Dent family stings Red Sox again

LOWELL, Mass. (AP) ? First, Bucky Dent tormented the Boston Red Sox. Now his son is doing it, too.

The Class A Lowell Spinners of the New York-Penn League, a Red Sox affiliate, were two outs away from their first perfect game when Auburn Doubledays shortstop Cody Dent ruined it Wednesday night with a bloop single.

Jamie Callahan had struck out nine in six innings, Mike Adams was perfect in the seventh and eighth, and Taylor Grover came on to try to finish the gem in the ninth against the Washington affiliate.

Spinners first baseman Nathan Minnich made a diving catch for the first out of the ninth, but Lowell's good fortune then ran out.

Dent, whose father hit the key homer for the New York Yankees against the Red Sox at Fenway Park in the 1978 AL East playoff game, blooped a ball over shortstop to end the bid for perfection.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/dent-family-stings-red-sox-again-025902093.html

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Really enjoying reading this site | Step Talk

I've been home from work for the last two days, too sick to go to work but not sick enough to lie in bed. Spent most of my time reading on this site, pleased to see I'm not alone on a lot of our issues. Kinda discouraged that so many are finding step parenting this hard tho!

I'm in my second step parenting situation, the first one was so different that I'm flabbergasted at the vitriol I'm starting to feel towards my current SO's family and child. I never realized most step moms have it this hard. I guess the stars aligned for me the first time around. Yes there were problems but they were VERY minor compared to what I'm seeing this time. Maybe it's because the step child in my previous marriage was a boy? He was the same age as current SD when he moved in with us fulltime, and yes there were adjustment issues but nothing like this. I loved that boy like my own, and still do, though we grew apart after his dad left me. I didn't have a very good ending to the relationship with that spouse but for most of that marriage it felt like we were on the same page (well until he met his girlfriend, lol, that changed a few things!)

This time around I love my SO but starting to feel like we're just too different, maybe this just isn't do-able. That's why I'm here. I'm coming to realize my difficulties are probably less to do with my SD or SO's parents and more to do with the way SO's NOT handling things.

Source: http://www.steptalk.org/node/162796

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Local historian Paul W. Marino named grand marshal of 58th annual Fall Foliage Parade

Wednesday July 31, 2013

NORTH ADAMS -- Local historian Paul W. Marino is accustomed to being at the front of the line -- leading tour groups along the hilly paths between gravestones on one of his cemetery walking tours.

On Oct. 6, he'll be ushering a crowd much larger than he's used to through the city as grand marshal of the 58th annual Fall Foliage Parade, which will feature the theme, "Haunts, Legends and Ghost Stories."

It's an honor Marino's happy to have, but one he was also surprised by.

"It's confusing. I seriously don't think of myself as anyone of consequence," Marino said Friday. "I'm sure other people would disagree and they're entitled to their opinion. When I look at how many local people turn up for my walks, which is less and less every year, ... I'm clearly no one of consequence, because no one listens to me. It is an honor. Maybe this will spark some interest in local history."

Officials at the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, who coordinate the annual parade with the aid of numerous volunteers, disagree with his sentiments.

"We're thrilled that Paul will be leading the celebration," Danielle Thomas, parade director, said in a press release. "His vast knowledge of the local history and haunts will allow us to get really creative while also providing an educational component for the community."

Marino has spent "a good portion" of his life documenting local history -- a interest originally sparked by tales his father told him as a child.

"He told me two stories in particular," he said. "He told me about the Berkshire Hills Sanitorium. He didn't know it by that name. He knew it was the largest private hospital in the country. It was actually the largest private hospital in the nation for the treatment of cancer. In fact, that was my first major research project -- tracking down information on it."

Marino added, "When urban renewal was decimating Main Street, he pointed out a building he called the ?Spite Theater.' He said two people wanted the same piece of property and one of them built a theater shell on it to spite the other. Neat story, but it's not accurate."

The actual story behind the unfinished theater, known as The Capitol, involves the Sullivan Brothers, who during the 1920s either owned or controlled every theater in the city, he said. They built The Capitol, as a threat to a man who planned to build a theater called The Mohawk, on State Street.

"The Capitol was never completed. It spent its entire existence as headquarters for their real estate business," Marino said. "The original Mohawk was never built and consequently The Capitol was never finished."

In addition to collaborating on an array of projects with the North Adams and Berkshire County historical societies and the North Adams Public Library, Marino has also produced several documentaries for local cable access television, including an award-winning series for children titled "HistoryWorks."

But Marino is probably best know for his cemetery and neighborhood walks, during which he talks about historical figures and events.

"When I first started the walks, I was involved in the [North Adams] historical society at the time," he said. "Maureen Wood was president at the time and we heard of someone else who was giving tours out at Hillside Cemetery. This person gave [the group] a brief talk on funeral motifs and then turned them loose. Maureen and I thought we could do better. I did a flurry of research, which became the Hillside Cemetery walk. Then I did one for Southview Cemetery and branched out into Main, Church, Center and Veazie streets."

When he's not out leading a tour or working at Northern Berkshire Community Television, Marino is busy with his local history website, http:// paulwmarino.org.

"I really enjoy it, because it gives me the opportunity to examine bits of local history I don't normally get to examine," he said.

The 58th annual Fall Foliage Parade will step off at 1 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 6, from the former Walmart parking lot on Curran Highway. For more information or to volunteer, call Thomas at 413-499-4000, ext. 126, or visit www.fallfoliageparade.com.

To reach Jennifer Huberdeau, email
jhuberdeau@thetranscript.com.

Source: http://www.thetranscript.com/ci_23764810/marino-named-grand-marshal-58th-annual-fall-foliage?source=rss_viewed

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AP Source: MLB threatening A-Rod with lifetime ban

NEW YORK (AP) ? Alex Rodriguez might not make it back to the Yankees this year. Or ever.

Major League Baseball is threatening to kick A-Rod out of the game for life unless the New York star agrees not to fight a lengthy suspension for his role in the sport's latest drug scandal, according to a person familiar with the discussions.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized.

Whether Commissioner Bud Selig would actually issue a lifetime suspension was unclear and a permanent ban could be shortened by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz to about 200 games, the person said.

The number of players likely to be disciplined stood at 14 Wednesday.

Front and center is Rodriguez, baseball's highest-paid player and the most prominent one linked in media reports over the past seven months to Biogenesis of America, a closed Florida anti-aging clinic that allegedly distributed banned performance-enhancing drugs.

The Yankees expected Rodriguez to be accused of recruiting other athletes for the clinic, attempting to obstruct MLB's investigation, and not being truthful with MLB in the past. Baseball has considered suspending him for violations of its labor contract and drug agreement.

Even if he is banned from baseball, there is precedent for a shortened penalty: When pitcher Steve Howe was given a lifetime ban in 1992 in his seventh suspension for drug or alcohol use, an arbitrator reduced the penalty to 119 days.

A three-time MVP, Rodriguez acknowledged four years ago that he used performance-enhancing substances while with Texas from 2001-03, but repeatedly has denied using them since.

He's been sidelined all season since hip surgery in January and then a quadriceps strain during a minor league rehabilitation assignment in July. The Yankees say he'll start another rehab Friday ? Double-A Trenton appeared to be the likely destination.

"Hopefully Alex will be back shortly thereafter," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said.

Rodriguez didn't stop to talk with reporters after his workout Wednesday at the team's minor league complex in Tampa, Fla.

At first, MLB and the union thought talks on the Biogenesis probe could be completed by Friday, but negotiations to avoid grievances are likely to push back announcements until at least Saturday or Sunday.

Others accused in media reports of receiving performance-enhancing drugs from Biogenesis include a trio of 2013 All-Stars: Texas outfielder Nelson Cruz, San Diego shortstop Everth Cabrera and Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta.

Most of the players face 50-game bans as first offenders. Both sides felt an urgency to complete the process because by the middle of next week, teams will have fewer than 50 games left. And that would force players to complete suspensions during the playoffs or at the start of next season.

Detroit general manager Dave Dombrowski protected against a possible suspension of Peralta by acquiring slick-fielding infielder Jose Iglesias from Boston in a three-team trade Tuesday night.

"If it were a 15-day thing, like a typical injury, I think we could have comfortably dealt with it with the players we already have," Dombrowski said Wednesday. "But when you start to talk about 50 days and a possible playoff run, we feel better going ahead with Jose."

While MLB told the union which players it intends to suspend, it hasn't issued formal notices of discipline. Because of that, the countdown hasn't started under baseball's Joint Drug Agreement, which says the suspensions are effective on the third business day after the notice is issued.

The sides also haven't decided whether suspensions for first-time offenders who challenge the penalty can be announced before an arbitration decision.

If some stars knew their seasons were about to be cut short, they weren't letting on Wednesday, at least publicly.

"I can't talk about nothing right now. Just wait for the news," Cabrera said Wednesday before playing against Cincinnati.

Peralta thinks he shouldn't be on the list of players linked to Biogenesis.

"It's wrong," he said. "But whatever happens, I need to fight and try to move on."

Toronto outfielder Melky Cabrera, Oakland pitcher Bartolo Colon and San Diego catcher Yasmani Grandal all were suspended for 50 games last year for positive tests for elevated testosterone. MLB informed the union they won't receive additional discipline for that violation, two people familiar with the probe said. They also spoke on condition of anonymity because no statements were authorized.

"Nothing's been told to me," Melky Cabrera said. "I served my suspension last year, but MLB has never told me that it's OK now. I'm seeing it in the press, but I don't know."

Texas was unable to find a replacement bat to fill the void a suspension of Cruz would create.

"I don't think anybody's comfortable losing a significant part of your club, but it's out of our control," Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said. "We explored some deal like that. They just didn't come to a head. It wasn't for lack of interest or lack of effort. It was more lack of supply and lack of fit, really."

___

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley, AP Sports Writers Stephen Hawkins, Larry Lage and Bernie Wilson, and AP freelance writer Mark Didlter contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-mlb-threatening-rod-lifetime-ban-002848928.html

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Meet the world's fastest growing fitness chain - Fortune Management

By Brandon Southward

FORTUNE -- Step inside an Anytime Fitness gym and you'll likely notice more of what it lacks than what is there. No massive machinery, mobs of people, or grunting bodybuilders trying to outdo one another.

You'll also take note of the club's particularly small size -- only 4,000-6,000 square feet, nearly eight times smaller than full-service gyms like Equinox. It's clean and tidy, and there are no employees shoving papers in your face convincing you to sign up for the gym's new weight loss plan, "how to lose 50 pounds in five days."

There is none of that in this decidedly unintimidating environment, and that's exactly how Anytime Fitness CEO Chuck Runyon wants it. "We are Cheers?without the beers."

Cheers, of course, the place where everybody knows your name. But this spot doesn't have any Sam-and-Diane-relationship-tensions, and Norm or Cliff won't be dropping by anytime soon.

It's that vibe that has helped make Anytime Fitness the fastest growing fitness club in the world, according to a report released this year by The International Health Racquet and Sportsclub Association, a title the company has held for the last six years. In 11 years, the Minneapolis-based chain has expanded to more than 2,200 clubs worldwide, in all 50 U.S. states and 14 countries. By comparison, it took Subway 23 years to reach 2,000 restaurants and McDonald's (MCD) 32 years to reach 2,000 restaurants.

MORE:?How Walgreen plans to reinvent the drug store

Anytime lacks some of the traditional trappings of a gym, but it does have plenty of classes. Walk in, and you will find a kiosk holding more than 100 different video classes that are accessible at all times. Want muscle conditioning? Got it. Want to take a turbo kicking class? They have that too. You pick your class, head into a multi-purpose room, and you're off and running. If the classes don't intrigue you, Anytime Fitness has cardio equipment like treadmills and ellipticals along with resistance workout equipment and free weights.

The relationship between the gym and its members is special, as evidenced by the Anytime Fitness tattoos sported by its passionate members and employees. "It started with a St. Paul franchise owner at a conference in 2005. Since then, over 1,000 people have gotten the Anytime Fitness purple running man tattoo," Runyon said.

He should know. Anytime Fitness foots the bill for the body art; all the tattoo recipients have to do is share why they're getting it. The reasons vary, including some crediting the chain with dramatic weight loss or boosting their self-esteem.

To be sure, Anytime Fitness' ascendance coincides with a boom in the fitness club industry as a whole, with membership expected to reach an all-time high of 52 million in 2013, according to research from IBISWorld. Revenues for gym, health, and fitness clubs in 2013 are estimated to reach a record high of $25.9 billion. Anytime Fitness has seen revenues grow by 80% in the last five years to more than $484 million at the end of 2012, and Runyon anticipates system-wide revenue exceeding $600 million at the end of this year.

So what has fueled Anytime's impressive growth? Pete Moore, founder and managing director of consulting firm and market research firm Integrity Square, thinks it's not just the relaxed atmosphere, pointing instead to its monthly membership costs and 24/7 operating hours model. "Anytime came in charging an inexpensive $35-$55 a month and stripped down labor costs by having the gyms staffed for a certain number of hours, but allowing members to come and go when they like."

Future issues for Anytime Fitness are the same that have plagued the fitness industry as a whole: stagnation and diversification. The industry's memberships and revenue have flat-lined since 2011, and while growth is expected within the next few years, it will be at a slower rate than before. This, along with the growth of competition from yoga studios, Zumba classes, and the convenience of home workouts threatens the future of bigger gyms.

Yet Runyon doesn't feel threatened; he seems to relish the challenge.

"Blockbuster got beat by a better business model in Redbox and Netflix, so we must be prepared to see what's around the corner ... Our focus going forward will be on outside club activities than inside activities," he said.

MORE:?The Main Street bailout that came too late

To extend their reach, Anytime Fitness has created an online health guide, anytimehealth.com, focusing on meal planning, tracking workouts, and sharing members' fitness successes with others. The website also calculates how many calories and pounds members have lost using its nutritional programs.

To be sure, Anytime Fitness isn't abandoning its brick-and-mortar foundation; the company recently acquired Waxing the City, a Denver-based hair removal salon franchise that Runyon says is the kind of "personal improvement brand" he wants to promote with his company.

There are plans for 250 to 300 new clubs over the next four years, and 25-35% of those clubs will be outside the U.S.

If Anytime Fitness continues to grow at that rate, it won't be long before the entire world knows its name.

Source: http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/07/31/anytime-fitness/

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Miami Mercenaries: International Security Business Is Booming in ...

The cops lay motionless and silent on the sand ? two ink stains on an already bruise-black night. Through night-vision goggles, they surveilled the concrete skeleton of a building in the distance. Covered in graffiti, it rose like a crumbling tombstone against the desolate Mexican desert. Behind broken windows flitted the menacing outlines of men with assault rifles.

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The pair of policemen failed to notice the shadows gathering around them. In an instant, they were surrounded. One cop bolted into the darkness, scrambling through the scrubland toward safety. The other wasn't as lucky. The men with balaclavas and AR-15s tied him up, blindfolded him, and dragged him inside.

They held the terrified cop upside down over a pit full of rats and feces. Then they began pouring water over his face and demanding answers. "What are the names and addresses of your commanding officers?" one of the captors yelled as the cop fought the liquid filling his lungs. "Tell us the names!"

A month later, footage of the torture session exploded on Mexican television. But unlike countless previous films, which showed drug cartels murdering their rivals on camera, this video sparked international outrage because the torturers weren't narcos. They were fellow cops.

"They Are Teaching Police... to Torture!" screamed the headline of one national newspaper as human rights organizations lined up to protest. It didn't matter that the footage was from a training course for which all the police officers had volunteered. Politicians called for criminal charges. The chief of police for the city of Le?n was sacked.

But the brunt of the backlash fell on the white man giving orders onscreen. With the country already gripped by anti-gringo sentiment after George W. Bush handed over $1.5 billion to fight a bloody drug war, Mexicans were outraged that the mysterious man barking orders worked for a private American security firm called Risks Inc. Stranger still, the company was headquartered in Miami.

In hindsight, the Dade connection shouldn't have been so surprising. In the decade since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Miami has quietly sprouted more private security companies than anywhere else in the nation. As America waged wars overseas, a cottage industry of guns for hire sprouted in South Florida, which is now headquarters for nearly twice as many security companies as Washington, D.C., by one measure. Camouflaged by parties and palm trees and close to troubled hot spots in the Caribbean and Latin America, Miami is a boomtown for mercenaries.

New Times spent two months inside this strange and secretive world and discovered that Risks Inc., which is run by an ex-soldier who was once thrown in jail for desertion, is actually the most transparent of the area's stockpile of security companies. Miami is also home to a former CIA spook whose legion of mercenaries in the Middle East has made him a multimillionaire. And then there's the celebrity-wooing Afghan insider accused of funneling a fortune of American tax dollars to the Taliban.

When National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden blew the whistle on the government's warrantless wiretapping, he also exposed the immense power that private companies wield over American and international affairs. They run our jails, read our emails, and increasingly fight our wars. Unbeknownst to most Miamians, their city is a central hub in this lucrative but loosely regulated industry.

"The state's monopoly on the use of mass, organized violence is slowly being frittered away by reliance on the private sector," says investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army. "They are not motivated by patriotism [but] by profit. So what's to stop any of these companies from simply flipping and going to the highest bidder?"

---

"What's the easiest way to clear a building?" a man asks in a British whine. A dandyish lock of hair flops down his forehead. An untucked black dress shirt betrays a hint of a potbelly. He could be mistaken for a soccer dad if it weren't for the gun in his hand.

"Blow it up, burn it down, clear it out, yeah?" he tells his audience. "A lot of that SWAT stuff doesn't work... Is it going to work in Colombia? No, because people shoot back."

Meet Andrew "Orlando" Wilson: former British soldier, Miami-based mercenary, and the mystery man barking orders in the infamous Mexican torture videos.

Five years after the fiasco in Le?n, Wilson is still teaching people how to fight. Oftentimes it's cops or federal agents looking to sharpen their skills. Today, however, his students are doctors from Jackson Memorial Hospital learning the basics of self-defense. Standing inside a Doral warehouse that has been converted into a firing range, they clutch imitation Glock BB guns uncertainly, like children with expensive new toys. Suddenly, Wilson spots a gun muzzle wandering.

"Keep that gun pointed at me, not over there," he tells a jittery pediatrician. "I'm used to having them aimed at me."

He's not joking. Since he first strapped on a gun as a skinny young soldier, Wilson has spent his life seeking out ? and skirting ? danger. His trajectory from the British armed forces to hired gun is par for the course among private security contractors in Miami.

Source: http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2013-08-01/news/miami-mercenaries-international-security-business-is-booming-in-south-florida/

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Riot police deployed ahead of Zimbabwe election dubbed Mugabe's 'last stand'

Jekesai Njikizana / AFP - Getty Images, file

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, left, and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai are thought to be running neck-and-neck ahead of presidential elections Wednesday. Tsvangirai has warned Mugabe not to "steal" the election.

By Cris Chinaka, Reuters

HARARE - Heavily armed riot police deployed in potential election flashpoints in Zimbabwe on Tuesday on the eve of a poll showdown between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai that remains too close to call.

State radio said thousands of officers had been sent to the central Midlands province, while trucks of police carrying automatic rifles and grenade launchers patrolled in the restive Harare townships of Highfield and Mbare.

The run-down districts of the capital are hotbeds of support for Tsvangirai and were at the center of several weeks of post-election violence in 2008, in which 200 people linked to his Movement for Democratic Change were killed.

This year's presidential and parliamentary race brings the curtain down on four years of fractious unity government. It has been marked by allegations of threats and intimidation by security forces but there have been no reports of violence.

With no reliable opinion polls, it is hard to tell whether 61-year-old Tsvangirai will succeed in his third attempt to unseat his 89-year-old rival, who has run the southern African nation since independence from Britain in 1980.

Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi / AP

A Movement For Democratic Change supporter holds up a red card to show his backing for Morgan Tsvangirai.

Both the MDC and Mugabe's ZANU-PF party predict landslide victories. However, it is possible neither leading candidate will emerge an outright winner, triggering a September 11 run-off.

Western election observers have been barred, leaving the task of independent oversight to 500 regional and 7,000 domestic monitors.

In an editorial in the domestic News Day newspaper and the Washington Post, Tsvangirai urged African monitors not to give the vote a seal of approval merely because they do not witness any bloodshed.

"Mugabe is the world's oldest leader and one of its longest-ruling dictators. He is fixing this election in a more sophisticated fashion than previous ZANU-PF campaigns of beatings, killings and intimidation," the prime minister wrote.

"Mugabe's election-stealing antics have been documented throughout Zimbabwe and beyond. Yet the international community seems apathetic; perhaps Mugabe has been stealing elections for so long the world just rolls its eyes and moves on."

Rallying supporters he calls "soldiers," Mugabe has termed the election a "do or die" contest, suggesting he recognizes that his historical legacy is at stake.

Given the irregularities and problems that have dogged the election process, including failure to publish an electronic voters' roll, the result is highly likely to be contested, raising the prospect of another long political stalemate.

"We are prepared to accept the results of a free and fair election but we are not prepared to accept fraud," MDC spokesman Douglas Mwonzora told a news conference.

In 2008, South Africa and other countries in the region brokered a unity government between Mugabe and Tsvangirai to break a deadlock caused by the MDC's withdrawal from a second-round runoff because of the violence and killings.

"A return to protracted political crisis, and possibly extensive violence, is likely," the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based political risk think-tank, said in a report issued on Monday entitled "Mugabe's Last Stand."

Around a third of 63,000 police officers and civil servants allowed to vote two weeks early were unable to cast their ballots because voting materials did not turn up on time.

The existing list of the 6.3 million registered voters has also attracted criticism from the MDC and analysts.

In a study comparing the list to a 2012 census, the Research and Advocacy Group, a non-governmental organization, said young people - the main support base for Tsvangirai - were under-represented, while old people - more likely to be ZANU-PF supporters - were curiously numerous on the roll.

In particular, it cited the presence of more than 116,000 people aged over 100 and said that in almost a third of constituencies there were more registered voters than residents.

The Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has rejected charges the voters' register is a shambles and has accused critics of seeking to discredit the election out of political interests.

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