Was the Late Stan Musial Baseball's Greatest Living Hitter? How About Barry Bonds?

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan Musial Dead" src="http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/ap_stan_musial_sswm_jt_130120_wg.jpg" /><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">If last Friday, someone asked “Who is baseball’s greatest living hitter?” odds are that even the game’s most rabid fans wouldn’t have immediately responded “Stan Musial.”</span><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Musial, who died on Saturday at the age of 92, had a long and storied career, and was generally loved by friend and foe alike. But Stan the Man was famous, not for earning more than the President (like Babe Ruth), marrying Marilyn Monroe (like Joe DiMaggio), spitting on fans (like Ted Williams) or going on epic benders (like Mickey Mantle), but for hitting a baseball. And for better or for worse, that fame proved somewhat less enduring than those of the other denizens of baseball’s pantheon.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/T-MkfzSy4p8?feature=player_embedded" style="font-size: small;" width="640"></iframe></div></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">But let’s take a look at Musial’s statistical legacy.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 24px;">Was Musial, when he was alive, baseball’s Greatest Living Player? No. That honor (probably) goes to Willie Mays. In the 2000 edition of Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, Mays ranks third all time, behind Babe Ruth and Honus Wagner, and just ahead of Negro League legend Oscar Charleston. James ranks Musial 10th, behind Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Walter Johnson and Josh Gibson. Good company, and a look at similar lists generally put Musial just at the bottom of the top 10.</span><br /><br /><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Three further things to note. All the guys in the top 10 besides Mays are dead. And James ranks Musial ahead of Tris Speaker, Hank Aaron (who is alive), Joe DiMaggio, and Lou Gehrig. And James’ list dates back to 2000.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So how does Musial stack up to Mays? A quick glance at their bottom line batting numbers suggests that Musial was not only a great hitter, but a better hitter than Mays.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Mays had a substantial edge in home runs 660 to 475, and Musial had an edge, large or small, in almost everything else. Old school fans will point to Musial’s .331 career batting average, 29 points ahead of Mays .302.  Modern fans will find an equally big edge in on base percentage ( .417 to .384) and a small one in slugging percentage (.559 to .557)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">A Sabremetric dive puts Musial ahead in OPS, which combines slugging and on base percentage, (.976 to .941) and in adjusted OPS, which takes into account the fact that Mays played longer into the offense-starved 1960s (159 to 156).  The bottom line: Stan Musial had been baseball’s Greatest Living<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Hitter</em>. Maybe (More on this in a moment.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">If Musial was a better hitter than Mays, what makes Mays a greater <em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">player</em>than Musial? Fielding and baserunning. The tools that we have to analyze these facets of the game are less precise than those we apply to hitting, but we’re not trying to parse a narrow gap. Stats that assign “runs” to fielding and baserunning give us a way to compare them. Mays was one of the best centerfielders of all time. Musial was an average left fielder. That’s reflected in their career fielding runs (185 for Mays, which puts him in the top 10 all time, versus 50 for Musial, which means he was a serviceable outfielder.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">As far as base running, Mays again has a big lead (77 runs to -2 for Musial.)</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">And if you add it up, the comparison looks like this: Musial has an 83-run edge in hitting, 885 to 802, while Mays has an edge in everything else that amounts to 214 runs. No amount of quibbling over the these metrics closes this gap enough to change the conclusion. Eagle-eyed fans will note that Hank Aaron slots between Mays and Musial in most hitting metrics and it’s likely that with Musial’s passing, he and not Mays becomes Baseball’s Greatest Hitter.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">So far we’ve been spending our time on the bottom line career numbers for these guys, and came to the conclusion that Musial was, by a rather narrow margin, the better hitter.  Here’s where things get messy.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">There’s another living hitter who has a .444 career on base percentage, a slugging average of .608 for an OPS of  1.051, 1129 batting runs, and a runs above replacement total of 1,508 that puts him well ahead of both Mays (1437) and Musial (1231).</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">His name is Barry Bonds.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">We all understand the issues of taking Bonds’s statistics at face value. He played in an era in which many if not most of the top players have admitted to using performance enhancing drugs and there are reasonable suspicions, if not absolute proof, that he did so too. So it’s not unreasonable to put an asterisk next to those totals.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">But what about Musial’s totals? If you scroll up to his seasonal notation, you’ll see that he broke into the majors in 1941. He lost a prime year, 1945, to military service. But he also posted a three-year stretch between 1943 and 1946 in which his<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"> lowest</em> seasonal batting average was .347. What was special about those years?  As African-Americans, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron and, for that matter, Barry Bonds wouldn’t have been allowed to play.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">because Jackie Robinson had not yet broken the color barrier and major league baseball was still segregated. And indeed, Musial played most of his prime seasons before 1952, winning six of his seven batting titles during an era in which baseball was not yet fully integrated.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Now, of course, there are fundamental differences between using performance-enhancing drugs and playing in pre-integration baseball. But those are questions of ethics, not analysis.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Putting morality aside, it’s clear, that for all his greatness, Stan Musial, like so many of baseball’s all-time greats, enjoyed a very real advantage in compiling those impressive numbers against less than the very best competition.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">How much of an advantage? It’s difficult, if not impossible, to say, except to note that by Bill James’ analysis, two of the top 10 players of all time–Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson–were barred from major league baseball during parts of Stan Musial’s career.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Was Stan Musial Baseball’s Greatest Living Hitter? Maybe, but perhaps he too merits an asterisk.</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">RIP, Donora Greyhound.*</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">*An asterisk of a different kind, and a true story:<br />A few years ago, a friend’s young son took a strange, sudden and unexpected interest in Stan Musial. Finally a grown-up asked him why.<br />“Because he’s Jewish like me,” the seven-year old exclaimed with pride.<br />“Stan Musial’s not Jewish,” the grown up said, puzzled.<br />To which the kid replied, “Then why would they call him the Menorah Greyhound?”</span></div><div style="border: 0px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">From: </span><a href="http://www.forbes.com/">http://www.forbes.com</a></div><br /><br /></div>

baseball SPORT Stan Musial Was the Late Stan Musial Baseball's Greatest Living Hitter? How About Barry Bonds?

If last Friday, someone asked “Who is baseball’s greatest living hitter?” odds are that even the game’s most rabid fans wouldn’t have immedi...

Read more »

Draining the hot tub

I need to make a serious reminder to myself to never start draining the hot tub in the middle of Winter........Groan :-(<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoN3kuso9qVpnh_c2imFPexI5h3WB73mL7zVRwHQ36XH3oR_8tVnmCs1ux8MZa9BIgGEUWKsHykRdtSffWreYuJNDtI7de5EPel-j26a8xUXAaxTJ2mIc1IutKmBsifjhJXfHnmY5aLCSj/s1600/20130120_150846.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoN3kuso9qVpnh_c2imFPexI5h3WB73mL7zVRwHQ36XH3oR_8tVnmCs1ux8MZa9BIgGEUWKsHykRdtSffWreYuJNDtI7de5EPel-j26a8xUXAaxTJ2mIc1IutKmBsifjhJXfHnmY5aLCSj/s400/20130120_150846.jpg" /> </a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8aTQo_9DSohg2rG9_kTq5cRe0uOx1d56GepiEYfTNAbJjqHeD0ZVxg5d2iCvuF5vombxn8iXdw1Hq0pPrZ_UZ7WOPDyH6c8G5AvgvMVeO-a74BNuFPN3DPQQfB8p8XJxM2Iuw2CYqezD/s1600/20130120_150831.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN8aTQo_9DSohg2rG9_kTq5cRe0uOx1d56GepiEYfTNAbJjqHeD0ZVxg5d2iCvuF5vombxn8iXdw1Hq0pPrZ_UZ7WOPDyH6c8G5AvgvMVeO-a74BNuFPN3DPQQfB8p8XJxM2Iuw2CYqezD/s400/20130120_150831.jpg" /> </a> </div>

Draining the hot tub

I need to make a serious reminder to myself to never start draining the hot tub in the middle of Winter........Groan :-(

Read more »

RUSSLANDS AUßENPOLITIK

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:TrackMoves/> <w:TrackFormatting/> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:DoNotPromoteQF/> <w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther> <w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian> <w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> <w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/> <w:DontVertAlignCellWithSp/> <w:DontBreakConstrainedForcedTables/> <w:DontVertAlignInTxbx/> <w:Word11KerningPairs/> <w:CachedColBalance/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> <m:mathPr> <m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/> <m:brkBin m:val="before"/> <m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/> <m:smallFrac m:val="off"/> <m:dispDef/> <m:lMargin m:val="0"/> <m:rMargin m:val="0"/> <m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/> <m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/> <m:intLim m:val="subSup"/> <m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/> </m:mathPr></w:WordDocument></xml><![endif]--><br /><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true" DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99" LatentStyleCount="267"> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/> <w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/> </w:LatentStyles></xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]><style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Normale Tabelle"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} </style><![endif]--> <br /><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: DE-AT;"><br /></span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvPqcoHi98KnYhqpTMGrTa-6PChGlPs8vCFNIuoGpstsZiKzeA1CkEf0Ek2A66T6eB2H1wcZS0TeGiJBZqimMkqLoFsX5RPTZvVvlcRK0vRDtHuLDfXomG1XH_g9oom1GoxC-j5s9qHkJ/s1600/fa309_syria-russia.gi.top.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDvPqcoHi98KnYhqpTMGrTa-6PChGlPs8vCFNIuoGpstsZiKzeA1CkEf0Ek2A66T6eB2H1wcZS0TeGiJBZqimMkqLoFsX5RPTZvVvlcRK0vRDtHuLDfXomG1XH_g9oom1GoxC-j5s9qHkJ/s400/fa309_syria-russia.gi.top.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"> WARMES WASSER</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Die Außenpolitik des Kreml wird seit Zarin Katharina der Großen im 18. Jahrhundert von einer Kardinalregel bestimmt: Um Großmacht zu sein, braucht es Zugang zu einem „warmen Meer“, das im Gegensatz zu den RUSSLAND umgebenden Gewässern ganzjährig schiffbar ist. Es war Hafiz al-Assad, der Vater des amtierenden SYRISCHEN Präsidenten Bashar al-Assad, der dem Kreml in den siebziger Jahren mit dem Marinestützpunkt Tartus im Mittelmeer diesen Zugang verschaffte. <br /><br />Inzwischen ist er die einzige Basis RUSSLANDS außerhalb der ehemaligen SOWJETUNION. Als solche hat sie zwar mehr symbolische als militärische Bedeutung, aber zumindest einen praktischen Nutzen: RUSSISCHE Kriegsschiffe müssen für Nachschubaufnahmen und kleinere Reparaturen nicht zwangsläufig durch den Bosporus ins Schwarze Meer tuckern – auf einer Route, auf der sie im Krisenfall vom Wohlwollen des alten Rivalen und NATO-Mitglieds TÜRKEI abhängig wären.<br /><br />Tartus will sich der Kreml also keinesfalls nehmen lassen. Die Frage für RUSSLAND ist: Wie würde eine Post-Assad-Führung in SYRIEN dazu stehen? Vor allem aber: Wie würde diese Führung aussehen?<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>KAUKASISCHE KALAMITÄTEN</b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Was RUSSLAND in SYRIEN um jeden Preis verhindern möchte, ist eine Machtübernahme durch radikale Sunniten – weniger aus ideologischen Gründen als aus innenpolitischen: Der Kreml fürchtet, dass sich das Land zu einem Tummelplatz islamistischer Gruppen entwickeln könnte, die bis in den Nordkaukasus für Zores sorgen. <br /><br />Das hat unter anderem damit zu tun, dass in SYRIEN nach unterschiedlichen Schätzungen bis zu 100.000 TSCHERKESSEN leben. Ihre Vorfahren stammen aus dem KAUKASUS und wurden Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts vom Zarenreich vertrieben. Nun seien die TSCHERKESSEN zu „Geiseln der Konfrontation geworden“, schreibt Sergej Markedonow, Kaukasus-Experte des renommierten Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington: Sie fordern von der Regierung in Moskau eine Repatriierung in die Heimat ihrer Ahnen. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: blue;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">SYRISCHE OPPOSITION VON TERRORISTEN UNTERWANDERT</span></b></span><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><br /><br />Das wäre an sich noch kein Problem. Allerdings sieht RUSSLAND die Gefahr, dass in SYRIEN radikalisierte, islamistische Kräfte freigesetzt werden, die Interessen im Nordkaukasus haben und die ohnehin fragile Region weiter destabilisieren könnten. Schon jetzt herrscht in der russischen Öffentlichkeit weitgehend Einigkeit darüber, dass die SYRISCHE Opposition von Terroristen unterwandert ist.<br /><br /><span style="color: blue;"><b>IRANISCHE IRRITATIONEN</b></span></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Ein weiteres Argument, an Assad festzuhalten, ist aus Sicht des Kreml die IRAN-Frage. Putins Strategen argwöhnen, dass ein Regimewechsel in Damaskus einen Angriff auf Teheran nach sich ziehen könnte. Warum? Weil sich ein SYRIEN, das nicht mehr mit den Mullahs paktiert, auch nicht mehr als Handlanger für iranische Vergeltungsschläge gegen ISRAEL und den Westen hergeben würde – und damit als Gegner wegfiele. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Im IRAN wiederum ist der Kreml vor allem an der Aufrechterhaltung des Status quo interessiert. „Die Theokratie in Teheran inmitten ihrer internationalen Isolation zu unterstützen, verschafft RUSSLAND einen wertvollen Zugang zum IRANISCHEN Energiemarkt, zumindest kurzfristig“, schreibt die Politologin Inna Lazareva von dem in London angesiedelten Think Tank The Henry Jackson Society. „Mehr noch: Wenn sich das Verhältnis zwischen dem Westen und dem IRAN normalisiert und das Ölembargo aufgehoben wird, verliert Moskau seine Dominanz als Energielieferant für EUROPA“, so Lazareva, Autorin der Analyse „Die Bärenfalle: RUSSLANDS selbstzerstörerische Außenpolitik im Nahen Osten“. </span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><i><span lang="DE-AT" style="color: blue; font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">(Ist Russlands Außenpolitik im Nahen Osten wirklich so selbstzerstörerisch?)</span></i><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"> <br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">LIBYEN - GEPLATZTE GESCHÄFTE</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4C4NcC2s1pAXYro3OpiHX2IosKuvWbW8x-9XiCgGvBsuFPbgO8rCzeBqpbDN9eJtY8siKzuEGl-6BwaHIY0ooynTsB9KJ6bs7XTCA9dhR4QRRxmfXRSf_mKkJWwsyxrQ1YO6gD1dVeHe/s1600/250px-Libya_Russia_Locator.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx4C4NcC2s1pAXYro3OpiHX2IosKuvWbW8x-9XiCgGvBsuFPbgO8rCzeBqpbDN9eJtY8siKzuEGl-6BwaHIY0ooynTsB9KJ6bs7XTCA9dhR4QRRxmfXRSf_mKkJWwsyxrQ1YO6gD1dVeHe/s320/250px-Libya_Russia_Locator.svg.png" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">Noch immer sitzt der RUSSISCHEN Regierung ein Schock aus dem Jahr 2011 in den Knochen. Damals hatte sich der Kreml breitschlagen lassen, im UN-Sicherheitsrat die Einrichtung einer Flugverbotszone in LIBYEN zu unterstützen – und musste in der Folge mitansehen, wie die damit verbundene Resolution vom WESTEN als Freibrief für eine Militärintervention ausgelegt wurde. <br /><br />„Damit wurde für RUSSLAND <i><span style="color: blue;">(und CHINA)</span></i>eine rote Linie überschritten“, sagt Gerhard Mangott, Politologie-Professor und RUSSLAND-Experte an der Universität Innsbruck. „Man fühlte sich vom Westen belogen, deshalb wird Putin in der SYRIEN-Frage nun keinen Millimeter nachgeben.“ Dazu kommt die Einschätzung, dass die internationale Gemeinschaft den Fall Assad künftig als Modell für den Umgang mit innerstaatlichen Konflikten heranziehen könnte. Und da will Moskau keinen Präzedenzfall schaffen, der seinen eigenen Interessen zuwiderläuft. <br /><br />Es ist aber nicht nur die Verbitterung über das, was der Kreml als Missachtung der staatlichen Souveränität betrachtet: Der Fall von Muammar al-Gaddafi kostete die RUSSISCHE Wirtschaft auch einen Haufen Geld. 2008 hatte Moskau dem Revolutionsführer einen Schuldennachlass in Höhe von umgerechnet 3,6 Milliarden Euro gewährt. Im Gegenzug dafür erhielt sie umfangreiche Handelsprivilegien – die sich mit dem Umsturz in Luft auflösten. Das Gleiche droht nun auch in SYRIEN. Dem Assad-Regime hatte RUSSLAND 2005 umgerechnet fast acht Milliarden Euro an ausstehenden Krediten erlassen, ebenfalls in der Hoffnung auf Kompensation durch Geschäftsbeziehungen. <br /><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: blue;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">PSYCHOLOGISCHE ­PARALLELEN</span></b></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;">RUSSISCHE Politologen gehen aber noch weiter: Sie machen psychologische Gründe mitverantwortlich für die SYRIEN-Politik RUSSLANDS. „Putin sieht viele Parallelen zwischen sich selbst und Assad“, erklärte etwa Stanislaw Belkowski, Präsident des Instituts für nationale Strategie. „Die persönlichen Sympathien und das Gefühl, eine Rolle in Assads Schicksal spielen zu können, zwingen ihn zu seinen Schritten, selbst wenn es keine pragmatischen Gründe für diese Haltung gibt.“<br /><br />Eine „Seelenverwandtschaft auf der Ebene des Unterbewusstseins“ ortete gar der Politologe Alexej Worobjow. Abgesehen davon zielt die Außenpolitik der Putin-Regierung aber auch stark auf Wirkung im Inland ab. „Dies ist kein Kampf um SYRIEN und den IRAN, sondern ein Kampf gegen den WESTEN. Natürlich nur auf verbaler Ebene. An die Bevölkerung wird ein klares Signal geschickt: Wir haben vor niemandem Angst und geben niemandem nach!“, so Worobjow.</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: large;"><span lang="DE-AT" style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: small;">Source: Profil </span></span></span></div>

RUSSLANDS AUßENPOLITIK

 WARMES WASSER Die Außenpolitik des Kreml wird seit Zarin Katharina der Großen im 18. Jahrhundert von einer Kardinalregel bestimmt: Um Groß...

Read more »

Should Therapists Play Cupid? - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">If you are in psychotherapy, there's a good chance your therapist knows more about your inner thoughts and secret desires than anyone else.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">So, if you're looking for a mate, wouldn't your therapist be a more reliable matchmaker than <a title="Online matchmaker" href="http://www.eharmony.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">eHarmony</a> and <a href="http://match.com/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Match.com</a> and other sites that rely on impersonal algorithms?</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The idea that therapists might play Cupid with patients tantalizes patients and therapists. An anecdotal survey of my psychiatrist colleagues suggests that the matchmaking impulse is very common.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A senior colleague, for example, tells me he was treating a young man who was struggling to find a partner. My colleague said he knew someone who was perfect for his patient and wanted to set them up on a date, but didn't because he was afraid — there were too many ways even the most well-intentioned therapist fix-up could go wrong.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Why? Psychotherapy, especially insight-oriented therapy, is designed to conjure intense feelings — on the part of the patient and therapist. Much of what patients feel toward their therapists, the so-called transference, are unconscious feelings that are redirected from important early figures in their lives — parents, family members and teachers. Your therapist mirrors this phenomenon with his own countertransference.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">One of psychotherapy's aims is to use the patient-therapist relationship to better understand the patient's relationships with others and to remedy problems in the little lab that is the therapeutic connection.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Both parties are under constant temptation to act on their unconscious feelings, rather than analyze and understand them. No matter how smart or experienced the therapist, it's easy to follow those feelings and get your patient — and possibly yourself — in trouble. Strict boundaries between personal and professional behavior are meant to insure against such hazards.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">But temptation lurks. I've had matchmaker fantasies myself. A patient of mine, who was divorced, told me she was reluctant to enter the online dating scene. It felt overwhelming, she said, and it seemed improbable that she would meet a plausible mate.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">An old friend and colleague of mine lost his wife to cancer some years ago and I knew — or thought I knew — that he would hit it off with my patient. I began to wonder how I could discreetly bring them together. Could I invite him for dinner and tell him to meet me in the waiting area outside my office around the time of her appointment? Too chancy. Too obvious.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">I thought maybe I should just ask my patient if she would like to meet my friend. That would involve crossing useful boundaries. And would bring my personal life in conflict with my job as therapist, which, among other things, is to help patients understand themselves and discover how to make their own lives as full and rich as possible. I shouldn't find partners for my patient any more than I should cook her dinner: both are skills she has to develop for herself.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Additionally (and why was I thinking this through so fully?) she might feel coerced into something she really didn't want to do. A therapeutic relationship is by definition unequal; therapists have considerable power, and patients want to please their therapists. My patient might be reluctant to decline.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Worse yet, what if the date went badly? My patient might wonder whether I really understood her at all or whether I was setting her up as a kind of test.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A colleague told me that when she was in training, her boss, a senior psychiatrist, suggested that she go on a date with one of his patients. She thought it odd, but being curious and open-minded, she agreed.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">They went out for drinks, she said, and her date spent the evening pumping her for information about her boss. My colleague's date seemed less interested in her than in learning more about his therapist.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">My colleague later realized that her boss, who was married, had a crush on her.  She thinks he set up the match so that he might vicariously enjoy the experience of dating her. True or not, it seems the therapist may not have been acting in his patient's best interest.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Freud himself dabbled in therapeutic matchmaking and in fact went so far as to encourage one of his patients to leave his wife and pursue another woman. At Freud's urging, Horace Frink, a psychiatrist Freud analyzed and later nominated to head the New York Psychoanalytic Society, divorced his wife and married Angelika Bijur, one of Dr. Frink's own patients.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Whatever else Freud had in mind, it seems he may have had personal and financial motives for the union between Dr. Frink and Ms. Bijur, who happened to be a wealthy heiress. In a letter to Dr. Frink, Freud said of the proposed marriage, "If matters turn out all right, let us change this imaginary gift into a real contribution to the Psychoanalytic Funds."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">A marriage arranged — and sanctified — by Freud himself! That's a proposition hard to defy. Alas, Dr. Frink experienced depression and psychosis soon after the marriage and divorced Ms. Bijur a few years later. Today such psychiatric meddling would be likely to create a public scandal and a malpractice suit.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); position: static; z-index: auto; ">Pragmatic psychotherapists continue to wrestle with questions involved in patient fix-ups. The psychologist Clifford N. Lazarus, for example, argues that therapists are in a good position to evaluate personality traits that could make or break a match, and with high-functioning patients, it is ethical to give it a try. He suggests that therapists use informed consent, the same way a psychiatrist discusses the pros and cons of an antidepressant medication before starting treatment. The idea is to inform the patient of the potential benefits (could be a good match) and hazards (rejection; hard feelings toward your therapist, with the potential to wreck the therapeutic relationship) and receive consent. Case closed.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Not quite. This approach skirts the untidy fact of transference and countertransference — the matching sets of powerful and unconscious feelings that patients and therapists have toward each other. You might get your patient to "agree" to any number of contingencies, but there is no bargaining with his unconscious.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">The fact is that consent, no matter how well-informed — or well-intentioned — is insufficient to protect against the possible mischief inherent in therapist-driven matchmaking.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Looking to your therapist to set up a date is as ill-advised as it is to look to <a href="http://Match.com">Match.com</a> for help with depression or an eating disorder. Therapists would be wise to leave matchmaking to Cupid, or his online minions.</p><nyt_author_id style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "><div class="authorIdentification" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 15px !important; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; line-height: 24px; font-style: italic; ">Richard A. Friedman is a professor of clinical psychiatry and the director of the psycho-pharmacology clinic at the Weill Cornell Medical College.</div></div></nyt_author_id></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/opinion/sunday/should-therapists-play-cupid.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130120&pagewanted=print">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/opinion/sunday/should-therapists-play-cupid.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130120&pagewanted=print</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Should Therapists Play Cupid? - NYTimes.com

If you are in psychotherapy, there's a good chance your therapist knows more about your inner thoughts and secret desires than anyone el...

Read more »

Babe of the Week: Kaley Cuoco

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The IWS Babe of the Week is everyone's favorite Nerd Temptress from Big Bang Theory Kaley Cuoco! Kaley has literally grown up before out eyes and BOY HAS SHE grown up! Woo-Hoo!<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWi3qOZgetAAieNHDO72HUNzsywxCZVuXcwcwZDNyvfbgmBBdcRy9wtbJeki45yr6YXx17s6BmjQCJ9ZKB8H_Z8duLbKpdGlVNth_4R14iTCBcZCijCf1XObXzJEM2qRCb8cELtIPMoQ/s1600/Kaley+Cuoco+Boobs+Penny+BBT.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBWi3qOZgetAAieNHDO72HUNzsywxCZVuXcwcwZDNyvfbgmBBdcRy9wtbJeki45yr6YXx17s6BmjQCJ9ZKB8H_Z8duLbKpdGlVNth_4R14iTCBcZCijCf1XObXzJEM2qRCb8cELtIPMoQ/s400/Kaley+Cuoco+Boobs+Penny+BBT.jpg" width="266" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxfhCGCEbbKACzO5nFU4Kqp2qeWqPkLeGcr-ZLmDRxxhFSa_PXwHdcawwTnTMczw9reAo-6kgt2uxJVB40iAi55dfRpxY9DwgZZSpf1lJK5sdxb00Qmy2gaRUOgj_TlLrpBymmBHZu9g/s1600/Kaley+Cuoco+Glasses+Lesbian+Hot.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQxfhCGCEbbKACzO5nFU4Kqp2qeWqPkLeGcr-ZLmDRxxhFSa_PXwHdcawwTnTMczw9reAo-6kgt2uxJVB40iAi55dfRpxY9DwgZZSpf1lJK5sdxb00Qmy2gaRUOgj_TlLrpBymmBHZu9g/s400/Kaley+Cuoco+Glasses+Lesbian+Hot.jpg" width="253" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEXboAIDM7nj2XHFlnsQSaw1Tf5xgJHu3LEEXYMh0-jNi-DCH2Ty-hmbbaGFXmtBVxRcLxxsxgL-Wj0FBSPJEdFgVfZ88iPTEafabBOsGNd4EBashRLUiSi2BwtLoAzfo1JjMLXUvlPI/s1600/Kaley+Cuoco+Legs+Hot+Sexy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXEXboAIDM7nj2XHFlnsQSaw1Tf5xgJHu3LEEXYMh0-jNi-DCH2Ty-hmbbaGFXmtBVxRcLxxsxgL-Wj0FBSPJEdFgVfZ88iPTEafabBOsGNd4EBashRLUiSi2BwtLoAzfo1JjMLXUvlPI/s400/Kaley+Cuoco+Legs+Hot+Sexy.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gWv6Bo91l0yGw0k0D6C1HBFtkInmhOuYBIt1cqICg9Hyj1DT8H684ZtEjyqMIPhm8pr5RYo1SAOyotHOc3yduEMTcNMQg7HgCzk7fmt9drnutw0s_4H_psvmYWjwLO_ki8yzJkz7eqk/s1600/Kaley+Cuoco+Nude+Hot+Boobs+Sexy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6gWv6Bo91l0yGw0k0D6C1HBFtkInmhOuYBIt1cqICg9Hyj1DT8H684ZtEjyqMIPhm8pr5RYo1SAOyotHOc3yduEMTcNMQg7HgCzk7fmt9drnutw0s_4H_psvmYWjwLO_ki8yzJkz7eqk/s400/Kaley+Cuoco+Nude+Hot+Boobs+Sexy.jpg" width="292" /></a></div><br /><br />Also, if you didn't get a chance to catch us live, Matt-Man and Jayman came out of the Asshole Closet last night. We talked about times we've been assholes to people or pulled dick moves and all that fun stuff. It was another classic episode so check it out!<br /><br /><br /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.adobe.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" height="105" id="143577" name="143577" width="210"><param name="movie" value="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf?file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4287877&autostart=false&bufferlength=5&volume=80&corner=rounded&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/flashplayercallback.aspx" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/btrplayer.swf" flashvars="file=http://www.blogtalkradio.com%2Fplaylist.aspx%3Fshow_id%3D4287877&autostart=false&shuffle=false&callback=http://www.blogtalkradio.com/FlashPlayerCallback.aspx&width=210&height=105&volume=80&corner=rounded" width="210" height="105" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="high" wmode="transparent" menu="false" name="143577" id="143577" allowScriptAccess="always"></embed></object><br /><div style="font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 220px;">Listen to <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/">internet radio</a> with <a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid">Im With Stupid</a> on Blog Talk Radio<br /><br /><br /></div></div>

Babe of the Week: Kaley Cuoco

The IWS Babe of the Week is everyone's favorite Nerd Temptress from Big Bang Theory Kaley Cuoco! Kaley has literally grown up before out...

Read more »

All-time high for activities of the European Patent Office in 2012: 258 000 filings (+5.7% over 2011) and 65 700 granted patents (+5.8%)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.15em; padding: 0px;"><b>17 January 2013</b></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: 0.15em; padding: 0px;"><img alt="Logo European Patent Office" src="http://www.epo.org/images/logo.gif" /></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;"><b></b>In 2012, the European Patent Office (EPO) received 258 000 patent applications. This represents a 5.7% increase over 2011 (244 000) and sets a new record. In the same year, the EPO published 65 700 granted patents, 5.8% more than in 2011 (62 115).</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">"This new peak in European patent filings for the third year in a row shows that companies from Europe and around the world are continuing to seek protection for their inventions, and that Europe remains an attractive market for new technologies," said EPO President Benoît Battistelli. "This growth is part of a consistent, long-term trend, and is clear evidence of the confidence of industry in the value of European patents."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">As far as the origin of filings is concerned, the trends observed in recent years persisted. With 63% of the filings, a clear majority came from non-European countries (2011: 62%), while the share from the 38 EPO member states was 37% (2011: 38%). The top five positions in 2012 are once again held by the US (24.7%), Japan (19.9%), Germany (13.4%), China (7.3%) and Korea (5.5%). Globally, Asian firms continued to fuel the growth in filings: more than half of the increase comes from Japan, China and Korea combined. After a stabilisation in 2011, US companies reached a new record with 63 777 filings, reinforcing their number one position. For Europe, following Germany as number three in the top five, the ranking is stable, with France in sixth place (4.6%), ahead of Switzerland (seventh: 3.2%), the UK (eighth: 2.6%) and the Netherlands (ninth: 2.5%). In absolute numbers, all of these EPO countries saw an increase in filings.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">Please note that these are preliminary figures. The EPO will publish detailed figures on trends in individual countries and industrial sectors as well as the ranking of companies on 14 March 2013.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #0e2034; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; padding: 0px;">From: <a href="http://www.epo.org/" style="background-color: transparent;">http://www.epo.org</a></div></div>

European All-time high for activities of the European Patent Office in 2012: 258 000 filings (+5.7% over 2011) and 65 700 granted patents (+5.8%)

17 January 2013 In 2012, the European Patent Office (EPO) received 258 000 patent applications. This represents a 5.7% increase over 2011 (2...

Read more »

Penguins beat Flyers 3-1 in opener

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="asset-metabar-author asset-metabar-item" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;">7:42p.m. EST January 19, 2013</span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"><br /></span><span class="asset-metabar-time asset-metabar-item " style="background-color: white; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; color: #999999; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px; margin: 6px 0px 5px; padding: 2px 10px; position: relative;"></span><br /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"></div><div class="article-metadata-wrap" style="color: #222222; float: left; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; height: 428px; margin: 0px 30px 0px 60px; position: relative; width: 180px;"><aside class="single-photo expandable-collapsed" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 20px; position: relative; width: 180px; z-index: 100;"><div class="image-wrap" style="box-shadow: rgb(200, 200, 200) 1px 1px 5px; cursor: pointer; padding: 3px; position: relative;"><img alt="2013-01-19-penguins-flyers" src="http://www.gannett-cdn.com/media/USATODAY/USATODAY/2013/01/19/flyers-penguins-4_3_r536_c534.jpg?1b79b3da202957124496e3768cfb7b67cdb10c81" /><br /><span class="toggle" style="background-image: url(http://www.gannett-cdn.com/static/images/sprites/asset-sprite.png); background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; bottom: 0px; height: 21px; position: absolute; right: 0px; width: 21px; z-index: 200;"></span></div><div class="image-credit-wrap" style="color: #646464; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 16px; margin-top: 6px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px;"><span class="credit" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: 400;">(Photo: Eric Hartline, USA TODAY Sports)</span></div></aside><div class="article-metadata" style="position: relative;"><aside class="comp story-highlights " style="clear: left; float: left; margin: 0px 0px 20px; min-height: 60px; width: 180px;"><h3 style="border-bottom-color: rgb(212, 212, 212); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #999999; font-family: 'Futura Today Bold', arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 25px; margin: 0px auto; text-transform: uppercase;"></h3><div><br /></div></aside></div></div><br /><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It wasn't one of our best games (either)," Penguins left wing Pascal Dupuis conceded. "But I think it's going to be like this around the league for a while. You just have to play well defensively."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>SUMMARY: </b><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score">Penguins 3, Flyers 1</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, </div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><br /></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">PHILADELPHIA -- Flyers fans fans treated the NHL's delayed opening day as if it were a playoff game, showing up in record numbers for enthusiastic pre-game partying and revelry.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The problem was their team performed like it was a preseason game, looking slightly rusty in a 3-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of the league's abbreviated 48-game schedule</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It wasn't one of our best games (either)," Penguins left wing Pascal Dupuis conceded. "But I think it's going to be like this around the league for a while. You just have to play well defensively."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>SUMMARY: </b><a href="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://content.usatoday.com/sportsdata/hockey/nhl/game/penguins_flyers/2013/01/19#box-score">Penguins 3, Flyers 1</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, and then rode a 26-save performance by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to beat the team that eliminated them from the playoffs eight months ago.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The win was the 227th of Fleury's career, passing Tom Barrasso for the team record.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"A disappointing start, for sure," Flyers forward Scott Hartnell said. "I don't know if you want to chalk it up to not playing for eight months, but we didn't have any legs that first period."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Dupuis agrees with league-wide assertion that goaltending will be crucial in the early going as players try find their sharpness and teams try to get in sync after a six-day training camp and no preseason games.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"We saw tonight that the (Flyers) kept coming and coming," Dupuis said. "It wasn't pretty, but we blocked some shots and the saves were there."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Any concern that Philadelphia fans might offer some of protest because of the 119-day lockout was washed away by the large group of boisterous of fans that showed up early to celebrate the opening of the season. The attendance of 19,994 for the game was the largest regular-season crowd in Flyers history, breaking the previous mark of 19,992 set on February 21, 2009, vs. Pittsburgh.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Fans cheered passionately when Flyers took the ice in warm-up. They offered their "Let's go Flyers chant" before the game.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"It's always a great atmosphere here," Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov said. "Everybody knows how passionate Flyers fans are. Doesn't matter, whether it's regular season game or playoffs, they support and cheer for the team."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins killed all five Philadelphia power play opportunities, including two in the final six minutes.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"(Fleury) was solid," Crosby said. "It's not an easy place to play, and they have some dangerous players. He did a great job of hanging in there for us and making some big saves. Their power play gets a lot of chances no matter how good our penalty killers play."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Tyler Kennedy opened the scoring with a power play goal at 4:40 of the first period with defensemen Paul Martin and Matt Niskanen each drawing an assist.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"We knew we weren't going to come in here and like it's Game 6 of the playoffs," Penguins winger James Neal said. "We knew we'd be scrambling."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Less than three minutes later, Evgeni "Geno" Malkin played a draw back to James Neal, who rifled the puck past Flyers goalie Bryzgalov to make it a 2-0 game.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"In terms of executing, I think we can get better," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who had three shots on net with no points. "But I thought we still did a pretty good job of making sure we were worrying about the details, not trying to do too much."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;"><b>PHOTOS: </b><a href="http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/2013/01/19/the-best-from-the-nhl-opening-day/1847841/" style="color: #1990e5; text-decoration: none;" title="http://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/sports/2013/01/19/the-best-from-the-nhl-opening-day/1847841/">The best from opening day</a></div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The game looked like what the first preseason game looks like, with both teams experiencing performance levels that ebbed and flowed. Both of these teams have a collection of artistic players, but this game was more like a finger-painting than a masterpiece.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">"I think if you ask anyone, you are in great skating shape," said Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik. "But battle conditioning is a lot different."</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Penguins and Flyers are heated rivals, and both teams tried to embrace that rivalry. There were a combined 77 hits between the two teams, including seven each from Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke and Philadelphia's Zac Rinaldo. But it seemed as if both teams had trouble sustaining their energy levels.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">The Flyers had some bursts of energy in the second period, pulling within a goal when newly minted captain Claude Giroux scored on a slick feed from Hartnell. He threaded a pass through Chris Kunitz, who might have read that play differently had he been in mid-season form.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Giroux showed some spark a few times in the game, beating defenseman Paul Martin with a charge at one point, although he wasn't able to cash in.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">Hartnell also made a sparkling home run pass midway through the third period that seemed to put Giroux on a breakaway. It was ruled offside, and the replays showed it could have been called either way. It was that close of a call.The Penguins scored on two of their first five shots against Philadelphia goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who enters this season with much to prove in the Philadelphia net.</div><div style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; line-height: 22px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-left: 60px;">From: <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; line-height: 14px;">http://www.usatoday.com</a></div><br /></div>

Flyers SPORT Penguins beat Flyers 3-1 in opener

Kevin Allen, USA TODAY Sports 7:42p.m. EST January 19, 2013 (Photo: Eric Hartline, USA TODAY Sports) "It wasn't one of our best gam...

Read more »

Earl Weaver: Words from a baseball master

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><div class="relative primary-slot padding-top img-border photo-wrapper photo-wrapper" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; line-height: 10px; margin: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px; position: relative;"><img alt="" src="http://www.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_606w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2013/01/19/Sports/Images/AP7910040182.jpg" style="border: 1px solid rgb(225, 225, 225); padding: 1px;" /><br /><div class="captionWrap caption" style="font-size: 1em; margin: 0px; max-height: 60px; overflow: hidden; padding: 10px 2px 5px;"><div style="font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.4em; padding: 0px;"><span class="photo-credit credit" style="color: #333333; display: inline-block; font-size: 1em; margin-right: 9px; text-align: right;">William A. Smith/ASSOCIATED PRESS -</span> Orioles Manager Earl Weaver and reliever Don Stanhouse ham it up for photographers in the Orioles locker room after beating the Angels to secure the AL pennant in 1979.</div></div></div><div class="module article-toolbar relative border-bottom padding-top-8 padding-bottom-8 margin-bottom-20 margin-top border-top" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-top-color: rgb(228, 228, 228); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; line-height: 10px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 8px 0px 10px; position: relative;"><div class="module byline" style="border-bottom-style: none; font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px 0px 17px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><h3 property="dc.creator" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 1.2em; font-weight: normal; margin: 17px 0px; padding: 0px;">By <span class="author vcard" style="color: #666666;"><span class="fn"><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/2011/02/24/ABcmlyI_page.html" rel="author" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">Thomas Boswell</a></span></span>, <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/earl-weaver-words-from-a-baseball-master/2013/01/19/8e320e6c-626a-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd_story.html#license-8e320e6c-626a-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd" id="license-8e320e6c-626a-11e2-9940-6fc488f3fecd" rel="item-license" style="color: black; text-decoration: none;"></a><span class="timestamp updated processed" contenttype="article" datetitle="published" epochtime="1358629717000" pagetype="leaf" style="color: #6e6e6e;">Saturday, January 19, <span class="time special" style="color: #cc131e;">1:08 PM</span></span></h3></div><div class="relative" id="article" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;"><div id="article_body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="article_body entry-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><br /><article><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="dateline"></span>In the 1970s, when female reporters were first allowed in <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals" style="color: black;">baseball</a> locker rooms, I was leaving Earl Weaver’s office one night after his smart, sarcastic postmortem of a tough Orioles defeat. I realized that the only woman on the beat, a relative newcomer, had missed Weaver’s performance.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Entering his office as we all left, she looked worried. Weaver dressed down reporters for dumb questions and at times demanded what you would have done — and why — before he would give his own answer. His office was sometimes a funny place, but also electric with tension: Baseball spoken here.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eavesdropping is a clubhouse sin. But I wanted to see how cruel Weaver might be. To that point, I’d never met anyone in baseball with much grasp that a female journalist had every right to be there.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“So,” said Weaver, businesslike, “do you want it all or just the highlights?” And he started repeating his best answers as she wrote.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/earl-weaver-former-orioles-manager-dies-at-82/2013/01/19/d6e5c1a0-397d-11e2-a263-f0ebffed2f15_story.html" style="color: black;">Earl Weaver died early Saturday at 82</a>. Whatever you think he was, you’re right. But he was probably also, to some degree, the opposite as well. Whenever you assumed he was a man of his time, defined and limited by immersion in his sport, he often showed he was ahead of the times and also, frequently, ahead of his sport.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In death, we will see images of his tirades at umpires, be reminded of his funny wisecracks and of his sense of strategy that predated several “Moneyball” theories by a generation. We’ll see a hard, smart man with a Chesapeake crab’s shell, little social polish and a need to overcompensate for his lack of size and ability as a minor league ballplayer. We all saw that.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But in nine years of covering the Orioles beat, I saw another Weaver, one that doesn’t contradict the first, but rather broadens him. He didn’t open up often, but when he did, you were floored. He knew himself — why he was who he was and why he managed the way he did — as well as anyone I ever covered. We knew he had examined baseball and hadn’t missed much. But he’d also examined himself and analyzed in detail everyone around him, too.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The distance Weaver kept from his players, with no desire whatsoever to be their friend, but rather to be their leader, was his defining trait to me. That distance gave him authority and made every day at the park feel just a little bit dangerous. What would Earl do? What might he not do, if he felt like it? No contemporary team, in my experience, was on its toes in the sense that Weaver’s Orioles always were.</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reggie Jackson only played one season for Weaver but said: “I loved the little Weave. If you made a mental mistake, you saw him waiting for you on the top step of the dugout when you came back in. He’d just say one word, ‘Why?’ And you better have an answer. On his team, if you didn’t ‘think the game,’ you had a problem. He was right in your face.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“We are all on speaking terms. We have a little rapport. Not too much,” Weaver told me, regarding his relationships with his players. “You learn the lesson the first day in Class D [what the lowest rung of the minor leagues was once called]. You’re always going to be a rotten bastard, or in my case, a little bastard, as long as you manage. That’s the rule. To keep your job, you fire others or bench them or trade them. You have to do the thinking for 25 guys and you can’t be too close to any of them.”</span></div><div style="line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 22px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From: </span><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/" style="line-height: 1.5em;">http://www.washingtonpost.com</a></div></article></div></div></div><ul class="inline-list" style="font-family: arial; font-size: 12px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></ul></div></div>

baseball Earl Weaver Earl Weaver: Words from a baseball master

William A. Smith/ASSOCIATED PRESS -  Orioles Manager Earl Weaver and reliever Don Stanhouse ham it up for photographers in the Orioles locke...

Read more »

Morning Star Farms

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" height="195" src="http://img.bzzagent.com/image/morningstar.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=7368929400&Campaign=5354578095&Uid=1264101&token=2f016197d9054900f195f5ef0bc6742b" width="320" /> </div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am a member of this website called Bzzagent.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a word of mouth site where we get to test products and then review them with others such as yourselves.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I got invited to this campaign for <a href="https://www.morningstarfarms.com/">Morning Star Farms</a> through Bzzagent to try out their products.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Their products are free of meat and healthy too!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am not afraid to try anything new so I thought what the heck I will try it.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am always open to change up what I eat especially healthy foods.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbn2GKki9Wmn61J1i7I3AEnpetmHAfYhhdmyKXAwsPAo1A_TWxm_4Y2nIs16fJSTzn7Mq7h9Q0vk7648l0ipUXY7utQcHCF3vEFNiMr_IEAVg3NTkctXlpj6QEg3n4aA67FY7WvDAAk4/s1600/spiccy+black+bean+burger+morning+start+farms.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjbn2GKki9Wmn61J1i7I3AEnpetmHAfYhhdmyKXAwsPAo1A_TWxm_4Y2nIs16fJSTzn7Mq7h9Q0vk7648l0ipUXY7utQcHCF3vEFNiMr_IEAVg3NTkctXlpj6QEg3n4aA67FY7WvDAAk4/s320/spiccy+black+bean+burger+morning+start+farms.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my kit I received two free product coupons and some for $1 off.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have to admit I've tried one of their burgers before but didn't really care for it.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So this time I went with the spicy black bean burger.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I love black beans and always add them to my salads along with some feta cheese.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was skeptical at first to bite into it but first bite I was hooked!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am astonished at how good and delicious it was.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Funny thing about it is it's vegetarian it's not even meat!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It tasted as if it were real meat!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am in love!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It was tender, juicy, full of flavor and worked great in the pita bread and along my salad.</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I will be buying more of these products next time I go shopping!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Looking for a more healthier alternative other than meat?</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Try these!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They are wonderful and won't disappoint you!</span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>

Morning Star Farms

I am a member of this website called Bzzagent. For those of you who have never heard of it, it's a word of mouth site where we get to t...

Read more »