I was in Newtown on Wednesday night as the Connecticut Legislature’s Task Force heard testimony from parents, first responders, and other Newtown residents.  It was riveting, heartbreaking, and at times infuriating.  The shock and grief of parents who lost their children that day is still unimaginable.  The courage it took for them to stand before this legislative body is profound.  Unlike the Monday hearing in Hartford, most of the testimony was strongly and unequivocably in favor of stronger gun laws, including a ban on high-capacity ammunition magazines and assault rifles.  The NRA and the CCDL will tell you that assault weapons are already banned in Connecticut.  But that’s not really the whole story.  When they banned assault weapons, the gun manufacturers just altered them to get around the ban by not allowing them to spray bullets.  The NRA says that the rest of the features are just to make it look cool. The reality is that every feature of that gun has a purpose, to make it more accurate and efficient.  If they wanted it to look cool it would come in different colors.

There were a lot of good ideas mentioned in the testimony.  In my town there is a budget hearing next week to allocate over $300,000 toward new security measures for our schools, including the hiring of two full-time police officers to be stationed in the school buildings.  There are about 9,000 people in my town.  There are about 5,000 guns in my town, too.  On Wednesday in Newtown a father stood before the task force and said, “The Right to Bear Arms is the best marketing slogan of all time.”  Then he went on to say that increased security measures should be paid by the gun manufacturers.  This is just about the best idea I have heard.  Increased security is the price we pay for living in a society teeming with guns.  Alternately, just as the NRA gets a dollar each time a gun is purchased, schools could get a dollar.  Or tax the permits, so that the money is staying in the community where the guns are held.

One woman on Wednesday night said, in a very soft voice, “A mother bear has claws to protect her young.  A mother tiger has teeth.  Please don’t take away the one means of defense I have to protect my children.”  During her testimony people near where I was sitting were visibly disgusted, and many of them left.  This is an argument we have begun to hear over and over.  For example, from “independent woman” Gayle Trotter at the Senate hearing, we heard this:

On Monday in Hartford I heard so many stories of home invasion and rape that I lost count.  I’m not sure where those people were from, but according to them there are places in Connecticut where each night your home is more likely to be invaded than not.  These stories are meant to do one thing – frighten us into buying more guns.  Specifically, to frighten women into buying more guns.  It is your DUTY as a mother to buy a gun.  And because you are small, and fragile, and unable to shoot properly, you’d best get yourself a nice Bushmaster because you’re going to be shooting all over the place, and you’ll need a high-capacity magazine of at least thirty rounds so that hopefully one of them will hit your target.  Don’t worry your pretty little head about where all those other bullets are going.  Just make sure your kids are behind you.

I find this so outrageously offensive.  Does the NRA really think women are so stupid and weak?  I can just imagine the meeting where they came up with this crap.  A bunch of men sitting around a table, saying, “Okay, we’re looking like the bad guys here.  How can we make us the good guys?  I know!  Women.  They’re so naive and impressionable – we’ll just tell them a whole bunch of stories about scary bad guys busting down the door, and how women were able to defend themselves.  We will turn this from a debate about how to prevent a classroom full of children being slaughtered, to a quest for women’s rights – mother’s rights!”  It makes me sick.

You know another mother who had guns in her house?  Nancy Lanza.  Her face was blown off.  You know the rest.

Only one team – Combined Campuses and Colleges – really demonstrated the requisite appreciation for the importance of minimizing the number of dot balls consumed and rotating the strike. If not for their knack of toying with their woefully overmatched opponents, one suspects that Trinidad and Tobago could have been pacesetting in this regard as well. Most other batting units seemed intent on compiling a cache of dot balls for some apparently covert purpose. There was precious little acknowledgement of the fact that deliveries are too precious a commodity to wantonly waste in T20 cricket. This has to change. So, too, does the system of appraising the performance of batsmen.

In baseball, Sabermetrics, a comprehensive system for statistical analysis, is extensively used to evaluate player performance. Thanks to the evolution of this system, a ‘batter’ (baseball’s equivalent of a batsman/batswoman) no longer has their production – or lack thereof – assessed solely based on individually isolated measures such as home runs (akin to a six in cricket), batting average, runs batted in, etc. Now, however, through the use of integrative metrics such as On-base Plus Slugging (OPS), it is much easier to get a comprehensive read on the relative effectiveness and value of a particular hitter’s offensive contribution to his team.

Like in baseball, we, too, need to become much more analytical when evaluating batsmen and their performance. As such, I propose the use of the Batting Efficiency Score (BES) mechanism, which features a BES Calculator and an accompanying interpretative BES Classifier, as one of the tools for evaluating a batsman’s performance. The proposed BES formula for calculating T20 batting efficiency is detailed below:

BES = Runs scored + Leg byes – Penalty runs ∕ Deliveries faced

The batsman would be credited for each run he scores. He would also be ‘credited’ for each leg bye that results while he is on strike. Hence, if the batsman Napoleon Einstein scores fifty (50) runs and ‘generates’ a further four (4) leg byes during his sojourn at the crease, he would be credited for a gross run output of fifty-four (54) runs. However, a nominal penalty of one (1) run would be imposed for each dot ball, a legitimate delivery off which no runs is scored, that he consumes.

Assuming Einstein failed to score off twenty (20) deliveries he faced, he would be liable for a corresponding twenty (20) run penalty. This 20-run liability would be subtracted from the batsman’s 54-run gross output, leaving him with a net output of thirty-four (34) runs. This 34-run net output would then be divided by the number of balls faced by the batsman. Let’s say that Einstein faced forty (40) deliveries in total during his innings. The thirty-four (34) runs to his credit, divided by the forty (40) deliveries faced, produces a batting efficiency score (BES) of 0.85.

The BES Classifier, which is represented below, was developed to aid interpretation of the batting efficiency scores generated by the BES Calculator.

Its seven bands were demarcated after using the BES Calculator to evaluate a sample of individual innings randomly drawn from the collection compiled at the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 tournament. The ball-by-ball statistics required to conduct the aforementioned assessments was retrieved from ESPNcricinfo’s Statsguru database.

Of course, it would be foolhardy not to consider the particular context in which an innings is played. For example, Marlon Samuels’ epic knock of seventy-eight in the final of the aforementioned tournament returns a BES of only 1.00. However, when one puts ‘extenuating’ circumstances such as the nature of the pitch (seaming and turning), the enormity of the moment (the final of a major international tournament in the opponent’s backyard) and the high quality of the opposing bowling attack (Mendis, Malinga, Mathews, Kulasekara and Dananjaya) into the mix, it becomes apparent that BES cannot be looked at in a vacuum.

Jamaica’s playoff loss to Guyana left many local cricket fans in shock. While the team’s bowling effort was obviously tainted by complacency, its seemingly brilliant batting performance was also surprisingly inefficient. Chris Gayle’s punishing innings (122 not out) accounted for two-thirds of the runs scored by the team. His BES of 1.67, which was negatively impacted by the twenty-two dot balls he faced, contrasted starkly with the 0.18 BES cobbled together by his batting teammates. Overall, their ineptitude resulted in Jamaica’s cumulative BES only clocking in at 0.94 (Poor).

On the other hand, Guyana’s BES was a much healthier 1.16 (Average). Despite not being brilliant at minimizing the dot balls themselves, they still managed to cut down on Jamaica’s dot ball count of sixty-two. Forty-one dot balls was their eventual tally. In the final analysis, they comfortably trotted across the line though scoring twenty runs less in boundaries than the overly boundary-dependent Jamaicans.

Even with Chris Gayle in the line-up, Jamaica’s batting was never likely to be good enough to win the 2013 Caribbean T20 title. Too many of the batsmen selected were obviously ill-suited for this form of cricket. In T20 cricket, three types of batsmen are most likely to succeed: a) the consistent boundary hitter (Gayle); b) the skilful manipulator (Mahela Jayawardene); or c) the hybrid of both (Eoin Morgan). Deeper analysis is definitely needed to ensure that we start picking the right ‘horses’ for the appropriate ‘courses’.

A free event taking place on Wednesday 6^th February offers all community members in the Yorkshire Dales LEADER area, and in neighbouring areas, the opportunity to find out more about the Yorkshire Dales LEADER scheme, the next round of LEADER in the future and to hear about some of the Heritage projects which have received financial support from the scheme.

There will be presentations from Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) on the charity’s new geology project ‘Geo Dales, celebrating the rich geological heritage of South Craven. There is a talk from The Swaledale Project entitled ‘7000 Years of a Landscape’, by Tim Laurie and Stephen Eastmead. Samantha Jennings will be talking about the community run initiative at Gayle Mill and how they connect young people with heritage and heritage skills.

Gayle Mill, Gayle, Hawes. North Yorkshire.

This event will also give an update about the future plans for LEADER from the end of this year and the developments of the Rural Development Programme Funding in England for the next funding round.

Bi-Annual Open Event Agenda v1.0

The event will take place from 1.30 – 4.00pm on 6^th February in Gayle Mill – an iconic restored 19th century sawmill on the edge of Hawes which has itself received funding from LEADER.

Places are limited and it is essential to book in advance by contacting Rima Berry, the Dales LEADER Co-ordinator on 015242 51002 or by email at rima.berry@ydmt.org

Each week there is a brand new tutorial via videos and PDFs for each lesson.  No rules, no deadlines – each artist has room to explore at their own speed.  A total of 21 art teachers will give lessons throughout 2013 – all different types of mixed media artists.  My background is primarily with traditional art – realism and impressionism have been my go to styles, however, I’ve always longed to break free from that – to find a way to incorporate a new style in my art.  I believe over the next year I will find that and oh so much more!

During Life Book 2013, we are encouraged to dig deep within and use the lessons presented as tools to discover who we really are, what is important to us, learn from the painful events that have happened to us so we can grow and begin anew.  Over the past year I’ve gone through some massive changes in my life and this is definitely something I could use.  I’ve been wanting to journal about my thoughts and feelings but it always felt a bit to daunting to even consider beginning.  I never considered to journal with my art!  So that is what I am intending to do – let my spirit come to life through my art.

I will write posts, share photographs of my artwork and create video vlogs of my journey with Life Book 2013.

There are over 800 artists from around the world who are participating in Life Book 2013, I am honored to be a part of such an incredible group of artists.  I look forward to learning from all the artists involved.

In closing, I’d like to share my favorite prayer, its called The Great Spirit Prayer.  I have it posted in my art studio and I read it every time I go into the room to create art.  This prayer speaks to my spirit and it is the core theme of my journey with Life Book 2013.

Happy New Year world!

Cheers!

Gayle

Their friendship solidified in high school when they created an alternate ending for the movie Space Jam where the Monstars win the spirit award and everybody cheers for them, even Michael Jordan.

After highschool, Yoli attended an over-priced liberal arts university and essentially majored in tweeting while Peggo attended a farm cult university where she was beaten with brainwash until she bled maroon.  In 2011 they were forced out of their four year long intoxicated stint and had to enter the “real world”. Now they spend their days pretending to work, shit talking and ordering bidness women specials (aka burgers, fries and diet cokes). But it wasn’t until late 2012 when a g-Chat conversation about having a sleepover with Oprah, her bff Gayle and Paula Dean led them to discover their true calling. From the ashes of a slumber party that will never happen, rose the phoenix that is …MOM GENES!

This is their story.

… is on Wednesday February 6th, at GAYLE MILL, Mill Lane, Gayle, Hawes. 13:30 to 16:00.

It includes presentations from The Swaledale Project: 7000 Years of a Landscape and its People, Gayle Mill Heritage, Education and Skills Project and the Geo Dales Project!

There is also information on the future of LEADER and Rural Development Programme Funding from 2014 .

A unique chance to be part of an event held in the iconic restored 19^th century sawmill.

As this venue has limited space (maximum of 50 persons only), this event, although free to attend, MUST BE BOOKED IN ADVANCE. (Non attendees will be charged a £5.00 booking fee).

Email Rima on rima.berry@ydmt.org or call 015242 51002.

The Venue:

Parking at the main entrance to the Mill is reserved for blue badge holders. Please contact the event organisers if you require a space. There is also ample parking at Gayle Lane Car Park near Wensleydale Creamery and in other car parks in Hawes. Gayle Lane Car Park is around a 10 minute walk from the Mill. When leaving the car park main entrance turn left, walking towards to village of Gayle up the hill. The road bends to the left, going over a stone bridge. You will see a red telephone box; this is at the top of the Mill Lane. Turn left at the phone box and walk down the lane to the Mill. If you choose to park in the village of Gayle please do so in line with the high way code, without causing any obstructions to residents or passing traffic.

Directions – Post code DL8 3RZ: When entering the town of Hawes follow signs for Wensleydale Creamery. You will pass the Creamery on your left (and Gayle Lane Car Park); continue on this road into the village of Gayle. As you continue following this road it bends sharply to the left, you will see a large black and white sign for Kettlewell. As you round the bend the road narrows to one lane as the bridge crosses Gayle Beck, please take care and approach the bend slowly checking for oncoming traffic and pedestrians. On the other side of the bridge is an old fashioned red telephone box. This telephone box is at the top of the lane to the Mill. Drive down the lane for blue badge parking at the entrance. Pedestrians can make their way down the lane to the Mill entrance and reception.

Access: Gayle Mill  is spread over three floors and does not have a lift. There is one accessible unisex toilet on the ground floor. The meeting room is on the first floor up one flight of stairs, with hand rails on both sides.

modern cinderella

New York, August 2012

 ©PATHWAYEIGHTYSEVEN