Serien ”My sister the vampire” er en engelsk bokserie på fire bøker. Det er en morsom serie som er lett å lese, selv på engelsk! Olivia begynner på en ny skole og oppdager at hun har en tvillingsøster! De er like som to dråper vann, unntatt at tvillingsøsteren Ivy er vampyr. For på skolen er det faktisk en del vampyrer, men de later som om de er ”gother” for å holde det hemmelig. De kler seg i svart og ha dramatisk sminke. Ivy bryter vampyrenes første regel: hun forteller Olivia at hun er en vampyr.
”Revamped” er den tredje boka i serien. I bok nummer tre prøver jentene å finne sine biologiske foreldre. Samtidig må de fortelle sine adoptivforeldre at de har funnet hverandre. Foreldrene til Olivia blir kjempe begeistret og kler seg ut som Ivy. Faren til Ivy derimot vil ikke treffe Olivia, og oppfører seg rart rundt henne.

Want some excitement in college basketball this week?

Too bad.

Only one non-tournament game features ranked teams, and it’s Minnesota  Butler.  Yuck.

Duke is on a path to play UConn for the NIT Tip Off title in the Garden Friday night.  Two days before that, Arizona State and LSU will put up respective tests before falling in the semis.

None of e games were on the staff’s schedule, because we didn’t know what the results would be.

So I figure since I’m not at the game, I might as well do some kind of real reporting here before people stop reading us entirely. The times are going to be the actual time, not the time of the game since I don’t think our feed actually has a game clock.

2:44: Apparently the feed we’re getting from FB is the radio feed from WEEI played over a video that’s being taken by some schmuck in the stands. As we jump in here, Marshon has 9 already. I love that goofy bastard. Also Chainsaw was the first guy off the bench? Yeah?

2:46: We’re in the press, but Mercer is breaking it.

2:47: We’re losing. And this is a complete shitshow. I think we just turned it over like 8 times in 20 seconds.

2:50: This kid Florence is apparently pretty good. And there goes the obligatory absurd three from Marshon after he scores a lot of points and gets too cocky.

2:51: FUCK YOU TIM HIGGINS. Greedy just got his ass kicked and got no call. Keno got a little upset and right away he gets a T. God I hate Higgins. So much.

2:54: We have our second Chainsaw appearance. And big goofy white dude misses one of the 2 technical free throws.

2:55: This Kushner guy just hit the ugliest looking three I’ve ever seen. Ever. James Naismith had a nicer stroke shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket for God’s sake.

2:56: Still comes in for Chainsaw. He’s gonna need a shitload of blocks so I don’t look like an idiot in my predictions.

2:57: Shawna’s Dad just said “No one on the floor can guard Marshon Brooks. Well I would hope not.

3:00: Our feed just froze. I had a small heart attack. Also I’m just now realizing I have literally no idea what the score is.

3:01: Ask and ye shall receive. 22-22. How are we not winning? Marshon has like 18 points right now.

3:03: Keno only had one technical last year? That can’t be right. In a related story, our feed is taking a dump right now. We’re in trouble.

3:06: Beej puts the radio on and we immediately get Miley Cyrus. The blog will continue when the song is over.

3:07: Don’t know how I feel about Joe Hassett’s voice. It’s like if Mike Francesa was from Attleboro. I don’t get how that happens. Whatever, his daughter is incredible.

3:08: Some guy on Mercer has an absurd Greek name. Ingus Hunkadinkacis or something.

3:09: Marshon is making people look silly right now. He has 17. How are we not up by like 20?

3:10: Beej makes a joke about Mercer making the NCAA tourney. What’s sad is that they might.

3:11: Marshon drills a deep three and Joey Hassett comments that it’s like he’s “playing in the backyaaaad”. Well then. We’re really turning on the jets here. I want to win by 50 to make up for last night.

3:12: We’re up 16. That really escalated quickly.

3:14: Here’s a fun fact: We’re in sole possession of the best record among Big East teams right now. Syracuse is also 2-0, but they lost to LeMoyne. We win.

3:15: Beej: “Fact: our best out of conference game is against a team that lost to Cornell last night.” Shit.

3:17: I think if we have a really long possession John Rooke’s head is going to explode. His voice keeps getting higher and higher until someone scores. That can’t be healthy.

3:19: Vincent Council took a shot in the chest. Love the effort out of the new kid. Rooke uses the phrase “stops, pops, won’t drop” at the other end of the court. He’s been waiting to break that one out for a while.

3:21: Greedy’s got 7 boards to Bilal’s 1. Bilal’s gotta pick it up a bit so I can continue to look brilliant on my rebounding leader prediction.

3:23: 15 points at the half. Not bad. Marshon finishes the half with 22 after missing the runner at the buzzer. Greedy has 9 boards by my count. Sharaud quietly had 9 points. Also, fun fact: Mercer is 2-7 from the line right now. YIKES. Defense looks great (or it would if PC’s internet didn’t suck too much to run a streaming video), and that was really a big question mark coming into this year. I know it’s Mercer but it’s still encouraging.

3:39: I feel like that was a long halftime for a game of this magnitude.

3:41: Rooke’s gotta stop with this rhyming shit “3rd time, no, 4th time goes”. Greedy picks up like 8 more boards. What’s ironic here is that I picked Bilal to be the rebounding leader because he missed a lot of shots down low in the Merrimack game. Turns out Greedy’s got the same problem and is probably a better rebounder. So much for that then. Also, I love how the broadcasters are referring to Peterson excusively as Greedy. I don’t think there was any real indication that that was his nickname either other than that he’s listed as Greedy on Facebook. Gotta love technology.

3:43: Greedy misses his third dunk of the day. Good to see he worked on that in his year off.

3:47: VC gets called for a foul. Forgot he existed. Where has he been?

3:48: A black taco commercial comes on the radio and my head explodes.

3:50: John Rooke:”Mercer’s coach won the NAIA National Championship with Southeast Nazarean State back in 1989, so some high level coaching on both sides.” Please tell me that was sarcasm. PLEASE.

3:52: HOLY SHIT WEEI JUST DIED.

3:55: We’re good. Greedy has 8 offensive rebounds. Also he’s 4 for 16. I’m gonna say he won’t be leading the team in FG%. Here’s another fun fact: the leader in 3FG% this year? Chainsaw Permenter. I swear to God. Look it up. He’s also second to Bilal in FG%. That prediction isn’t looking so crazy now, is it?

3:58: Greedy is officially Geoff McDermott 2.0. He’s got like 25 rebounds. Marshon has been quiet in the second half. Just scored his first points of the half to bring him to 26 on the game. And now he’s hurt. God damn it.

4:01: So apparently this World Vision Tournament doesn’t have a champion. I’m a little confused how this thing works. I want a World Vision Tournament 2009 Champs t-shirt when this thing is over.

4:02: Marshon is listed as a top performer on ESPN. Gotta love that. In other news, someone stop Greedy from shooting threes. Now.

4:03: Chainsaw has no idea what defense they’re using, and Keno kicks him in the ass. Marshon turned his ankle again for like the 8th time this season, but apparently he’s still totally fine. James Still suddenly has 5 points. Needs a few blocks though.

4:06: B-Mac drains a Sharaud Curry three. Is it too soon to say he’s back? Yeah, you’re right, it totally is.

4:08: We ‘re up 12 now. Is it bad that I’m vaguely nervous right now? Greedy makes me feel better with his 83rd rebound of the game.

4:09: 10 point lead. Not a great time for the obligatory ice cold stretch. Greedy has missed 6 shots from point blank range according to Rooke. I’m having flashbacks to freshman year.

4:11: Hoooooly shit, make a damn shot.

4:12: Bilal fouls out. Good. Great. Grand. Wonderful.

4:15: It’s a 5 point game. Are we fucking serious right now? The threes aren’t working guys. We need points.

4:16: The good news is, Greedy’s got 20 boards. The bad news is, he’s missed 800 shots. And he misses 2 free throws. I will now stab myself in the eye with a spork.

4:17: Chainsaw checks in for Greedy. Thank you.

4:18: We haven’t scored in at least 4 minutes. This is really getting out of hand.

4:19: Turns out they can’t hit a free throw either. Good thing we’re just handing them the ball right now so it doesn’t matter.

4:20: Chainsaw gets a mention for his D from Joe Hassett. MVP! MVP!

4:21: TIM HIGGINS MUST DIE.

4:23: It just took me 3 tries to put a soda can in our recycling bin. It must be contagious.

4:25: CHAINSAW BREAKS THE STREAK! WOOOOOO

4:26: Chainsaw is legitimately taking over this game. Except he just missed. But whatever. On the other end, we can’t stop James Florence, who now has 21.Mondy takes a three. ENOUGH ALREADY.

4:27: Mondy makes up for it with a steal and feeds it to Curry, who scores and gets fouled by Florence. Fan-fucking-tastic. We have a Sharaud sighting! Aaaaaand he misses the freebie. Jesus Christ.

4:28: Now it’s a 3 point game again. I’m going to throw up. For like the 8th time this weekend.

4:29: Chainsaw comes out. Not sure why. It is a ONE point game. What the FUCK?

4:30: Keno calls a timeout. Where’s the Burnett’s?

4:32: Oh my. Ooooh my.

4:33: Curry just got called for an over the back. I’m gonna call shenanigans on that one. He can’t get over the back on anyone. He’s like 5′2″. EMERSON MISSED BOTH SHOTS AND WE GOT THE REBOUND! HOLY SHIT WHAT A CHOKE ARTIST!

4:35: The band breaks out into Rock and Roll Pt. 2. Finally. HEYYYYY YOU SUCK!

4:36: Sharaud misses one. Mercer still has a chance. They missed the three horrifically thanks to some great D from Marshon. Who immediately misses the first free throw. And he missed the second one. We’re still not safe. Holy shit.

4:38. I’m going to pass out.

4:39: We need a big stand here. Obviously.

4:40: Kusnyer has bricks for hands, and we win. I don’t even know what just happened. It was literally a matter of who wanted to lose more. I don’t know if I’ve seen that many missed free throws in one half ever on any level. 48.0% shooting from the line. 21.9% from three point range. Note to Duke Mondy, Sharaud Curry, and Greedy Peterson: when you can’t make a three, don’t keep trying. Marshon finishes with 26 after having 24 in the first half. So basically that was a 2 hour recap of last year. Greedy: 22 boards, 15 missed shots. Chainsaw Permenter is your MVP. One word can describe this game: YIKES.

-SM

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Mercer was thinking upset minutes after beating Lincoln County last week, but the Titans didn’t have the firepower to take down the Maroons in the mud.

Mercer County came into Pulaski County with one win, a chance at a district upset and a better seeding for the upcoming playoffs.

Titans lose to Pulaski 25-47. For more information pick up a copy of your local Harrodsburg Herald.

From the Economist:

Striking the right balance between life and work can be tricky. Employees in European countries tend to have a better deal than most, enjoying more days off work than their counterparts in Asia or America. Workers in Finland, France and Brazil have the most generous statutory allowance, getting 30 days of holiday every year. Americans work longer hours: theirs is the only rich country that does not give any statutory paid holiday. (In practice, most workers get around 15 days off.) This work ethic may in turn help to explain Americans’ material wealth. Even adjusting for purchasing-power parity, America generates more wealth per person than all but a handful of mainly oil-rich economies such as Norway.

Click here for my previous post on paid vacation policies by country.

The Lady Titans continued their dominant late-season streak, blowing past Garrard County in two double digit match wins.

Midway through game one, the Lady Lions were able to climb back within reach to a 12-10 deficit. but Mercer would soon leave them in the dust.

For a complete report on the Lady Titans in the post-season, along with a full feature on the team’s growth during the season, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

Sophomore Isaiah Burrus had a big part in the win with plays on every side of the ball.

Burrus came through on the big stage on senior night with two receiving touchdowns, one rushing score, an interception and a 46 yard punt return score that was called back on penalty.

Mercer coach Bill Mason said Burrus has been showing that ability on the practice field and Friday’s breakout was due.

For more details on Burrus and coach Mason’s impressions from the game, check out this week’s Harrodsburg Herald.

Mercer took their homefield for the last time this season, picking up a win to keep their playoff dreams alive and well.

The Titans (1-8, 1-2 district) overcame some blows and exploited Lincoln’s miscues en route to a 35-9 win.

It was the Titans’ own mistakes they focused on early this week in the film room.

“We made it a point to point out where we didn’t do the things we were supposed to and ask, ‘is that acceptable?’ Here they are juniors and seniors, or whatever, and they are not doing what they’re supposed to and its costing their teammates,” head coach Bill Mason said.

The look in the mirror apparently worked as the Titans finished on top for the first time in 2009.

For the complete report on the game, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

Houdbaarheid
Bij de houdbaarheid gaat het om indicatoren die de houdbaarheid op lange termijn beïnvloeden. Hierbij wordt gekeken naar zaken als de verhouding tussen staatspensioen en aanvullend pensioen, de verwachte periode dat pensioen moet worden uitgekeerd en de mate van deelname van ouderen aan het arbeidsproces. Zweden (75,2) en Australië (71,0) scoren hier het hoogste, Japan (34,4) en China (38,5) scoren hier wederom niet goed. Nederland komt met een score van 62,5 op de zesde positie.

Integriteit
Ook de integriteit van het systeem is meegenomen in het onderzoek, omdat het erg belangrijk is om het vertrouwen in het pensioenstelsel op een hoog niveau te houden. Op basis van vier hoofdindicatoren – beleidsregulering, governance, riskmanagement en communicatie – is integriteit geclassificeerd. Ook hier weet Nederland met een score van 88,2 de nummer één positie veilig te stellen, gevolgd door Australië (87,8) en het Verenigd Koninkrijk (86,3). Duitsland neemt met een score van 33,7 de laatste positie in.

Nederland
Willem Brugman, Business Leader Retirement, Risk and Finance Consulting Benelux, zegt: “We zijn terecht erg trots op het Nederlands pensioensysteem. Het Nederlandse stelsel, met haar AOW en aanvullend pensioen, is van oudsher gebaseerd op een hoge mate van solidariteit en stabiliteit. Echter de huidige economische crisis is wel een ‘wake up call’ geweest voor het systeem.”

Verbeterpunten
Het rapport geeft wel een aantal verbeterpunten voor het Nederlandse systeem:
• Verhoging van de AOW-leeftijd, in verband met een stijgende levensverwachting
• Stimuleren van zelfstandig sparen ten behoeve van pensionering
• Voorzien in een betere bescherming van opgebouwde pensioenaanspraken in het geval van fraude of mismanagement.

Innoveren

A-status
Binnen de index is er geen één land dat een A-status systeem heeft, met een score hoger dan 80. Dr. David Knox, Worldwide Partner Retirement, Risk and Finance Consulting en projectmanager van de index, geeft aan dat de wereldwijde onderzoeksresultaten een aantal overeenkomstige uitdagingen laten zien. “Het feit dat geen één land de A-status heeft weten te bereiken geeft aan dat er geen systeem bekend is wat robuust genoeg is om de vergrijzing het hoofd te bieden. De beste oplossing voor een bepaald land zal afhangen van haar individuele sociale, economische, politieke en culturele factoren. Echter, gekeken naar de overeenkomsten tussen de systemen en de gewenste karakteristieken van een pensioen systeem, kunnen er zeker lessen getrokken worden uit het onderzoek,” aldus Dr. David Knox.

By Chris Hopkins, MD

I read a rather contentious piece on Timesonline which not only alleges the demise of the HR department, but asserts that we should be happy about it.

HR teams are “the ‘people people’ who ensure that companies adhere to minimum wage requirements, rules relating to diversity, gender, sexual orientation and so on and generally try to prevent businesses being sued to death”, claims The Times. The amount of money spent on the HR function “seems to far outstrip their contribution to the world”, and the columnist has “never really understood the point of human resources departments”.

An interesting comment from a person who openly admits that he himself has never dealt with an HR department, which makes me wonder whether he is qualified to comment on this arena. But taking this argument at face value, I must disagree.

The nature of the Human Resources role has seen a steep evolution over time from a largely administrative purpose to a position which is core to a company’s failure or success. HR departments should be a key driver of employee engagement through a carefully crafted mix of communication, learning and development, benefits and reward and performance management.

Research shows that employees are far more actively engaged when they are frequently communicated with, a principle duty of the HR department. Mercer found in 2006 that when communications are viewed as excellent within a company, 74 per cent of employees are committed to their organization versus 34 per cent of employees when communications are viewed as poor.

Moreover, Gallup cites that the cost of disengagement to the economy in 2008 was between £59.4bn and £64.7bn.

The crux of the matter is that when HR gets it right, their role has true value and function through commercial thinking and proactive communications initiatives. Perhaps it’s more a case of businesses not wholly embracing the benefits and potential of human resources rather than the lack of its purpose as The Times suggests. It is my opinion that if HR departments are being called upon to prove their worth, now more than ever is the time to push the importance of measurement.

It is crucial for HR professionals – and HR suppliers such as ourselves – to provide statistics which prove that the role of human resources provides a meaningful function that generates a greater return on human capital.

Caburn Hope

www.caburnhope.co.uk

For a brief re-cap…

This year I went out to Los Angeles with a bunch of friends for an event called Anime Expo. During our time out there I hooked up with my good friends Matt and JoEllen. Matt was kind enough to run a kick ass, one-off, D&D game for Kelly and I.

I covered Matt’s awesome game in my previous entry. However, after LA our friends on the Ayacon Committee decided to invite both Matt and JoEllen as guests to the convention. Naturally I was thrilled to see them again and a lot of awesome hijinks ensued for that weekend. However, I was especially pleased that I would get a chance to run a one-off D&D game for them!

I also had two completely fresh Newbies join the party for this one, so it was going to be an interesting challenge!

The first challenge I faced was helping two completely new, fresh faced D&D players create 5th Level Characters WITH appropriate gear.

Lex and Nia, my two little D&D younglings had never played before so I had quite a bit of work ahead of me. Luckily I had an incredibly powerful tool on my side…

I had this;

I know I have said it over and over again, but the D&D Character Builder is one of the *best* tools out there. Especially if you are a DM introducing somebody new to D&D.

Thanks to the Character Builder I could show the Races, Classes, Build Options, Stats, Skills, Feats and Equipment to my complete Newbies and they could digest it easily. For two girls who are no stranger to Video Games this was something they could understand, not a bunch of books and tables.

I sat with both of them when they created their characters, I found one particular method to speed things up considerably; I asked them questions and never, EVER, told them what to do. I let them play, I let them read, I didn’t try to hurry them up to start the game. Sure, when it came to stats I asked; “Do you want me to do this bit?” and then asked; “Okay, how strong do you want to be? How agile?” I let them guide me, even when I had to take the captain’s chair for a while.

Now, I did pick their Equipment for them. There is SO much choice with Equipment and I think to jump straight into all the bonuses and what works, what doesn’t is a bit too much for somebody who just made their first D&D character. Normally they get the progression of learning their character, finding magic items as loot etc. I think if we played from level 1 – level 5 and then I asked them to buy magic items, I would let them go crazy.

(Also, this Adventure was pretty tough in regards to Encounters, so I wanted to make sure they had the Equipment to back them up)

Once we had characters it was time to begin…

The idea for this Adventure came whilst I was listening to a Disney song of all things.

The general idea of the Adventure began with the party staying at a small village halfway along an important trade route. One night whilst staying in the tavern, a distraught father bursts in raving about his girl walking out into the woods and vanishing (The Disney Song was the reprise of Gaston from Beauty and the Beast by the way. I even called the father Maurice). Once the PC’s calmed him down the locals retold the story of “The Siren’s Wood”. An old legend of three sisters who were hung in the woods for being Witches, they swore their revenge would one day come.

The locals split into two factions, one group believing the Siren’s had come to claim their daughters (and some locals hinted at other similar incidents recently) and the other group thinking the PC’s and the father were con-men trying to get the village to pay for a rescue that wasn’t needed. Skill Challenge was GO!

The group convinced the villages and local Mayor to hire them to save the girls, much to the chagrin of a popular villager who stormed off.

The next morning as they were leaving the village, the PCs are ambushed by Cultists of Orcus, led unsurprisingly by the villager who had not liked their involvement the previous night. A message suggested a woman named “Lucia” wanted the villagers misled into thinking the missing girls had run away, instead they had been lured into the forest.

Moving into the Forest the party encountered their second battle. For this one, I had created some custom Monsters using a new toy from Uncle WOTC.

This thing… Oooo…this dream!

It’s got some annoying kinks, or it did when I used it (it’s Beta Period), but it’s a GREAT tool. You can choose existing monsters and then edit them to your hearts content. OR you can build an entirely new monster and powers etc.

I used it for two encounters, the first time I made my own monster (using the powers of a similar monster at a similar level, slightly changed) and then I also altered two monsters for the final encounter.

The monster I created was a Fey Spirit Minion. The Orcus Cultists had aligned themselves with a mercenary band of Eladrin who controlled some of the animals/spirits in the Wood. One of these Eladrin had summoned a number of Nature Spirits to fight the PCs in a glade. These minions were pretty harmless until killed… Where they proceeded to do a Burst 1 attack and heal any Fey Allies in burst 5. So the Eladrin and his two Fey Panther pets were quite happy to get into the fray.

This encounter wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was frustrating for the PCs and it took them a few rounds to manuever the Eladrin and the Panthers away from the spirits but eventually they got there and took down the others fairly quickly. It was definitely fun to use my own monster for a change, I even made my own little miniatures for them, I made them out of Craft Foam and Games Workshop bases (Although they did look a bit ridiculous)…

After this encounter I ran another Skill Challenge.

Throughout the Adventure I used an iTunes playlist, full of different music tracks and sound effects, to help create a cool atmosphere. I downloaded a specific song for the “Sirens Song” (Lament of the Highborn from World of Warcraft) and played it softly in the background as I ran the Skill Challenge. I had the characters trying to navigate the Forest whilst resisting the Siren’s lure. Sadly they failed the challenge (one success away from victory too) and found themselves lost in the Forest and one healing surge down.

The playlist was a really great addition for this game and I will definitely be using the same idea again. Just having sound effects really helped, but the right piece of music really brought some encounters to life.

The final Encounter, without going into massive detail had them facing off against Lucia, Orcus Priestess. Along with Lucia (and Elite Controller I adapted from one of the Orcus Priests in the Monster Builder) I had 2 Zombies, 2 Chillborn Zombies, A Poltergeist, a Fledgling Vampire and the Siren sisters themselves.

In addition to the combat, the PC’s saw that four young girls from the town had been placed on alters around a large Tree, with vines coming out from the ground and wrapped over them. The tree had several hanging ropes around it and the party had learnt it was the tree the girls were hung from, as well as seemingly a leyline for the Shadowfell. The characters had to free the girls in a time before the Tree consumed their innocent life energy and a portal to the Shadowfell could be opened.

I decided to have the Siren’s as three separate Minis but one stat block. If the group had chosen to attack them, they would have shared hitpoints, defences etc. I didn’t want them to really be another “monster” to fight, but rather an obstacle. They continued their “Luring Song” but in hindsight I should of had this as a recharge ability instead of every turn. It was just annoying, not fun.

What *was* fun though was the Poltergeist. What a FUN monster to use! He was a last minute addition but I am so glad I added him in, he was pulling PC’s all over the place, grabbing them and all sorts.

My other favourite moment for the final encounter were the Zombies, they went down everybody cheered. I waited a round, they got back up again, the party looked at me horrified.

“Well they ARE zombies” I replied.

Mwuahahahaha!

—

The adventurers did well though, they beat all the bad guys (although the Poltergeist vanished when Lucia was defeated) and saved all four of the girls in the nick of time. They even managed to convince the village to cut down the tree and therefore free the spirits of the Sirens (who had been rebuked and commanded by Lucia by the way). So the day was saved and all was well in the world.

I look back on the adventure with a smile, but there were things I would change if I were to run it again. I think that’s an important step as a DM, you should really deconstruct your adventure and reflect on how well it went and how much fun everybody had. What worked? What didn’t work?

Finally, I keep saying it but the D&D Insider Subscription is one of the best things I have ever paid for. The tools alone are worth it, but Dragon and Dungeon are full of so much good stuff too.

Till next time people!

The Shins foi uma banda que começou em 1997 na cidade de Albuquerque, Novo México e toca um rock experimental que no começo nem era levado a sério, pois era apenas um projeto paralelo dos músicos Mercer e Neal Langford e que depois ganhou destaque mundial. Quando a antiga banda chamada Flake acabou e todos os membros fundaram o atual The Shins que já tem vários trabalhos, entre eles meu favorito Wincing the Night Away. O sucesso do Shins veio na onda New Indie que era o aparecimento em massa de bandas autodenominadas alternativas e se vestiam simples. Suas letras e melodias são bastante bem trabalhadas e harmônicas.

Aqui para download o álbum Wincing the Night Away      Download

1 – Sleeping Lessons

With the Titans looking to answer back and tie the game at 14 late in the third quarter, a Southwestern defender ripped the ball away from Jamel Taylor in the endzone for a pivotal turnover in Mercer’s 19-7 loss last Friday.

Southwestern’s Dustin Powell was electric for the Warriors, with 24 rushes for 186 yards.

For the complete game report, including pictures, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

The Burgin Bulldogs set out to make their name among the Lexington-area schools and did just that with a win. Last weekend’s 2009 Dunbar Invitational at Masterson Station Park was Burgin’s sixth win in seven races.

Burgin now has bragging rights over the city’s boys cross country squads, having beaten every Lexington school at least once.

While the cold, rainy weather might be enough to keep casual runners indoors, Mercer and two other teams braved the conditions Tuesday night for a meet.

The Titans hosted Casey County and Madison Southern and dominated the field for the most part. The Titans boys counted for three of the top five finishers, including a winning performance from Bryant Qualls with a time of 20:00.
Mercer’s Tori Gray came in eight seconds behind the leader, finishing second in the girls run at 25:06.

For more info on both teams, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

Tuesday, October 6: The Lady Titans picked up their fourth win in a row with a decisive victory over the visiting Burgin squad 2-0 Tuesday evening.

Burgin was shorthanded with several absent due to sickness or vacation and Mercer was able to take advantage of the short-staffed Lady Bulldogs for their third district win in the past two weeks. Mercer won the two games 25-14 and 25-9.

“Everyone is pushing themselves harder than ever to try and make up for those not here or not feeling up to par.”

“They made an admirable effort against Mercer tonight, and I hope we will be at full strength when we meet them again at the District Tournament on Tuesday,” Burgin coach Maggie McKnight said.

The district tournament schedule is now clear, with Mercer County hosting this year’s competition next week. It begins on Tuesday with Mercer facing Burgin at 6:00 p.m.

For a complete report on both teams, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

The Titans were one play away from a fourth quarter lead, but after lucky bounces through the game the luck swung back toward Marion in an eventual 35-15 loss.

Marion County (4-2) used a varied rushing attack proved to be too much over four quarters, while Mercer’s big-play ability kept them in the running.

For the complete story and a scouting report on this week’s opponent Southwestern, check out this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

What is a Historic District?  -  A historic district is a group of buildings, properties, or sites that have been designated as historically or architecturally significant. Buildings, structures, objects, and sites are usually catagorized as either contributing or non-contributing. A historic district can be designated by one of several entities on different levels, such as federal, state, or local. Federal historic districts are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but offer little protection to the buildings. Ordinances over state historic districts vary, but local historic districts offer the most protection because most land use decisions are made at a local level.

What is a BHAR?  -  BHAR (or HARB) stands for Board of Historical and Architectural Review. In Michigan, these are known as HDCs, or Historic District Commissions. The Board is primarily responsible for reviewing Certificates of Appropriateness regarding proposed architectural work in a designated historic district. According to the Historic District Act of 1961, a Board will consist of no less than five people – one registered architect, one licensed real estate agent, one building inspector, and those remaining with the knowledge and interest in the preservation of historic districts.

*Often, when a historic district ordinance is proposed, there is a lot of controversy, usually because of misinformation. Those opposed usually think or spread lies that all residents in the district will suddenly have to replace their vinyl windows with wood windows or automatically have to restore their homes. That is not true. Nor does a historic district ordinance have any say on the interior of your home. Most of the time, it does not dictate the color of your home, either. Generally, the ordinances put in place are there to help increase the value and longevity of your home and the rest of the neighborhood by maintaining its character. Every local historic district ordinance is different, but most are inevasive and quite helpful.

Historic Districts Located in Western Pennsylvania
Allegheny
     Homestead Historic District  -  Homestead Borough
     Mooncrest Historic District   -  Moon Township
     Homestead Historic District  -  Munhall Borough
     Sewickley Historic District     -  Sewickley Borough
     Sewickley Heights Historic District  -  Sewickley Heights Borough
     Homestead Historic District  -  West Homestead Historic District
CITY OF PITTSBURGH
     Allegheny West Historic District
     Alpha Terrace Historic District
     Deutschtown Historic District
     East Carson Street Historic District
     Manchester Historic District
     Market Square Historic District
     Murray Hill Avenue Historic District
     Oakland Civic Center Historic District
     Penn-Liberty Historic District
     Schenley Farms Historic District
     Mexican War Streets
     Oakland Square Historic District
Beaver   
     Ambridge Historic District  -  Ambridge Borough
Butler
     Harmony  -  Harmony Borough
McKean
     Historic Bradford Historic District  -  City of Bradford
Mercer
     Mercer  -  Mercer Borough
Venango
     Franklin Historic District  -  City of Franklin

* I really thought there would be more historic districts in Western Pennsylvania. I haven’t even traveled very far in the area, but I just assumed that maybe Erie would have one, or Greenville, Newcastle, New Wilmington, or Beaver. Where else might be a good place for a historic district?

Mercer’s pair of middle school boys runners stood out from the pack in the conference’s marquee meet. Eighth graders Jacob Crowell finished second and Dean Tyler finished fourth place, both earning spots on the CKC middle school boys all-conference team.

For Burgin, Alex Beckerson took a seventh place finish in the 5K run to lead the boys varsity cross country team to a sixth place finish in the Franklin County Invitational held last Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

For more details on both teams, check this week’s edition of The Harrodsburg Herald.

This article originally appeared in the September 24 edition of The Harrodsburg Herald

It’s no secret that the Titans are 0-5.
They’ve been beaten by an impressive selection of talent from around the state in what a fellow journalist opined was a murderer’s row of a non-district schedule. Those five games are behind them and now Mercer has bits and pieces from each that they can use to put together a good run through what I call the second season, their district games.

The Titans learned the importance of sound special teams after costly return scores against Breathitt and Tates Creek. They hung with Anderson County for a half of football before the Bearcats hit their rhythm. They were shut out at home against Boyle, but kept fighting for drives. Can the team take these lessons and put them together? The next five games on the slate will tell.

As coach Mason said before the season, due to the uncertainty during the early summer, this team had to learn its lessons on the run. The 21 new starters on both sides of the ball, and a returning quarterback adjusting to new targets, isn’t an excuse for the losses. It’s more of a reason to expect improvement in the coming weeks as these players grow into their roles and take on more equal competition.

Mason told The Herald after he was hired as head coach that he believed in playing the toughest of schedules.

“It doesn’t look great in the win-loss column. But when you get to the playoffs, you can tell your kids that you played the best in the state and this is nothing,” Mason said.

Looking to the playoffs, the Titans will have to make it through a wide-open district narrowly led in record by Pulaski County 3-2. Mercer’s four district opponents have an 8-11 combined record in 2009. Compare that with the 16-8 record of Mercer’s first five opponents and it’s hard not to see room for improvement in the second half of the season.

The high school football season can almost be split in two. Mercer has emerged from it’s non-district gauntlet without many major injuries and could secure a playoff spot with a string of wins in the districts.

Overall record aside, it’s the next five games that could determine what kind of memory this year’s Titans leave behind.

Recentelijk publiceerde Mercer twee interessante gidsen, met name :
- Benefit Plans Around the World
- Compensation Plans Around the World.

Mercer Benefit Plans Around the World BPAW Full Final_ 09-14-2009

Compensation Plans Around the World Mercer CPAW_Sept 9 ‘09