Fences For Fido "My Own Two Hands"
Every day, our volunteers are out there using their own two hands...reaching out, holding, comforting...providing shelter, freedom and love for our fidos. Jo...
By: FencesForFidoVideo
See the rest here:
Fences For Fido "My Own Two Hands" - Video
How appropriate it was that both the movie 42 and the CPCC Theatre production of Fences opened Friday. Theyre opposite sides of the same story: A film about a black baseball player in the 1940s who overcomes bigotry and breaks the color barrier to become a Hall of Famer, and a play about a black baseball player in the pre-World War II era whos beaten down by bigotry and passes old fears and hatreds to his son years later.
The plot of this play may seem foreign to us today: No one now would tell his son to turn down a college football scholarship because he was certain to face racial discrimination. But the subjects of the script are eternal ones: loyalty and betrayal, jeopardized love, parent-child conflicts.
August Wilson made his name with this drama in 1987, winning his only Tony and first of two Pulitzers. (The second went to The Piano Lesson, which CPCC opened three years ago this week. Corlis Hayes directed both here.)
Fences was the third play written in a cycle that finally stretched to 10, depicting experiences of black Americans across each decade of the 20th century. As he often did, Wilson mixed realism and metaphor in Fences: It has room for both earthy harangues and the presence of a holy fool, an ex-soldier named Gabriel who is damaged by a head injury and totes a symbolic trumpet. (Rebecca Primms set reflects that duality: The family lives in a humbly realistic home, while the windows belonging to unseen neighbors reveal Romare Bearden-style collages.)
All the characters revolve around Troy Maxson, whose life in a black Pittsburgh neighborhood has left him uncomfortable in many ways. He broods on his thwarted athletic past, drinks too much, dallies with a mistress who will eventually have a child (his third, all by different mothers.) Troy doesnt know how to help Gabe, his younger brother, and exploits him for the federal compensation he receives.
Now his son, Cory, comes home with a big dream and the offer of that scholarship. Troy explodes, allegedly because hes trying to save his son the pain he endured. But maybe he cant bear to see anyone happy and hopeful while he is not.
Director Hayes draws good performances from actors too seldom seen in this city.
Lillie Ann Odens sturdy Rose finally blossoms after 17 years in Troys stifling shadow. James Lee Walker II makes Gabe not a drifty dreamer (as he can be played) but a vital force determined to storm heavens gates for Troy; Branden Cook, a football player at Butler High until he gave up sports for acting, knows and shows us just what Cory feels.
Calvin Walton finds many colors in the chameleonic Troy: Hes charming and amiable, obtuse and defensive, violent and foolish, even pathetic.
James Earl Jones won a Tony in this part 25 years ago, and I saw him give that towering performance. At its climax, after a character delivered a brutal truth to Troy, Jones cast his eyes toward the balcony as if seeking answers from heaven.
Visit link:
CPCC Theatre puts up imposing ‘Fences’
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Padres manager Bud Black, general manager Josh Byrnes and assistant G.M. A.J. Hinch spent several minutes throwing baseballs off the new fence in right field at Petco Park on Monday, trying to get a crash course in how they might play starting with the home opener Tuesday against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The big hope, of course, is that more balls will fly over the fence.
From the right-field porch to the right-center gap, the fence was moved in from 402 feet to 391 feet and lowered to just under 8 feet, matching the rest of the outfield wall. In left-center, the fence came in from 402 feet to 390 feet. In a safety-related move, that allowed the visiting team's bullpen to be relocated from right-field foul territory to behind the home bullpen.
The dimensions remain the same down the left-field line (336 feet), right-field line (322) and straightaway center (396).
While Petco is expected to remain a pitchers' park, the Padres hope that players who crush a ball end up with a homer rather than a frustrating long out, the kind that have left sluggers angst-ridden since the downtown ballyard opened in 2004.
''Those balls that you really hit well, you're going to get rewarded for them,'' said Padres third baseman Chase Headley, whose breakout season of 2012 included 31 homers and an NL-best 115 RBIs, as well as his first Silver Slugger and Gold Glove awards. ''And then the confidence you take from those swings - it's tough when you're going really bad and you hit a ball that in most places is a home run or a double and it turns into an out. Confidence for this game is huge. It's frustrating when you do everything right and you don't get rewarded for it.''
Headley won't get his shot at the new fences for a while after breaking his left thumb in spring training.
When he's back, though, he'll try to continue to be aggressive in attacking the big outfield. Without Headley, the Padres went 1-5 with just one homer in their season-opening trip through New York and Colorado.
While the Padres stand to benefit, so too will the visiting team. While many visiting players have hit impressive homers at Petco, they don't have to play 81 games a year there. As much as anything, moving in the fences will give the Padres a psychological boost.
When Petco Park opened in 2004, then-general manager Kevin Towers joked that the Padres had made it Barry Bonds-proof, since the San Francisco Giants slugger always tormented San Diego. Bonds later quipped that the Padres had made Petco Park ''baseball-proof.'' Bonds hit his 755th homer at Petco Park on Aug. 4, 2007, tying Hank Aaron with an opposite-field shot to left-center.
Originally published April 9, 2013 at 8:34 a.m., updated April 9, 2013 at 9:15 a.m.
4/03/2013 World photo/Don Seabrook
Rancher Ross Hurd strings a line of barbed wire to form a pasture for his family's cattle south of Wenatchee Wednesday. Because of the Wenatchee Pack of wolves he has seen at his farm and the recent death of a cow and elk there too, he is moving his herd closer to the family's houses. He says the Washington Fish and Wildlife Department will attach a barrier to the fence to keep the wolves outside the pasture.
WENATCHEE Ross Hurd spent last week building fences on his family's cattle ranch and then brought their cows home from the open range over the weekend.
Normally the roughly 60 head of cattle and crop of spring calves would be roaming the 5,000-acre Hurd ranch south of Wenatchee until early May, when they are rounded up for branding.
Hurd and his brothers are being forced to make some changes after two wolves showed up last month.
The state wants us to put fences around them and keep them there for awhile, so were doing it, Hurd said Friday.
The Hurds have not seen any evidence of the wolves in nearly two weeks. But Ross Hurd said he and wildlife officials expect that they will be back.
The biologist said that once they set their territory they will come back, he said. So were going to be prepared for them. Hopefully well have the cows out of their range in a protected area.
Visit link:
Wolf-wary ranch family fences in cattle
DEAN KOZANIC
EXPENSIVE BILL: Policy-holders with damage to a fenceline like this liquefaction damage in Queenspark Dr in Christchurchs eastern suburbs, could be liable to an excess of up to $10,000 in Christchurch.
Insurers are imposing tough new $5000 excesses for some structures on residential properties which will save them millions of dollars in the next big natural disaster.
It will mean homeowners will be paying a large chunk of the cost to fix damage to their driveways, paths, fences and swimming pools caused by an earthquake, tsunami, flood or storm.
It is all part of the huge shake-up in residential insurance policies after the Canterbury earthquakes.
The changes, which are being imposed in insurance policies now as they are renewed and for new customers, are pushing risk back on to homeowners.
Insurers want to be rid of the smaller claims to fences, paths, driveways and swimming pools in natural disasters.
The $5000 excess is being introduced throughout New Zealand and only applies in a natural disaster.
However, one insurer, Vero, has singled out Christchurch and has a higher $10,000 excess on the cover for fences, paths, driveways and swimming pools.
Vero introduced the $10,000 excess in late 2011 and is now bringing in the $5000 excess for the rest of New Zealand.
Read the original post:
Fences , pools cop big insurance excesses
Bob Groz #39; Swing for the Fences Contest at the Mariners Open House
Winners of Bob Groz #39; "Big Payoff" had the opportunity to be the first people to hit a home run over the new fences at Safeco Field during the Mariners #39; Ope...
By: mynorthwest
Read more:
Bob
It will have been a worry for the authorities that for the second time in two days there were a series of false starts before the starter could get them away in a race over the Aintree fences.
Last night the Aintree stewards had 25 of the 29 jockeys who rode in the race into the stewards room for interviews and banned them all for one day. One thing is for sure, the 40 riders in todays National can expect a stern talking to from stewards after weighing out for the race.
Despite all that, professional jockeys who were getting their first feel of the newly-constructed fences, gave the course a ringing endorsement.
Last years National winning jockey Daryl Jacob, who finished 12th in the Topham on Fistral Beach, said: The fences definitely have a bit of give. They must have, as I should have fallen two or three times.
Another Grand National winner Jason Maguire, who finished fourth yesterday on Dunowen Point, said: I had a nice run round the fences seem brilliant.
Until that last ditch, the 15th fence yesterday, the race had been almost devoid of incident. One jockey was unseated at the eighth and another at the 14th, but the only actual faller until that point had come down at the ninth and a field of 27, headed by Little Josh, had skipped over Bechers Brook, Foinavon, the Canal Turn and Valentines without a problem.
Though there were a few more empty saddles because of the unseated riders, only three of the 29 starters actually fell and one of them, State Benefit, was led back by one of the courses mounted outriders, an innovation for this years meeting.
At the other end of the race on a day when Nicky Henderson horses could do nothing wrong Barry Geraghty and Triolo DAlene emerged from a group of 15 to lead going to the last and run on to win by three quarters of a length from Walkon.
Henderson had also won with My Tent Or Yours, Sprinter Sacre then made it four wins for the day when Minella Forfitness won the handicap hurdle.
Having done all his winning this winter in soft or heavy going, the faster ground here might have been an issue for Albert Bartlett winner At Fishers Cross in the John Smiths Sefton Novice Hurdle.
Go here to read the rest:
Grand National 2013: Little Josh becomes second horse to die over the big Aintree fences
If an excerpt from Paul Allen's autobiography Idea Man wasn't enough to prove he has mended fences with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the recreation of an iconic photo of the two is sure to prove the hatchet has been buried.
During an event this week at the Living Computer Museum in Seattle, Allen tweeted a photo of the once-estranged duo posing among several early Microsoft PC model computers, just as they had done some 30 years ago.
According to a staff member at the museum, the original computers were tracked down in anticipation of Gates' visit,Geekwire reports. The recreation was not quite perfect, but the PCs coupled with Allen's suit and Gates' casual sweater were close enough to dub the effort a success.
The two tech icons had fallen out of touch after Allen accused Gates and present CEO, Steve Ballmer, of attempting to scale down Allen's stake in Microsoft. But an epilogue added to Allen's autobiography, as well as this clever photo, have assured that the two are once again friends.
(Photo courtesy of Mashable)
Need to know what's hot in tech? Follow @yrightclick on Twitter!
The rest is here:
Bill Gates and Paul Allen mend fences with iconic photo recreation
Tom Keyser
Comma to the Top (2) was considered for the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct but instead will run in the Potrero Grande at Santa Anita.
The truly dedicated horseplayer will be up early Saturday morning to have a stab at the John Smiths Grand National at Englands storied Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, home of the Beatles, who played a number of gigs just down the road at the Aintree Institute, behind what used to be the Black Bull Club, in 1961 and 62.
At the time there were four Beatles John, Paul, George and Pete. As of Thursday at Aintree, 42 horses were declared as running in the Grand National. They have names like Weird Al, Rare Bob, Major Malarky and Harry the Viking, and to earn a share of the $1.5 million purse they must somehow survive 30 fences over four miles, three furlongs, and 110 yards. The fences have names like Foinavon, The Chair, Bechers Book, and Canal Turn, after which the horses must make a sharp left or else end up in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
Give yourself a hand if you can pick the winner, but back home in the States the Santa Anita Derby looks to be just as much of a puzzle. Confidence is running high in the camps of Flashback, Hear the Ghost, and Goldencents, while stakes winners Power Broker, Super Ninety Nine, and Tiz a Minister deserve more than a second look. The winner gets $450,000 and a date with destiny, that harsh mistress, in the Kentucky Derby four weeks hence.
Wading into the mire is trainer Peter Miller with the recent maiden winner Summer Exclusive, who would be the longest price in the field were it not for the presence of a colt named Dirty Swagg, beaten 42 lengths in his last two starts. Hope burns eternal.
The Miller crew also will be flying under the radar in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks earlier on the card with Could Be Trouble, a Cal-bred daughter of Ministers Wild Cat who joined the barn in March. She immediately won a starter allowance race, although that hardly stacks up against the accomplishments of champion Beholder or Santa Ysabel Stakes winner Fiftyshadesofhay, the Oaks headliners.
Miller can be forgiven for taking a swing with longshots in the local Derby and the Oaks. As far as the Dept. of Karma is concerned, both races might owe him a little break. Last year, Miller had to swallow the sight of the stables talented Reneesgotzip out-bobbed in the last step by the 13-1 Willa B Awesome in the Oaks, while in 2011 the popular Comma to the Top was headed at the very end of the Santa Anita Derby by Midnight Interlude, also at 13-1.
Those were a couple of heartbreakers, Miller said. Tough to take. Both horses ran so well, it was a shame they had to lose.
Continued here:
Jay Hovdey: Miller swining for fences in Santa Anita Derby and Oaks
Tom Keyser
Comma to the Top (2) was considered for the Carter Handicap at Aqueduct but instead will run in the Potrero Grande at Santa Anita.
The truly dedicated horseplayer will be up early Saturday morning to have a stab at the John Smiths Grand National at Englands storied Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, home of the Beatles, who played a number of gigs just down the road at the Aintree Institute, behind what used to be the Black Bull Club, in 1961 and 62.
At the time there were four Beatles John, Paul, George and Pete. As of Thursday at Aintree, 42 horses were declared as running in the Grand National. They have names like Weird Al, Rare Bob, Major Malarky and Harry the Viking, and to earn a share of the $1.5 million purse they must somehow survive 30 fences over four miles, three furlongs, and 110 yards. The fences have names like Foinavon, The Chair, Bechers Book, and Canal Turn, after which the horses must make a sharp left or else end up in the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
Give yourself a hand if you can pick the winner, but back home in the States the Santa Anita Derby looks to be just as much of a puzzle. Confidence is running high in the camps of Flashback, Hear the Ghost, and Goldencents, while stakes winners Power Broker, Super Ninety Nine, and Tiz a Minister deserve more than a second look. The winner gets $450,000 and a date with destiny, that harsh mistress, in the Kentucky Derby four weeks hence.
Wading into the mire is trainer Peter Miller with the recent maiden winner Summer Exclusive, who would be the longest price in the field were it not for the presence of a colt named Dirty Swagg, beaten 42 lengths in his last two starts. Hope burns eternal.
The Miller crew also will be flying under the radar in the $300,000 Santa Anita Oaks earlier on the card with Could Be Trouble, a Cal-bred daughter of Ministers Wild Cat who joined the barn in March. She immediately won a starter allowance race, although that hardly stacks up against the accomplishments of champion Beholder or Santa Ysabel Stakes winner Fiftyshadesofhay, the Oaks headliners.
Miller can be forgiven for taking a swing with longshots in the local Derby and the Oaks. As far as the Dept. of Karma is concerned, both races might owe him a little break. Last year, Miller had to swallow the sight of the stables talented Reneesgotzip out-bobbed in the last step by the 13-1 Willa B Awesome in the Oaks, while in 2011 the popular Comma to the Top was headed at the very end of the Santa Anita Derby by Midnight Interlude, also at 13-1.
Those were a couple of heartbreakers, Miller said. Tough to take. Both horses ran so well, it was a shame they had to lose.
Visit link:
Jay Hovdey: Miller swinging for fences in Santa Anita Derby and Oaks