Thursday, March 15, 2012

Happy Valley treat: Shoelace under the lights

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — To simulate Michigan's Denard Robinson in practice this week, Penn State walk-on Evan Lewis donned dreadlocks on the scout team.

The height was just about right — the 5-foot-10 Lewis is two inches shorter than the star quarterback. Even Lewis' wig gave the defense a sense for what they might be seeing in front of them Saturday night — that is, if Robinson doesn't rush by them in a maize-and-blue blur for another highlight-reel play.

The Shoelace Show is coming to Happy Valley when Michigan (5-2, 1-2 Big Ten) visits Penn State (4-3, 1-2) under the lights at Beaver Stadium.

These two storied programs are at a crossroads in their respective so-so …

A Multisite Canadian Study of Outcome of First-Episode Psychosis Treated in Publicly Funded Early Intervention Services

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine 1-year symptomatic outcome and its predictors in patients with FEP treated at 3 different publicly funded sites.

Method: We evaluated FEP patients (n = 172) treated in specialized programs in 2 medium-sized centres and 1 large urban centre with an identical protocol for demographic variables, diagnosis, and duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) at entry, and positive, negative, and general psychopathology symptoms at entry, 6 months, and 1 year. We used a mixed model analysis of variance, with time and centre and interaction between time and centre as fixed effects and sex and DUP as covariates, to analyze data.

Results: A …

Rockets Beat Warriors, Back on Track

Tracy McGrady scored 26 points, Bobby Jackson hit an improbable 3-pointer and the Houston Rockets got back to their winning ways with a 109-106 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Friday night.

Houston had lost two straight following a 22-game winning streak that was the second longest in NBA history. The power-packed Western Conference gave the Rockets little cushion and a third straight loss would have dropped them into a tie for sixth place with San Antonio in the conference.

Instead, they rode the all-around play from McGrady and clutch shooting from Jackson to move within percentage points of New Orleans for the …

Mailbox bombing suspect plans to use insanity defense

The man accused of planting pipe bombs in mailboxes in fivestates, including Illinois, will use an insanity defense when he goeson trial Nov. 18, court papers show. Jane Kelly, the lawyer for LukeHelder, filed a notice of such a defense with the court on Friday.Helder, 21, is accused of putting 18 pipe bombs and anti-governmentletters in mailboxes in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Colorado and Texasin early May. Six pipe bombs exploded in Iowa and Illinois, injuringfour letter carriers and two residents.

Mom charged for kids' severe sunburns

An Ohio woman was arrested on felony charges for allegedly lettingher three children get so severely sunburned they looked like …

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

BOOK MARKS

BOOK MARKS

The two images farthest removed from each other which can be comprehended under one term, are, I think, Isaiah - 'Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth!' - and Levi of Holywell Street - 'Old Clothes!' - both of them Jews, you'll observe."

- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1833)

JEWS WHO FLND A STEADY DLET of books about the antisemitism of England's learned (and also not so learned) classes more unpleasant than exploratory surgery will find a welcome antidote in The People of the Book: Philosemitism in England, from Cromwell to Churchill by Gertrude Himmelfarb (Encounter Books, 2011, 183 pp., $23.95), a learned, scintillating, and (mostly) optimistic …

Childress fined $35K for criticizing refs

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — After a narrow loss to bitter division rival Green Bay, Vikings coach Brad Childress seethed at what he called "the worst officiated game I've seen."

On Tuesday, he paid for it.

The NFL fined Childress $35,000 for criticizing officials and disclosing confidential conversations with the officiating department.

Childress sharply criticized the officiating crew after a 28-24 loss to the Packers on Sunday night. He was particularly upset with a replay reversal of a touchdown catch by Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe. He also was upset by a facemask call against right tackle Phil Loadholt and not calling a hold on Jared Allen that allowed Packers …

Wal-Mart cuts about 11,200 Sam's Club staffers

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will cut about 11,200 jobs at Sam's Club warehouses as it turns over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company.

The move is an effort to improve sales at Sam's Club, which has underperformed the company's namesake stores in the U.S. and abroad.

The cuts represent about 10 percent of the warehouse club operator's 110,000 staffers across its 600 stores. That includes 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers. The company also eliminated 1,200 workers who recruit new members.

Employees were told the news at mandatory meetings on Sunday morning.