#1 – Los Angeles Lakers

THE best team in the NBA offensively.

#2 – Phoenix Suns

They got back from where they used to be three years ago. We should expect this show to continue throughout the regular season but on the playoffs they will face the same problems that always broke their heart.

#3 – Cleveland Cavaliers

Shaq returned and they lost a game to Charlotte. I wonder if there is a connection there.

#4 – Orlando Magic

With Rashard Lewis back to game shape, they are such a tough team to defend. The Hawks have played the most consistent basketball on the league and saw a decent lead disappear on the second half of Thursday’s game. As Carter starts to fit into the system, they are as dangerous as last year.

#5 – Atlanta Hawks

The loss to Orlando exposed a couple of issues. Their outside defense is OK but they don’t have anybody able to stop an inside presence like Dwight Howard.

#6 – Denver Nuggets

Carmelo is taking to the next level. If that continues, behind him, they could go further than we think.

#7 – Boston Celtics

As the season progresses, they start to look older and older.

#8 – Houston Rockets

T-Mac is almost back. I hope he doesn’t screw up the good chemistry the team has so far.

#9 – Portland Trail Blazers

With Outlaw gone for a while, maybe it’s time to trade Miller and get somebody to provide the matchup issues that Travis brings up.

#10 – Dallas Mavericks

The loss to Golden State was unforgivable. On a game when Dirk Nowitzki scores 28 and Jason Terry scores 21, the Mavericks have to win which they didn’t against the Warriors and brings up doubts about the ability to score from the rest of the roster.

#11 – Utah Jazz

If you watch them play with everybody healthy, you get amazed how they click together. They are way more talented than 9-7.

#12 – Oklahoma City Thunder

Sam Presti was right. James Harden is the perfect fit for that team because he provides an offense off the bench that fits with Durant, Green and Westbrook, also Thabo Sefalosha does deserve the two year deal because he’s an awesome defender.

#13 – San Antonio Spurs

They are slowly becoming who we thought they would be at this point of the season.

#14 – Toronto Raptors

They are becoming a one way team.

#15 – Miami Heat

They have such a tough time generating offense when Dwayne Wade is not involved and that is what will kill them again this season.

#16 – Milwaukee Bucks

The Jenningsmania is down a little bit, the Rookie is back to Earth and we’ve seen what they really have. No playoff material.

#17 – Chicago Bulls

They are always bad on the circus trip.

#18 – Sacramento Kings

They won 50% of their games. It’s unbelievable. Are Tyreke Evans and Omir Caspi that good of an influence, on and off the court?

#19 – Detroit Pistons

125 year old Ben Wallace has been superb working on the boards and has been their best player throughout the month. That indicates how bad they have been. It should be mentioned that losing Prince, Hamilton, Gordon and now Villanueva is a beating that no team can recover from.

#20 –Los Angeles Clippers

They are slowly becoming who we thought they would be at this point of the season.

#21 – Golden State Warriors

Without Don Nelson, they are dedicated, they fight and they have been successful lately. I wonder if there is a connection there.

P.S: Anthony Morrow is a must watch. He’s unbelievable shooting the ball.

#22 – New Orleans Hornets

No CP3, do they still exist?

#23 – Charlotte Bobcats

Stephen Jackson did made the offense better however the win streak is all about Gerard Wallace. He is back playing the way he did last year on both offense and defense, not a playoff team though.

#24 – Indiana Pacers

With Dunleavy Jr. back we should expect them to make their run to the playoffs now.

#25 – Washington Wizards

They should be better than 5-10.

#26 – Memphis Grizzlies

They can’t translate talent into wins.

#27 – Philadelphia 76ers

Allen Iverson doesn’t play defense, so I don’t see how signing him will fix the many problems they have.

#28 – Minnesota Timberwolves

2-15. they are who we thought they were.

#29 – New York Knicks

When does the rebuilding process begin?

#30 –New Jersey Nets

They fired Lawrence Frank whom we all know wasn’t the problem, that being said, they are on pace for an NBA record for futility. It’s a throwaway season for them anyway.

Check More at: MVN

Power Rankings IV: http://basketballoutsider.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/power-rankings-iv/

I will apologise now for the length of this post. The good news is that it’s mostly photos to look at. LOL

One of the largest attractions here where I live is an annual event called the Festival of Trees. More than a premier holiday event, Festival of Trees is the annual fundraiser for Quad City Arts, a local non-for-profit arts agency. More than 3,500 volunteers, over 650 designers, nearly 3,500 center stage entertainers, and over 150 sponsors make Festival of Trees possible. Over 100,000 people experience the festival annually.

The festival begins every year one week before Thanksgiving and ends the Sunday after Thanksgiving. The festival kicks off with a parade called the Festival of Trees Parade. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and I’m also a big fan of parades so I didn’t want to miss this years parade and Logan was excited as well. The parade begins at 11:00am and Logan and I left the house nice and early to try and get a good spot to view the parade from. Parking is limited downtown as well so I wanted to make sure we got a descent parking spot also.

Thankfully, we arrived early enough to get a good spot right on the curb of the street for good viewing. The temperature was quite nice for this time of year and it was cloudy and overcast when the parade began but the sun did come out before the parade ended. Logan and I had a blast watching the parade and I thought I would share with you a little of the parade.

Logan patiently waiting for the parade to start.

The parade began with the color guard.

There were marching bands from all over the area…..

Kings and queens…..

Clowns clowning around…..

Tractors…..

Local TV personalities…..

Motorcycles…..

Balloons…..

Roller Derby Girls…..

Floats and other fun things to enjoy…..

Last but not least! What would a holiday parade be without a visit from Santa?

It’s really awesome living in a community with this much holiday spirit!

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After weeks of plodding & slogging along the trail…picking up what we need in order to DO….we have, at long last, arrived at the point where ACTION can happen. After tonight, we have to forge ahead, without reading, posts, blogs, or other items on the to-do list…with just our “Action Plan” on the docket.

The concept of SMART Goals has been heavily hit home.  I’m borrowing from classmate, Erin Kozloff, who cleverly offered an extension, in parentheses, for each letter of the acronym.

 Specific (What exactly do we need to do?),

Measurable (how do you know it’s working?),   

Attainable (it’s a challenge, but not impossible),

Results-Oriented (or Relevant) (Is this important?), and

Timely (Do we have enough time to reach this goal, and when is the ‘due date’? ).

All of these add up to a workable plan that can actually help a school (admins, teachers, and students) move forward together to enhance STUDENT LEARNING (another term for the Holy Grail, or so I have been led to believe!)

From my investigation thus far of the materials shared with me by the admins at King’s (former colleagues of mine — I retired from admin there 5 years ago & am now a “mere parent” – the current ”doctoral student” cap successfully procured me re-entry into the inner-sanctum!), the entire concept IS workable. These folks GET it.  They ARE moving forward. They are using the mentality of SMART Goals.  I still have a lot of work to do — but I could tell from the broad & meaningful conversation I had with the principal & counselor (who’s doing a lot more than counseling students!), that they are indeed well “on-track”. It’s been great to share with them some of the concepts & ideas from this class. I’m especially looking forward to helping them work towards bringing down the “barriers” listed so articulately by DuFour, since they were so intrigued by the list of ”barriers” & eager to know about “how to overcome them”!

10 Barriers to Action & How to Overcome Them    ~ (DuFour)

   Substituting a decision for action

   Substituting mission for action

   Planning as a substitute for action

   Complexity as a barrier to action

   Mindless precedent as a barrier to action

   Internal competition as a barrier to action

   Badly designed measurement systems as a barrier to action

   An external focus as a barrier to action

   A focus on attitudes as a barrier to action

   Training as a substitute for action 

**Signing off now…heading into Action Plan Week!

KW

Pictish Maiden Stone on Bennachie: its Christian side faces west

Within an oral culture handed down from ancestral times, it didn’t do to harm the stones. They were, after all, one of few remnants of the country (‘pagan’ from Latin paganus, countryman) tradition which predated Christianity, of which the ancestors spoke.

Parishes of Northeast Scotland in the farflung reaches of Aberdeenshire, Banffshire and Moray followed the instruction of the Reformed Church to the letter – while at the same time managing to guard handed-down veneration of ancestral places. This apparent anomaly has resulted in the survival of around 600 Neolithic recumbent stone circles in the northeast triangle, and though separated by 3500 years, roughly 100 Pictish symbol stones.

In academia Pictish stones are divided into Class I, inscribed; Class II, relief-carved cross-slabs; Class III relief with horsemen, kings, hierarchical designs; and Class IV, cross-stones with no other ornamentation. The earliest Class I and Class II stones are invariably found in association with pre-Christian sacred sites.

Throughout the early years of Christianity in this far-northern corner of the former Pictish kingdom, sacred sites were in no immediate danger. Pope Gregory I in AD596 sent (through Augustine) the instruction:

“By no means destroy the temples
of the idols belonging to the British, but only the idols which are found in them; inasmuch as they are well-constructed, it is necessary that they should be converted from the dowership of demons to the true God.”

A century after Augustine, however, more extreme measures were called for: in Theodore’s Penitential, AD690,

“idolatry, worship of demons, cult of the dead, worship of nature, Pagan calendar customs and festivals, witchcraft and sorcery, augury and divination and astrology”

were banned. Yet the old ways persisted.

Megalithic structures such as the Aberdeenshire recumbent circles survived. In the words of one 18th-century Northeast clergyman:

“superstition spares them though stones are so scarce”

Pictish symbols on Carved 'Class I' stones date from AD5thC

Ultimately their portability became their downfall. While superstition had spared them until the onslaught of a Victorian gentlemanly pursuit – antiquarianism – from that point on they were coveted, uprooted, “taken in” and “protected” all over the place. The Church, of course, had first priority because by “taking them in” (installing in graveyards, building into the fabric of hallowed structures, or reusing as family tombs) they were simultaneously being de-paganized and infinitely gently being nudged under the Christian umbrella.

Class I stones
Beautiful examples of these Pictish pre-Christian sacred markers – carved with animal and geometric symbols in a style standardized throughout the Kingdom (image, top) – stand within kirk precincts today at Banffshire churches of Mortlach, Marnoch and Ruthven, in Moray at Advie, Birnie, Inverallan, Inveravon, and Knockando, and in Aberdeenshire at Clatt, Rhynie, Tyrie, Fetterangus, Dyce, Deer, Fyvie, Kinellar, Kintore, Bourtie and Inverurie. They are usually rough-hewn, from boulders or glacial outcrops.

Class II stones,

Migvie Pictish cross stone with curling terminals in kirkyard at Migvie, Tarland, Aberdeenshire

Local lairds also had their fair share of the spoils. In the rush to comply with post-Reformation instruction to build new churches, often on pagan sites, stones were broken up for building, reused in threshing floors or as millstones, or taken to form a decorative feature at the laird’s house.

National Trust for Scotland’s Leith Hall and Brodie Castle are custodians of three, open to the public. Others, at Newton House, Arndilly, Keith Hall, Castle Forbes, Park House, Logie House, Mounie Castle, Craigmyle House, Tillypronie Lodge, Knockespock House, Blackhills House, Whitestones House and Whitehills are in private ownership and are not accessible to visit, except by appointment.

Nether Corskie, Dunecht Pictish symbols carved on stone circle stone

Ardlair, Kennethmont; Nether Corskie, Dunecht; the Insch Picardy Stone at Whitemyres Farm; Brandsbutt in a housing estate in Inverurie (re-constituted after 19thC blasting) and the Rhynie Craw Stane.

Moray Class I stones thought to be in situ stand at Congash (2) and Upper Manbeen.

The rest, totalling an unknown figure (32 recorded), abound in museums round the Northeast, are in Edinburgh or are considered “lost”.

Upwards of 30 carved sacred water-bull stones were, in oral tradition, said to form a ’spirit’-guarded wall or protective precinct round the Pictish port-stronghold of Burghead (Latin. Tarvedunum, dun, fort of the bulls) which juts out from the mainland into the Moray Firth between Forres and Elgin.

All but six of these sacred bulls were destroyed or thrown into the harbour in early 19th-century reconstruction of the town.

Ironically Burghead is one of the most ardent communities in keeping Pictish tradition, celebrating the sun’s return after winter solstice by “Burning the Clavie” – a man-size torch carried sun-wise round the town on the shoulders of the clavie king and his crew on January 11th each year.

Sueno’s Stone, Forres (Class III with cross but no Pictish symbols – instead panels depicting a saga of the Scots’ victory over the Picts) was re-erected, possibly the wrong way around after being found buried deep in sandy Moray soil. It now stands in a glass-covered protective shield.

Clusters of Pictish symbol stones found embedded in mediaeval mounds at Kintore, Tyrie and Drumblade, buried face-down at river confluences (Donaldstonehaugh, River Isla) or close to Pictish villages (Aikey Brae and Rhynie Barflat) have disappeared.

A Class I stone carved with horseshoe on an earlier stone circle stone was rescued from oblivion in the 19th-century erection of a memorial to the Duke of Lennox and returned to Huntly Market Square, to share honour with the Marquis.

Dessicated & desecrated: Rhynie Man in vestibule of government offices Aberdeen

As late as 1978 and 1983 symbol stones from Barflat (Rhynie “Man”) and Insch (Wantonwells) were removed from their original location as archaeological prizes: Wantonwells went to Aberdeen’s Marischal Museum where it is climate-controlled, but Rhynie Man stands in the vestibule of Woodhill House, local government office headquarters and a prize possession as blatant as any claimed by19th century “gentleman-archaeologists”.

Into this climate of haphazard care, the Maiden Stone interjects herself. One of only four Class II stones in Aberdeenshire, she might have been carried off as a prize, but, perhaps because of her legendary character, she has survived. Earliest remnant of a pre-Christian myth is a wonderfully-confused tale that she was the maid of Drumdurno, turned to stone by the spirit of the mountain (Jock of Bennachie, Sc.Gael. diadhachd pron.Jahck = a god) when she prayed to be rescued from pursuit by the ‘devil’ who had bargained with her that he could build a causeway up Bennachie (prehistoric Maiden causeway) before she could finish baking her firlot of bannocks (scones).

Another story, more likely to be based on fact, is that she was the daughter of the laird of Balquhain who was killed by accident after eloping with the son of a rival laird.

Third, that she was one of several maiden conquests of a Leslie laird who dragged his prey to the “fort” (Iron Age enclosure on Mither Tap) of Bennachie where he had his way with them! Fate saw to it that he died at the battle of Harlaw, 1411.

All four surfaces, broad East and West faces and narrow sides, are decorated. The pagan side, facing east, depicts four panels each featuring symbols used in earlier Class I stones, but with typically late carving in relief. Gouged out of coarse-grained pink Bennachie granite, this was no mean feat, but the technique allows animal and geometric forms to stand out clearly in low raking sunlight, even after 1100 years. The west face is dominated by an interlaced wheel cross, underpinned by a circular spiral-filled design with key pattern and knotwork, while overhead are mounted two ketos or fish, gently cradling a clerical figure. This “Christian” face is badly weathered.

The Maiden stone is virtually unique: it has a combination of sacred Pictish symbols covering one whole side, while also dominating part of the invading Christian side. If its dating is correct to post-AD843, after the Scots finally obliterated the kingdom of the Picts in this Northeast corner, the inner sanctum of a vanquished race, it was perhaps politic to share religions.

Sueno’s Stone at Forres, closer to Burghead, the last Pictish stronghold to hold out against the enemy, is more warlike in proclaiming its Christian message of ‘Right is Might’, and it, too, shows a central figure supported by two curving (fish?)shapes on the Christian side, below the cross.

On all other known Class II cross-slabs in Northeast Scotland, In fact, where sacred symbols of the two faiths share space (Monymusk, Fordoun, Migvie, Mortlach, Dyce) the cross occurs on the same face as Pictish animal and geometric symbols.

Invading Scots perhaps had the presence of mind never to carve in the Northeast free-standing crosses such as those other blatant examples of their dominion: the High Crosses of Iona and western Scotland.

The closest to a western motif found in the East is the Loch Kinord cross-slab at Cromar, but even its curly-terminal cross is trapped within the oval of the stone, in the northern Pictish tradition. Farther south within Angus/Forfar and Perthshire/Fife a clear dominance by warlike Scots results in a multitude of “Class III” stones, sometimes so-called because they feature crosses and horsemen, but few Pictish symbols. It is an historic fact that central Scotland succumbed to Scots rule long before the Men of Moray who held out culturally until Macbeth (died 1057).

So it may be that the Scots who influenced the carving of the late Pictish Maiden Stone had to bow to the strength of a prevailing worship of nature spirits in order to get their message across.

Salmon and Pictish 'cauldron' on Class I stone at Kintore

‘A well . . . at which are the hazels of inspiration and wisdom, the hazels of the science of poetry and, in the
same hour their fruit and their blossom and their foliage break forth, and these fall on the well in the same shower, which raises on the water a royal surge of purple. Then the sacred salmon chew the fruit and the juice of the nuts shows on their red bellies. And seven streams of wisdom spring forth.’

Stokes translation 1887, Old Celtic Legend.

All Pictish Class I stones in Northeast Scotland whose original location is known were placed within a mile of water.

Would it not then be wise to enlist the support of this great spirit of the water when proclaiming a new faith to a Pictish audience?

The fish on top of the cross on the Maiden stone may not only be supporting the little cleric, new at his job, but whispering their knowledge in his ear. On the eastern (‘pagan’) side, it is probably significant that the four panels depict the highest order of Pictish symbolism, even if adapted in late relief form: at the top a panel shows animals of the forest, but one has the ability to shape-shift to part-human.

Shapeshifting Centaur? on Maiden stone's east face

Fire Altar and Lightning rod on Maiden Stone's east face

Relief-carved sacred Dolphin on Maiden Stone's east face

Maiden Stone Order of the Feminine: matrilineal symbols mirror and comb

Etymology plays a part in the jigsaw of piecing together the Maiden’s meaning. Gael. Maoid-hean means prayer, entreaty, supplication. If it was used as a place of prayer, as records show many Pictish stones were, it was a habit capitalised on by early clerics in their conversions. Stones around Aberdeenshire named for saints include Marnan’s chair, a megalith in St Marnoch’s churchyard, and Brandan Stanes recumbent circle, both Banffshire; three symbol stones ogham-inscribed to indicate “Eddernan” or St. Ethernan preached at each; and Clochmaloo or the stone of Moluag, patron saint of inland Aberdeenshire, a glacial erratic perched on a slope of Tap o’ Noth topped by a huge five-acre vitrified fort. Also Mâg (plain, pron. mai)-dun means a fort commanding an open plain.

The astronomers may have the last word: Scots-Gaelic Madiunn means morning; the morning sun rises to shine on on the pagan eastern face of the stone until precisely midday, when it casts no shadow on either face.

Meadhon means mid or centre, either denoting the centre of a powerful area, which the fertile Garioch plain most certainly was, its nickname ‘Girnal” (grainstore) of Aberdeenshire handed down for generations; or it could mean mid in a time sense. As noon approaches on any clear day, but spring and autumn give better angular light, the sun which has shone directly at the symbols all morning begins to pick out the gentle curves and cast the tiniest of shadows along the bodies of pagan beast and mystic wand. Shadows lengthen until at noon they completely fill the space of the recessed background from which the symbols spring in relief – almost as if filling a pool.

At noon, the sun casts no shadow either on pagan or Christian side – just a brief gnomon-like shade in the short grass. Then as the minutes tick by after noon, shadows appear to fill the spaces on the Christian side and form pools in the four sockets of the wheel cross gradually shortening over the bodies of the giant fish, until around 12:10 p.m. when shadows are once again imperceptible. As a noon sundial, the Maiden is unbeatable.

Local support for leaving the Maiden Stone untouched was strong, though if the decision had gone the other way, few would have stood up and caused a revolution. It is because the decision has been made in favour of her native setting, hovering over the Water of Crowmallie, that future generations may be able to share the Maiden’s knowledge which was originally shouted in a loud voice from the slopes of Bennachie. Only we, her children, have forgotten the meaning of the words. It is up to us now to remember the ways of the natural world, and to take into ourselves the messages left by a culture which may have much to teach us.

©1996-2009 Marian Youngblood

Launching the 5th issue of the Corywilkins.ca E-magazine. Reviewing the National Hockey League entry draft for each of the past 10 years (2000 to 2009), the best and worst picks, as well as “retrospective picks” are highlighted for each of the league’s 30 teams. Free download.

Also includes:
* Top-10 projected talents of the 2010 draft class
* Next Issue: “Darkhorse Players” – Winter 2009

Click here to download Corywilkins.ca E-magazine, Issue 5

“

Jonathan Quick is all smiles after stopping Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to help lift the LA Kings to a 2-1 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks.
Photo: Harry How/Getty Images

Anze Kopitar and Jack Johnson scored in the shootout for the Kings, while Quick stopped Blackhawks star forwards Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane.

NOTES: Quick stopped a season high 32 shots in the game. He has also won three straight shootouts, stopping all eight shots faced; Kopitar played in his 200th consecutive game tonight (March 21, 2007 to present); Simmonds now has a career-high three-game goal streak (three goals, one assist for four points) in that span). He now has eight goals and seven assists for fifteen points this season. Last season, Simmonds scored nine goals with fourteen assists for 23 points; Scott Parse has assists in three straight games; Dustin Brown had a season high nine hits in the game; the Kings out-hit Chicago 41-25 in the game; Michael Handzus won 12-of-16 faceoffs (75%); the Kings are 7-0-3 in their last ten home games against Chicago; the Kings 15-10-2 start is tied for the eighth-best 27-game start in franchise history; the Kings are 9-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Audio Interviews (raw, unedited)

Jonathan Quick (1:34)

Game Highlights from NHL Video on YouTube:

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Moby Dick, or The Whale tells, among many other things, the story of Captain Ahab and his monomaniacal pursuit of a great white sperm whale named Moby Dick.  The whale chewed off his leg some years past, and he is going to get even or die trying.  Who was Ahab?  As with almost everything else in the book, there are biblical overtones, usually Old Testament ones.

The Reign of Ahab
Kings 1: 16

And in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years.

And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jerobo’am the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jez’ebel the daughter of Ethba’al king of the Zido’ni-ans, and went and served Ba’al, and worshipped him.

And he reared up an altar for Ba’al in the house of Ba’al, which he had built in Samaria.

Ahab married Jezebel, a foxy, pagan, princess from one of the neighboring non-Hebrew tribes that the Jews were always slaying and feuding with, and he was seduced into her ungodly ways.  He listened to false prophets, and imprisoned or executed the true ones, largely at the urging of Jezebel. The Lord was not pleased, and he dealt harshly with Ahab, his sons, and Jezebel, who ended up being shredded and devoured by dogs as predicted by Elijah.  Naturally, the crew of Captain Ahab’s ship, the Pequod, regarded him a bit warily.  Is he mad?  Money talks in the end:  Ahab nails a Spanish coin to the mast and gives the men a pep talk.

Whosoever of ye raises me a white-headed whale with a wrinkled brow and a crooked jaw; whosoever of ye raises me that white-headed whale, with three holes punctured in his starboard fluke — look ye, whosoever of ye raises me that same white whale, he shall have this gold ounce, my boys!

Being many things, the book is a meditation on death, and life, and the relationship between the two.  The entire crew dies in the pursuit of Moby, who shatters the Pequod as the whalers pursue him at the end.  Only Ishmael survives to tell the tale, quoting the bible, in this case, Job:

… and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.

In the midst of calm and peace, Melville can find chaos and terror, as in this passage about standing watch in the crow’s nest, high above the vast sea…

There is no life in thee, now, except that rocking life imparted by a gently rolling ship; by her, borrowed from the sea; by the sea, from the inscrutable tides of God. But while this sleep, this dream is on ye, move your foot or hand an inch; slip your hold at all; and your identity comes back in horror. Over Descartian vortices you hover. And perhaps, at mid-day, in the fairest weather, with one half-throttled shriek you drop through that transparent air into the summer sea, no more to rise for ever. Heed it well, ye Pantheists!

… and amidst chaos and carnage, he can find peace and the still point at the center of the universe, as in this passage where Ishmael describes being in the midst of a enormous pod of whales which the men are busily slaughtering – the water is remarkably clear, and looking down into it, he sees whales copulating, being born, nursed…

And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yes, serenely revelled in dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm; and while ponderous planets of unwaning woe revolve round me, deep down and deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy.

But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm. I like that line.  Amidst the torrent of events, there is a still center.  This leads us to today’s treat for you, oh reader!  A recovered fragment from the second known text, The Sailor’s True Binnacle, in the mostly lost series, The Wine of Life, authored by the the unknown thinker, Lichanos, from whom I have taken my blog nom de plume.

A binnacle is a casing for a navigation compass which is non-magnetic, and allows the compass to move freely and to point the way.  It is mounted on gimbals so that it can remain steady and horizontal despite the tossing and rolling of the ship, and always pointed to north.  Calm center, within the storm.

Pauvre reader!  O poor lecteur!

How our Souls are all pitched and tossed about like the frailest shallop or jerry-built wherry upon the boiling waves!  What Trials we have known struggling against current and headwind, seeking only to be Sturdy Helmsmen as we pass between the Devil and the deep blue sea!

The Sailor guiding his vessel is blessed with two articles with which he may ply his rudder:  his binnacle and his compass.

[text lost]…Yet still the Gnashing, the Lamentation:  “Where is our binnacle? Where is our compass? The Answer to these soulful queries has been the quest of many great men, both Good and Evil.

[text lost]… Bewilderment, begone! … [text lost]… The mystery of the True Binnacle stands revealed.  To the compass of our minds is the Body our Binnacle, standing in its organic fleshiness impervious to the Magnetism which seeks etermally to deflect our inner Director from its true course.  Be not skeptical nor materialist, for Mind/Body are one, and through our Binnacle/Bodies are we led and do lead.  Truth once again arises from out of unity of Mind/Body, so that pleasures owing to one are not denied to the other:  they work in tandem, a mighty engine of enlightenment propelling our dynamo sense onward to that final effulgent union with the ground of all …[text lost]

Hi-ho! me buck-o’s, through our skin we will absorb the World and revel in the Universe, sailing through the placid lake of the firmament to our own Safe Haven.  Our Compass shall rock on its Gimbals of Life, and we will dirnk, as sailors we all are and are all wont to do, aye! we will drink the Wine of Life.

-Lichanos

As we approach the end of another decade, The Time have posted a few “top 100″ lists including books, films and this post is in reference to their music list.

Here’s the ones that I own, and some with their best tracks on the album.

98. By The Way – Red Hot Chilli Peppers (2002)

92. Youth and Young Manhood – Kings of Leon (2003)

71. Rush of Blood to the Head – Coldplay

This album has so many brilliant tracks that are now are classics, including:

In My Place, God Put a Smile Upon Your Face, Clocks, and my favourite The Scientist which also has a very clever video.

66. For Emma, Forever Ago – Bon Iver (2008)

Bon Iver, as you know, is a personal favourite of mine, and it’s nice to see that The Times hasn’t missed him out.

65. Scissor Sisters – Scissor Sisters (2004)

This was one of the first albums I bought as a teenager.

60. Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand (2004)

This was another  of my first albums, I think I bought it with the Scissor Sisters album, there must have been a deal going at Woolies! (RIP Woolworths)

This Mercury Music Prize winning album was my introduction into Indie Rock, and I still listen to it today. Loads of brilliant tracks, but Take Me Out is a fav.

56. Kaiser Chiefs – Employment (2005)

55. The Futureheads – The Futureheads (2005)

Brilliant, brilliant album! Their cover of Hounds of Loves has to be one of the best covers ever. That song introduced me to Kate Bush, so thank you Futureheads!

From 50-1 in another post!

I månedernes løb har jeg fået følgende helt fantastiske kommentarer med på vejen :

1. … du skal ikke være ked af at du ikke har børn, jeg var også gammel inden jeg kom igang!  ( Hvem siger jeg er ked af jeg ikke har børn ?? og tak fordi du lige osse fik sagt at jeg er gammel !)

2…. jeg ville også ønske jeg havde været gift og skilt inden jeg blev 30, så har man ligesom prøvet det!!  (Ja pyha..så er det overstået, dangderer faktisk bare rundt og venter på at jeg kan planlægge min begravelse! )

3…. det må være rart med al den fritid!  (fordi når man har en kæreste har man jo ingen fritid (?) men er låst på hænder og fødder og muteret til en mellemting mellem symbiose og siamesiske tvillinger – ej kom nu! )

4….du burde spare mere op, istedet for at bruge alle de penge på dig selv!  ( en million til den der kan gætte hvem der sagde det hun har dog ret, ligesom med så mange andre ting )

5….du arbejder alt for meget, men det kan man selvfølgelig også når man ikke har nogen at komme hjem til!  ( tak, tak og atter tak, mine bedste venner King(s) og Rødvin venter ellers altid på mig derhjemme, nogen gang bliver de godt sure over jeg kommer hjem senere end lovet, så de skal vente i evigheder ude i køkkenet! )

by Donald B. MacGowan

Pu'ukohola at Sunset Kohala, Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

Whether you visit the Big Island for a few days, a couple weeks or a few months, you want to make the most of your time in Paradise. With such a wide variety of natural and commercial attractions, it is natural for the visitor to get a little overwhelmed in the “Option Overload” and not be able to make a balanced and informed decision on what they want to do and how best to spend their time.

Even choosing which beach you want to spend time on, or where you want to hike can be an exercise in confusion and conflicting advice.  Clearly, visitors to Hawaii could use help making quality decisions about how best to spend their time.

Pelakane Beach near Hale O Kapuni, Pu'ukohola National Historic Park, Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

Tour Guide Hawaii is excited and proud to announce the release of their new GPS/WiFi enabled App for iPhone and iPod that helps you navigate your trip to Hawaii with hours of informative, location-aware video and information. Although our video guide will lead you to dozens of unusual, untamed and unspoiled spots, let’s look at one of Hawaii’s most significant historical and cultural parks, Pu’u Kohola National Historic Park and highlight just a bit of the information you might not be able to find from maps and guidebooks that could otherwise cause you to miss some very interesting places and amazing sights if you did not have Tour Guide Hawaii’s new App.

Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Park

Autmun Afternoon at Pu'ukohola Heiau, Kohala Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

The fulfillment of an ancient prophecy, the devotion of a powerful young King and the first steps toward a new kingdom; the temple at Pu’ukohola stands a mute testament to the facts of Hawaiian history that read like the most dramatic of legends. Forever brooding seaward, Pu’ukohola is an enormous temple inspired by a god-sent vision of greatness. Kamehameha built Pu’ukohola on top of its eponymous hill at Mailekini, in fulfillment of the prophecy by Kaua’i kahuna Kapoukahi. The prophecy foretold if Kamehameha built a great temple to his war god Ku, he would prevail in his wars of conquest and unite the Hawai’ian Islands. In or around the year 1791, perhaps as many as 20,000 people passing stones hand-to-hand 14 miles from Pololu Valley raised this massive Heiau.

When it was finished, Kamehameha invited his cousin and chief rival for the throne of Hawai’i, the Ali’i of Ka’u, Keoua, to the dedication. Some versions of the story tell that when Keoua arrived with a contingent of his Ka’u warriors, a scuffle broke out and he was killed by a spear thrown by the warrior Ke’eaumoku. Kamehameha had the rest of the Ali’i in Keoua’s party seized and they were made the first sacrifice at the new temple.

MaunaKea from Pu'ukohola National Historic Park, Kohala Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. Macgowan

Another version of the story tells that Ke’eaumoku took hold of Keoua and ducked him into the sea; as a result, Keoua drowned. This account contends that Keoua was not killed by a spear because Kamehameha believed there should be no blemish on the body of Keoua for the consecration of the temple to Ku.

Brooding Seaward, Pu'ukohola looms over Kawaihae Harbor, Kohala Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

Yet another version of the story holds that Keoua was in fact shot and killed by the Brits John Young and Isaac Davis, from somewhere below Mailekini Heiau. This story contends that this is how Pelekane Beach, which means “British Beach”, got its name. All accounts agree that because of the ease with which the Ali’i had been captured and sacrificed, all the rest of Keoua’s party were spared.

After long years of fierce battle and earnest negotiation, in 1810 after having united the islands by force or agreement, and having fulfilled the prophecy, Kamehameha became the first ruler of the united Hawai’ian Islands.

Looking Down Onto Pelakane Beach From Near Mailekini Heiau, Pu'ukohola National Historic Park, Kohala, Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

Pu’ukohola is the largest stone structure in Hawaii, not counting the modern rock wall in front of the Kailua Lowe’s Hardware store.

Below Pu’ukohola and Mailekini lies Pelekane Beach at the mouth of Pelekane Gulch. Submerged just offshore between here and the Kawaihae Harbor jetty, are the largely unexplored, ruined remains of Hale O Kapuni Heiau, a temple dedicated to the shark god Mano. Here worship rites included human flesh being fed to sharks. One reason this temple is not better known is that the bay is still home to several large tiger sharks.

Overlooking the Site of the Submerged Hale O Kapuni Heiau from Near Mailekini Heiau to the Kawaihae Jetty, Pu'ukohola National Historic Park, Kohala Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

A full range of facilities exist at Pu’ukohola and the adjacent Samuel Spencer Beach Park.

To see the new iPhone/iPod Touch App, please visit http://www.tourguidehawaii.com/iphone.html. The best of Tour Guide Hawaii’s free content about traveling to, and exploring, the Big island, can be found here. For more information on traveling to Hawaii in general and on touring the Big Island in particular, please also visit www.tourguidehawaii.com and www.tourguidehawaii.blogspot.com.

Sunrise on Pu'ukohola Heiau, Kohala Hawaii: Photo by Donald B. MacGowan

Copyright 2009 by Donald B. MacGowan. All rights reserved.

Rogie Vachon
Photo: LA Kings

Even fewer know that Vachon’s accomplishments rank him among the greatest goaltenders to have ever played the game, yet he continues to be denied the honor of being inducted into the hallowed halls of the Hockey Hall of Fame (HHOF).

A close look at Vachon’s career statistics shows that he ranks ahead of a considerable number of goaltenders who were inducted into the HHOF years ago (for details, see Time To Right A Wrong: Hockey Hall of Fame Must Induct Rogie Vachon).

“If there was anyone who deserves to be in the Hockey Hall of Fame who is not—if you look at his numbers, a Vezina Trophy, three Stanley Cups, and the fact is, he wasn’t just the second fiddle on that [Montreal Canadiens] team,” said Brian Kennedy, who featured Vachon in his new book, Living The Hockey Dream. “He shared the goaltending duties with Gump Worsley in that Vezina season and they won the Cup that same season, let alone everything he did for the Kings in the mid-Seventies.”

“There is no way we can keep that guy out of the Hockey Hall of Fame,” added Kennedy.

Vachon got his start in the National Hockey League with the Canadiens in the 1966-67 season, back when the league still consisted of its Original Six teams.

“They called me up with nineteen games to go and, at that time, the coach never told you who’s going to play that night,” said Vachon. “The tradition was that the trainer would come in just before the warm-up and give the puck to the goalie who plays.”

“That night, the trainer gave me the puck, so that was a bit of a shock,” added Vachon. “Especially during the warm-up when I was trying to settle down. On top of that, my first shot in the National Hockey League was a breakaway from Gordie Howe from the blue line in.”

Facing the legendary Gordie Howe, at the time, the best player to have ever played the game, on a breakaway in his NHL debut? Talk about a rude welcome to the league!

“It was incredible,” Vachon noted. “The defenseman [Ted Harris] stood up [at the Detroit blue line] and the pass came across to Howe on the wing. From the blue line in, he was all by himself. That was a little scary.”

“I don’t know how, but I stopped him and that probably helped me with my career because I settled down,” Vachon added. “That night, I had about forty shots and beat Detroit, 3-2. Everything went really well at the start.”

Things continued to go well for Vachon, who went on to win three Stanley Cups with the Canadiens in four seasons.

He almost won another one with them as well.

“When I broke in, there were only six teams in the league,” said Vachon. “That was the last year Toronto won the Cup. We lost [to them] in the finals, so I came close to winning another Cup…”

To read the full story, click on: Vachon Speaks About Career, Hall Exclusion.

Audio Interviews (raw, unedited)

Rogie Vachon (25:40)

All stories and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

While we were on vacation, the Kings beat the Oilers (Yay!) and followed it up the next day with a loss to Vancouver (boo!).  The Oilers game was remarkable because of the premier of Andrei Loktionov.  Coincidentally, it looks like it might also be his only appearance of the season.  That dislocated shoulder was so nasty that trainers couldn’t replace it.  Instead, he had to be taken to the hospital.

This is awful news for the Kings and especially for Loktionov.  Can you imagine how painful that whole process must have been?  First to get it dislocated, then taken to the trainers where they mess around with it and yet can’t get it into place, then off to the hospital where they mess around with it some more.  God damn.  I’ve not read any reports regarding Loktionov since the incident so I’m assuming that nothing career-threatening has come up yet.

If nothing else, it gave us all a chance to see Brayden Schenn.  As any Kings fan could have predicted, he wasn’t the key ingredient in our current scoring slump.  Nevertheless, Brayden looked pretty smooth in his limited opportunities.  He pulled off a few moves but looked quite like a teenager in other moments.  Rich Hammond tells us that Schenn will stay up in Vancouver with his junior team.  Hope you enjoyed getting beat by the Sedins, kid!  See you next month when we finally cave and buy your contract.

It would be unfair to simply say that the Vancouver game was just another loss due to poor scoring.  Roberto Luongo was brilliant with 31 saves.  Jonathan Quick tried to do his best to imitate Luongo’s success but collapsed in the third period with the help of some shoddy defense.  The Kings managed 12 shots on goal in the third period but none of them were getting by Luongo.  Thus the boxscore shows yet another third period collapse.

The other big issue in the game was faceoffs.  I’ll let Rich Hammond summarize:

Over the first nine minutes of the game, there were nine faceoffs, and the Canucks won all of them. Two Vancouver faceoff wins led directly to goals, and that played a big part in the Canucks’ 4-1 victory over the Kings before 18,810 at GM Place.

What say you, Anze?

Faceoffs are really important, especially on the special teams. They’re definitely huge. The percentage wasn’t good for us. They’re a good team, but it’s one thing to win it clean, but the other thing is just to battle hard and be there for each other.

Yes, yes they are important, aren’t they?  Well his scoring and face offs suck but at least his media-speak is top notch.

Basically, it looked like the Kings were always defending, even in the Vancouver zone.  By the second period it felt as though getting a whistle in their zone was effectively a rally killer.

The third factor was the neutral zone which was lackluster at best and lazy at worst.  Combine that with brilliant goaltending and horrific face offs and there’s really no way we could have won that game.  Two of those factors, however, were our own damn fault.  We weren’t going to score more than one or two goals no matter what but we could have limited their offensives chances significantly.

***

Things are only going to get worse tonight as the ‘Hawks come to Los Angeles.  Not only are they an awesome team, they’re hot.  Sure they lost to the Ducks last night and thus should be ashamed, but I feel it’ll only fuel their desire to redeem themselves.  The only way the Kings have a shot at this one is if they tighten up their face offs and not make such asses of themselves in the neutral zone.  Maybe get a power play goal.  I don’t want to dream too big here, but I say 2-1 with goals by Wayne Simmonds and Dustin Brown.

watch Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL online live stream TV sport 11/28, 28 Nov 2009. This Sport Games Starting time will be at 22:30 ET (US) or 04:30 CET (Europe). We will update the link several hours/minutes before the scheduled starting time. The live stream feed provided from free video tv hosting sites like ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. You can watch online Sport Live TV stream channel on November, 28 2009. The sport tv we cover here is NHL, NBA, KHL, NFL, AHL, NCAA, MLB, AHL, MLS, Soccer, EPL, Champion, UEFA, FIFA, U20, U17,  Football, Hockey, Basketball, SERIE A, NASCAR, F1, GP and others. If there is any of free tv hosting that airs these sport tv channel, we will update the link for you. Dont Miss to watch live sport tv between Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL online . Please click on below link to watch, online, free, live, stream, sport, tv, at 11/28 2009, Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL.

Click here To watch Live stream free online Sport TV

Free live internet TV by online streaming is the best way to enjoy your sports shows on internet. Especially with the arrival of high-speed Internet today. It allows you to live stream and watch your favourite Live football, live basketball, Live soccer, Baseball and Hockey league matches via online streaming. Today there is game match between Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL. Other famous game in these categories that we coverhere are NBA, NCAA, NFL, MLB, AHL, KHL, NHL, MLS, UEFA, Champion League, FIFA, U20, U21, U17, Uropean Cup, Serie A (Italy), EPL (England), NPL (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany),  NASCAR, F1, GP and others.

There are thousands collections of Live internet TV hosting sites and video feeds. You can Watch Live streaming TV Stations or channels from many source. But to search and point your intended channels sometimes is very difficult since one site can offer thousand of free TV sport channel in just one day.  So Here, we provide summary of links that will provide free live streaming TV sports. In this site We focus on the  Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, soccer and other more spesific segment. Most watch free TV stations we cover for  Sport here are from, USA & Canada and some other popular sports in Europe and arround the world. Check out our featured free tv sport online live stream today 28 November 2009 (11/28) for Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL.  We will find the links from ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. So don’t need to worry about miss one of our favorite TV sport game match, we can now catch them online, usually just 24 hours later it will be stored in the hosting site, it depends on their policy. You can easily select and click to watch Chicago Blackhawks vs Los Angeles Kings -NHL and others sport channel online stream here.

Football

Football on Thanksgiving much like NBA on Christmas is a great holiday diversion. Watching the Lions vs Packers as I’m writing this. I mentioned the Lions victory briefly in my NFL Sunday post, I failed to mention the nice finish by Stafford. He had a game winning drive that ended in an injured non-throwing arm pass by Stafford for a TD. Also, Troy Aikman said he looks like a 16 year old. Too bad after as I was writing this he stunk the joint up.

FOX halftime crew is just better than the CBS one. Much more entertaining.

I wasn’t able to watch the Raiders upset the Bengals last week due to NFL black out rules. Arrr. Change it Goodell. Every other week I have to sit through a crappy losing bay area team then a team I want to see and I can’t. and it was a good game.

Kings

I started writing this on X-giving but I’m finishing it on Post Tgiving. The Kings are playing the Nets, 0-15. That’s 0-15. They close to tying the worse start which is currently 0-17.

Games -Uncharted 2

My crappy review. Game kicked ass. Best Gfx I’ve seen this gen hands down and ranks up in the all time good lists. I beat it somewhat relatively quickly, I can see how some can complain about that. I did power through it with my watching roommate on hand. Funny it was like the ps3 commercial.  Great acting. The scenes and acting were motion captured, had a hunch it was. Girls were hot. Ridiculous action. Lots of cursing. Killing 1000s of people. Good game.

NBA 2K10

I can’t resist sports games. They let ya do what you watch sports for. NBA 2k10 has a MyPlayer mode.  You start as a rookie in the NBA and attempt to have a long a fruitful NBA career. I was chosen by the Memphis Grizzlies. We were a decent team.  Often struggling to win having a record dipping under .500. Then Shaq the Diesel was traded to the Grizzles. Hah! Now were 6th in the West with about 15-20 games to go. I can only imagine Shaq daddy slinging out his trademark shaqology for Memphis. Good game.

Also just watched Jimmy the Greek from ESPN’s 30 for 30. The Len Bias episode was moving as with this one. Check em out. Ron Artest was in his boxers on Kimmel last week. I miss him . But the Kings are on the upside. Rockets are from him too. Dinner time. So till next time. Hope the Nets get a chance to tie that record.

The Los Angeles Kings squandered a solid effort in goal by Jonathan Quick when their lackluster play gave the Vancouver Canucks three unanswered goals in the third period, handing the Canucks a 4-1 victory at General Motors Place in Vancouver on Thursday night.

Here are the game highlights from NHL Video on YouTube:

All stories and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

watch New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA online live stream TV sport 11/27, 27 Nov 2009. This Sport Games Starting time will be at 22:00 ET (US) or 04:00 CET (Europe). We will update the link several hours/minutes before the scheduled starting time. The live stream feed provided from free video tv hosting sites like ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. You can watch online Sport Live TV stream channel on November, 27 2009. The sport tv we cover here is NHL, NBA, KHL, NFL, AHL, NCAA, MLB, AHL, MLS, Soccer, EPL, Champion, UEFA, FIFA, U20, U17,  Football, Hockey, Basketball, SERIE A, NASCAR, F1, GP and others. If there is any of free tv hosting that airs these sport tv channel, we will update the link for you. Dont Miss to watch live sport tv between New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA online . Please click on below link to watch, online, free, live, stream, sport, tv, at 11/27 2009, New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA.

Click here To watch Live stream free online Sport TV

Free live internet TV by online streaming is the best way to enjoy your sports shows on internet. Especially with the arrival of high-speed Internet today. It allows you to live stream and watch your favourite Live football, live basketball, Live soccer, Baseball and Hockey league matches via online streaming. Today there is game match between New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA. Other famous game in these categories that we coverhere are NBA, NCAA, NFL, MLB, AHL, KHL, NHL, MLS, UEFA, Champion League, FIFA, U20, U21, U17, Uropean Cup, Serie A (Italy), EPL (England), NPL (Spain), Bundesliga (Germany),  NASCAR, F1, GP and others.

There are thousands collections of Live internet TV hosting sites and video feeds. You can Watch Live streaming TV Stations or channels from many source. But to search and point your intended channels sometimes is very difficult since one site can offer thousand of free TV sport channel in just one day.  So Here, we provide summary of links that will provide free live streaming TV sports. In this site We focus on the  Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, soccer and other more spesific segment. Most watch free TV stations we cover for  Sport here are from, USA & Canada and some other popular sports in Europe and arround the world. Check out our featured free tv sport online live stream today 27 November 2009 (11/27) for New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA.  We will find the links from ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. So don’t need to worry about miss one of our favorite TV sport game match, we can now catch them online, usually just 24 hours later it will be stored in the hosting site, it depends on their policy. You can easily select and click to watch New Jersey Nets vs Sacramento Kings  – NBA and others sport channel online stream here.

I did very well on my picks yesterday.  The problem was I relied too much on parlays again.

I went 2-1 on the NFL games and 2-0 on the NHL games.  The problem was I lost all 3 NFL parlays because of the Giants. I still managed to break even but you shouldn’t just be breaking even if your record is 4-1 (80%).

I could blame the lackluster Giants for blowing my parlays but the truth of the matter is I got too greedy and overconfident. I parlayed my picks, then I did a 6pt teaser in case they didn’t quite cover the spread, then I parlayed the games straight up. I was conifident the Giants would win, I just wasn’t confident in Dallas winning by 14.

Here is the lesson: Never play a parlay unless you can make up for the loss by winning about 65% of your picks.

In otherwords, I should have been able to at least break even as long as 2 teams won.  Instead, I had to rely on my NHL games to bring me back up. With a winning percentage currently at 75-80%, covering losses with a 65% winning rate is reasonable.

Anyway, we got some good games coming up today in NHL and NBA. I’ll give you all my picks later this afternoon but here are some games to start your day. I’ll have some NCAA football picks for you later today as well.

NBA: Phoenix vs Minnesota: PHO -9.5

This game is strong enough to play straight. No buying points needed today.

Straight up parlay: PHO, POR, BOS, SAC

These games are strong enough to play straight up but I give no guarantees on spreads (other than the Suns, which I still don’t “guarantee,” obviously). I’d especially stay clear of Boston’s spread as they are in an 0-6 ATS rut and 2-10 in their last 12 games ATS.

NHL:

Atlanta vs Carolina SU (-115)

This is one of the strongest games in my NHL GF System, but one of the lowest moneylines. 

Parlay: ATL (vs CAR), CHI (vs ANA), PHI (vs BUF), FLOR (vs TOR)

I usually just do parlays with NHL because it’s too hard to play the spreads and the lines are often too much to make it worth while.  I like these picks though as the Thrashers (ATL) are 7-2-1 on the road (Carolina is 3-0 at home in it’s last 3 games but all were to losing teams), Chicago’s Hossa had a strong debut with 2 goals and should continue his dominance, the Flyers are getting Briere back and looked strong even without him, and Florida is 5-0-3 since Nov 12th and 4-0 against Toronto in their last 4 meetings(The Panthers have lost 3 straight at home but all were in OT, and all were to winning teams).

Kings Arsenal were reduced to just four players on Friday afternoon as they prepared to face Team Choc Ice.

A plaque of knee injuries and withdrawals have left captain Mark Tinklin and livewire striker/keeper Luka Tinklin trawling their contacts for at least one more player.

Arsenal fans James Payne and Deep Dasgupta are off to the Emirates to see the Chelsea game on Sunday and Paul Jenkins is out of town.

Phil Foster is going to Newcastle this weekend while Chris Trewhitt, Dave Foster and Julien Ramsey have all been ruled out with knee injuries.

In fact Dave and Julien could both be out until the New Year.

The raft of withdrawals leaves Kings Arsenal down to just four players at present: Fabricio Mazzola, James Britton, Mark and Luke.

However, Kings Arsenal are confident they’ll be up to their full quota of five players in time for the 5.40pm kick-off on Sunday.

Second place Team Choc Ice lie in wait, a team the Kings battered 11-4 at the end of last season.

On this day when, here in the United States, we are supposed to give thanks for all that we’ve been blessed with, the folks over at KingsCast hit us with both barrels (you get to choose if we should be thankful for that) with a new episode of Overtime by KingsCast and a new edition of the official fan podcast of the Los Angeles Kings.

In Episode 3 of the podcast, entitled Injury Bugged, Keith Korneluk and Connie Kim discuss the impact that the loss of left wing Ryan Smyth to injury will have on the Kings.

You can listen to the podcast here (31:07):

In Overtime – Episode 28: KingsCast/Hockey Zen Mashup, KingsCast and the folks at The Hockey Zen square off to discuss the Kings/Edmonton Oilers match-up on November 25 and to take a look at the season-long “rivalry” between the two teams.

Watch the episode here:

All stories and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

Wayne Simmonds and unlikely suspect Matt Greene scored goals while Jonathan Quick stopped 22 shots to lead the Los Angeles Kings to a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers at Rexall Place in Edmonton on Wednesday night.

Here are the game highlights from NHL Video on YouTube:

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Halloween is not just for October in Scotland’s capital city. Ghouls and bloody murderers haunt Edinburgh’s streets all year round due to the vast number of ghost tours which take place.

The city of Edinburgh is one of the most culturally fascinating cities in the world, playing host the internationally known Edinburgh Festival. It is well known for its music, literature, theatre, and film as well as its visual arts, libraries and museums. Although these factors are more than enough to charm any traveller or tourist, one of Edinburgh’s most interesting attractions are its numerous ghost tours which explore the ancient district of Edinburgh’s city centre.

Edinburgh is famed for its sinister and murky past. It is the city that the infamous body snatchers, Burke and Hare operated in and the city that inspired books such as ‘Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’, adventures of ‘Sherlock Holmes and today’s ‘Inspector Rebus’. Amazingly even the atmosphere that is felt whilst roaming the streets and alleyways of the Old Town district of Scotland’s capital city fills the most fearless of sightseers with an eerie trepidation.

In April 2003, the door was once again opened to the mystical Mary King’s Close; a series of rediscovered underground streets which lie beneath the famous royal mile, Edinburgh’s busiest and most historical street. New research from archaeologists reveals that over 150 years ago the secret streets were originally made up of enormous tenement buildings reaching seven stories high on either side. During the Christmas of 1645, the Plague arrived in Edinburgh, wiping out most of its population, leaving Mary King’s Close derelict and forgotten. Throughout the course of the tour, guides dressed in clothing from the era provide the audience with information of the people who once lived there such as their names and the jobs that they did. Although the guides are informative, they are definitely not boring as they create a fun and relaxed atmosphere which is enjoyed by everyone who visits Mary King’s Close. This find has become the core of many of Edinburgh’s ghost tours, offering a breath taking setting and an exhilarating way in which to spend a night with friends or family. With extensive opening hours and a location in the heart of Edinburgh’s city centre, tourists should certainly make time to enjoy a one on one experience with the capital cities most historical tour.

As well as the famous Fringe Festival that takes place in Edinburgh every august, the Mary King’s Close Fest has taken place every may for the past few years. The quirky ten day celebration has become a favourite with the tourists and manages to attract a unique audience from across Scotland, the UK and from overseas. The off-peak festival uncovers many of Edinburgh’s notorious dark tales and paranormal activities. Every year it offers visitors the chance to experience and explore the truly haunted past of Scotland’s capital city. The 2009 gathering was extremely successful and featured visits from Dr Ciaran O’Keefe and Steve Parsons from TV’s ‘Most Haunted’, a Victorian séance with City of Dead Tours and ghostly storytelling from Mercat Tours. As well as those attractions there were screenings of favourite spooky films, clairvoyant gatherings, talks from leading experts and exclusive city tours.

Although may is possibly the spookiest time of year in Edinburgh, there is no need to wait until then for a taster of its haunted past as ghost tours proceed to run throughout the year. There are many established enterprises battling it out so spectators are never short of choice if they fancy a night of bloodcurdling entertainment. Cheap prices and terrific guides are additional reasons to get involved and enjoy a unique tourist experience. Many of the tours, most of which are suitable for children, provide some very artistic performances from actors and the infamous ‘jumper-ooters’ who may be lurking behind any corner.

In such a fascinating city every visitor should find time in their busy schedule to embark on one of Edinburgh’s renowned haunted tours as the experience cannot be equalled by any other town. Customers will go home feeling thrilled, joyful or haunted but never disappointed after an encounter which shall not be forgotten.