March 27, 2015 archive

2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: Regional Semifinals Day 2

No upsets.  No Cinderellas.

Last Night’s Results-

Score Seed Team Record Score Seed Team Record Region
81 3 Notre Dame 32-5 70 7 Wichita State 29-5 Mid-West
79 1 Wisconsin 33-3 72 4 North Carolina 26-12 West
78 1 Kentucky 36-0 39 5 West Virginia 24-9 Mid-West
68 2 Arizona 33-3 60 6 Xavier 23-13 West

This Evening’s Matchups-

Time Channel Seed Team Record Seed Team Record Region
7:15 CBS 2 Gonzaga 33-5 11 UCLA 22-13 South
7:37 TBS 4 Louisville 25-8 8 NC State 22-13 East
9:45 CBS 1 Duke 30-4 5 Utah 26-8 South
10:07 TBS 3 Oklahoma 25-10 7 Michigan State 25-11 East

2015 NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament: Regional Semifinals Day 1

Results from the 22nd-

Score Seed Team Record Score Seed Team Record Region
64 4 Duke 23-10 56 5 Mississippi St. 27-7 West
88 3 Iowa 26-7 70 11 Miami (Fla.) 20-13 Mid-West
94 2 Kentucky 24-10 99 7 * Dayton 27-6 East
73 2 Baylor 32-3 44 10 Arkansas 18-14 Mid-West
64 3 Oregon State 27-5 76 11 * Gonzaga 26-7 West
97 1 South Carolina 32-2 68 8 Syracuse 22-10 South
70 4 California 25-10 73 5 * Texas 24-10 East
79 1 Notre Dame 33-2 67 9 DePaul 27-8 Mid-West

Results from the 23rd-

Score Seed Team Record Score Seed Team Record Region
65 2 Florida St. 31-4 47 7 FGCU 31-3 South
86 4 Stanford 26-9 76 5 Oklahoma 21-12 Mid-West
85 1 Maryland 31-2 70 8 Princeton 30-1 West
77 2 Tennessee 29-5 67 10 Pittsburgh 20-12 West
86 4 North Carolina 26-8 84 5 Ohio State 24-11 South
57 3 Arizona State 29-5 54 11 UALR 29-5 South
60 3 Louisville 27-8 52 6 South Florida 27-8 East
91 1 UConn 33-1 55 8 Rutgers 23-10 East

Tonight’s Matchups-

Time Channel Seed Team Record Seed Team Record Region
7:00pm ESPN 1 South Carolina 32-2 4 North Carolina 26-8 South
7:30pm ESPN2 2 Baylor 32-3 3 Iowa 26-7 Mid-West
9:30pm ESPN2 2 Florida St. 31-4 3 Arizona State 29-5 South
10:00pm ESPN 1 Notre Dame 33-2 4 Stanford 26-9 Mid-West

Health and Fitness News

Welcome to the Health and Fitness News, a weekly diary which is cross-posted from The Stars Hollow Gazette. It is open for discussion about health related issues including diet, exercise, health and health care issues, as well as, tips on what you can do when there is a medical emergency. Also an opportunity to share and exchange your favorite healthy recipes.

Questions are encouraged and I will answer to the best of my ability. If I can’t, I will try to steer you in the right direction. Naturally, I cannot give individual medical advice for personal health issues. I can give you information about medical conditions and the current treatments available.

You can now find past Health and Fitness News diaries here and on the right hand side of the Front Page.

What Else Can We Add to a Smoothie?

Deep Purple Blueberry Smoothie with Black QuinoaCredit photo recipehealthpurple-tmagArticle_zps33b8fd70.jpg

Andrew Scrivani for The New York Times

Over the years I have given you a number of Recipes for Health devoted to smoothies – fruit smoothies with nuts and seeds; smoothies with vegetables; dairy free smoothies. I thought I had pretty much covered all the smoothie bases. Then I came across a recipe for a “Fresh Peach, Banana and Warm Millet Smoothie” in Bryant Terry’s impressive new cookbook “Afro-Vegan,” and a bell went off. Cooked millet in a smoothie? I had never seen such a thing; yet breakfast is a great meal for cooked grains, and also for smoothies. So why not? Adding cooked grains to smoothies would be a perfect way to thicken the drinks and bulk them up. It’s also a delicious way to incorporate more grains into your diet.

~ Martha Rose Shulman ~

Deep Purple Blueberry Smoothie With Black Quinoa

A delicious smoothie that works with berries that are fresh or frozen.

Strawberry, Millet and Banana Smoothie

A nourishing mix of fruit, grains and nuts in a glass.

Blood Orange Smoothie With Grapes and Red Quinoa

Red grapes and red quinoa are a perfect match in this sweet/tannic smoothie.

[Date Smoothie With Brown Rice and Almond Milk ]

A date shake with a grainy twist.

Pineapple and Millet Smoothie

The pure flavor of pineapple is softened by the millet in this delicious drink.

Coming soon…to a television near you

Rescue me!  I got stuck over at E! Online.

Jazz Jennings recently appeared on NBC’s Meredith Vieira Show.

While I’m certain that she was there to promote the fact that she is the newest face of the Clean and Clear #SeetheRealMe Campaign, some other things came up as well.

First of all, there is the response the campaign has generated

When I first saw Jazz Jennings, nothing struck me as peculiar. She looked like any other vibrant, charming and charismatic teenage girl. I assumed that her age and on-camera presence made her an ideal candidate as a representative of Clean and Clear. She fit the mold of what you see for something targeted at younger audiences. Teenagers get pimples and she’s a teenager – it works.

It’s not until it’s mentioned that Jennings is transgender that people start to stir, debate and wonder why a brand of face wash tries to “force” our youth to accept something so perverse. The backlash from parents is horrifying. I was used to seeing opponents attack adults on the Internet, but Jennings is a child. “Concerned parents” were saying that we should burn “it” at the stake, that she is wearing dresses to get attention or that she should just admit that she is a homosexual boy.  Teaching children that saying these hurtful things about others will influence them far more than a commercial will.

Elizabeth Legget

Some Reasons Republicans Should Vote Against TPP

What makes this piece by Joe Firestone so interesting is that it is full of reasons why your Republican Representatives should vote against TPP, especially if they’re crazy Tea-Baggers (don’t tell them I called them that of course, use ‘populist conservatives’ instead).

The New York Times Covers the TPP: A Commentary

by Joe Firestone, New Economic Perspectives

Posted on March 27, 2015

Wikileaks did us all another service yesterday by releasing the “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP): Investment Chapter Consolidated Text,” and collaborating with the New York Times to get the word out. Jonathan Weisman wrote the story for the New York Times.



Why are we negotiating the TPP at all? Why is it the business of the Representatives of the people of the United States in Congress to support agreements that will mitigate the political risks borne by American businesses who chose to invest in other nations, as well as the political risks borne by foreign corporations, who choose to invest in the United States? Why is it their business to provide protection against such risks to foreign corporations beyond the protections we provide to our own corporations?

The “expectations” of business investors are their own business, not the public’s business; and there’s no reason why either the government of the United States or the governments of other nations should have to accommodate themselves to these expectations. If it is the will of the people of a nation as expressed through their representatives to pass legislation that destroys the “expectations” of business investors, then that’s just too bad for the investors.

Private businesses have no right to expect that their governments will protect them against risks that they alone choose to take, and that they alone will profit from. Risk is part of the game of investing. It’s business.

In free market ideology businesses are supposed to shoulder their risks. They’re not supposed to manipulate their political systems to get legislation providing them with financial protection at the expense of the public. That’s not capitalism, it’s lemon socialism; and it is also one of the key components of fascism.

How have we come to this pass that we view it as legitimate for American businesses to demand that the American public ought to ensure them against the business risks they take abroad? When did it become acceptable to insulate large multinational corporations against the hazards of their folly?



The TPP provides for three-judge “courts” to conduct the dispute settlement proceeding. One of the judges is actually selected by the corporate plaintiffs. All of the judges are private attorneys who in other disputes may have represented corporate plaintiffs, and it is common for attorneys to be shifting roles from “corporate advocates” in one case to “judges” in another. Of course, the advocates get paid far more than the judges.

Can anyone imagine a more criminogenic environment than this, where all the incentives are aligned in such a way as to extract funds from state treasuries for the benefit of corporations and corporate attorneys alike? Where are the representatives of the various nation-states in these tribunals?

To add to the travesty, there are no limits on the tribunals in the size of the awards they can mandate. So, let’s get this straight, according to the TPP, tribunals staffed by private attorneys who frequently advocate for the very corporations whose complaints they are deciding upon have unconstrained authority to award damages of unlimited size to these same corporations and then the governments of the nations would be obligated to pay these awards. So, assuming present policies in effect for government financing in most nations including the United States, the governments would increase taxes or increase borrowing to pay these awards.



So, tell me do we really want an international “trade agreement” that will expose the United States to unplanned levies from multinational corporations that would create budgetary political crises in the United States? Would any sane citizen want to take this risk, to mitigate the risks American investors take when they choose to invest overseas? Where does this craziness come from?



“We’ve done this before” is no defense of a proposed agreement among 12 nations that would expose the citizens of each of them to the risks that properly belong to foreign corporations, or American corporations operating in foreign nations for their own profit. Such corporations are guests in the nations they do business in. They should not be given advantages that aren’t enjoyed by domestic businesses.



With the TPP Congress is being asked to buy the proverbial pig in the poke. Well, they’ve previously bought three highly touted free trade agreements, and none of them has delivered net benefits to the American people in terms of net jobs created, or a higher standard of living for most of the population, or greater economic equality. So, I think the Administration, really needs to answer the question “What’s in it for us?” in concrete terms without delivering the glittering and deceptive generalities this President is so skillful at offering.



Free trade is an ideological commitment for many. But there’s no doubt that general implementation of free trade rules would prevent the government from legislating industrial policy, and more specifically would limit the policy space of the government in nurturing industries that it viewed as vital to the American future or to American national security. In view of this, I would never approve any agreement prohibiting the government favoring the products of American companies, if the government wanted to follow such a policy.

Being able to “Buy American” is an essential aspect of the sovereignty of the United States. And in my view Congress and the President have no right to give away this aspect of our sovereignty.



In my view, this trade-off isn’t in accord with public purpose, and it gives away key aspects of the sovereignty of the United States. In addition, it undermines American democracy and takes another step down the true road to serfdom.

Emphasis mine.

Nothing wrong with a little Mobying and Bi-partisanship say I.

Cartnoon

The Breakfast Club (Livin in a Gangsta’s Paradise)

Welcome to The Breakfast Club! We’re a disorganized group of rebel lefties who hang out and chat if and when we’re not too hungover  we’ve been bailed out we’re not too exhausted from last night’s (CENSORED) the caffeine kicks in. Join us every weekday morning at 9am (ET) and weekend morning at 10:30am (ET) to talk about current news and our boring lives and to make fun of LaEscapee! If we are ever running late, it’s PhilJD’s fault.

 photo 807561379_e6771a7c8e_zps7668d00e.jpg

This Day in History

Martin Luther King’s son Dexter meets with James Earl Ray, in prison for assassinating the civil rights leader; Comedian Milton Berle dies; The FDA approves Viagra; Director Quentin Tarantino born.

Breakfast Tunes

Something to Think about over Coffee Prozac

A writer should have this little voice inside of you saying, Tell the truth. Reveal a few secrets here.

Quentin Tarantino

On This Day In History March 27

This is your morning Open Thread. Pour your favorite beverage and review the past and comment on the future.

Find the past “On This Day in History” here.

March 27 is the 86th day of the year (87th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 279 days remaining until the end of the year.

On this day in 1939, March Madness is born.

The University of Oregon defeats The Ohio State University 46-33 on this day in 1939 to win the first-ever NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The Final Four, as the tournament became known, has grown exponentially in size and popularity since 1939. By 2005, college basketball had become the most popular sporting event among gamblers, after the Super Bowl. The majority of that betting takes place at tournament time, when Las Vegas, the internet and office pools around the country see action from sports enthusiasts and once-a-year gamblers alike.

For the first 12 years of the men’s tournament, only eight teams were invited to participate. That number grew steadily until a 65-team tournament format was unveiled in 2001. After a “play-in” game between the 64th and 65th seeds, the tournament breaks into four regions of 16 teams. The winning teams from those regions comprise the Final Four, who meet in that year’s host city to decide the championship.

March Madness is a popular term for season-ending basketball tournaments played in March, especially those conducted by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and various state high school associations. Fans began connecting the term to the NCAA tournament in the early 1980s. Evidence suggests that CBS sportscaster Brent Musburger, who had worked for many years in Chicago before joining CBS, popularized the term during the annual tournament broadcasts. The phrase had not already become associated with the college tournament when an Illinois official wrote in 1939 that “A little March Madness [may] contribute to sanity.” March Madness is also a registered trademark, held jointly by the NCAA and the Illinois High School Association. It was also the title of a book about the Illinois high school tournament written in 1977 by Jim Enright.

H. V. Porter, an official with the Illinois High School Association (and later a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame) was the first person to use March Madness to describe a basketball tournament. Porter published an essay named March Madness in 1939 and in 1942 used the phrase in a poem, “Basketball Ides of March.” Through the years the use of March Madness picked up steam, especially in Illinois, Indiana, and other parts of the Midwest. During this period the term was used almost exclusively in reference to state high school tournaments. In 1977 the IHSA published a book about its tournament titled March Madness.

Only in the 1990s did either the IHSA or NCAA think about trademarking the term, and by that time a small television production company named Intersport, Inc., had beaten them both to the punch. IHSA eventually bought the trademark rights from Intersport and then went after big game, suing GTE Vantage, Inc., an NCAA licensee that used the name March Madness for a computer game based on the college tournament. In a historic ruling, “Illinois High School Association v. GTE Vantage, Inc.” (1996), the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit created the concept of a “dual-use trademark,” granting both the IHSA and NCAA the right to trademark the term for their own purposes.

Following the ruling, the NCAA and IHSA joined forces and created the March Madness Athletic Association to coordinate the licensing of the trademark and investigate possible trademark infringement. One such case involved a company that had obtained the Internet domain name marchmadness.com and was using it to post information about the NCAA tournament. After protracted litigation, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held in March Madness Athletic Association v. Netfire, Inc. (2003) that March Madness was not a generic term and ordered Netfire to relinquish the domain name. (This domain name is currently being used to redirect into the main NCAA.com web site.)

In recent years, the term “March Madness” has been expanded to include all conference tournaments in college basketball, with the term “The Big Dance” being used more frequently when specifically referring to the NCAA Tournament. March Madness has also has been used generally to describe all basketball tournaments across the country that occur in the month of March – high school and college, male and female.

The coverage and live blogging of all the 2014 Men’s and Women’s NCAA Championship are happening here at The Stars Hollow Gazette.

Ear Bugs (You Know The Words)

The Daily/Nightly Show (He tasks me)

Word Blerd & Knowledge College

Keep it Sleem-Glorp

The Twitter machine is singularly unhelpful tonight so your guess is as good as mine.

Continuity

Deer Munchies

We are, alas, off next week.

Well, it will give me a chance to rest up and concentrate on Basketball.  Also this weekend, Sepang between 2 and 1 am starting tonight.  It’s been busy for me as I’ve had a lot of appointments and guests and have written more than a few diaries these last few weeks.

As Sam Kinison said, “It never stops.  It just never stops.”

John Hargrove is a former Orca trainer who left the profession in 2012 and was memorably interviewed just a week after his resignation fot the documentary Blackfish.  He thinks Killer Whales are not suitable for captivity.

He’ll be on to talk about his new book, Beneath the Surface.

The real news below.