Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Christmas Tree Recycling Program

Allegheny County's Recycling Program allows for a drop off of Christmas trees through Monday, Jan. 16 at nine regional parks during regular hours of operation, dawn to dusk.

All lights, decorations, tinsel and stands must be removed. The trees will be mulched and used in county parks. The following are the drop-off locations:

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Fwd: Pittsburgh Parent Power

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Hill District Consensus Group" <hdcg@wildapricot.org>
Date: Dec 22, 2016 4:56 PM
Subject: Pittsburgh Parent Power
To: "Mark Rauterkus" <mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

Attention Hill District Consensus Members

(((((((Port Authority is changing their bus fare system!)))))))

Beginning January 1, 2017, Port Authority will eliminate its two-zone fare system and instate a single-zone system in which all riders will pay $2.50 with a Connect Card. Riders paying with cash will pay $2.75. Transfers for riders paying with a Connect Card will remain $1. There will be no transfers for riders paying with cash; riders paying with cash will pay $2.75 for each trip. Port Authority will eliminate the Downtown free bus zone. The free light rail zone will remain. Peak-hour surcharges on light rail will be eliminated. All riders on all bus routes will pay their fare as they board the bus. With the exception of those who require special accommodations, riders will exit from the back doors. Pay-on-enter will go into effect for light rail in mid-2017. Until then, please board as you currently do. Port Authority will charge $1 for new and replacement Connect Cards. Port Authority will offer a new $7 day pass good for unlimited rides within one calendar day, and a Kid's Connect Card that entitles children between the ages of 6 and 11 rides at half-fare.

To find out more go to www.PortAuthority.org&nbsp;


Fwd: Failure of Empire


---------- Forwarded message
From: John Hemington


As we glide into the Christmas season in anticipation of an entirely new experience in the coming year, it is an appropriate time to examine the folly of empire exemplified by efforts of the United States to enforce its domination on the rest of the world for the past sixty-six years or so.  We, the American people, have lived in a delusional bubble when viewing the activities of the governments we elect.  By this I mean that we consistently fail to see the activities of our government in the same light as the rest of the world.  We blindly believe the propaganda spewed forth by the organs of government, the defense department, the intelligence agencies and the media justifying and extoling our actions in the world. 

Now we are entering into a whole new paradigm of "leadership" with the election of Donald J. Trump as the next leader of the misnomered "free world".  It is no longer satisfactory to cling to the old myths of American exceptionalism as the "essential" nation guiding the world to freedom and democracy.  We must come to recognize that the United States is, in fact, the "evil empire" generating death, destruction and devastation wherever it positions itself in the greater sphere of operations.  The Trump team is certain to extend and expand the nationalist furor in an ongoing attempt to subject the rest of the world to our demands and decisions no matter what the consequences for humanity – and they may well be dire.

Unfortunately, until the American people come to realize the devastation and destruction being done in their name and rise up to demand that enough is enough, nothing will be done to staunch the horror of our actions.  It now appears that there are no limits beyond which the Trump administration will not go in an effort to turn the nation and the world over to a neoliberal/neoconservative clique of despotic warriors intent upon total domination of the planet.  What we are about to witness is insanity on a mass scale.  Thanks to the United States effort to destabilize the Middle East the world has become more chaotic than at any time prior to the First World War.  The non-state terrorism is matched tit-for-tat by officially sanctioned state terrorism with aerial drones, sanctioned torture and unprecedented attacks on sovereign nations the rule of the day.  This will not end well.  And with an incoming president who seems to be unable to think beyond the latest Twitter insult cannot end well.

I would like nothing more than to be wishing everyone a Merry Christmas at this time of year, but it is difficult to call up a jovial spirit while looking at what will be facing us in the New Year.  My sincerest wish is that we all survive the next four years and somehow manage to resurrect both the spirit and the reality of idea of the United States as a beacon of hope and justice for the world.  Not an empire, but an example of how things can and should work.  But it will take all of us working together in community for this to become a reality.  We can no longer divide ourselves on artificial issues and maintain hope.  If there is to be hope it must come with understanding and cooperation.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and (to the extent possible) a happy new year.

Do read the attached article.


John


Article

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Re: Awesome: NYU professor gets huge promotion after triggering SJWs


On Dec 21, 2016 3:28 PM, "Tom Woods" <tom@tomwoods.com> wrote:
December 21, 2016
View this email in your browser
Michael Rectenwald describes himself as a lifelong left-liberal.

When he took to Twitter to respond to the safe-space, delicate snowflake, win-by-intimidation atmosphere on campus, the result was pretty much what you'd expect: his colleagues took it as an opportunity to examine their own behavior and open a dialogue with people of different views.

OK, well, duh, that's actually not what happened. That's never what happens, as you and I well know.

The nice part of the story? Rectenwald got the last laugh in a major way.

He was a thrill to talk to. Treat yourself to this episode:

 

Potpourri:

(1) My first-ever tough-love email to my entrepreneurship mailing list: http://happyearner.com/my-first-ever-tough-love-email-to-my-list/

(2) We've got Christmas specials going at LibertyClassroom.com. Material things are fleeting. Knowledge is forever. You know what to do: http://www.LibertyClassroom.com

Tom Woods
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Fwd: Fare Policy Changes Coming Jan 1st!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Chandana Cherukupalli" <info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org>
Date: Dec 20, 2016 3:34 PM
Subject: Fare Policy Changes Coming Jan 1st!
To: <mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

Hey all,

Just a reminder that beginning January 1st, Port Authority will be instituting its new fare policies. All areas will be Zone 1. For those with a ConnectCard, the fare will be $2.50, and transfers will be $1.00. For those paying with cash, the fare will be $2.75, and paper transfers will be eliminated.

ConnectCards will now be sold in Goodwill and other neighborhood locations in addition to Giant Eagle Stores. For a full list of vendors, please visit http://www.connectcard.org/connectcard-locatio ns.aspx

While PPT supports the implementation of one fare throughout the county, we are concerned about the elimination of paper transfers as there is inadequate infrastructure to reload the cards. Low income riders that use cash will be hit the hardest. Riders that cannot afford weekly or monthly passes and need to upload money when they have cash on hand may have difficulty if there are no vendors near them. Those that do not have credit cards/bank account or internet access will not be able to use the online reloading system. The blog The Incline has a more detailed account: http://theincline.com/2016/12/20/change-is-coming-to-port-authority-buses-heres-what-you-need-to-know/.

If you are having difficulty finding a ConnectCard vendor near you, please let Port Authority know this is a problem. Call Port Authority Customer Service at 412-442-2000. For more information, call us at 412-216-9659 or email us at info@pittsburghforpublictransit.org and get involved!

Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address or to stop receiving emails from Pittsburghers for Public Transit, please click here.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Fwd: One of the most important guest blogs we have ever published

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "John O'Sullivan" <John@changingthegameproject.com>
Date: Dec 13, 2016 6:33 AM
Subject: One of the most important guest blogs we have ever published
To: <Mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

This week we are featuring a wonderful guest blog post by Nate Sanderson, Head Coach of the Iowa State Champion Springville Girls Basketball team. This blog originally appeared on Breakthrough Basketball, and I loved it so much I begged them to let me republish it. You NEED to try this with your team next season! I know I am.

Nate realized that as coaches his staff needed to stop "dealing with" parents and start engaging them. They needed to build more trust. He and his staff crafted a few questions for the parents to answer last month at their preseason meeting, and what they learned blew them away. Want to learn what Coach Sanderson and his staff did? Imagine your teams did this?

CLICK HERE TO READ "COACHES, STOP 'DEALING WITH PARENTS' AND START ENGAGING THEM.

Enjoy, and happy holidays everyone!

John O'Sullivan

Founder, Changing the Game Project


PS: We have THREE great ways for you and your loved ones to learn a little something new before the year is out, or grab a last minute gift:

1. Every year at this time of the year, our staff compiles some of our favorite youth sports books that we read in the past year, and comes up with our "Books of the Year." In case you missed it:

CLICK HERE TO READ OUR 2016 BOOKS OF THE YEAR BLOG

2. FOR OUR SOCCER COACHING FRIENDS, the 2017 National Soccer Coaches Association of America Convention is around the corner, and this year it is being held in Los Angeles , CA, January 11-15. This year there is an amazing line up of speakers, including Reed Matlbie, Skye Eddy Bruce, and myself representing Changing the Game Project! TODAY, 12/13, is the last day to grab a discounted admission, so act fast: CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

3. Speaking of Skye, did you miss her Soccer Parenting Summit, featuring over 20 leading coaches, athletes, psychologists, performance experts and parents of high achieving athletes? If so, it was amazing! You can still grab lifetime access to all the videos: CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT YOU MISSED

REMEMBER, you can get 50% off all of our books, eBooks and online courses through our website. Just enter HOLIDAY2016 at checkout.

CLICK HERE TO GRAB SIGNED BOOKS, ONLINE COURSES AND MORE



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Changing the Game Project 61662 Thunder Rd. Bend, Oregon 97702 United States (541) 977-5494

Monday, December 12, 2016

Fwd: Ahh those Russian Hackers and Chinese manufacturers


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: John Hemington


As the world turns in this new era of Trumpian dystopia one just can't ever know just where the truth lies; and, frequently, it doesn't lie with those supposedly reliable sources in the mainstream media – and certainly not within sphere of mainstream politics.  While the liberal glitterati are running around in circles attempting to blame Hillary's loss on Russian hacking to DNC and Podesta e-mails (which, by the way, were never shown to have been tampered with) that demonstrated without question just how corrupt the Clinton operation, the DNC and the Obama team were, the "New Democrats were refusing to acknowledge that the loss was really due to their own failure, for 30 years, to address the economic absurdity of their own neoliberal policies and positions which devastated middle American working populations. 


John

 Links:



WPIAL Swimming Qualification Times for 2016-2017 season

Screenshot fromm the WPIAL memo.

Obama Academy is in Class AA, Section 1.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

Christmas Letter, December 2016


Wishing you a Happy Holiday Season, of course…

I hope your year has been full of people responding to you with “of course.” The world needs more people saying “…of course”. Whether it is “of course you are welcome here” or “of course I’ll help”. Even “yes” isn’t as good as “of course”. “Yes” means it could have been “no” – of course means there was never any question.

The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that the phrase “of course” first appeared in the mid-1500s and was used to mean "belonging to the ordinary procedure; customary; natural." The use of "of course" within the phrase "as a matter of course" appeared in the 1700s and had the same meaning. The use of "of course" as a standalone phrase emerged in the 1800s when the definition, "customary; natural," was modified slightly to become, "naturally; obviously."

I have been reflecting on how blessed we are with so many friends, family, co-workers, and even strangers who respond to our spoken and unspoken requests with “of course.” When Erik (now 22), landed an internship with Strategy& (division of PriceWaterhouseCoopers) this past summer in San Francisco, it was the Bratt family who said, “Of course, he’ll live with us.” The summer was wonderful. Erik is now mid-senior year at Swarthmore College and has accepted a position upon graduation with Boston Consulting Group and will be living in Philadelphia.

Grant headed for an internship at the University of South Dakota in June and the Jorgensen family said, “Of course, Grant can stay in our home.” And when Grant decided to head for New Orleans to attend Tulane University, friends in that area all responded with, of course, we are just a phone call away if he needs anything. Grant approached first semester freshman year with his own “of course” attitude and made his way into a biochemistry lab. This research and community of researchers has become a focus of Grant’s freshman year.

Mark rarely is met with “of course” in his quest for innovative and additional aquatic programming for inner-city youth. But, he continues to fight back with “of course we’ll use the pool, have programming on weekends, and welcome all ages.” Mark ignores obstacles and is now running more programming and positively impacting more lives than ever.

At work, I have had an exciting year of expanding services with the focus that treating hearing loss can improve health outcomes. I am so thankful for a group of colleagues around me who respond to these ideas with, “Of course we’ll figure out how to make this work, and find the resources, time, and expertise to do all of this.” And, of course, I enjoyed telling Main Stage stories for The Moth in New York and Pittsburgh this year.

We hope you hear “of course” throughout 2017, and we hope you’ll think of responding with this phrase so people know there was never any doubt that you would help them, cheer them on, include them…and, of course, we wish you and yours health and happiness in 2017!

Catherine Palmer and Mark Rauterkus
108 South 12th Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

Friday, December 09, 2016

Fwd: Let there be light

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Subject: Let there be light
From: "John Hemington"

As the effort to brand independent Internet news sources as Russian pawns, it's a good time to examine some of those behind this attempt to stifle media which fails to toe the establishment line to see just where these claims originate.  It is also important to understand that much of the information coming from the mainstream media – particularly The New York Times and The Washington Post are simply transcriptions of administration and CIA press leaks which are in and of themselves nothing more than official government propaganda.  Americans saw this in spades during the endless presidential campaign, but it is an endless processus of fake and false news emanating from these "reliable" sources which should most concern the American citizen.  The attached articles address both of these issues.

John

Links



Saturday, December 03, 2016

Fwd: Tired of swimming slow?

Podcasts and coaching knowledge.... Listen and learn every week, if not every day.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "RITTER Sports Performance" <connect@rittersp.com>
Date: Dec 3, 2016 9:06 AM
Subject: Tired of swimming slow?
To: <mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

Trying to improve your swim times and get faster isn't as easy or linear as you'd hope.

You may get stuck doing the same type of workouts over and over expecting a different result. (Wait isn't that the definition of insanity?)

Or maybe you have a pretty decent swim program to follow with variety in your workouts but you rarely go "race pace" on a regular basis. Can you really expect to get better race times if you never actual practice being your fastest?

Swimming more laps or even swimming more laps in a "hard" way that causes you to want to vomit or curl up in the fetal position doesn't automatically mean you'll race faster.

When you work really hard but see little results for your effort it can be mentally draining. I don't think there's a more frustrating part of swimming, whether you're a swimmer or a coach, as when you work hard but don't get faster.

Isn't swimming supposed to be one of the more "honest" sports? In that if you work hard you'll get rewarded with faster times?

Let me break it to you if you don't already know - just because you train hard in the pool doesn't mean it always leads to getting faster. Don't equate being really tired to getting better. It's just not that simplistic.

-Chris

PS - If you want some ideas on how to actually train so you can really improve your race times check out this episode of our podcast. It's one of the most popular to date.



Unsubscribe | 601 S Kings Dr, Suite DD, Charlotte, North Carolina 28204

Fwd: Join us tomorrow for Education on Air

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Google for Education" <googleforedu@google.com>
Date: Dec 2, 2016 12:56 PM
Subject: Join us tomorrow for Education on Air
To: <mark@rauterkus.com>
Cc:

To view this email as a web page, click here

Spear
It's almost time for
Education on Air

Education on Air is going to be one of Google's biggest events of the year—for educators, by educators. And we hope you'll be one of them. View the event page to check out the 100+ PD sessions you can attend throughout the day.

You'll discover new ways to engage your students, from the comfort of your home.

Register now and join us tomorrow, December 3rd.

 
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Fwd: Blacklist goes on

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "John Hemington" <jehemington@verizon.net>
Date: Dec 2, 2016 10:38 PM
Subject: Blacklist goes on
To: "John Hemington" <jehemington@verizon.net>
Cc:

On and on it goes . . .

 

 

U.S. Journalists and Professors Appearing on RT America Get Blacklisted

 

By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: December 2, 2016

 

Some independent journalists and university professors in the United States who have appeared on RT television to criticize either runaway corruption on Wall Street or in Washington, have landed on two newly created blacklists.  RT is a Russian state-financed news network formerly known as Russia Today. Its English-language RT America unit broadcasts from Washington, D.C.

 

A shadowy group called PropOrNot, that has not disclosed either its funders or its principals, has created a blacklist of 200 independent media web sites that it is calling tools of Russia. On the list are some of the most popular and widely read alternative media outlets like Naked Capitalism, Truthout and Truthdig, which regularly carry articles by some of the most knowledgeable and informed voices in America.  Another popular site, CounterPunch, was originally on the list but has now been removed following what PropOrNot calls a "constructive conversation."  Reporter Craig Timberg of the Washington Post has come under withering criticism for amplifying the McCarthyite blacklist in a Thanksgiving Day article.

 

Equally disturbing, 200 university and college professors have been placed on a new Professor Watchlist being operated by Turning Point USA, a right-wing nonprofit run by 23-year old Charlie Kirk who spoke this year at the Republican National Convention. Kirk has raised well over $1 million from conservatives to spread the "free markets/small government" mantra at high school and university campuses (never mind that Wall Street's "free markets" are just as corrupt today as they were heading into the 2008 epic financial crash).

 

In 2012, Kirk wrote an opinion piece for Breitbart News suggesting that Paul Krugman's ideas should be replaced in high school classrooms by those of the Cato Institute – a nonprofit secretly owned in part by the Koch brothers for decades.  (Such ideas will land one on the fast-track to big money from the right wing in America.)  Steve Bannon, the former Executive Chairman of Breitbart News Network and anti-liberal propaganda filmmaker extraordinaire, has been named by Donald Trump as his Senior Counselor and Chief Strategist in the White House.

 

Yves Smith, the founder and widely respected writer at Naked Capitalism has appeared on RT television on several occasions. In the interview featured in the link below from 2010, she was afforded the time to make her brilliantly cogent points on the systemic corruption on Wall Street that has yet to be remedied despite the greatest financial crash since the Great Depression.  In 2011, Smith alerted her readers that she was going to be appearing on RT America, noting that she "seemed to be banned from US TV channels, but the flip side is this was a much more substantive conversation than you'd find on the usual suspects here."  Indeed, RT America has allowed independent journalists and professors adequate time to make detailed arguments against establishment group-think in America, something that is regularly lacking on corporate-controlled news media in the U.S.

 

NYU Professor Mark Crispin Miller Is Interviewed on RT Television

 

Another independent journalist landing on PropOrNot's blacklist is Paul Craig Roberts, the former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy under President Ronald Reagan, a former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal and a former columnist at BusinessWeek.  In this segment on RT television, Roberts states that the "political system in the United States is as corrupt as it is integrant."  In another appearance on RT, Roberts spoke favorably of Senator Bernie Sanders, stating that "he has independence" and that the special interest groups "don't like candidates who think for themselves."

 

The long-tenured and widely respected Professor of Media, Culture and Communication at New York University, Mark Crispin Miller, has landed on the Professor Watchlist. In this RT interview, Miller called U.S. media a "disgrace," adding that the quality of journalistic material is "embarrassingly low."  Miller went on to characterize U.S. media as a "cartel," stating that "we have a system that's owned and dominated by a handful of huge corporations."

 

The above comments made by Smith, Roberts and Miller on RT television are completely factual and are views shared by tens of millions of fellow Americans.  Rather than attempting to censor their well-founded arguments that America is dangerously headed in the wrong direction, perhaps we should get to work on the critical problems they are attempting to bring to the fore.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqD-0t0LYb8

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBy4w8Mc3Zk

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvHVDes3lR8&feature=youtu.be&t=4m7s

 

John