December 20, 2008

Best pictures of Victoria Frances

Victoria Francés (October 25, 1982) is a Spanish illustrator, born in Valencia. She is a graduate of the Facultad de Bellas Artes de San Carlos at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain.

Her work is very goth-inspired: ghostly women in long dresses are perhaps the most common characters found in her art. Unsurprisingly, she cites her influences as Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Rice and H. P. Lovecraft. She also claims to have been influenced by the art of Luis Royo and Brom.

She has illustrated several books as well as many posters. 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 calendars featuring her art have also been released.

History

Francés' first book, Favole, was first released on 23 April 2003. This was moderately successful, but she returned to the Universidad de Bellas Artes to continue to study art. She made her first public appearance at the 22nd Annual Comic Fair in Barcelona on 8 March 2004, and toured Madrid and the U.S. the following year. Meanwhile, her other books (see below) were released. Influenced by pre-Raphaelite paintings, she chooses subjects that take many people to a symbolic, magical and ancient world. All the sufferings of the outcast of this world is shown in dark castles and mansions with flickering lights, with the distinct influence of Goethe, Edgar Allan Poe, Baudelaire and Bram Stoker.

From her early childhood she was fascinated by the beauty of the forest in Galicia, where she spent much of her infancy. After traveling to cities like London and Paris she was hypnotized by the atmosphere there, the same that brought to life legendary masterpieces of Gothic literature. Her illustrations and sketches recall the dreamlike world of Gothic Romanticism.

She attended the San Carlos University, Valencia, Spain where she studied Fine Arts. There she started working as an illustrator while also designing various book covers and other commissioned pieces. Favole, her first illustrated book, is the remembrance of three cities, Verona, Venice and Genoa, and it was the sensation in the 2004 Saló del Còmic in Barcelona, attaining widespread success in all the countries where it has been published. Soon after Favole II & III followed gaining her even more success. Her most recent published work is called El Corazón de Arlene (Arlene’s heart) in 2008.

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Source: Wikipedia

Bolshoi's Olga Lepeshinskaya dies at 92

The Russian Culture Ministry says Olga Lepeshinskaya, a Soviet-era prima ballerina who danced with the Bolshoi Ballet for decades, has died. She was 92.

Culture Ministry spokeswoman Nataliya Uvarova says Lepeshinskaya died Saturday of an unspecified illness.

ITAR-Tass news agency reported Lepeshinskaya died in her Moscow apartment in her sleep.

Lepeshinskaya was born in Kiev in 1916. She graduated from the Moscow Choreographic School and joined the Bolshoi Ballet in 1933. She was a top dancer at the Bolshoi until 1963 when she turned to teaching.

Lepeshinskaya danced Kitri in Don Quixote, Tao Hoa in The Red Poppy, Jeanne in The Flame of Paris, Aurora in Sleeping Beauty and Masha in The Nutcracker.

Uvarova said Lepeshinskaya will be buried Tuesday.

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Source: The Associated Press

Little Ice Age

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The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of cooling occurring after a warmer era known as the Medieval Warm Period or Medieval Climate Optimum.[1] The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939.[2] Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of this period, which varied according to local conditions. Some confine the Little Ice Age to approximately the 16th century to the mid 19th century.[3] It is generally agreed that there were three minima, beginning about 1650, about 1770, and 1850, each separated by slight warming intervals.[4]

It was initially believed that the LIA was a global phenomenon; it is now less clear if this is true. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), based on Bradley and Jones, 1993; Hughes and Diaz, 1994; Crowley and Lowery, 2000 describes the LIA as "a modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during this period of less than 1°C," and says, "current evidence does not support globally synchronous periods of anomalous cold or warmth over this timeframe, and the conventional terms of 'Little Ice Age' and Medieval Warm Period appear to have limited utility in describing trends in hemispheric or global mean temperature changes in past centuries."[5] There is evidence, however, that the Little Ice Age did affect the Southern Hemisphere.[2]

Dating of the Little Ice Age

There is no agreed beginning year to the Little Ice Age, although there is a frequently referenced series of events preceding the known climatic minima. Starting in the 13th century, pack ice began advancing southwards in the North Atlantic, as did glaciers in Greenland. The three years of torrential rains beginning in 1315 ushered in an era of unpredictable weather in Northern Europe which did not lift until the 19th century. There is anecdotal evidence of expanding glaciers almost worldwide. In contrast, a climate reconstruction based on glacial length[6] shows no great variation from 1600 to 1850, though it shows strong retreat thereafter.

For this reason, any of several dates ranging over 400 years may indicate the beginning of the Little Ice Age:

  • 1250 for when Atlantic pack ice began to grow
  • 1300 for when warm summers stopped being dependable in Northern Europe
  • 1315 for the rains and Great Famine of 1315-1317
  • 1550 for theorized beginning of worldwide glacial expansion
  • 1650 for the first climatic minimum

In contrast to its uncertain beginning, there is a consensus that the Little Ice Age ended in the mid-19th century.

Northern hemisphere

The Little Ice Age brought bitterly cold winters to many parts of the world, but is most thoroughly documented in Europe and North America. It probably brought about the demise of the Norse settlements in Greenland, which had died out by the 1400s. In the mid-17th century, glaciers in the Swiss Alps advanced, gradually engulfing farms and crushing entire villages. The River Thames and the canals and rivers of the Netherlands often froze over during the winter, and people skated and even held frost fairs on the ice. The first Thames frost fair was in 1607; the last in 1814, although changes to the bridges and the addition of an embankment affected the river flow and depth, hence the possibility of freezes. The freeze of the Golden Horn and the southern section of the Bosphorus took place in 1622. In 1658, a Swedish army marched across the Great Belt to Denmark to invade Copenhagen. The winter of 1794/1795 was particularly harsh when the French invasion army under Pichegru could march on the frozen rivers of the Netherlands, whilst the Dutch fleet was fixed in the ice in Den Helder harbour. In the winter of 1780, New York Harbor froze, allowing people to walk from Manhattan to Staten Island. Sea ice surrounding Iceland extended for miles in every direction, closing that island's harbors to shipping.

The severe winters affected human life in ways large and small. The population of Iceland fell by half, but this was perhaps also due to fluorosis caused by the eruption of the volcano Laki in 1783.[7] Iceland also suffered failures of cereal crops and people moved away from a grain-based diet.[8] The Norse colonies in Greenland starved and vanished (by the 15th century) as crops failed and livestock could not be maintained through increasingly-harsh winters. In North America, American Indians formed leagues in response to food shortages.[9]

One researcher noted that, in many years, "snowfall was much heavier than recorded before or since, and the snow lay on the ground for many months longer than it does today."[10] Many springs and summers were outstandingly cold and wet, although there was great variability between years and groups of years. Crop practices throughout Europe had to be altered to adapt to the shortened, less reliable growing season, and there were many years of death and famine (such as the Great Famine of 1315–1317, although this may have been before the LIA proper). Viticulture entirely disappeared from some northern regions. Violent storms caused massive flooding and loss of life. Some of these resulted in permanent losses of large tracts of land from the Danish, German, and Dutch coasts.[10]

The extent of mountain glaciers had been mapped by the late 19th century. In both the north and the south temperate zones of our planet, snowlines (the boundaries separating zones of net accumulation from those of net ablation) were about 100 m lower than they were in 1975.[11] In Glacier National Park, the last episode of glacier advance came in the late 18th and early 19th century.[12] In Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, large temperature excursions during the Little Ice Age (~1400–1900 AD) and the Medieval Warm Period (~800–1300 AD) possibly related to changes in the strength of North Atlantic thermohaline circulation.[13]

In Ethiopia and Mauritania[citation needed], permanent snow was reported on mountain peaks at levels where it does not occur today. Timbuktu, an important city on the trans-Saharan caravan route, was flooded at least 13 times by the Niger River; there are no records of similar flooding before or since. In China, warm weather crops, such as oranges, were abandoned in Jiangxi Province, where they had been grown for centuries. Also, two periods of most frequent typhoon strikes in Guangdong coincide with two of the coldest and driest periods in northern and central China (AD 1660-1680, 1850-1880).[14] In North America, the early European settlers also reported exceptionally severe winters. For example, in 1607-1608 ice persisted on Lake Superior until June.[10]

Antonio Stradivari, the famous violin maker, produced his instruments during the LIA. It has been proposed that the colder climate caused the wood used in his violins to be denser than in warmer periods, contributing to the tone of Stradivari's instruments.[15]

The Little Ice Age by anthropology professor Brian Fagan of the University of California at Santa Barbara, tells of the plight of European peasants during the 1300 to 1850 chill: famines, hypothermia, bread riots, and the rise of despotic leaders brutalizing an increasingly dispirited peasantry. In the late 17th century, writes Fagan, agriculture had dropped off so dramatically that "Alpine villagers lived on bread made from ground nutshells mixed with barley and oat flour." Finland lost perhaps a third of its population to starvation and disease.[16]

Depictions of winter in European painting

Burroughs (Weather, 1981) analyses the depiction of winter in paintings. He notes that this occurred almost entirely from 1565 to 1665, and was associated with the climatic decline from 1550 onwards. (See illustration above left) He claims (however incorrectly[17]) that before this there were almost no depictions of winter in art, and hypotheses that the unusually harsh winter of 1565 inspired great artists to depict highly original images, and the decline in such paintings was a combination of the "theme" having been fully explored, and mild winters interrupting the flow of painting.

The famous winter paintings by Pieter Brueghel the Elder (e.g. Hunters in the Snow) all appear to have been painted in 1565. Snow also dominates many village-scapes by the Pieter Brueghel the Younger, who lived from 1564 to 1638. Burroughs states that Pieter Brueghel the Younger "slavishly copied his father's designs. The derivative nature of so much of this work makes it difficult to draw any definite conclusions about the influence of the winters between 1570 and 1600...".

Dutch painting of the theme appears to begin with Hendrick Avercamp after the winter of 1608. There is then an interruption of the theme between 1627 and 1640, with a sudden return thereafter; this hints at a milder interlude in the 1630s. The 1640s to the 1660s cover the major period of Dutch winter painting, which fits with the known proportion of cold winters then. The final decline in winter painting, around 1660, does not coincide with an amelioration of the climate; Burroughs therefore cautions against trying to read too much into artistic output, since fashion plays a part. He notes that winter painting recurs around the 1780s and 1810s, which again marked a colder period.

Scottish painting and contemporary records demonstrate that curling and skating were formerly popular outdoor winter sports,[18] but it is now seldom possible to curl outdoors in Scotland due to unreliable conditions. The revival of interest in painting such scenes as Raeburn's Skating Minister may owe as much to the romantic movement, which favoured depictions of dramatic landscapes, as to any meaningful observation on climate.

Southern hemisphere

An ocean sediment core from the eastern Bransfield Basin in the Antarctic Peninsula shows centennial events that the authors link to the Little Ice Age and Medieval Warm Period.[19] The authors note "other unexplained climatic events comparable in duration and amplitude to the LIA and MWP events also appear." The LIA is easily distinguished in the Quelccaya Ice Cap (Peruvian Andes, South America).[20]

The Siple Dome (SD) has a climate event with an onset time that is coincident with that of the LIA in the North Atlantic based on a correlation with the GISP2 record. This event is the most dramatic climate event seen in the SD Holocene glaciochemical record.[21] The Siple Dome ice core also contained its highest rate of melt layers (up to 8%) between 1550 and 1700, most likely due to warm summers during the LIA.[22]

Law Dome ice cores show lower levels of CO2 mixing ratios during 1550-1800 AD, probably as a result of colder global climate.[23]

Sediment cores (Gebra-1 and Gebra-2) in Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula, have neoglacial indicators by diatom and sea-ice taxa variations during the period of the LIA.[24]

In 1675 the Spanish explorer Antonio de Vea entered San Rafael Lagoon through Río Témpanos (Spanish for Ice Floe River), without mentioning any ice floe, and stated that the San Rafael Glacier did not reach far into the lagoon. In 1766 another expedition noticed that the glacier did reach the lagoon and calved into large icebergs. Hans Steffen visited the area in 1898, noticing that the glacier penetrated far into the lagoon. As of 2001, the border of the glacier has retreated beyond the borders of 1675. [3]

There is limited evidence about conditions in Australia, though lake records in Victoria suggest that conditions, at least in the south of the state, were wet and/or unusually cool. In the north of the continent the limited evidence suggests fairly dry conditions, while coral cores from the Great Barrier Reef show similar rainfall today but with less variability.

Tropical Pacific coral records indicate the most frequent, intense El Niño-Southern Oscillation activity occurred in the mid 17th century, during the Little Ice Age.[25]

Climate patterns

In the North Atlantic, sediments accumulated since the end of the last ice age, nearly 12,000 years ago, show regular increases in the amount of coarse sediment grains deposited from icebergs melting in the now open ocean, indicating a series of 1-2°C (2-4°F) cooling events recurring every 1,500 years or so. The most recent of these cooling events was the Little Ice Age. These same cooling events are detected in sediments accumulating off Africa, but the cooling events appear to be larger, ranging between 3-8°C (6-14°F).[26]

Causes

Scientists have identified two causes of the Little Ice Age from outside the ocean/atmosphere/land systems: decreased solar activity and increased volcanic activity. Research is ongoing on more ambiguous influences such as internal variability of the climate system, and anthropogenic influence (Ruddiman). Ruddiman has speculated that depopulation of Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East during the Black Death, with the resulting decrease in agricultural output and reforestation taking up more carbon from the atmosphere, may have prolonged the Little Ice Age. Ruddiman further speculates that massive depopulation in the Americas after the European contact in the early 1500s had similar effects. [27]

One of the difficulties in identifying the causes of the Little Ice Age is the lack of consensus on what constitutes "normal" climate. While some scholars regard the LIA as an unusual period caused by a combination of global and regional changes, other scientists see glaciation as the norm for Earth and the Medieval Warm Period (as well as the Holocene interglacial period) as the anomalies requiring explanation.[16]

Solar activity

During the period 1645–1715, in the middle of the Little Ice Age, there was a period of low solar activity known as the Maunder Minimum. A growing body of scientific evidence[28] indicates that there is a correlation between low sunspot activity and cooling temperatures[29]. There is not sufficient data to use sunspot numbers to predict temperatures or climate variance, but the coincidence of low sunspot activity (e.g., the Maunder Minimum) with the deepest trough of the Little Ice Age supports such a connection[30]. The Spörer Minimum has also been identified with a significant cooling period near the beginning of the Little Ice Age. Other indicators of low solar activity during this period are levels of the isotopes carbon-14 and beryllium-10.[31].

Volcanic activity

Throughout the Little Ice Age, the world also experienced heightened volcanic activity.[32] When a volcano erupts, its ash reaches high into the atmosphere and can spread to cover the whole of Earth. This ash cloud blocks out some of the incoming solar radiation, leading to worldwide cooling that can last up to two years after an eruption. Also emitted by eruptions is sulfur in the form of SO2 gas. When this gas reaches the stratosphere, it turns into sulfuric acid particles, which reflect the sun's rays, further reducing the amount of radiation reaching Earth's surface. The 1815 eruption of Tambora in Indonesia blanketed the atmosphere with ash; the following year, 1816, came to be known as the Year Without A Summer, when frost and snow were reported in June and July in both New England and Northern Europe.

Ocean Conveyor Shutdown

Another possibility is that there was a shutdown or slowing of Thermohaline circulation, also known as the "great ocean conveyor" or "meridional overturning circulation". The Gulf Stream could have been interrupted by the introduction of a large amount of fresh water to the North Atlantic, possibly caused by a period of warming before the little ice age. There is some concern that shutdown of thermohaline circulation could happen again as a result of global warming [33].

End of Little Ice Age

Beginning around 1850, the climate began warming and the Little Ice Age ended. Some global warming critics believe that Earth's climate is still recovering from the Little Ice Age and that human activity is not the decisive factor in present temperature trends,[34][35] but this idea is not widely accepted. Instead, mainstream scientific opinion on climate change is that warming over the last 50 years is caused primarily by the increased proportion of CO2 in the atmosphere caused by human activity. There is less agreement over the warming from 1850 to 1950.


Source: Wikipedia

Ethan Bortnick

Ethan Bortnick (b. 24 December 2000 in Florida, U.S.A.) is a child prodigy pianist and composer.

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History

Ethan began playing a keyboard at the age of three, and was composing music by the age of five, and is able to play a song after hearing it.[1] He has performed with many well know artists and has been featured on many National and International television programs.[2] [3]

Television Appearances

On May 10, 2007 Ethan's National Television debut was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. On this show, he met Cameron Diaz and Nelly Furtado. [4]

In 2007 Ethan also appeared on The Martha Stewart Show, Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Access Hollywood,The Early Show and other TV Appearances. [3]

On March 10, 2008 Ethan appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, for the second time. He appeared with Dominic Monaghan and Sheryl Crow. [5]

On May 12, 2008 Ethan appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show. The segment was titled "Oprah Presents the World's Smartest Kids". In the episode, Ethan told Oprah that "We still have to stay humble" [6][1]

On September 3, 2008 Ethan appeared on the The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, for the third time. He appeared with Billy Bob Thornton and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. [7]

On October 11, 2008 Ethan appeared on the Disney Channel, on the Show Little Einsteins. Ethan recorded music for the show and appeared, as himself, on the show. [8]

Live Performances

Ethan has performed both live and televised concerts, both National and International. His range of music is remarkable, he has performed and led symphony orchestras and has opened Nelly Furtado’s First Show at the Hard Rock Arena. He has shared the stage with musicians such as Beyonce, Natalie Cole, Nelly Furtado, Smokey Robinson, Gloria Gaynor, Patti Labelle,The Pointer Sisters and Many more. Ethan recorded music for Disney’s Little Einsteins and is appearing on both Disney and Nickelodeon. Ethan has performed multiple times for live audiences of over 20,000 people and has raised record money for charities. Ethan recently co-hosted the Chabad Telethon to a live audience of over 20,000,000 viewers worldwide, raising over $8,000,000.



On May 30, 2007, Ethan Opened Nelly Furtado's US tour at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. This was her first show in the United States on her tour. [9]

On October 4, 2008 Ethan performed to raise money for the Miami Children's Hospital foundation's Diamond Ball and Concert, featuring Beyonce Knowles, Smokey Robinson, and Gloria Gaynor at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, FL.

On October 23, 2008 Ethan Performed for OneXOne to help raise money to help fight health issues and preserve the lives of children locally and globally. Matt Damon held an auction at the event with Ethan and Josh Groban. Other Performers and celebrities included Santana, David Arquette, Josh Groban, Wyclef Jean and others.[10]


Source: Wikipedia

Van Wert alum still a part of Mount Union football legacy

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When the Mount Union Purple Raiders take the field at 10 a.m. Saturday in Salem, Virginia the football program will be attempting to secure its record 10th national championship. And on the sideline, as he has been for years, will be Ken Wable.

Wable, a 1945 Van Wert High School graduate, is one of the founding fathers of America's most prolific Division III college football program. The head football coach at Mount Union from 1962 until 1985, Wable is the second winningest mentor in Raider football history. In his 24 years at the head of Mount Union, Wable led the Purple Raiders to a 123-95-2 record. He was also the first coach to ever lead the Raiders to an Ohio Athletic Conference championship and a Division III playoff berth.

In Wable's last season at Mount Union the Raiders recorded an 11-1 record (8-0 in the OAC) and made it to the second round of the playoffs before losing to Augustana (IL) 21-14. Though it was his final season at the small liberal arts college in Alliance, OH that season set into motion much of the success the school has experienced over the last two decades.

"We have a very good program here," Wable said from his home in Alliance, Monday. "The head coach (Larry Kehres) was one of my quarterbacks and then was my backfield coach until I retired. He's smarter than I am right now. He's a great coach, and a couple other coaches on the staff are the same way."

Kehres, a Wable disciple, took over the program in 1986 and has led the Purple Raiders to 19 OAC titles, nine national titles and has been named the American Football Coaches Association Division III Coach of the Year seven times. He is just one of numerous coaches that have sprung from the Wable tree.

When Wable started coaching football at Mount Union back in 1962 national championships and OAC titles were but distant dreams. In his first year at the school his squad went 3-6. The following year they were 1-8. In year four his program recorded a 7-2 record (5-2 in the OAC), and the local paper declared it the pinnacle of Mount Union success. After all, the '65 season was Mount Union's best since 1916's 8-2 (6-1) mark.

"When I came to Mount Union College they were in dire need of upgrading their program and it took me quite a few years to upgrade it and get it up to par," Wable said. " ... It was very tough from a recruiting viewpoint to recruit guys to come to a school that has not been noted for its winning."

But slowly, over time, Wable was able to build that program. By 1970 the team was 8-1 and 4-1 in the OAC. Over the next 15 years the program began to amass more and more one- and two-loss seasons. That winning helped fuel belief in the program and the school. And Wable notes that the hard work he put into the program and the dedication that he gave the Mount Union was in direct correlation to his days at Van Wert High School.

"Playing for Gil Smith at Van Wert, why, we were used to having a lot of wins in a season," Wable said. "We didn't have very many bad season back in my day. ... Coach Smith was my high school mentor and then coach Ed Sherman was my Muskingum College head coach and they were both teachers and they were both coaches. My goal was to be a teacher/coach. That's the direction that I wanted to go in."

And that's what Wable did.

Wable stayed close to his former Van Wert coach. While in college he often came home during the summer to help with the Van Wert football team. Through teachings from men like Smith, Wable garnered a lot of respect for the teacher/coach.

Still, to this day, Wable enjoys talking about the academic aspects of Mt. Union. Since showing up on campus in the early '60s he's watched the school's enrollment more than double and the campus, as well as student life, become richer. He's seen the school take on more and divers majors and has seen the college's physical education program become highly regarded.

Wable is still very close to the football program. Coaches come to his house to watch replays of the most recent Raider game on SportsTimeOhio. He still attends practices and games and travels around the country with the team. And he'll be in Salem come Saturday watching the Raiders take on Wisconsin-Whitewater in the Stagg Bowl (game is on ESPN2).

There's no way he'd miss it.

"That's the epitome of what you can do in Division III," Wable said.

Source: Times Bulletin

A Very Brady Christmas

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A Very Brady Christmas
is a 1988 television movie based on the television series The Brady Bunch, featuring all of the original actors who appeared in the series except Susan Olsen (Cindy Brady), who was on her honeymoon when the film was being made.

Synopsis

In the movie, Mike and Carol Brady try to reunite the entire family for Christmas. However, all of the Brady kids are facing personal obstacles that might keep them from coming. Greg Brady's wife is spending Christmas with her family while Peter Brady is involved with his boss. Bobby Brady has dropped out of graduate school to become a racecar driver.

Marcia's husband has been laid off while Jan is separating from her husband. Cindy is fighting for her independence.

Even their former housekeeper, Alice, is dealing with a serious issue: Her husband, Sam, has recently left her for another woman.

The plans are disrupted by Mike Brady being trapped in one of his buildings.

In the end, Mike gets out of the trap after Carol (and the rest of the gang) sings "O Come All Ye Faithful".

Credits

Sherwood Schwartz and Lloyd J. Schwartz wrote A Very Brady Christmas with Peter Baldwin as the director.

The cast included:

Impact

The success of the movie helped revive interest in the original television series. Thanks in large part to the movie's success, CBS and Sherwood Schwartz created a new television series in 1990, The Bradys, based on the characters' adult lives; only six episodes were produced. However, since the tone of the new series dealt with "adult" issues the former Brady kids had to deal with, it was nick-named Brady-something, after the TV Show Thirtysomething.

Following the series end, two movies were made later in the 1990s featuring a new cast that were spoofs of the original show.


Source: Wikipedia

Paul Rhoads Named New Iowa State Football Coach

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Yes, I was like you. I got a text message at about 8:30 this morning saying that Paul Rhoads was our new head football coach. I went back to sleep, sort of imagining that I dreamed it. See, I went to bed last night considering the possibility that Gary Patterson might be our next head coach.

Rhoads was defensive coordinator at Auburn under Tommy Tuberville (sound familiar?) this past season, and, before that, he held the same position at Pitt. Despite not being an ISU alum, he is an Ankeny native, and is coming home.

This hiring is unique in that it's not exactly exciting, and it's not exactly disappointing. Hell, I had 20 coaching candidates listed (or thereabouts) and he wasn't one of them. I'm sort of doubting he was the first choice, I'm sort of doubting he was the last choice, and I really doubt anyone expected him

His resumé is better than McCarney's when we hired him. He knows Iowa. He's not likely gonna jump for a better job. And I really hope these last two statements aren't the reason we hired him.

Rhoads presser is at 5 PM. He'll be introduced at halftime of the Jacksonville State game. I'll try and learn a bit more about him today.


Source: Clone Chronicles

Mavis Staples

Mavis Staples (born July 10, 1939 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American rhythm and blues and gospel singer and civil rights activist who recorded with The Staple Singers, her family's band.

Biography

Mavis Staples began her career with her family group in 1950. Initially singing locally at churches and appearing on a weekly radio show, the Staples scored a hit in 1956 with "Uncloudy Day" for the Vee-Jay label. When Mavis graduated from high school in 1957, The Staple Singers took their music on the road. Led by family patriarch Roebuck "Pops" Staples on guitar and including the voices of Mavis and her siblings Cleo, Yvonne, and Pervis, the Staples were called "God's Greatest Hitmakers."

With Mavis' voice and Pops' songs, singing, and guitar playing, the Staples evolved from enormously popular gospel singers (with recordings on United and Riverside as well as Vee-Jay) to become the most spectacular and influential spiritually-based group in America. By the mid-1960's The Staple Singers, inspired by Pops' close friendship with Martin Luther King, Jr., became the spiritual and musical voices of the civil rights movement. They covered contemporary pop hits with positive messages, including Bob Dylan's "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" and a version of Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth."

The Staples sang "message" songs like "Long Walk to D.C." and "When Will We Be Paid?," bringing their moving and articulate music to a huge number of young people. The group signed to Stax Records in 1968, joining their gospel harmonies and deep faith with musical accompaniment from members of Booker T. and the MGs. The Staple Singers hit the Top 40 eight times between 1971 and 1975, including two No. 1 singles, "I'll Take You There" and "Let's Do It Again," and a No. 2 single "Who Took the Merry Out of Christmas?" By now a long ways from their early roots as a pure gospel group, The Staple Singers were bona fide pop stars.

Staples made her first solo foray while at Epic Records with The Staple Singers releasing a lone single "Crying in the Chapel" to little fanfare in the late 1960's.[1] The single was finally re-released on the 1994 Sony Music collection Lost Soul. Her first solo album would not come until a 1969 self-titled release for the Stax label. After another Stax release, Only for the Lonely, in 1970, she released a soundtrack album, A Piece of the Action, on Curtis Mayfield's Curtom label. A 1984 album (also self-titled) preceded two albums under the direction of rock star Prince; 1989's Time Waits for No One, followed by 1993's The Voice, which People magazine named one of the Top Ten Albums of 1993. Her recent 1996 release, Spirituals & Gospels: A Tribute to Mahalia Jackson was recorded with keyboardist Lucky Peterson. The recording honours Mahalia Jackson, a close family friend and a significant influence on Mavis Staples' life.

Staples made a major national return with the release of the album Have a Little Faith on Chicago's Alligator Records, produced by Jim Tullio, in 2004. The album featured spiritual music, some of it semi-acoustic.

In 2004, Staples contributed to a Verve release by legendary jazz/rock guitarist, John Scofield. The album entitled, That's What I Say, was a tribute to the great Ray Charles, and led to a live tour featuring Mavis, John Scofield, pianist Gary Versace, drummer Steve Hass, and bassist Rueben Rodriguez. A new album for Anti- Records entitled We'll Never Turn Back was released on April 24, 2007. The Ry Cooder-produced concept album focuses on Gospel songs of the civil rights movement and also included two new original songs by Cooder.[2]

Her voice has been sampled by some of the biggest selling hip-hop artists, including Salt 'N' Pepa, Ice Cube and Ludacris. Mavis Staples has recorded with a wide variety of musicians, from her friend Bob Dylan (with whom she was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award in the "Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals" category for their duet on "Gotta Change My Way of Thinking" from the album Gotta Serve Somebody: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan) to The Band, Ray Charles, Nona Hendryx, George Jones, Natalie Merchant, Ann Peebles, and Delbert McClinton. She has provided vocals on current albums by Los Lobos and Dr. John, and she appears on tribute albums to such artists as Johnny Paycheck, Stephen Foster and Bob Dylan.

In 2003, Staples performed in Memphis at the Orpheum Theater alongside a cadre of her fellow former Stax Records stars during "Soul Comes Home," a concert held in conjunction with the grand opening of the Stax Museum of American Soul Music at the original site of Stax Records, and appears on the CD and DVD that were recorded and filmed during the event. In 2004, she returned as guest artist for the Stax Music Academy's SNAP! Summer Music Camp and performed, again at the Orpheum and to rave reviews, with 225 of the academy's students. In June 2007, she again returned to the venue to perform at the Stax 50th Anniversary Concert to Benefit the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, produced by Concord Records, who now owns and has revived the Stax Records label.

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Film and television

During her career Staples has appeared in many films and television shows, including The Last Waltz, Graffiti Bridge, Wattstax, New York Undercover, Soul Train, Soul to Soul and The Cosby Show.

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Crying in the Chapel" b/w "Nothing Lasts Forever" (Epic)
  • "I Have Learned to Do Without You" b/w "Since I Fell For You"
  • "Endlessly" b/w "Don't Change Me Now" (Volt)
  • "A House Is Not a Home" (Volt)
  • "A Piece of the Action" b/w "Til Blossoms Bloom" (Curtom)
  • "Oh What a Feeling" (Warner Bros., 1979)
  • "Tonight I Feel Like Dancing" (Warner Bros., 1979)
  • "Love Gone Bad" (1984)
  • "Show Me How It Works" (from Wildcats) (Warner Bros., 1986)
  • "20th Century Express" b/w "All The Discomforts Of Home" (Paisley Park, 1989)
  • "Time Waits for No One" (Paisley Park, 1989)
  • "Jaguar" (Paisley Park, 1989)
  • "Melody Cool" (Paisley Park, 1991)
  • "The Voice" (Paisley Park, 1993)
  • "Blood Is Thicker Than Time" (Paisley Park, 1993)

Other

References
Source: Wikipedia

RCA Dome Implosion Destroys Colts Former Home

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Indianapolis has become a major sports town in the last two decades, thanks to pro football and college basketball. The center of this movement was the RCA Dome, which housed the Colts every week and hosted many a Final Four. Memories of Peyton Manning, and college basketball national championships, flooded the RCA Dome for almost 20 years. Those memories are now all that is left of the RCA dome, after it was finally imploded this morning.

At 9:30 a.m., the RCA Dome was imploded, as 800 charges were set off within 30 seconds. Even with this implosion, some of the stadium was still left over. However, crews will take down what is left of the RCA Dome structure themselves in the next few weeks.

The RCA Dome was imploded at 24 years old, as it was built in 1984. Originally called the Hoosier Dome, the stadium was completed in a hurry, in anticipation of a football franchise being brought to Indianapolis.

In 1984, the Colts finally became that team in their infamous move from Baltimore. The Hoosier Dome was ready for them by then. Seating over 60,000 fans, the Hoosier Dome also became a popular spot for major college basketball games.

The Hoosier Dome hosted four NCAA Final Fours. In 1991, it was the home of Duke's famous upset of undefeated UNLV. In 1997, Arizona completed a surprising national championship by defeating Kentucky in overtime. In 2000, Michigan State won it all in the dome over Florida, who then won their own national title in Indianapolis in 2006.

In 1994, the Hoosier Dome gave away its naming rights to RCA. The newly christened RCA Dome hadn't seen many football highlights from the Colts, at least until Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy arrived. One of the final RCA Dome highlights was the Colts' comeback win over the Patriots in the 2007 AFC championship game, paving the way for the Colts' long awaited Super Bowl title.

Despite being a relatively young stadium, the RCA Dome did not last too long. Ultimately, Indianapolis built a new home for the Colts, as Lucas Oil Stadium opened this year. With a retractable roof, Lucas Oil Stadium will host a Super Bowl and a Final Four over the next few years.
The Colts got off to a rocky start at Lucas Oil Stadium, losing their first two games there before rebounding in the second half of the season.

While this happened, the RCA Dome was being set up for implosion. Even the roof that covered the RCA Dome had to be deflated and taken down before today's implosion.

Once the rubble is cleared from the implosion, the space that held the RCA Dome will be cleared to make way for an expansion of the Indiana Convention Center, which is connected to Lucas Oil Stadium.

Sources:

Love Story (1981 film)

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Love Story is a 1981 film directed by Rajendra Kumar. The film also stars Rajendra Kumar alongside his son Kumar Gaurav and Vijeta Pandit both making their film debuts. Vidya Sinha, Amjad Khan, Danny Denzongpa and Aruna Irani also appear in supporting roles. The music was composed by R. D. Burman with lyrics by Anand Bakshi. The film became a "blockbuster" at the box office.[1] This movie made Kumar Gaurav a 'Star' overnight.[2] Amit Kumar won the Filmfare Best Male Playback Award over another nominee, his father Kishore Kumar.

The film was later remade into Telugu as Prema Sankellu (1982) directed by Vijaya Nirmala and starring her son Naresh. The film didn't become a hit, despite the enormous success of the music.


Awards and nominations


Source: Wikipedia

ZZ Top - Sharp dressed man

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Clean shirt, new shoes
And I dont know where I am goin to.
Silk suit, black tie,
I dont need a reason why.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Gold watch, diamond ring,
I aint missin a single thing.
And cufflinks, stick pin,
When I step out Im gonna do you in.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl crazy bout a sharp dressed man.

Top coat, top hat,
I dont worry coz my wallets fat.
Black shades, white gloves,
Lookin sharp and lookin for love.
They come runnin just as fast as they can
Coz every girl grazy bout a sharp dressed man.




Source: Lyrics Freak
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