Let me tell you about Stephen Dorff

Source: Sportinglife.com ()

Hearts hit a new low after St Mirren midfielder Stephen McGinn’s first-half strike condemned the Gorgie side to their ninth defeat of the season.

McGinn struck in the 16th minute with a clinical finish from inside the box after meeting Ian Maxwell’s cross.

Hearts lacked penetration in attack in a woeful home performance and plummeted to 10th place in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League, now just one point ahead of today’s visitors to Tynecastle.

The home supporters booed the team off at full-time, as the recent terrible run worsened to one win in 10 matches.

Fans in the main stand also vented their frustration at the executive box on full-time, shouting abuse at the club’s directors.

St Mirren made a lively start and created the first chance after just 60 seconds.

Alan Reid’s teasing cross was just missed by Stewart Kean from six yards after he managed to evade his marker inside the box.

Hearts responded five minutes later to test St Mirren goalkeeper Chris Smith.

Left-back Lee Wallace raced down the flank before finding captain Christophe Berra at the back post with a deep cross.

The Hearts captain nodded the ball down to Christian Nade but the Frenchman’s shot from eight yards landed comfortably in Smith’s hands.

Hearts were temporarily reduced to 10 men after striker Andrius Velicka disappeared down the tunnel to receive treatment on a foot injury, although the Lithuanian returned five minutes later.

The visitors then stormed ahead in the 16th minute courtesy of a clinical finish from McGinn.

Ian Maxwell found space on the left wing and delivered a cross which found the winger at the back post.

After taking the ball down on his chest, McGinn drilled a low shot into the net from an acute angle, beating veteran goalkeeper Steve Banks, who was recalled place of Eduardas Kurskis.

Hearts’ disjointed performance failed to improve despite going a goal down, prompting small …

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune (subscription) ()

ULTRAFIT STEPHEN REGENOLD
It’s 1-below, and a pale morning sky is pitched over a barren field in Andover. A dozen dogs are yipping and twirling on a ski trail near a parking lot. I’m gearing up with the Midwest Skijorers Club for a session at Bunker Hills Regional Park, where 12 kilometers of rolling trail has been set aside for the dog-powered sport of skijoring.
"Line out!" a bundled skier yells, his dog perked up and waiting to run. "Hike, let’s go, let’s go!"
And they’re off, an explosion of snow and ice, poles pushing, skis skating, a harnessed husky leaping ahead, pulling the line tight to run away with skier in tow.
This is skijoring, a cousin sport to dog sledding in which Nordic skis, harnesses and a short length of bungee cord form a system that can power interspecies teams to speeds heretofore unseen on flat snow. The premise is simple: The dog runs and pulls, and the human skis behind, borrowing off the canine thrust while striding and skating to contribute to the team’s momentum for flying down the trail.
Skijoring is a long-practiced Nordic technique, a mode of wintertime transport that evolved into a sport a century ago. But the activity has gained popularity in recent years as everyday skiers see the potential in their pets. Indeed, you don’t need an Arctic sled dog to skijor. According to Jim Benson, president of the 100-member Midwest Skijorers Club, any healthy dog that weighs 35 pounds or more is a candidate for the sport.
"We have Labs, border collies, retrievers and giant schnauzers in the club," Benson said. "It’s a great way to exercise the family pet."
Pull hard? No problem
My pet — a 90-pound Weimaraner named Rodney — is a perfect example: Rodney is five years old, energetic and still a puppy at heart. For exercise, he needs to run every day, and he loves to pull. Dress him in a harness, into skis and — BAM! — you’re flying.
At Bunker Hills, where the trail dips and …

Source: Atlanta Journal Constitution ()

DACULA

Boys football team wins tournament

The Dacula Athletic Association National League North football team won the Gwinnett Football League county championship for the 7-year-old division. The Gwinnett Football League is a recreational football program for youths in Gwinnett County. The team and families then traveled to Panama City, Fla., over the Thanksgiving weekend for the Snapper Bowl Championship. The Dacula Falcons won for the 7-year-old division. The team played five games in less than two days against teams from the Southeast to win the championship. The team is led by coach Lamar Holman and had a roster of 20 boys from throughout Gwinnett.

City offices taking Christmas break

Dacula City Hall will be closed today and Tuesday in celebration of the Christmas holidays. City Hall will reopen at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Planning board meeting Thursday

The Dacula Planning & Zoning Board will meet at 6 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 442 Harbins Road.

Council to meet twice Thursday

• There will be a Dacula City Council meeting at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at City Hall. The agenda for the called meeting will be posted at City Hall.

• The council’s work session will begin at 7 p.m. Thursday at City Hall.

GRAYSON

Two cancer center nurses win honor

Registered nurses Nikki Sebren of Grayson and Sarah Goldberg of Atlanta, both of the Aflac Cancer Center and Blood Disorders Service of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, were recently presented with the Laura Snitzer Boozer Nursing Award.

The award honors nurses who have demonstrated professional excellence and leadership in pediatric cancer care and provides financial support for continued education in the field of oncology. The award is given in memory of Laura Snitzer Boozer, an Aflac Cancer Center who died in 1999.

After Snitzer Boozer’s death, people donated funds to create the Laura Snitzer Boozer …

Source: The Birmingham News - al.com ()

MONDAY

Business Network International. Business referral and
networking meetings - Oak Mountain Chapter, 11:30 a.m.,
Shoney’s, Bobby Molan, 621-9000.

WEDNESDAY

Alabama Business Builders Association. Meetings - Riverchase
Chapter, 7-8:30 a.m., Riverchase Country Club, 2000 Club
Drive, Hoover, Mike Mikos, 822-7413 or mmikos@mkinsure.com;
Business Building Buddies Chapter, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m., Golden
Corral Buffet & Grill, 3114 Lorna Road, Janette
McConnell, 263-1900 or jmchomes4u@bellsouth.net.

Birmingham Elephant Hunters Tips Club. Meeting, networking
group for experienced senior sales executives, 11:30 a.m.-
12:30 p.m. scott.johnson@deltacom.com.

Business Network International. Business referral and
networking meetings - Mudtown Chapter, 7 a.m., Mudtown
Restaurant, Green Valley Road in Cahaba Heights, Gary
Linderman, 999-5214; HH 150 Chapter, 7 a.m.,
O’Charley’s Restaurant on Alabama 150, Jim
Waddell, 835-5211; Clay Chapter, 7:30 a.m., Trussville
Antique Mall, Steve Kellough, 802-4290; Central Shelby
Chapter, 11:30 a.m., Incahoots in Helena, Jessup Standifer,
664-3200; Peak Performers Chapter, 7:30 a.m., Realty South
on Alford Ave. Stephen Vinson, 218-6057.

THURSDAY

Alabama Business Builders Association, Summit Chapter.
Meeting, 7:15-8:30 a.m., Village Tavern, 101 Summit Blvd.
Tammy, 972-0744.

Business Network International. Business referral and
networking meetings - Vestavia Hills Chapter, 7 a.m.,
Altadena Valley Golf & Country Club on U.S. 31, Jimmy
Parrish at 585-8595; City Center Chapter, 7:15 a.m., Village
Tavern at The Summit, H. Heath Henderson at 326-9608;
Heatherwood Chapter, 11:30 a.m., Heatherwood Country Club,
Kim Skipper, 587-7775.

Magic City Sales Club. Professional referral and networking
lunch meeting, 11:30 a.m.-12:30 Lakeview Oyster House,
Southside. Roger Steur, 821-5006.

FRIDAY

Business Network International. Business referral and
networking …

Source: Find your courage - New Zealand Herald ()

Previously untouchable, Scott Styris is no longer a safe bet for selection. Photo / Reuters

Previously untouchable, Scott Styris is no longer a safe bet for selection. Photo / Reuters

The Test side to face Bangladesh in the New Year could be in for a massive shake-up. An unhappy panel of selectors met in Sydney last week for preliminary discussions about the future make-up of the test side.

Yesterday, panel manager Sir Richard Hadlee fired a well-directed bouncer at the batsmen and hinted domestic form could sway selectors into making changes.

The team for the first test against Bangladesh at Dunedin will be chosen between the second and third one-day internationals and most likely be named on Saturday. Some players will be playing for spots in that test team in the opening ODIs.

Hadlee was particularly scathing of the efforts of the batsmen on the recently completed tour, saying Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla taught the Black Caps a lesson in fortitude, and a disappointed panel wanted only batsmen who had proved they could bat for long periods of time and “take a few blows to the body”.

The inference was clear: the selectors - Hadlee, coach John Bracewell, Dion Nash and Glenn Turner - do not believe New Zealand showed enough courage under fire in South Africa.

“There is huge concern,” Hadlee said. “We want some results and we have to find methods of getting results.

“If we need to reward players at domestic level at the expense of the incumbent players, then that’s the professional environment.

“Clearly, we’ve been disappointed by a number of the performances in the one-dayers and a number of those guys are a part of the test set-up, so we need to see some improvement in both the batting and bowling. They’ve got a couple of games to really impress,” Hadlee said.

Realistically, only four of the side took the field for the second test against South Africa at Pretoria last month are safe.

Captain …

Source: The Capital Times ()

An attorney general’s opinion declaring it
unconstitutional to block student transfers from one district to
another on the basis of race could have far-reaching implications
for the Madison school district.

While state law lets school districts block
student transfers if they would increase racial imbalance, Attorney
General J.B. Van Hollen, in a legal opinion requested by the
Department of Public Instruction, says recent U.S. Supreme Court
rulings make the law unconstitutional.

The Madison Metropolitan School District is
the only district in the state that invokes race to deny transfer
applications.

In 1975 Wisconsin adopted a law that created
a program encouraging school districts to permit student transfers
to promote diversity.

Madison school district spokesman Joe Quick
said the district’s practice makes it the only district in the
state that has been following the state law.

“Our question would be: How are other
districts circumventing the law, as opposed to adhering to it?” he
said.

“As we have done regarding this law since its
inception, we’re going to obey the law, and current law says you
shall reject any application that will affect the racial balance of
the school district,” Quick added. “We’ve been following the law
for years, but with this attorney general’s opinion, and the
Department of Public Instruction asking for the opinion, we’ll wait
to see what counsel they’ll provide for us.”

In his opinion released Thursday, Van Hollen
writes, “The effect is that a student’s race becomes a mandatory,
threshold requirement when determining whether a student will be
allowed to transfer into an available space in a school
district.”

The law violates the right to equal
protection and limits students’ ability to participate in
Wisconsin’s open enrollment program, Van Hollen, a Republican,
said.

The helps cover the cost of transfers
between districts with high and low minority student populations.
Districts …

Source: The Press Association ()

Vince Cable will remain deputy leader and economic spokesman

Source: Trading Markets (press release) ()

The Salt Lake Tribune business digest column

Wednesday, December 19, 2007; Posted: 03:40 PM

Dec 19, 2007 (The Salt Lake Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) — LCOS | charts | news | PowerRating — FRANKLINCOVEY SUES INTERNET FIRM OVER BOOK POSTING: FranklinCovey is suing a Massachusetts Internet search and Web site company, saying it violated the Utah company’s copyright by posting or maintaining a copy of the entire book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People on its Web sites. FranklinCovey, the Salt Lake City-based provider known for its day planner, filed suit against Lycos Inc. on Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Utah. It asks for at least $300,000 and that Lycos be restrained from violating the company’s copyright on the book. The book was published in 1989 by Stephen Covey, who emerged as a prominent motivational and business management speaker. Franklin Quest and the Covey Leadership Center merged in 1997. The lawsuit said FranklinCovey has demanded that Lycos remove the digital copy of the book from Web sites under its control but that Lycos ignored the demands. Officials at Lycos said the matter was under investigation and it had no immediate comment. –Tom Harvey SNOW SPORTS PRODUCTS RETAIL OUTLETS SEE SALES DECLINE, ONLINE SALES ZOOM: Retail stores specializing in snow sports products experienced a 7 percent decline in sales in August through October, compared with the same period a year ago. A SnowSports Industries America (SIA) report released Tuesday said specialty store sales dipped to $287 million from $307 million a year earlier. While equipment sales dropped 12 percent in the comparable quarters, apparel sales slid just 4 percent. However, Internet sales climbed 52 percent, to $104 million, for the quarter. Apparel continued to dominate the online market, accounting for more than half of all sales, but equipment sales up from 17 percent to 21 percent of the total, said SIA research director Kelly Davis. …

Source: InformationWeek ()

« How Dell Is (Far Too Much) Like Starbucks |
Main

Source: Reuters ()

(Recasts, adds CEO quote, additional investor, background of
Middle East real estate investment, byline)

By Ilaina Jonas

NEW YORK, Dec 17 (Reuters) - Related Cos, one of the
largest U.S. real estate developers, will get an injection of
$1.4 billion from Goldman Sachs (GS.N: Quote, Profile, Research), three Middle East
investment groups, and the investment firm of Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research)
founder Michael Dell.

Related said on Monday that an affiliate of Abu Dhabi
investment agency Mubadala Development Co., Saudi Arabia’s
family-owned Olayan Group, and an unnamed international entity
had agreed to provide it with debt financing.

A source familiar with the matter said the financing
totaled about $1 billion and that the unnamed international
entity was a Middle East sovereign fund.

The capital injection underscores the increasing role
Middle Eastern investors are playing in U.S. commercial real
estate. Loaded with dollars from the soaring price of oil, they
have been increasingly sought out for funds.

Middle East direct purchases of U.S. office buildings,
hotels, industrial property, apartments and shopping centers
has more than doubled since 2003, to $7.5 billion in 2007,
according to real estate research firm Real Capital Analytics.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Michael Dell’s MSD Capital have
taken equity stakes in Related totaling 7.5 percent, the real
estate developer said. Together, they spent $400 million,
valuing the firm at more than $5 billion, according to the
source familiar with the deal.

Stephen Ross, Related’s chairman and chief executive, said
the capital injection had under discussion since April,
when debt was cheap and plentiful, buyers abounded, and
commercial real estate values were soaring.  Continued…