Two National League teams are embroiled in a hard fought war of a series that goes to Game Seven. The winner will get the right to lose to the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series. The loser will go home, and never have another winning season.
After eight and a half innings, the Pittsburgh Pirates lead the Atlanta Braves 2-0. Jim Leyland decides to stick with his starter Doug Drabek, despite back to back left handed batters due up. Terry Pendleton leads things off with a double, then Jose Lind boots David Justice’s ground ball. Sid Bream follows by drawing a walk, and Stan Belinda relieves Drabek with the bases loaded.
Ron Gant is the next Braves batter and he delivers a sacrifice fly to the warning track to bring home Pendleton. Damon Berryhill then walks to load the bases again. Bobby Cox goes to pinch-hitter Brian Hunter who pops up to shortstop Jay Bell for the second out.
The Pittsburgh Pirates are a single out away from going to the World Series.
Cox again goes to a pinch hitter, this time calling on Francisco Cabrera, the only non-pitcher available. Cabrera singles to left field to score Justice, as Bream, certainly not the fastest guy on the field, comes all the way around from second to score the winning run just ahead of Barry Bonds’ throw.
For the first time ever, a series is won by a team that was only a single out away from losing. The Braves are going to the World Series and the Pittsburgh Pirates will never recover, as they go on to begin their streak of 18 consecutive sub .500 seasons.
Terrence Moore, writing for MLB.com, informs us that there was also a different scene going on just prior to the Braves walk off win.
According to [Andy] Van Slyke, he asked Bonds to move in a few steps for the light-hitting Cabrera.
Bonds reportedly refused.
Boy, did he. Said Van Slyke to the MLB Network, “He turned and looked at me and gave me the international peace sign. So I said, ‘Fine, you play where you want.’ ”
Van Slyke wasn’t just any center fielder, by the way. He was on the verge of capturing the last of his five consecutive Gold Gloves. Not only that, he was playing a position whose occupants are generally allowed to bark orders to the other outfielders.
And, generally, those other outfielders listen. But, generally, they aren’t as famously strong-minded and talented as the guy who was in the midst of snatching eight consecutive Gold Gloves.
So Bonds didn’t listen.
Soon afterward, Cabrera dropped a single to the left of Bonds that required the left-handed outfielder to race toward the ball and throw home across his body. The throw was off slightly in the direction of the first base, but Pirates catcher Mike LaValliere made the grab and then whirled with his glove toward the plate for the tag.
For the sake of argument, let’s pretend Van Slyke is telling the truth. The connotation from the article is that this fielding adjustment would’ve saved a run or even resulted in an out, but the ball actually landed in front of Bonds and to his left. There’s no way to tell if moving in a couple of steps would’ve done anything more than makes Bonds even less prepared to field the ball.
Also, haven’t we found enough ways to vilify Bonds already? Do we really need Andy Van Slyke’s revisionist history kicking the guy while he’s down? And come on. If someone is going to target Bonds for the loss, shouldn’t that blame be split in multiple directions including Jim Leyland, Doug Drabek and most especially Jose Lind?
And perhaps more important than anything else was the fact that Bonds and the rest of the Pirates outfield had just witnessed Cabrera drive the previous pitch just foul on the left field side.
But you know, I wouldn’t want to take anything away from the heroics of Van Slyke’s valiant admission that he knew better than Barry Bonds. So, let’s just go with this: Barry Bonds = Bad Guy; Andy Van Slyke = Good Guy.


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The family of a Shepparton man who drowned at Waranga Basin this month has paid to tribute to their son and partner.CHLOE WARBURTON January 16, 2014 4:26am
Father-of-five James Fasham, 28, attempted to swim 1.5
The search was called off on January 7 and a local fisherman found James’ body on January 8.
His partner Amy Walker was in the boat with James, their nine-month-old daughter Alana and his brother Ian, when the boat stopped working.
‘‘He said he was going to go get help and I said ‘James don’t do it, you’ve got Alana on the boat’.
‘‘He tried to swim back and said the current was too big. I could see him shivering, I yelled at him to come back, but he couldn’t hear me.’’
James went under the water and came back up once, but he went under a second time and was not seen again.
Passer-bys towed the boat with Amy, Ian and Alana back to shore and the alarm was raised.
‘‘I kept looking at the water, asking James to come back,’’ Amy said.
‘‘I’d like to thank the people who helped find James, especially the fisherman who found him. Now we can lay him to rest.’’
James’ father Kerry Fasham said he was devastated to lose his son, but wanted to thank the emergency services and locals who searched for days, as well as Rushworth police Sergeant Noel Gleeson.
‘‘We just want to say thanks for all the help — they really put a good effort in,’’ he said.
‘‘The locals that kept looking after emergency services finished were amazing. People with jetskis came from Melbourne and were still looking for him.
‘‘They were caring — they looked after us and made sure we were eating and drinking.’’
Mr Fasham said James was an good son and a good mate.
‘‘He was the kid that helped me fix the car all the time,’’ he said.
‘‘He loved doing all that stuff. I saw him a lot.’’
Amy said James was a caring father and a loving partner.
‘‘He always had a smile on his face,’’ she said.
‘‘He was always cheeky — there was always a finger up or a tongue poking out. He loved a good time, he was a good person. He always wanted to help.’’
James leaves behind daughter Alana, as well as four children from a previous relationship — Elisha, Conner, Crystal and Kaitlyn.
Hafizullah Mohaqiq was born in Afghanistan, spent periods living in Pakistan and Iran, before arriving in Shepparton two months ago.
The Mulwala Lions had satisfying and hard fought win, in difficult conditions, against last year’s grand finalists at Lonsdale Reserve on Saturday.
The Fairley Leadership Program met in Tatura on Wednesday, exploring ‘Water and our catchment’ at Goulburn Murray Water.
Road authorities have made little progress to fixing Echuca’s most dangerous intersections.
Lockington Vintage Tractor and Stationary Engine Rally is on for the 18th time this weekend and there is something for everyone.
Kyabram and District Sportstar of the Year nominations finalised
Three local clubs get together at Kings Park.
Tributes flow for Finley's inspiring mother, friend and farming advocate Jennifer Hawkins
A visit by Coliban Water to Heathcote last week provided residents with a chance to quiz staff about water and sewer services.
A new book, Men from the River Bends, honours Cobram-Barooga and district soldiers who paid the ultimate sacrifice after enlisting in World War 1.
Deniliquin bowler Dennis O'Keefe lost 25-19 in his bid for a quarter-final spot in the Victorian Singles Championships this week.
Widespread rain late last week and on Saturday put a smile on the faces of farmers preparing to sow crops or waiting for weeds to emerge on early-sown rye-grass.
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domain: news


Opportunity for PN and Malta
Despite Labour’s overwhelming victory, it would be wrong to say that the Nationalist Party is in disarray. It is in transit from a governing party that lost its soul, fabric and style to an opposition party that has to be rebuilt.
The footprint for the new structure is there. So are protagonists who are prepared to tell it where it has gone wrong.
Several former ministers and MPs have already spoken out. They know what struck them. They know where their government and party have gone wrong.
They also are aware of the foolishness of not speaking out, at least internally, about the ills sapping the party’s natural strength and removing it from anywhere near the moral high ground.
The question is what shape the revamped Nationalist Party will take. It is in the enviable position of having to fill its three top posts.
It can put in place a leadership that can look ahead without having to look over their shoulders to anticipate back-stabbing attempts. It can pick and chose what road to follow in filling them.
Should it go for a new trio, parachuted in from outside? That would have its merits.
The possibility that a leading lady lawyer might be lured into top politics captured the imagination.
That means, though she wrote herself out, that the model of newness is appealing.
It also has its shortcomings. The new people at the top need some political experience, although five years, potentially 10, will be long enough to gain it in time to try to ensure the next change normally due in the political cycle.
But the likelihood is that the preference will go towards filling the posts from the present crop, but making sure that age – at most early 40s – will be taken into account, given that the new Prime Minister is only 39 years old.
The main contenders are already setting up their stalls, or will do so soon. For the moment it looks like being a three-horse race for the top post, but it is early days yet.
The Nationalist Party is being advised by elders not to rush it.
A mistake now might be costlier than not calling the general election earlier, when Joseph Muscat’s strategy had not yet reached its peak.
It would also be a mistake to think that the party lost the election purely because of its errors and shortcomings in office, particularly over the past five years.
The massive Muscat factor has to be taken into account. A major mistake of the Nationalists was to undervalue him, to try to lump him with the past, not recognising that he was appealing to the future.
That mistake should not be repeated in choosing the new leadership. The post-debacle troika has to be forward-looking, recognising that society and the electorate have changed, and that Muscat’s Labour was wise enough to change with them.
The need for a strong Nationalist opposition is of more interest than to the party itself. It is of major interest to Malta and, seriously, to the Labour Government.
A strong Opposition is always required, it being the alternative government. More so it is the public’s main watchdog, followed by the media, breathing down the Government’s neck.
The watchdog function is essential to all.
Muscat has promised that, despite the Government’s mega-majority, it will not grow complacent. In addition it must not become self-centred and arrogant, the key mistakes made by the Gonzi Administration.
A strong Opposition – strong in content, though relatively weak in numbers – will go a long way to ensuring that.
The Nationalist Party has the opportunity to structure itself into just that. If it does not grasp it, it will be failing itself and the country at large.


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Are there Hotels that I can get Special CVSF rates at?
-Yes! Check out our hotel sponsors on the side of all pages.
Can I bring Carry-ins such as Food or Drinks?
-No...You can bring water, granola bars etc...but food and drinks from outside sources are not allowed. NO ALCOHOL CARRY-INS.
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domain: travel


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U.S. Army veteran Jose Vasquez shares about growing up on welfare, seeing military service as an escape from violence and police brutality, and finally leaving the military as a conscientious objector. He now works with fellow veterans who want to share their stories and their passion for social change.
In October CUSLAR hosted Jose Vasquez, a U.S. Army veteran and former Executive Director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, now known as About Face. Vasquez is currently a lecturer at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City and the Training Director of the Veterans Organizing Institute, a program of Beyond the Choir. He is also part of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. CUSLAR Coordinator Tim Shenk spoke with Vasquez during his visit to Cornell University.
Tim Shenk: You served in the U.S. Army for 14 years. How important is the military in American life?
Jose Vasquez: I’m one of 22 million living veterans in this country, 3 million of whom have served since 9/11. Then you have our families. In addition you have private military contractors, and manufacturing for military equipment is distributed throughout all 50 states. The F-22 Raptor stealth fighter, for example, is produced in 98 places around the country. That’s a lot of people touched by the military.
Soldiers are a quintessential part of the American story, back to the Minutemen and the Revolutionary War. General George Washington was this country’s first president, and the idea that military leaders make good political leaders has been used ever since. The military shapes our economy and our foreign policy. Militarism, which is the dominance of war values, is deeply institutionalized.
TS: Did you grow up around the military?
JV: My dad is a Vietnam vet, so I’ve been around vets’ issues all my life.
I was born in 1974 in the South Bronx. This was in the midst of industrialization and the “Bronx is Burning” period where landlords were burning down buildings to get people out and make money on the insurance.
My dad did two tours in Vietnam, and he was not all together when he got home. We dealt with domestic violence, and my dad drank a lot.
My mom decided to move with four kids to California and raise us. I experienced the Bronx in the late ’70s early ’80s and then LA where the Rodney King riots happened while I was in high school.
TS: What drew you to enlist yourself?
JV: I wanted to get away from gang violence, police brutality and a lack of access to jobs. On career day at my high school, all of the branches of the military showed up. They rolled a tank onto the basketball court, and people were rappelling off of the gym.
I grew up on welfare. I knew my parents weren’t going to be able to pay for college, so the military was a way out. It was an escape hatch from the craziness of the early ’90s in LA.
TS: Can you say some about your years of service?
JV: I shipped off for basic training in 1992, and my first duty station was Fort Benning in Georgia. I was there for a year in the 24th Infantry Division. Then I got stationed in Hawaii for three years. I was with the 25th Infantry. My first job was combat oriented. It was called “reconnaissance specialist.”
Basically, you’re behind enemy lines, which I didn’t fully realize as a high school student when I signed up, but my dad immediately recognized what that job was and how dangerous it was.
At my first duty station everybody from the lowest private to the commander of the unit were combat vets, because they had just gotten back from the Gulf War. That instilled a seriousness in me about this profession. A lot of them had photo albums of their experiences in war, including dead bodies, blown-up tanks, Iraqi children — all of the bad stuff.
I had those images in my head as I was training and doing active duty.
Fast-forward to September 11, 2001.
I was in New York and in the Army Reserve. I had a lot of questions about what we were about to embark on. The way politicians were talking was concerning to me.
I wasn’t political at all. I had never voted prior to September 11, which I’m not proud to say, but I was completely disconnected from political life. All I cared about was pursuing college and using my G.I. Bill.
The military was my second career with the caveat that I could get deployed at any point.
My political consciousness is a long story, but ultimately I left the military as a conscientious objector in May of 2007.
TS: When did you get involved with Iraq Veterans Against the War?
JV: I was doing organizing work for at least two years as a reservist. In 2007 my ties to the military were severed, and I was honorably discharged as a conscientious objector. In the meantime I started grad school.
TS: Your current research is about “the veteran mystique.” Are there certain things people expect of you because you’ve been a soldier?
JV: Certainly. Vets are featured in a narrative about patriotism and sacrifice. We’re held up as those who have been willing to risk our lives for the greater good. We have to reject a blanket adoration of vets, because that has a tendency to shut down the conversation about what’s really going on. Vets come home hurting in so many ways, and those experiences tend to be left out of the larger narrative.
TS: You’re now Training Director at the Veterans Organizing Institute, which works to develop the leadership and organizing skills of veterans who are working for progressive social change. What skills do vets bring to social change work?
JV: The Institute helps vets to understand their position and how to use that powerful part of their identity and experience to speak up. There’s a set of skills that is assumed every soldier or veteran has. “Team player” and “works well under pressure” are supposed to be part of what soldiers do.
These skills translate to social change work. World War II vets like Medgar Evers and Cesar Chavez had an ability to be leaders and a willingness to put themselves in harm’s way.
Vets have skills in logistics and planning, strategy and tactics. One thing that has been missing from the U.S. anti-war movement has been the lack of a larger strategy.
Mobilization, or protest, is only a small part of the work. You have to be able to respond to the strategy of the opposition. What do you do, for example, at Standing Rock, when you start seeing the direct transfer of equipment from the military to the police? How do you respond? You have to develop leadership, which includes knowing history.


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Crystal Palace could be boosted by the return of Wilfried Zaha against Chelsea, but should the winger start after several weeks out through injury?
Palace boss Roy Hodgson said he had made a "remarkable recovery" from a knee injury and could come into contention to play against the Blues at Stamford Bridge.
But after an improved display against Manchester United, when Alexander Sorloth partnered Christian Benteke up front for the Eagles, will Hodgson change things?
He said a decision would be made on whether to play Zaha after speaking to the player and club doctors, although he admitted that his return would be an "enormous boost" for Palace.
Hodgson also hinted that Eagles academy graduate Aaron Wan-Bissaka could start again at right-back at Stamford Bridge, after impressing against Tottenham and Manchester United.
However, he will face competition from the returning Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who was ineligible to face his parent club on Monday night.
What would you do if you were in Roy Hodgson's shoes?
Pick your Palace starting line-up above.


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text:
Through which her aforementioned current single and new, second album `Shine` are now released.
Boasting a veritable A-list of contemporary US urban producers (will.i.am; Wyclef Jean; Mark Ronson; Cee-Lo Green; Swizz Beats; plus Legend himself), the song-driven hooks, grooves, instant lyrics and unforgettable melodies of `Shine` look set to firmly establish Estelle as one of 2008`s premier international breakthrough acts.
John Legend's debut CD Get Lifted & sophomore CD Once John Legend is the winner of five Grammy Awards.
John Legend has announced a string of exciting arena dates for 2017.
High off the success of his third consecutive Top 10 album, Evolver (2008), Legend embarked on an extensive world tour with an 11 piece band - his largest traveling show to date.
Inspired by the monumental 2008 Presidential election, Legend teamed up with The Roots to release the socially conscious album, Wake Up!
The product of a Sengalese mother and Granadan father, Estelle experienced a strictly religious yet impoverished childhood as one of eight siblings in West London, before years of performing on the capital`s live hip hop/soul circuit eventually led to her first record deal with UK independent V2 Records in 2004.
Despite her Top 40 debut album for V2 - `The 18th Day` - spawning two Top 20 singles (`1980` and `Free`) and receiving widespread critical acclaim, however, differences of musical opinion would see Estelle leave said label within a year of its autumn 2004 release to prestigiously end up becoming the first signing to globally-successful US soul singer/writer John Legend`s newly-formed Home School Records.
And John (Legend) just said to me `Why don`t you write a song about meeting an American boy? So I was like `Well, that`s pretty easy` - because I have a lot of male friends out there in New York.
And I unwittingly ended up creating a new ladies` anthem!
John also sits on the Boards of The Education Equality Project, Teach for America, and the Harlem Village Academies.
Legend has been honored several times for his activism, including the 2010 BET Humanitarian of the Year award, the 2009 CARE Humanitarian Award for Global Change, and the 2009 Africare’s Bishop John T. In early 2012, Legend released one of the hottest songs of his career, the RIAA gold-certified hit “Tonight (Best You’ve Ever Had),” which sat atop the Urban AC radio chart for six consecutive weeks.
And Kanye basically just brought his own cheeky self to the track, his own sense of humour.

domain: artistic


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Summary: Microsoft products are getting the chop, not those unwilling to use them
IF THERE is a company that fires employees for not using Microsoft, that company is probably Microsoft. Outside Microsoft’s empire of delusion (we heard stories about staff being misinformed to keep morale up) the company is not seen as omnipotent anymore. But clichés aside, we have a growing list of dead Microsoft products that leave customers stranded [1, 2].
The many abandoned Microsoft products include Microsoft Money, whose users are now being moved to Intuit — a company already extorted by Microsoft's patent troll
Intuit stepped in on Thursday to rescue Microsoft Money users with an updated Microsoft Money Converter tool, allowing users to import their financial history and preferences to Quicken 2010.
Microsoft officially stopped selling its Money software on June 30, although Microsoft said then that it would support Money’s online services until Jan. 31, 2011. In November, Microsoft announced plans to release versions of Money Plus Deluxe and Money Plus Home & Business that will not require online activation, allowing customers to keep Money files and transactional history but will not allow access to online services or premium services.
This is actually a valuable window of opportunity — a time to approach users of Microsoft Money and recommend to them Free(dom) software like any of the applications just listed by Jamie Watson. GnuCash is already doing something on that matter of conversion. █