laluminata

Will basketball tourney be flush with success?

2011-10-31T22:50:00.001-07:00

If you wake up and there is a toilet in your front yard don't call a plumber.

You may have been flushed.

Central High School and Lake View have joined forces for what they hope will become an annual December tradition in San Angelo — the Doug McCutchen Memorial Boys Basketball Tournament.

The Bobcats are trying to raise money for the tournament costs by "flushing" San Angelo residents by delivering multicolored toilets to them.

People who are flushed can pay $10 to have the toilet removed or $15 to gain immunity from being flushed again.

"Basically we are passing around toilets that we have painted Central colors," Central head coach Jaime Boswell said. "If you pay $15 you have insurance and get to decide who to flush next. After that it just goes around and around and around.

"It is a great time to do it because the Central football team is winning and everyone is excited about sports in San Angelo."

Boswell said the Bobcats will hold the fundraiser on through November in preparation for the Dec. 1-3 tournament.

Games for the 16-team tournament will be played at Lake View's Ben Norton Gym and Central's Babe Didrikson Gym.

The tournament is named for the former SAISD athletic director who died in January. McCutchen originally began talks of hosting a tournament when Robert Chaney was hired at Lake View in 2009.

Lake View is hosting a more conventional fundraiser 6 p.m. Saturday with an exhibition basketball game between Central and Lake View alumni.

Chaney said all proceeds from the event will go toward the tournament.

"There will be a charge at the door, and we will have silent auctions for Lake View and Central items," Chaney said. "We will also have players going around and halftime asking for donations."

Chaney added that the Lions Club has been instrumental in getting the tournament off the ground. The organization is hosting a hamburger supper at Lake View High School Dec. 1 for the participating players and coaches.

"The idea behind the fundraiser is to get a base for this event every single year," Boswell said. "We have 16 teams from all over the state. There are three teams that are ranked, four El Paso schools. The headliners in the tournament are Lubbock Estacado, which is No. 2 in Class 3A in the preseason, class 5A Plano West (No. 6) and San Antonio Reagan, which is No. 16 in the rankings.

"It should be a very competitive tournament. We also have Leander and Cedar Hill who went to the state tournament in 4A."

Chaney said it will be beneficial to have high-caliber teams and players in San Angelo.

"We have teams waiting in line to come to this tournament. People that love basketball — that are basketball junkies — need to come to the tournament and see these teams. They will see all the great young players that we have coming in from all over the state," he said.

"We've got kids coming in that are some of the top players in the nation."

Boswell said the tournament also will be a way to showcase both schools and the city of San Angelo.

"A lot of these coaches want to come out here because they aren't going to see these types of teams normally," Boswell said. "We are trying to offer that opportunity. We want to have teams from all over the state. We already have some teams that want to come next year on a waiting list.

"I think this tournament is just going to get better and better."

Source http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/oct/30/will-tourney-be-flush-with-success/

The Moving Menagerie

2011-08-09T21:41:00.001-07:00

In a matter of weeks, my husband and I will pack up everything but our winter clothes and park ourselves in Los Angeles until next spring. My husband has business there; I am merely a camp follower. It is a sign of some special and strange quality of my life that the first question people ask when hearing this news isn’t, “How do you feel about moving to L.A.?” or “How will your son like living there?” but, “Oh my god, what about the chickens?” This is a problem of my own making, so I accept it. The fact is the question of what will become of my various animals is probably the subject most on my mind these days.

Some of those questions are easily answered. The cattle, for instance, will stay in New York, with our house-sitters. (But really, wouldn’t it be totally awesome to have twelve Black Angus in a Los Angeles backyard?) The ducks and turkeys and guinea fowl, who need more space than we have in California, will stay, although I sure would like to bring them. (What an icebreaker at neighborhood get-togethers!) The dog, of course, will come with us. Funny how moments like this draw the line between animals that are more connected to the landscape (cattle, for instance) than to the humans who own them, versus those animals (dogs) that are extended family members. You would no sooner leave a dog behind with a caretaker than you would leave one of your kids. The cats and the chickens, though, do sort of straddle that line.

Re: chickens. It is legal to have them in Los Angeles, as long as they’re a polite distance from your neighbors; and there’s a lively L.A. chicken scene already in place (I already have my Los Angeles Urban Chicken Enthusiasts T-shirt, courtesy of one of the members.) But our backyard in California is small. Moreover, there are zillions of coyotes and bobcats hanging out in the neighborhood, and they are not the scrawny East Coast models: like everyone in Los Angeles, the coyotes I’ve seen there look like they work out a lot with personal trainers. The idea of putting a coyote magnet in the backyard, someplace where the coyotes can bench-press four hundred pounds, is terrifying. At least for the moment, the chickens will stay here.

And what about the cats? Even though I still don’t understand cats—to me, they’re like foreign-exchange students here for the semester—we now have three of them, and I’m very attached to them. There’s Gary, a little female barn cat who we adopted when she was tiny; Leo, a tawny-colored male who we got from a local shelter; and Mittens, the stray I’ve written about here, who is now fully vested as a family member. The three of them are used to coming in and out as they please, which in Los Angeles means they would be a snack-size serving for a coyote in no time. (Isn’t it weird that moving from rural upstate New York to the center of the nation’s second-largest city means having MORE predator issues rather than fewer?). Cats in Los Angeles, in other words, are either indoor cats or they’re goners. Can we convince these cats that being outside these past few years was a big mistake? How will they react to that? Late at night, I picture us in our small house in Los Angeles with the three cats hurling themselves against the windows, yowling. This is when I take a sleep aid. We have talked about taking just one of the cats—maybe whichever seems the most adaptable to indoor life. That would be Mittens, because he’s old and lazy. On the other hand, Leo has a heart problem, so maybe we should take him instead, to be sure he’s being doted on. But that would leave Gary and Mittens here in New York together, and they hate each other. We could take—oh, never mind. This is the sort of thing that I suspect we will decide in the very last minute, because if you love animals and have to leave them, even for a little while, there’s no simple way to figure it out.

Source http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/susanorlean/2011/08/the-moving-menagerie.html

S'pore: the Maid, the Pack and the Soldier

2011-03-31T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Singapore Armed Forces announced Thursday that it would conduct military exercises in several Singapore sectors between April 4 and April 11, blank rounds and "thunderflashes" are to be used, according to the dispatch from the front.

And, if a photograph that first appeared on Facebook and then made it to the Singapore website stomp.com.sg is any indication, Singapore's citizen soldiers are to be followed by their domestic helpers carrying their knapsacks. The photo showed a maid shouldering a pack as a green camouflage-clad soldier walked several paces ahead of her near Singapore's Tanah Merah light rail station. He seems busy with his cell phone, perhaps texting someone with tales of his military exploits.

The photo has given rise to reactions ranging from hysterical laughter to outrage. The publication of the picture was met with 180 responses on Stomp, which is an offshoot of the Straits Times. There are thousands of other posts on seemingly hundreds of web sites, blogs and social media forums. It has also given rise to at least one photoshopped attempt to cover it up, with the offending soldier walking along the same path carrying his own knapsack and the maid nowhere in sight.

On the Yahoo Singapore blog site Fit to Post, 25-year-old Kelvin Wong, who completed his mandatory army service in 2006, expressed typical outrage: "This photo is just ridiculous. It's hard to believe that a grown man who is supposed to be serving the nation is making his female domestic help carry his backpack.

"He's a disgrace to the army and makes Singaporean men look bad," he added.

In addition, a raft of parodies of Singaporean soldiers storming into battle, followed by their maids, has appeared, including one of SAF troops marching in their serried ranks, followed by serried ranks of domestic helpers carrying their bags.

The Ministry of Defense was apparently not amused, telling the Straits Times in a statement that the armed forces "takes a serious view of the conduct of its servicemen in public" and that it will investigate and take appropriate action.

Others huffed and puffed about whether today's pampered young Singaporean has grown too soft to defend that nation. The blog O My put a frame around the picture with the caption: "My Maid Our Army: Behind every Singaporean son there is a maid."

The blog went on to use Google maps to trace the location of the photo and to identify the nearest military base, Bedok Camp. "It's only a matter of time before he gets caught," the blogger warned.

Certainly the photo and the outrage dents the SAF's view of itself as an elite fighting unit that, in the words of then-Brig. Gen. Lee Hsien Loong before he became prime minister, could put up a "poisonous shrimp" defense: "What happens if you step on a poisonous shrimp? He dies, but he will kill you."

That strategy was later modified, according to Lee, to become a "porcupine defense:" "We need a policy which says, ‘if you come, I'll whack you, and I'll survive.' This is a workable strategy. I may not completely destroy you, but you will have to pay a high price for trying to subdue me and you may still not succeed."

Meanwhile, the public has been warned that the SAF "will also conduct Live Firing Exercises, using live ammunition and flares." The public, the SAF warned, "is advised not to be alarmed and to keep clear of these areas."

It did not include a warning to watch for domestic helpers following the troops.

Source http://www.asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3099&Itemid=189

Trio accused of pensioner assault

2011-03-01T21:04:00.000-08:00

THREE women have been accused of attacking a pensioner after stealing her purse.

It is alleged that yesterday (February 24) Cantinca Costea, 19, and Violeta Costea, 44, both of Capworth Street, Leyton, along with homeless Luminata Mircea, 31, took the purse from the woman’s basket as she shopped at The Card Factory in Selbourne Walk shopping centre in Walthamstow at 12.25pm.

They are then accused of pushing the 64-year-old into a display stand.

Shoppers detained the trio until the police arrived.

All three have all been charged with common assault and theft.

The women are due to appear at Waltham Forest Magistrates Court today (February 25).

Police have warned shoppers to take care of their belongings.

A spokeswoman said residents could reduce the risk of becoming a victim of crime by taking precautions during shopping trips.

She said: "Keep your bag strap over shoulder and hold your bag in front of you. Make sure your bag is fastened with your purse deep inside your bag or deep inside a coat or jacket pocket.

"Be aware of who’s around you, including when you are in a queue at the checkout, or whether anyone is paying you particular attention or getting too close

"Don’t leave your bag unattended over the handles of a buggy or inside a shopping trolley."

The women are due to appear at Waltham Forest Magistrates Court today (Friday February 25).

Source http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/8876885.WALTHAMSTOW_LEYTON__Trio_accused_over_shopping_mall_altercation/