premature."
Palin also discussed David Letterman, whom she criticized for a sexually suggestive jokes made at the expense of her teenage daughter in June. Letterman eventually apologized to Palin.
Palin told Walters she has ruled out an appearance on Letterman's late night TV show. "I don't think that I'd want to boost his ratings," she said. "I do want him to sell my book, though I hope he keeps it up."
The title of Palin's book refers to a phrase John McCain's campaign used to describe his vice presidential running mate going off message. In the book, she criticizes the people who ran McCain's campaign and says she wished she had been allowed to speak more freely. But she told Walters the outcome probably would not have been different if she had.
"The economy tanked," she said. "(The) electorate was ready, sincerely, for change."
On the controversy about the $150,000 spent on her wardrobe by the campaign, Palin said there was a double standard: No one ever questions male candidates where their shoes or suits came from, she said. In the end, she added: "The clothes all went back. They were never my clothes."
Despite the internal squabbling and ultimate loss, Palin said she would go through the experience again. "(I) would do it again in a heartbeat," she told Walters.
And though she backed the first federal bailout, Palin says she would not support a second. "That did not put our economy back on the right track. So we learn from our mistakes."
During her interview with Winfrey, which was taped last week, Palin said that it's heartbreaking to see the road that Levi Johnston, the father of her grandson, has taken and that the soon-to-be Playgirl model hasn't seen his baby in a while.
The new memoir doesn't mention Johnston, who has sparred repeatedly with his former mother-in-law-to-be. When Winfrey asked about Johnston, Palin said she didn't think "a national television show is the place to discuss some of the things he's doing and saying."
But Palin went on to say she finds it "a bit heartbreaking to see the road that he is on right now" and that "it's not a healthy place to be."

Palin also said Johnston remains a member of the family and that they can work out any troubles. She said she prays for him and that he has an "open invitation" to Thanksgiving dinner.

Winfrey began the interview by asking Palin if she felt snubbed at not getting an invitation to "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last year. Winfrey said she didn't have any candidates on her Chicago-based show during the campaign because of her support for President Barack Obama.

Palin said she didn't feel snubbed and told Winfrey, "No offense to you, but it wasn't the center of my universe."

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AP Writer Caryn Rousseau in Chicago contributed to this report.

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On the Net:

http://www.abcnews.com

http://www.oprah.com

YouTube Direct Lets Citizens Become Journalists (NewsFactor)

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 11:02 — admin

On Tuesday, YouTube announced a new service that lets news and media outlets request, review and even rebroadcast clips YouTube users shoot and upload to the site. Dubbed YouTube Direct, the new tool is built from YouTube's API. YouTube Direct is an open-source application that makes it possible for media organizations to allow customized versions of YouTube's upload platform on their web sites.

YouTube Direct also creates a virtual assignment desk that lets news and media organizations ask YouTube users to submit breaking news videos, user-generated reports, or reactions to questions or news events of the day.

"People around the world are taking up cameras and covering news in ways big and small -- from documenting global events to filming local town halls in American neighborhoods," said Steve Grove, head of news and politics at YouTube. "YouTube Direct empowers news and media organizations to easily connect with these citizen reporters and use the power of our platform to cover the news better than ever before."

Anatomy of YouTube Direct

News and media organizations can farm out assignments to citizen reporters, allowing them to upload their videos directly into the YouTube Direct application. YouTube Direct then enables the hosting news organization to review video submissions and select the best ones to broadcast on-air and on their web sites.

The YouTube Direct videos, however, aren't exclusive to the news organizations. These citizen-journalist-created videos also appear live on YouTube, so amateur videographers can reach their own audience while getting broader exposure and editorial validation for the videos they create.

YouTube already has an established audience of news consumers. In fact, YouTube is the biggest news video repository in the world, with nearly 300 global and local news partners and hundreds of millions of views of news and political videos every week. YouTube has a large archive of news videos on historic events like 9-11 and presidential debates.

News organizations are already embracing YouTube Direct. The platform is currently in use by the Huffington Post, NPR, Politico, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Washington Post, and WHDH-TV/WLVI-TV in Boston.

The Changing Media Paradigm

Phil Leigh, a senior analyst at Inside Digital Media, called YouTube Direct interesting. He believes history will look back on this period as the golden age of news reporting because of this fundamental change in the media paradigm.

"Everybody with a camera and the ability to record video in real time has the opportunity now to participate in news gathering," Leigh said. "YouTube making that available to established news organizations is an extension of the media."

Despite the advances, there is a potential downside for media organizations. Leigh said the rise of citizen journalists and the manifestation of YouTube Direct underscores the changing nature of news reporting.

"The established news organizations no longer have the monopoly that they once did. In a sense, it's beneficial for the news organizations, but at the same time it eliminates their exclusivity," Leigh said. "This means news organizations have to learn how to adapt and use these capabilities to their own advantage as opposed to resisting them."

Magna Gate Latch Top Pull

Tue, 11/17/2009 - 04:52 — admin

However, the remaining vast tracts of unsettled land were often used as a commons, or, in the American west, "open range." As degradation of habitat developed due to overgrazing and a tragedy of the commons situation arose, common areas began to either be allocated to individual landowners via mechanisms such as the Homestead Act and Desert Land Act and fenced in, or, if kept in public hands, leased to individual users for limited purposes, with fences built to separate tracts of public and private land.

Where a fence or hedge has an adjacent ditch, the ditch is normally in the same ownership as the hedge or fence, with the ownership boundary being the edge of the ditch furthest from the fence or hedge. The principle of the rule is that an owner digging a boundary ditch will normally dig it up to the very edge of their land, and must then pile the spoil on their own side of the ditch to avoid trespassing on their neighbour. They may then erect a fence or hedge on the spoil, leaving the ditch on its far side. Exceptions often occur, for example where a plot of land derives from subdivision of a larger one along the centre line of a previously existing ditch or other feature.

Magna Gate Latch Top Pull

Manufacturing, pending home sales fuel recovery hopes

Tue, 11/03/2009 - 05:25 — admin

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
U.S. manufacturing activity hit its highest level in 3-1/2 years last month and pending home sales contracts unexpectedly surged in September, allaying fears the economy's budding recovery would falter.

The factory gauge from the Institute for Supply Management on Monday pointed to a brisk growth pace in the fourth quarter and hinted at an improvement in the labor market in October.

"These numbers are going to get people more confident in the recovery. ... They tend to argue for forward momentum going into the end of the year," said Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research at MF Global in Chicago.

ISM's index of national factory activity rose to 55.7 in October, the highest level since April 2006, from 52.6 in September. Analysts had expected a reading of just 53.0.

It was the third straight month the gauge came in above 50, the dividing line between expansion and contraction.

While the U.S. economy appears to have pulled out of its deepest recession since the Great Depression, rising unemployment threatens to undermine the young recovery. The data on Monday tempered those worries.

Norbert Ore, chairman of the ISM manufacturing business survey committee, said the findings suggest the economy could grow at an annual 4.5 rate in the fourth quarter, up from the 3.5 percent pace in the third quarter.

In a separate report, the National Association of Realtors said its Pending Home Sales Index, based on sales contracts signed, rose 6.1 percent to 110.1 in September -- the highest level since December 2006 -- as first-time buyers rushed to take advantage of a soon-to-expire tax credit.

Pending home sales have now risen for eight straight months, the longest streak since on records dating to 2001, and stand a record 21.2 percent above their year-ago level.

A separate report from the Commerce Department that showed spending on construction projects rose 0.8 percent in September buttressed the view that the property sector was stabilizing.

The upbeat economic reports lifted U.S. stocks and helped them to recoup some of the losses from Friday's steep sell-off

(.N), but eroded demand for safe-haven government bonds and the U.S. dollar .

Stocks were also cheered by surveys showing manufacturing activity in the euro zone expanded for the first time in 17 months and picked up in Britain and China, indicating a global economic recovery is underway.

EMPLOYMENT GAUGE SHOWS EXPANSION

President Barack Obama said measures taken by his administration -- including a $787 billion stimulus package -- had pulled the economy back from the brink, but cautioned there was still a long way to go to achieve full recovery.

"We just are not where we need to be yet. We've got a long way to go. We are still seeing production levels that are significantly below peak levels. And most distressing is the fact that job growth continues to lag," Obama said.

U.S. Federal Reserve officials meet on Tuesday and Wednesday and are expected to signal a willingness to keep their stimulative policies in place for some time yet to make sure a self-sustaining recovery takes root.

The manufacturing employment subindex in the ISM report vaulted to 53.1 in October, the highest level since April 2006, suggesting demand for labor was starting to pick up.

It was the first time in 15 months the employment index crossed the 50 threshold to move into growth territory.

Economists polled by Reuters last week had said a report on Friday was likely to show U.S. employers cut 175,000 workers from their payrolls last month, but some analysts said the ISM report could mean those forecasts are too dire.

Analysts were unfazed by the fact that the ISM's new orders gauge slowed for a second straight month, focusing instead on the steady rise in an inventory index -- which they said was positive for fourth-quarter gross domestic product.

"The normalization of production now that inventories are no longer egregiously excessive should be one of the main factors driving GDP growth in the current and next quarters," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS in Greenwich, Connecticut.

"Today's report provides an important confirmation to our view that this recovery has legs."

(Additional reporting by Chris Reese and Lisa Lambert; Editing by Diane Craft)

Czech court lifts last barrier to EU treaty

Tue, 11/03/2009 - 02:22 — admin

BRNO, Czech Republic (Reuters) –
The Czech Constitutional Court threw out a complaint against the EU's Lisbon Treaty on Tuesday, removing the last obstacle to its ratification.

The ruling allows euroskeptic President Vaclav Klaus to sign the treaty, which will give the EU its first long-term president and streamline decision-making in the bloc of 27 states and nearly half a billion people.

The Czech Republic is the only EU member state that has not yet ratified the pact, which needs the consent of all member states to come into force.

Klaus was banned by law from signing it until the court had ruled on a complaint by his allies in the Czech upper house of parliament, the Senate, who argue the treaty would erode national sovereignty.

Klaus long argued against the Lisbon Treaty, saying it would turn the EU into a superstate with little democratic control.

But he said he would raise no further obstacles to the document after EU leaders agreed last week to give the Czechs an opt-out from a rights charter attached to the treaty. Klaus says the exemption is necessary to avoid property claims by Germans expelled from Czechoslovakia after World War Two.

If Klaus signs the treaty within a couple of weeks, as expected, it will come into force in January, turning attention to who will be the EU's first president.

EU leaders failed to agree at their summit last week in Brussels on who should take the job, which will have limited powers, and a special summit may be needed to reach a deal.

The chances of the once-favored candidate, former British prime minister Tony Blair, seem doomed after he failed to win an endorsement from the European Socialists, his Labour Party's allies.

No front-runner has emerged, but possible contenders include Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, former Finnish prime minister Paavo Lipponen and Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker.

(Writing by Jan Lopatka, Editing by Andrew Roche/David Stamp)

Indonesian maid jailed for poisoning employer

Mon, 11/02/2009 - 22:05 — admin

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) –
An Indonesian maid has been sentenced to six years in jail for attempting to murder her elderly Malaysian employer by putting weedkiller in her coffee and soup, reports said Tuesday.

Nurhayati Ahmad, 22, from Lombok in Indonesia pleaded guilty to poisoning 77-year-old Jaharah Daud in July last year, state news agency Bernama said.

It said that Jaharah detected a bitter taste in coffee prepared by the maid. The elderly woman's daughter then checked a vegetable soup the maid had cooked and found it had the same strange smell.

Suspecting it had been contaminated with poison, they contacted police who came to the house and found two bottles of herbicide, the Star newspaper said.

Jaharah was taken to hospital where she was treated for poisoning but released after several days.



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