Home Builder Developer - Interior Renovation and Design

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) The Mitten Fence in People's Park on Main Street in Buffalo typically gives out 400 items a year. This winter, things are flying off the fence faster than usual.

I come by about once a week, but I often come by and I see things I know I havent hung up. It really makes me feel like its a community effort, its a community park and its supposed to bring people together, said Mara Montante, People's Park Director.

Montante says it's often overlooked how many people in our area don't have the winter gear they need to stay warm. That's why People's Park started the Mitten Fence in 2018.

"And we thought this was a really nice way to help people in the community during winter," said Montante.

People's park is known for bringing people together in their garden, hosting reading groups and free libraries during the summer and now, putting up this Mitten Fence during the winter months.

"People can come and leave items. Some people knit things and leave them on the fence. Then people stop by and take what they need, its a give what you can and take what you need," said Montante.

Taylor Epps

She thinks the high need for winter items and the extra help from the community are both effects of the pandemic.

Im hoping this fills kind of a necessary thing people need during the winter," said Montante.

After this years positive response, theyre considering bringing a second peoples park and Mitten Fence to Niagara Falls in the future.

"Hopefully, more people can come and donate and if you need something you can stop by and get what you need," said Montante.

The fence will be up through March. If you want to donate, just bring your items in a plastic bag to keep them dry and hang them up.And if you need something to keep warm out here, just stop by and grab what you need.

Read more here:
Mitten fence helping hundreds in Buffalo stay warm this winter - WKBW-TV

The new fence, 7-feet-tall and considered "non-scalable," should eventually find a home in the Smithsonian. Pieces of it would be an appropriate remembrance of just how dangerous and frightening the Trump years have been. Massive protests are nothing new in Washington, of course. In the 1970s, when I was working in the White House, protests against the Vietnam War reached a crescendo. I remember walking through a courtyard at the Old Executive Office Building and finding military tanks secretly stationed there, ready to move if trouble got out of hand. But those protests were wholly legitimate citizens rising up to demand changes in government policy. In this past week, by contrast, we were watching as the leader of the executive branch of government incited mob violence in an attempted takeover of the legislative branch. Through all of our history, although there have been attacks on our Capitol, we have never seen American citizens try to bring down our central government. Attempted overthrows by civilians have been rare as well among major Western democracies.The closest parallel to the Trump years for many has been the Hitler years in Germany. But even there, mobs weren't marching on the Reichstag. Instead the similarity to today is really more about clever deployment of disinformation by both men. As World War I ended, Hitler and his followers invented "The Big Lie": Germany did not lose the war on the battlefields, they argued; rather, its democratically elected leaders undermined the war effort back home. They convinced the electorate that opponents of the war, especially Jews, had delivered a "stab in the back" to German soldiers. That was a huge lie, but its proponents rode it to power. Just as Trump has with his cynical narrative about Biden's election victory. Trump's greatest strength is perhaps his ability to convince large swaths of people that what is true is false and what is false is true. He has become a master of "The Big Lie" namely, that he won the election and Joe Biden lost. A majority of Americans don't believe him, but opinion polls show that roughly a third are still on his side, even after the bloody assault on Congress. It will be extremely difficult for Biden to govern as long as large portions of our electorate believe his presidency is illegitimate. It is disturbing but true that Trump has become even more threatening to our democracy in the past few weeks. With the FBI warning that insurrectionists may stage new marches across 50 state capitols and are personally targeting Biden, Kamala Harris and Nancy Pelosi, one would think that Trump would have the decency and good sense to tell his followers to back off, put down your guns, and stay home. How can he continue to be so blind to his own self-interest? Does he really want to leave office with more blood on his hands?Actually, the biggest test at the moment is not about Trump. It is whether the Republican Party will assume serious responsibility for keeping the peace in coming days. That third of the electorate still in Trump's corner won't listen to Biden or any other Democrat, but they might listen if a big chorus of conservative Republicans as well as business leaders now stand up and speak up just as Rep. Liz Cheney has done in the House and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is signaling in the Senate.

As a people, we are staring into an abyss; things could well get worse before they get better. It is hugely important to the country now that we de-escalate and search for higher ground. If we can just get through the first hundred days of a Biden presidency with our democracy intact, perhaps we can all catch our breath, welcome in a little sunshine, and send pieces of that fence to the Smithsonian.

Read this article:
The perfect symbol of the Trump years - CNN

In the first Building a Fence: Keeping Washington Blue Chips Home, I looked at how good of a job UW was doing keeping their top players at home since 2000, counting all 4- and 5-star players in the 247 database as "blue chips." To sum up, it turns out the answer is pretty darn good, with 56.16% of all Washington state blue chips in those 22 classes playing for UW. The numbers drop some when you focus on the most elite players, with UW taking in 66.7% of all the "low 4-stars" (those with a decimal rating below the mean of all blue chips), dropping to 42% of high 4/5-star players and 36% of 5-stars alone.

The obvious follow-up question, though, is whether those percentages are actually good compared to other states and schools. I mean, getting more than half of ALL the blue chips in our state over a 22-year period certainly sounds pretty good, but how does it stack up to other schools and states, especially those that are in comparable situations to Washington. Let's take a look.

Note: While the UW-only deep dive in the previous post went back to 2000, for this comparison I'm only going back to 2010. In part this is so we can focus only on the recent and present moment without getting too deep into ancient history, but also to cut in half the amount of work! This study covers 12 recruiting classes, from 2010 to 2021 (JTT is the only as-yet-uncommitted player from this year's class from any of the states I studied; I'm willing to accept that outlier and move on).

WHAT IS WASHINGTON'S SITUATION?

The state of Washington ranks #13 in population among all states, estimated just under 7.7 million people in July 2020. The final census figures aren't in, but since all states are using the same estimates it's a fair point of comparison. The state also has two Power 5 universities in UW and WSU, one of has been historically much more successful than the other, but both have been to multiple bowl games in the last decade, so neither one is a total train wreck.

What other states have a similar situation?

Washington is the 13th-most populous state in the USA, so I looked first at the states right above and below them Virginia at #12 (with UVa & VA Tech) and Arizona at #14 (with AZ and ASU). Arizona is very close to WA in population, 7.4M to WAs 7.7M and a Western state to boot, so it's easily the best single point of comparison.

VIrginia is farther away population-wise, with 900K more people than WA, but it's the closest to WA on the upper end. Its two P5 schools aren't hugely different in terms of success; Virginia Tech has been better, but not light years better. Still, it's within shouting distance so it's on the list.

That population difference is substantial, though, so I looked for a state that was a similar amount smaller than WA. Massachusetts is about 800K smaller than WA but only has one Power 5 school (Boston College). At first I was going to leave it out but I decided to include it just for regional balance.

Tennessee is almost exactly the same population as Massachusetts, though, and has two P5 teams (Tenn and Vanderbilt), so that gave us another "southern" state to kind of balance VA. Neither has been great lately, but historically speaking UT has absolutely been the "big brother" school to Vandy. It works.

Indiana is almost exactly 900K smaller than WA (as much smaller than WA as Virginia is bigger, population-wise), so I ended up looking at them as well. They are a special case, since they technically have only two Power 5 schools (Indiana and Purdue), neither of which is usually very good, but of course they also have Notre Dame. ND recruits a lot nationally rather than close to home, though, so I figured Id count the ND/UI/Purdue troika as about the same as two typical Power 5s (one stronger than the other).

(FWIW, theres a batch of states in the 5.6-6.1M range that only have one P5 school Missouri, Maryland, Wisconsin, Colorado, Minnesota which might be an interesting comparison in a different way, to see whether having a smaller population base balanced out having only one local school, but they were just too far outside the range Im looking for in population and I wanted to keep the 2-P5-school apples-to-apples comparison.)

Lastly, I rolled in Oregon, which has a much lower population than WA (4.2M, ranked 27th among states), but is right next door and the most geographically and culturally similar to Washington. The Oregon/OSU dynamic is also very similar to the UW/WSU dynamic in terms of historical success.

Review of the Magnificent Seven

Counting Washington, Ill be looking at seven states. None of them are legendary talent hotbeds like CA/TX/FL (which are, frankly, the 3 states with the highest population anyway the only 3 states over 20M people this isnt rocket science as to why they produce the most CFB talent). Other than Oregon, their population is within 1M people of Washingtons, so in sheer potential talent based on how many people live there, they should be comparable (Indiana lowest at 6.8M, Virginia highest at 8.6M). They have fairly similar arrangements of P5 teams (exceptions noted above), and they're spread pretty well around the country.

Arizona (Southwest)Indiana (Midwest)Massachusetts (Northeast)Oregon (Northwest)Tennessee (Southeast)Virginia (Mid-Atlantic)Washington (Northwest)

That feels like a fairly representative slice of states around the country, so it should be a reasonable purposive sampling for comparing to how Washington is doing keeping the blue chips at home.

METHODOLOGY

I used the 247 recruiting database for the years 2010-2021. Scout, Rivals, and others may differ; these are the numbers I used because they were easy to access. I counted all 4- and 5-star players as "blue chip" players, which typically includes those with a decimal ranking of about 0.8900 or above, usually around the top 350-ish players in each class. I included the decimal rating and ordinal ranking of players along with their star rating, plus their year, position, and which school they signed with.

NOTE: These rankings ONLY consider how they were ranked coming out of high school.

How they did in college, whether they were an All-American, a good player who got hurt, a nondescript JAG (Just A Guy) who filled a roster spot with basic competence and not much more, or a total bust for any number of reasons does not matter for this review. This is only about getting the big fish into the boat and protecting your fishing waters from other people poaching.

A little statistic I've added for each state is BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million). It's exactly what it says on the tin: How many blue chip players did your state produce during this 12-year period per 1 million citizens. It just seemed like an amusing bit of trivia to normalize the data across states that are similar but certainly not identical.

Fair warning: There are going to be a lot of tables. Feel free to scroll past if you're not interested in the minutiae of how we got here. If you like the sausage-making, it's on display. Conclusions come toward the end. We'll take the states in alphabetical order.

ARIZONA (Arizona, Arizona State): Blue Chips 64 (5.33/year), BCPM 8.62, 5-stars 7, Top 10 3, Highest #4 Kelee Ringo), Average Rating 0.9363, Average Ranking 165

Table 1a: Arizona Blue Chips by Year

Table 1b: Where Did Arizona Blue Chips Sign?

INDIANA (Indiana, Notre Dame, Purdue): Blue Chips 49 (4.45/year), BCPM 7.25, 5-stars 4, Top 10 1, Highest #2 Jaylon Smith), Average Rating 0.9302, Average Ranking 180

Table 2a: Indiana Blue Chips by Year

Table 2b: Where Did Indiana Blue Chips Sign?

MASSACHUSETTS (Boston College): Blue Chips 15 (1.36/year), BCPM 2.18, 5-stars 0, Top 10 0, Highest #122 Armani Reeves), Average Rating 0.9155, Average Ranking 232

Table 3a: Massachusetts Blue Chips by Year

Table 3b: Where Did Massachusetts Blue Chips Sign?

OREGON (Oregon, Oregon State): Blue Chips 28 (2.33/year), BCPM 6.60, 5-stars 3, Top 10 0, Highest #17 Owamagbe Odighizuwa), Average Rating 0.9278, Average Ranking 196

Table 4a: Oregon Blue Chips by Year

Table 4b: Where Did Oregon Blue Chips Sign?

TENNESSEE (Tennessee, Vanderbilt): Blue Chips 101 (8.42/year), BCPM 14.67, 5-stars 6, Top 10 0, Highest #14 Trey Smith), Average Rating 0.9288, Average Ranking 189

Table 5a: Tennessee Blue Chips by Year

Table 5b: Where Did Tennessee Blue Chips Sign?

VIRGINIA (Virginia, Virginia Tech): Blue Chips 117 (9.75/year), BCPM 13.62, 5-stars 16, Top 10 4, Highest #5 Da'Shawn Hand), Average Rating 0.9348, Average Ranking 170

Table 6a: Virginia Blue Chips by Year

Table 6b: Where Did Virginia Blue Chips Sign?

And, of course, saving the best for last...

WASHINGTON (Washington, Washington State): Blue Chips 50 (4.17/year), BCPM 6.5, 5-stars 7, Top 10 4, Highest #3 J.T. Tuimolau), Average Rating 0.9334, Average Ranking 178

Table 7a: Washington Blue Chips by Year

Table 7b: Where did Washington Blue Chips Sign?

THAT WAS A LOT OF TABLES

Indeed it was. Feel free to go grab a snack. 🙂

A Quick Comparison of States

Looking at these 7 states shows a pretty wide spread of production of blue chips. They're pretty similar to one another in terms of population, but the number of top-level players they produce is definitely not uniform. Ideally, we'd compare Washington to other states that produce about the same number of players per capita, but really in any study where you've got different angles to examine, you just gotta pick one and go with it. In this case, we chose states with similar population and similar distribution of in-state universities. You could slice it other ways, but let's roll with what we've got! What did we learn?

Table 8: State-to-State Comparison

Virginia comes out on top in total blue chips, total 5 stars, and number of top 10 players. They have the highest population, so thats not surprising in and of itself, but they produced more blue chips and 5-stars than Arizona and Washington combined. They might not be the first place you think of as a talent-producing powerhouse, but they are knocking out twice as many BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million) as states like Washington and Oregon, while also maintaining quality, ranking #2 in average rating and ranking of prospects.

As an aside, the 2021 recruiting class from Washington, our best by a mile in at least the past 22 yearsif not everwould be just an average year in Virginia. The three 5-stars we have this year is unusual, but Virginia turned the trick twice (2013 and 2014) and has had produced at least one 5-star in every single class except one (2012).

Tennesssee is the leader in BCPM (Blue Chips Per Million), outpacing Virginia on that score, but interestingly its mostly because they are an absolute factory of low 4-stars. Despite doubling up Washington in terms of overall blue chips, they actually have had fewer 5-stars than Washington, leading to an average rating and ranking about level with Oregon.

Arizona is not too far from Washington in total numbers, though they are equal or ahead in all categories except top 10 players. They lead all 7 states in terms of average rating and ranking, with proportionally speaking a lot of high 4-stars (the Byron Murphys and NKeal Harrys of the world) bringing their average up.

Washington is middle of the pack across the board except for top 10 players, where they tied Virginia for the lead (plus Max Browne just missed at #11).

Indiana is the closest comp to Washington, a tiny shade ahead on BCPM and a bit behind on average ranking and rating, mostly due to Washingtons edge in 5-stars and top 10 players.

Oregon produces blue chips at a near-identical rate to Washington (adjusted for their much smaller population base), but the lack of true top-end talent drags down their average scores.

Massachusetts is just sad by comparison. A state with a population nearly identical to Tennessee had 5 seasons with zero blue chips. More than half of the blue chips they did produce came in just two classes, with four each in 2012 and 2020. The other 10 years of the study produced only 7 blue chips, and in 12 years they never had a player ranked higher than 122.

How do Schools Do at Keeping their In-State Blue Chips Home?

The original question to answer was how good of a job is Washington doing at keeping the top in-state blue chips home. Sure, they kept 54% of them home and that sounds good, but how does it compare to other schools and states with comparable situationssimilar population and (mostly) a similar pair of P5 schools with a "big brother/little brother" dynamicsampled from around the country. Turns out theyre doing great by comparison, and it's not particularly close.

Table 9: Retaining Blue Chips by School

This might feel like it biases a bit to situations where one school dominates, so what if we combine all of the in-state schools together as states and compare how well they do at keeping their recruits? Turns out Washington is still at the top and its still not close.

Table 10: Retaining Blue Chips by School and State

What Can We Say About the States?

Overall, this is great. When the state produces top talent, we are getting it more than half the time. That is an absolute win. Percentages can be deceiving, though, as we said in our previous fanpost about the current surge in high school talent in Washington. The past two recruiting classes have produced 16 blue chips and UW has signed 7 (heres hoping for 8 when JTT decides). Thats 3.5 per season, which is great, but it also means 8 (or probably 9) went somewhere else. There are only so many in-state blue chips you can take for a variety of reasons, and if your state produces more top talent than you can absorb theres a rational limit to how many youre going to get. In those cases, your percentages will look bad even if youre pulling in a nice haul of local talent. Virginia and Tennessee are producing far more blue chips than Washington is, and Arizona substantially more. Is that whats happening? Signs suggest the answer is no.

Table 11: Raw Numbers of Blue Chips per Year

Tennessee is the only school besides Washington that is bringing in more than 2 local blue chips per year, and even at that theyre barely ahead despite producing double the number of in-state stars as Washington state does. They have little in-state competition (Vanderbilt 5, Memphis 1 over 12 classes), but 14 different out-of-state colleges have pulled multiple star players out of TN; by comparison, only four out-of-state colleges have pulled more than one player out of WA in the last 12 years. Im leaving off schools that have gotten just one player because fluky commitments happen (10 for TN, 8 for WA), but a school pulling multiple blue chips out of your state means they have established significant recruiting inroads there.

Thats exactly whats happened in Virginia and Arizona. Penn State and Ohio State are plundering Virginia on a regular basis. Florida State (7) and Clemson (6) are not far behind. You could excuse Maryland getting 2 players with the whole "DMV" recruiting area, but an equivalent "solid but nothing special" North Carolina team shouldnt be pulling out five top players. In all, 16 out-of-state colleges have pulled multiple blue chips out of Virginia. True, with all the talent there was no way VA and VA Tech were going to keep all those players at home, but averaging fewer than 2 per year with all that available talent speaks to the pipelines out-of-state schools have built in Virginia.

Arizona, though, is by far the worst, as both of the in-state schools are getting out-recruited by Oregon in their own state. Oregon has pulled as many blue chips out of Arizona as Arizona State and Arizona combined. UCLA has matched ASU all by itself, and both USC and Texas have matched Arizona for AZ blue chips. It was frankly shocking to see how few homegrown stars have stayed in Arizona. It wasnt just 12 schools pulling multiple blue chips out of the state but that ASU and AZ had so little gravity. They were the only state whose biggest recruiter wasnt one of their in-state schools. Heck, Boston College kept more Massachusetts kids (out of only 15 total, remember) than Arizona got from its own state with more than 4x as many blue chips. Michigan brought in as many blue chips from Massachusetts as Arizona got from its home state. Florida State got more recruits from Virginia than Arizona State got from their own state as the "big brother" in terms of size and success.

Indiana was kind of an open-ended scrum of the entire Midwest, with 21 of 49 staying in state, 12 more heading to Ohio and Michigan, 9 heading to the South, and the rest scattering. No school really dominated local recruiting.

Oregon was obviously the lead dog in their own state on their own, though more Oregon blue chips went out of state to other Pac-12 schools (13) than stayed in state (12), plus a handful leaving the West. By comparison, only 12 Washington blue chips left the state to go elsewhere in the Pac-12 despite there being nearly twice as many of them.

Massachusetts? Not much to say with just 15 blue chips, other than that Michigan apparently has connections there, nearly matching Boston Colleges recruiting total (4 vs. 5).

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

It means that UW has been and continues to do a terrific job at keeping the top home state talent at home. Other states with similar populations and generally similar setups of two P5 teams dont do nearly as well as we do at that task. Some states produce much more top talent than we do, but they are losing a ton of that talent out of state at a rate that just does not happen here.

If the current talent surge in WA continues, its likely that more players (in absolute terms) will choose to go elsewhere. You cant keep them all. At the same time, you want to keep the exceptions that dont stay home just that: the exceptions. "Building the fence" doesnt mean other teams never get players to leave the state; it just means that other states dont establish permanent pipelines into the state like a dozen or more states have done in Arizona and Virginia (and to a lesser extent Tennessee), where the numbers they are pulling in are rivaling the in-state schools.

We also want to make sure that as we cast our net wider and wider in search of out-of-state talent (the biggest failing in the 2021 Huskies recruiting class, with zero out-of-state blue chips) that we dont take our eye of the ball at home. Oregon may be guilty of this to an extent, as it fires off hundreds of offers around the country while more of its homegrown stars are leaving the state (and usually playing for conference rivals) than are staying home.

The 2022 recruiting class looks strong for Washington, with 6 blue chips in the current 247 rankings and UW considered the odds-on favorite to land more than half of them. Lets keep the borders strong and the purple flame burning bright as we look forward to a great crop of new Huskies next year!

Go Dawgs!

See the rest here:
Building a Fence: Washington and the Magnificent Seven - UW Dawg Pound

PERTH (miningweekly.com) Mining major BHP plans to construct a wind fence at Finucane Island, as part of its Pilbara Air Quality Program.

The fence would be the first of its kind in Australia, and would be designed for the Pilbaras unique weather conditions, said BHP Port GM Nilson Davila.

We recognise we have a shared responsibility to address dust issues at Port Hedland. The wind fence will be constructed using global best practice dust management and air quality control technology.

This planned investment forms part of our Pilbara Air Quality Program and demonstrates our commitment to improve air quality in the area and contribute to the revitalisation of the West End.

Subject to government approvals, the 30 m high fence supports our intention to improve and build on our existing dust control measures as we continue to increase production towards 290 Mtpa in the medium term.

The fence will be located on the western side of BHPs Finucane Island port operations, and will include mesh panels designed to reduce wind speeds, shielding the stockyard and reducing the potential for dust lift-off.

The system has been designed to deal with the extreme wind conditions often experienced in Port Hedland. As the wind speed reaches a certain limit, the mesh curtain opens, to let the air flow through the fence.

We continue to work closely with government, industry and the local community to further improve air quality controls at our operations and for the communities in which we operate. We want to help improve local amenity while also continuing to provide jobs and economic opportunity for the region, said Davila.

The project is still subject to all necessary internal and state government approvals.

See the article here:
Mining Weekly BHP puts up wind fence in WA - Creamer Media's Mining Weekly

BEAVER Officials say a woman died Friday after she drove her car through a fence, up a hill and into traffic on I-15 in Beaver.

Two men in a different vehicle were also injured, according to the Utah Department of Public Safety.

About 5:22 p.m., a California woman was driving a white Honda car west on 300 North at a high speed, officials wrote. She kept going when she came to a T-intersection east of the highway, busting through a security fence and climbing up a hill and into the northbound lanes.

She was struck by a northbound Ford van, causing fatal injuries.

The woman was identified as Falon Henriquez, 28, of Temple City.

Two Utah County men in their early 20s were in the van; they were transported to Beaver Valley Hospital with injuries that are not considered life-threatening.

Everyone involved was wearing a seat belt, officials said.

The wreck closed one lane of traffic for a time Friday. It is under investigation.

Read more here:
Woman dies after driving through fence onto I-15 in Beaver - KSL.com

The Conversation

A historic first: the Confederate battle flag inside the U.S. Capitol. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty ImagesConfederate soldiers never reached the Capitol during the Civil War. But the Confederate battle flag was flown by rioters in the U.S. Capitol building for the first time ever on Jan. 6. The flags prominence in the Capitol riot comes as no surprise to those who, like me, know its history: Since its debut during the Civil War, the Confederate battle flag has been flown regularly by white insurrectionists and reactionaries fighting against rising tides of newly won Black political power. An 1897 lithograph shows changes in Confederate flag design. The Southern Cross design, chosen to visually distinguish Confederates from Union soldiers in battle, became a symbol of white insurrection. Library of Congress via National Geographic The infamous diagonal blue cross with white stars on a red background was never the Confederacys official symbol. The Confederacys original stars and bars design was too similar to the U.S. flag, which led to confusion on the battlefields, where troop positions were marked by flags. The official flag went through a series of changes in attempts to distinguish Confederate from Union troops. The Confederacy would ultimately adopt the Southern Cross as its battle flag cementing it as a symbol of white insurrection. While it is technically the battle flag, it has been used the most, and therefore has become known more generally as the Confederate flag. The Confederate battle flag figures prominently in this depiction of the 1864 battle of Franklin, Tennessee. Kurz and Allison, restoration by Adam Cuerden, via Wikimedia Commons The original emblem Six decades before the Nazi swastika became an instantly recognizable symbol of white supremacists, the Confederate battle flag flew over the forces of the insurgent Confederate States of America military troops organized in revolt against the idea that the federal government could outlaw slavery. The founding documents of the Confederacy make its goals of white supremacy and preservation of slavery explicitly clear. In March 1861, Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens declared of the Confederacy, its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. The documents drafted by seceding states make this same point. Mississippis declaration, for instance, was very specific: Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery the greatest material interest of the world. Rioting white students at University of Mississippi hoist a Confederate battle flag in a backlash against James Merediths attendance as the first Black student in 1962. Bettman via Getty Images Backlash against racial integration After the Civil War, Confederate veterans groups used the flag at their meetings to commemorate fallen soldiers, but otherwise the flag mostly disappeared from public life. After World War II, though, the flag surfaced as part of a backlash against racial integration. Black soldiers who fought discrimination abroad experienced discrimination when they came home. Racist violence against Black veterans who had returned from battle prompted President Harry Truman to issue an executive order desegregating the military and banning discrimination in federal hiring. Truman also asked Congress to pass a federal ban on lynching, one of nearly 200 unsuccessful attempts to do so. In 1948, the retaliation for Trumans integration efforts came, and the Confederate battle flag resurfaced as a symbol of white supremacist public intimidation. That year, U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond, a South Carolina Democrat, ran for president as the leader of a new political party of segregationist Southern Democrats, nicknamed the Dixiecrats. At their rallies and riots, they opposed Trumans integration under the banner of the Confederate battle flag. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, white Southerners flew the Confederate battle flag at riots including violent ones to oppose racial integration, especially in schools. For example, in 1962, white students at the University of Mississippi hoisted it at a riot defying James Merediths enrollment as the universitys first Black student. It took the deployment of 30,000 U.S. troops, federal marshals and National Guardsmen to get Meredith to class after the violent race riot left two dead. Historian William Doyle called the riot which featured the Confederate battle flag at its center an American insurrection. Charleston, Charlottesville and the Capitol More recently, the Black Lives Matter era has seen an increase in violent incidents involving the Confederate battle flag. It has now featured prominently in at least three recent major violent events carried out by people on the far right. In 2015, a white supremacist who had posed with the Confederate battle flag online killed nine Black parishioners during a prayer meeting at their church. In 2017, neo-Nazis and other white supremacists carried the battle flag when they marched in Charlottesville, Virginia, seeking to prevent the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee. One white supremacist drove his car through a crowd of anti-racist counterprotestors, killing Heather Heyer. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversations newsletter.] At the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, an image of an insurrectionist toting the Confederate battle flag inside the Capitol building arguably distills the sieges dark historical context. In the background of the photo are the portraits of two Civil War-era U.S. senators one an ardent proponent of slavery and the other an abolitionist once beaten unconscious for his views on the Senate floor. A man carries the Confederate battle flag in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, between portraits of senators who both opposed and supported slavery. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images The flag has always represented white resistance to increasing Black power. It may be a coincidence of exact timing, but certainly not of context, that the riot happened the day after Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won U.S. Senate seats representing Georgia. Respectively, they are the first Black and first Jewish senators from the former Confederate state. Warnock will be only the second Black senator from below the Mason-Dixon Line since Reconstruction. Their historic victories and President-elect Joe Bidens in Georgia happened through large-scale organizing and turnout of people of color, especially Black people. Since 2014, nearly 2 million voters have been added to the rolls in Georgia, signaling a new bloc of Black voting power. It should come as no surprise, then, that todays white insurrectionists opposed to the shifting tides of power identify with the Confederate battle flag.This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Jordan Brasher, Columbus State University. Read more:Capitol siege raises questions over extent of white supremacist infiltration of US policeA second impeachment is just the start of Trumps legal woes Jordan Brasher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

See the original post here:
Granite Transformations of North Phoenix can help with fast and easy kitchen remodeling - Yahoo News

By Promise Twinamukye

You have probably seen homes with attractive kitchen cabinets and only years after they have been installed, they start crumbling. You cannot help but wonder, what happened? Did the homeowner get a raw deal?

A plan is needed when one considers installing or remodeling any type of cabinet. Whether it is a temporary installation or you are a long time benefit, it will entirely depend on the kind of house you are in.

This could be a rental or your residential house.

One thing you may need to ask yourself especially when you want longterm cabinets is, will you still like them ten years down the road? Will they stand the test of time? This will help you not to settle for less.

The material, according to Edrine Kimera, a 3D studio interior designer at Jomera Homes and Gardens, should also play an important role in planning for your cabinetry.

This, he says, is easier in custom made cabinets since you decide on almost every detail.

If you are on a budget, MDF would do a good job since they also come in different shades, you are spoilt for choice.

Kimera says having various options would include an open kitchen which would leave you with a provision of space to install an island, which will give you more storage spaces.

Plan for it

Do not just dive in getting cabinets before you clearly understand where you are going to place them. There are places in the kitchen that will scream bad idea to your face when you try to alter the way they are.

For example, by the window. Creating a cabinet by your window may not be so good an idea since it could cut off the light entering the kitchen thus creating uneven distribution of light in the kitchen.

The types

There are mainly three types of cabinetry and the others may fall under these three, that is, stock, semi-custom and custom cabinets. Knowing what they are and their associated benefits and prices can help you in decision making regarding your kitchen remodel.

Stock cabinets are the type made in an order that cannot be altered or adjusted. Therefore, you will need to have a well-shaped kitchen space for them to fit well. Otherwise, if you have an oddly shaped space and you need a cabinet to fill, a stock cabinet may not be the best for you. This type of cabinets is often more affordable than the rest of the types.

Semi-custom cabinets are also already made but can be adjusted for size and other customizations. They tend to be better quality than stock cabinets, meaning you will likely get more use out of them. They are slightly more costly than stock cabinets.

Custom cabinets are the ones your service provider will make on your order. While they will cost you the most, they are flexible since they are made according to your tastes and preference. This option gives you a chance to utilise the best materials for the greatest durability.

Cost

Installing a cabinet can be a reasonable affair or a pricey one, depending on the size of the kitchen, style and materials or types of cabinets that you choose.

According to Kimera, a full installation of a 13x11 feet of a kitchen will cost between Shs8m and Shs13m, depending on the material you are using.

On Gayaza Road, cabinets can be installed per square metre starting from Shs400, 000.

See more here:
What to look for in kitchen cabinets - Daily Monitor

*Sigh* ... college football season is officially over and, yep, it came to a close with yet another blowout. Alabama is once again on top of the college football world, continuing the dynasty with authority last night. I've got you covered with plenty of items from Monday's title game, but we've also got some more big news to talk about -- including a semi-surprising NFL coaching change and a suspenseful development in the NBA.

Bring it on.

I was desperately hoping for a close, dramatic title CFP title game last night ... and for a little while it looked like we might get one. But Alabama's explosive offense was relentless and pulled away, keeping their foot on the gas until they cruised to a 52-24 win over Ohio State. That's yet another title victory for Bama and Nick Saban, who made history as the only coach to win seven national championships. (Saban has six at Alabama and one at LSU.)

Like what you're reading? Click right here to get the CBS HQ AM newsletter in your email inbox every weekday morning

You want a fun fact that'll blow your mind? Saban now has more national championships to his name than the other 129 active FBS coaches combined. Just an absolutely preposterous stat.

Here are a few more stunning stats from Monday's game:

How about one more stat for the road? Alabama finished out the season averaging 48.5 points per game, which is the most in SEC history.

The amount of insanely talented skill position players that have come through Tuscaloosa over the past couple of years is just patently absurd, and Bama's gamebreakers were virtually unstoppable on Monday night. In the words of Saban himself, "good defense doesn't beat good offense anymore." And, as a Texas fan, it was beautiful to read Dennis Dodd's summation of Saban's greatness and how it's rubbed off on Steve Sarkisian:

So a big congratulations to Bama for being so damn good that last night's game was disappointingly one-sided. In a college football season that was incredibly unpredictable and chaotic, the Tide's dominance was a constant ... and they left no doubt who the best team in the country was last night.

After Week 17's embarrassing Eagles debacle, I wondered whether Doug Pederson's standing and job security within the organization might take a hit. Ultimately, Pederson and the Eagles decided to part ways yesterday, ending the coach's tenure in Philadelphia just three years after he coached the birds to a Super Bowl title. He's the first coach to be fired within three years of winning a Super Bowl since the Colts axed Don McCafferty in 1973.

All things considered, I'd have to imagine that the decision to tank in Week 17 came from upstairs, which sucks for Pederson because he took a ton of heat for that mess and didn't even get to keep his job for the trouble. But it seems safe to assume the coach will have an opportunity to bounce back and lead another organization soon, perhaps one that will give him more control.

As for what's next for the Eagles, our Jeff Kerr has put together a list of candidates that could replace Pederson... and it likely won't come as much of a surprise that Eric Bieniemy is leading the pack.

The NBA still finds itself in a bit of a mess as it attempts to navigate COVID-19 early in this new year. The league has been hit hard by outbreaks within different organizations over the past week -- several teams have struggled to put the required eight players on the floor because of the virus. Postponements are starting to pile up and the league now has to decide the appropriate next steps.

The league recently said it has no plans to press pause on the season, though there's always the chance that they reconsider that stance based on how messy things have gotten in recent weeks. That being said, there was an expectation that things would get worse after the holidays, so maybe the league will try to endure this spike while making some significant changes to protocols.

Whatever the league decides, it sounds like the next few days could bring some big news, so stay tuned for that.

I probably don't need to tell you that this year's NCAA Tournament is going to look a little different than it would in a normal year. We already know that the entire tournament will be held in the state of Indiana and have a condensed schedule, but COVID-19 will undoubtedly impact the tournament in other ways as well.

In order to get an idea of what this year's March Madness may look like, we had our Matt Norlander gaze into the future and give predictions for multiple aspects of the tournament -- including key dates and overall schedule. Here's how he thinks the schedule will look:

It's important that I clarify that these aren't solidified dates, it's just the schedule that Norlander envisions when he sees the tournament play out in his mind. It's also worth noting that the off-days included in this schedule could also be used to play postponed games, if necessary. If you want to get more into the finer details, Norlander also put together a full potential schedule using Jerry Palm's most recent bracket projection.

The more you look at this projected template, the more you realize it's going to be a chaotic, nearly non-stop event for a couple of weeks. Norlander says he thinks it's "going to be fascinating" and "the best viewing experience in tournament history."

The tournament is always a crazy and chaotic adrenaline rush, but condensing the entire thing is like shifting up and hitting the NOS button, so prepare yourself for that ride. Speaking personally, not having a tournament in 2020 has only made me hungrier for a crazy experience this year.

No. 9 Wisconsin vs. No. 7 Michigan, 7 p.m. | MICH -3.5 | TV: ESPN

Pacers vs. Warriors, 10:30 p.m. | GSW -2.5 | TV: NBATV

CFP National Championship: Alabama 52, Ohio State 24

Alabama posted 621 yards of total offense en route to an 18th national title.Winning wagers:BAMA -9.5, Over (75)

Wizards 128, Suns 107

Bradley Beal had 34 points, eight rebounds and nine assists in the upset.Winning wagers: WSH +203, Over (232)

View original post here:
Here are the most stunning stats from Alabama's demolition of Ohio State - CBS Sports

In the game preview leading up to this top ten tilt, I wrote about Michigan freshman Hunter Dickinson going up against the best frontcourt he has faced in college. Wisconsins Micah Potter was perfectly suited to both slow the Wolverine star down, and thats exactly what he did throughout the first 8 minutes.

While stopping Dickinson with his size and strength near the rim, Potter also scored five quick points before being pulled out before the first half under 12 timeout. With Nate Reuvers struggling mightily on both ends, Gard could not afford to leave Potter on the pine for long and went back to him with just over 11 minutes left in the first half.

Then, within the span of just over 40 seconds, the Badger big picked up a pair of fouls. The second came on a moving screen call with 8:18 left in the half, and Gard quickly inserted Reuvers back in.

It was a nightmarish first half on both ends for Reuvers, who finished 2-7 in the period and gave up numerous easy looks on the defensive end. He looked a step slow from the start of the night, allowing Isaiah Livers to prance to the rim for an easy layup on Michigans second possession.

With Potter on the bench, Wisconsins offense fell apart and the Badgers found themselves down 17 at halftime. The game was over by the time he came back in. Like this entire performance was, Potter sitting after an incredible start cant be blamed on a coach or a player, but instead shared between the two.

A cheap moving screen just isnt a foul that Potter can afford to pick up, knowing he already has one to his name. At the same time, with the game clearly slipping away at the under four timeout in the first half, there is no reason for Gard to leave his second best player on the night sitting. Its a steadfast rule of Gards (and many other college coaches), at least it has been for nearly every situation like this, that a player with two fouls sits in the first half. This wasnt the situation to stick to that rigid rule, but instead one where an analysis of the circumstances would show that Potter had to be out there. He wasnt, and Wisconsin paid the price.

Continued here:
Five reasons Michigan cruised to a 77-54 demolition of Wisconsin - Badgers Wire

The continuing demolition of the St. Joseph Community Center worked into the tallest part of the sprawling complex on Jan. 12.

West 21st Street was blocked from Broadway to Reid Avenue for safety as an excavator with a cutting claw, called a shear, began taking apart the five-story former hospital.

Its address is 205 W. 20th St., but the sprawling Lorain complex takes up much of the block between West 21st and West 20th streets.

Due to the height of the building, the operator drove the excavator up onto a mound of rubble to gain a longer reach to the fifth floor.

Youve got to do it systematically because you dont want anything to fall out or fall in, on him, said Dennis Dannenfelser Jr., owner and CEO of All Star Demolition Services LLC.

An excavator from All Star Demolition Services LLC, prepares to move scrap metal inside the demolition site of the former St. Joseph Community Center on Jan. 12, 2021. The demolition, already lasting about two months, has reached the five-story tallest part of the former hospital. The continuing demolition on that section of the former hospital caused closure of West 21st Street, from Broadway to Reid Avenue, on Jan. 12 and 13, for safety reasons.

The Union, N.J.-based company is tearing down the community center for owners A7 Development Group LLC.

The street was closed, although it appeared little, if any, of the building material would fall into the roadway.

Better off safe, than sorry, Dannenfelser said.

The daytime road closure was scheduled again for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Jan. 13.

Dannenfelser predicted the street could reopen once the crews had taken apart the building closest to the roadway and sidewalk.

Then, the rest of it, he said.

Dennis Dannenfelser Jr., owner and CEO of All Star Demolition Services LLC, right, speaks withSister Carole Ann Griswold, H.M., a retired Mercy Health vice president, during a ceremony to open two time capsules at the former St. Joseph Community Center on Nov. 10, 2020. Dannenfelser is overseeing the continuing demolition of the former hospital and it reached the highest point of the building on Jan. 12, 2021.

"Weve got plenty of room,Dannenfelser said.

The metal I-beams that hold up the building remained sturdy and would not collapse.

Because of that, the demolition of that section was more a procedure of taking the building apart, instead of smashing it down.

So, hes actually cutting the building down, Dannenfelser said.

The brick there will be crushed and used for fill and the metal beams will be cut and sold for scrap, he said.

The heating and air conditioning units atop the building appeared to be the highest section.

They could collapse into the building, but likely are not as heavy as they were when new because inner pipes have been removed, Dannenfelser said.

An excavator fitted with a shear, or cutting implement, by All Star Demolition Services LLC, cuts apart the five-story tallest part of the former St. Joseph Community Center on Jan. 12, 2021. The continuing demolition on that section of the former hospital caused closure of West 21st Street, from Broadway to Reid Avenue, on Jan. 12 and 13, for safety reasons.

With that section down, he said he hopes to begin demolition at the easternmost section of the building by the weekend.

After that, the three-story section, visible from West 21st Street, is made of reinforced concrete, so the crews will use another attachment to tear into it next week, Dannenfelser said.

All Start Demolition Services LLC has posted additional photos, including some aerial views, on allstardemolitionservices.com.

See the rest here:
Lorain demolition reaches top floor of St. Joe Center - The Morning Journal