Monday, January 21, 2008

Still Gitmo Questions Abound


What happens if you are left alone in the dark in solitary confinement for days on end? The result is called sensory deprivation and the human mind struggles to cope with it.

Six volunteers who agreed to be shut inside a cell in a nuclear bunker, all alone and in the dark. Within half an hour of lock up, at the start of the experiment, all of the subjects lie down and go to sleep. But the real mind games begin when they wake up and find they have no idea what time it is.
As the hours pass, seeing and hearing nothing, they become increasingly disoriented, subjects have been encouraged to describe how they are feeling after 24 hours, but know that while their words may be heard, no one will respond.

"This behaviour of pacing up and down is something we see in animals as well as people when they are kept in confinement," says Prof Ian Robbins, a clinical psychologist at St George's Hospital who is supervising the experiment. "It could be just seen as something you can do without thinking about it, it may be in part attempting to exercise, but I think it is reaction to the lack of input and you provide the input physically."

Subject Brian Keenan is all too familiar with some of what they are experiencing: "The nothingness, that was extremely hard. Because the question in your head is how am I going to get through the next 10 minutes? Or months later, how am I going to get through the next day? Is there enough left in my head?"adding, "I remember one occasion waking up and having to squeeze my face and my chest and thinking to myself 'Am I still alive?'

Subject Adam Bloom, experienced, after just 30 hours, he is in trouble. "I'm hallucinating! I thought I could see a pile of oyster shells, five thousand oyster shells, empty, to represent all the nice food I could have eaten while I was inside here."

Prof Ian Robbins an insight into "what can happen to people kept in solitary confinement over possibly many months and even years". "Evidence that has accumulated in those places must be considered very unreliable because people will after a while start to take on board the views of their interrogators," he says. "Our volunteers were in a sensory deprivation environment for 48 hours and being treated humanely."

After just 48 hours, Adam wanted to kiss the man who opened the door to let him out. "I was let outside and saw the sun and the sky, for the first time in 48 hours. My senses were overwhelmed totally and utterly by the sights, sounds and smells.

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Saturday, January 19, 2008

St. Helens is Disturbing the Locals Again

MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL MONUMENT, Wash. - Mount St. Helens blew another cloud of steam skyward Thursday shortly after scientists said its crater floor had risen 50 to 100 feet since Tuesday, indicating that molten magma was moving upward without encountering much resistance.

A news helicopter hovering over the crater captured the latest venting, which sent gray and white clouds of steam billowing upward beginning about noon (3 p.m. ET).

I lived in the area when she first blew, it was dramatic!

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Frigid Conditions take toll Despite American Allies Presence in the Country.


The number of people who have died due a cold snap in Afghanistan has risen to 200, government officials say. Four large provinces in the western part of the country have been especially badly hit. Tens of thousands of livestock have also perished.

Local people are saying the winter conditions have been the most severe in decades. The cold spell is also affecting neighboring countries despite the presence of the American presence in the area.People seem to have been unprepared for the heavy snow and low temperatures.

Most of the 200 dead are herdsmen - but women and children have also died.


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Thursday, January 17, 2008

Looks like the Whalers and the Protesters have Mutually Stood Down


The pair, from the radical Sea Shepherd group, boarded the vessel on Tuesday. The ICR then branded the activists as terrorists, while Sea Shepherd accused the ICR of illegal hunting. Earlier, Australian PM Kevin Rudd had urged both sides to exercise restraint.

"It became very clear yesterday that Sea Shepherd had no intention of retrieving their two intruders, who boarded the Yushin Maru with backpacks carrying a change of clothes, toiletries and other sundry items.

"The Australian government accepted Japan's request to assist and remove the men from our research vessel to allow us to continue our work."


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Intervention Asea offered by the Aussies


Australia says it will send a ship to collect two activists from a Japanese whaling vessel, in a bid to end a two-day Antarctic stand-off. Her Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said a ship monitoring the whalers would retrieve the men as soon as possible. Mr Smith said that the patrol boat, the Oceanic Viking, would retrieve the men from the Yushin Maru 2 and transfer them to Sea Shepherd's Steve Irwin vessel.

The whalers say the men tried to damage their propeller and threw acid before illegally boarding. They offered to return them if Sea Shepherd agreed not to confront the whaling vessel during the handover.
Sea Shepherd said the men were roughed up when they boarded the vessel and ruled out any kind of conditional handover.



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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

this is very strange shutting down the new accounts without the new post transferred. Let me know what you think leave me a comment:

Monday, February 26, 2007


The Blazers are speculating that Rookie Center LaMarcus Aldridge may be getting extra minutes in the second half of the Season 07'.
Things are looking up with the addition of another local hero Freddie Jones the once fiery from the University of Oregon fighting Ducks!!

Now!!

He is going to be looking to come off the bench early and often to be teamed with the Sergio overdrive game! It seems that Jones is quite the finisher, he has won an NBA Slam Dunk Championship and may just be the finisher that the Blazers have been struggling to find.

Sunday, February 18, 2007

TRADE?

The Tacoma News-Tribune ran this today as part of a larger piece on possible Sonics Trades:

Two sources confirmed that the Portland Trail Blazers called the Sonics in an attempt to obtain Robert Swift.

Sund told the Blazers that Swift, out for the season with a knee injury, was not available, according to the sources.

It is unclear who the Blazers offered, though they have been attempting to trade Jamaal Magloire all season. In that case, another player like Danny Fortson would have to be included to meet the NBA’s salary requirements. Magloire makes $8.3 million while Swift makes $1.9 million.



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Sunday, January 28, 2007

Zach Comes to Life... in an Ugly... WIN!


The 135 points were a season high for a game, for the Trail Blazers, as were their 27 assists.

Randolph shot only 16-of-40 from the field but scored 13 points in two overtime to help the Trailblazers rally from their 16-point deficit in the second half. He even shot a 3-pointer with 38 seconds left to clinch Portland's third win in the last four games. Zach Randolph scored dude, he had a career-high 42 points on the night, and he grabbed 12 rebounds. The Trailblazers rallied to beat those woeful Memphis Grizzlies 135-132 in a double overtime game on Saturday night.

The opposition even complimented their work ethic after the game. "They did a good job of pounding the ball inside," Memphis coach Tony Barone said. "They caught the ball in the paint 31 times and that led to 34 points, whether it was field goals or free throws. The one stat the killed us tonight was second-chance points. ... You can't give up that many second-chance points in any game."

The Trailblazers outscored Memphis 72-52 in the paint, showing evidence of their inside dominance. Portland had 16 offensive rebounds! That is how they built a 23-8 advantage, by getting second chance points! A sweet victory on the road!

It wasnt weasy, it took an explosion in the Blazers' locker room at halftime with coach Nate stomping and swearing, to challenge his team. The Blazers had just been traumatized 59-47 by the Grizzlies, heck, they own the worst record in the NBA! Nate called the defense lethargic.

Then Zach took over. He got the message. He kept shooting and shooting and shooting, kinda like the energizer bunny out there. Randolph shot 40 times, he set a new franchise record for attempts, breaking the record of 37 set by Geoff Petrie, way back, in 1973. Everyone was impressed. The Blazers won again, imagine, three of the last Four!

OregonLive forum has this reaction:

323687.1.1. by next year
by JETBlack06, 1/28/07 1:42 ET
Re: Sergio 7 more assists by JETBlack06, 1/28/07 he should be our man at the point playing 30 plus minutes dishing out 10 dimes a game
323687. Sergio 7 more assists
by JETBlack06, 1/28/07 1:32 ET
and no turnovers. His A/T ratio has got to be out of this world by now.

323681. Zach's 3 pointer. Check this out
by iverigma, 1/28/07 1:00 ET
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMyndHtj_Qs
323682. Zachy franchise by timr1088, 1/28/07 1:07 ET
They came out and gave the ball to Zach Randolph, and he did what all franchise players do in this league. He delivered," Memphis guard Chucky Atkins said. "He made big plays. He got big rebounds for them and putbacks, and he did everything he needed to for his team to win.

Good stuff! If you have anything to add, lemme know!

Thursday, January 25, 2007

Undefeated! At Least, in the Second Half the Year!

Two in a row!!

Zach Randolph struggled, scored just two points by halftime- but finished strong with 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds as the Portland Trail Blazers edged the Mighty Kevin Garnett and his Minnesota Timberwolves, 101-98, in overtime.

It was another game showcasing the rookie trio that the Blazers picked on draft day 2006!

Sergio Rodriguez even scored 18 points, he was hoisting his shot at the direction of Coach Nate, who said that this prevented the T'wolves from sagging off & have them defend the "Spanish Chocolate"- and his incredible passes.

Brandon Roy too has recently been given that green light to handle the offense. He has not let the team down, you can hear the pride in his voice while he talks of having his own number called in recent vital scoring situations. He rewarded the team for that confidence in him, he did this while contributing 13 points. He has been really coming through recently, in closing seconds. It has been said that Brandon Roy knows when he needs take over, so he’s not afraid to do it. The results- the Blazers have won back to back games for the first time this season!

LaMarcus Aldridge too is getting his minutes, in this contest he struggled with his shooting, throwing up a lot of misses. But in the closing minutes he came through like a veteran. He shot 2/2 at the free throw line keeping the Blazers in dominance, (read about them below!) while gathering 2 more blocks at the defensive end, saying to the T'wolves, 'No, not here, not tonight.

From Oregonlive.com and the Blazer forum

322922. Roy
by timr1088, 1/25/07 13:08 ET
Is there any doubt who the leader is on this team. This kid is going to be a star. Love the fact that he wouldn't go out of the game even with back spasms. I get them at least twice a year and I can barely move, of course a little vicadin (sp?) always helps but it's still pretty stiff and hard to do daily activities, can't even imagine trying to play an NBA game with them. We have the player we can build around. Amazing that the player we go to in the clutch has really only played 25 NBA games.......

Re: Aldridge
322832.1. he WON the game for us, bro
by ZBo, 1/25/07 1:15 ET
Re: Aldridge has got to by JETBlack06, 1/25/07
his free throws LITERALLY won the game for us.

322829. LMA freethrows
by BrailleTaser, 1/25/07 1:11 ET
did LMA call Ricky Davis a bi.tch after draining that second FT? As he backed away, I thought I saw him say bi.tch in RD's direction, since Davis had been trying to psych him.


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Monday, January 22, 2007

Well it Wasnt a Breakout Game, but it was a Fine Win!

Well the New Exciting Portland Trailblazers opened up the second half of the season last night. As expected they made a statement. ESPN noticed, FOXsports did too. Brandon Roy continued uploading his application process for the NBA Rookie of the Year, with a marked vengeance.

Our own, Brandon Roy was the leading scorer against the struggling Milwaukee ballclub. He contributed a healthy 39 minutes, shooting 10-15 from the field, added 9 rebounds, 2assists and made 2 steals. Roy incidentally made a devestating, heart ripping three in the final minutes to stop any run that the Bucks could have made.

Coach Nate was impressed... again. He witnessed the Buck heart becoming disemboweled in the final minutes. "When they came back on us, he (Roy) made play after play and was able to stop their streak by scoring himself on the other end," McMillan said. "He makes something happen."

The Trailblazers NBA All-star also offered an insight that few talked about. "We would have lost this last year," said Portland's Zach Randolph, who added 19 points and 12 rebounds for his 24th double-double of the young season. "This year we fought back and won."


Yes this team is willing and able to make a statement for the foes who would walk into the Rose Garden looking for that "easy win". Up next. Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves visit Portland and Ime Udoka will be take on the Midwest's number one scorer. Lets see if Garnett winds up getting his hands cuffed for the next 4 quarters.

From the OregonLive.com Blazer forum.
321765. Play Sergio More
by NoCal, 1/22/07 0:08 ET
Sergio had 6 assists in only 13 minutes. He came in the game when the Blazers were up 5 and when he came out they were up 20. Jack played the rest of the game and the lead evaporated and they nearly blew the game.

Jack had only 3 assists in 38 minutes and the offense was stagnant with him in there. He is not bad, but the team plays better with Sergio. I would like to see them split time at PG over the next month to see how they fare with equal playing time.


321765.2. Sergio only got 13 minutes because he
by Smoothy07, 1/22/07 0:11 ET
Re: Play Sergio More by NoCal, 1/22/07 can't guard a rock placed in cement

321765.3.2. Does that translate to 'I like Jack"?
by Marazul, 1/22/07 0:30 ET
Re: Play Sergio More by NoCal, 1/22/07

321765.4. Jack
by salesteacher, 1/22/07 0:29 ET
Re: Play Sergio More by NoCal, 1/22/07
Not as sharp as the Spaniard but the future is bright with both of them on our team.


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Sunday, January 21, 2007

The Second Half of the Season Starts Tonight!

After playing their hearts out against Phoenix the other night, in a game in which they battled to pull within three on three different occasions during the final two minutes, the Blazers are hopeful. Their new young squad has proven time and time again in recent weeks that despite their inability to prove themselves consistent, they are demonstrating teamwork and patience against some of the teams toughest opponents.

Coach Nate is applauding the secondary line up. He is putting the town on notice that perhaps this team may run the ball much more often in the second part of the season. That second part starts tonight! The damaged Milwaukee Bucks are coming to town hobbling, without two of their top scorers and now showcasing Rueben Patterson an ex Blazer and one fellow named Andrew Bogut, whoever that is! In other words, we should have a young team on the floor and all over this Buck ballclub. They lost in Seattle 99-72. We had better blow this team up sooner and by a bigger margin, otherwise the Sonics will not let us forget it come time for our next face to face.

Coach Nate has had this to say this week. "When you are talking about building the team for the future, I think that conversation definitely has to come up,"(about an up tempo game) adding, "This was something we had to make a decision on last year, w/ Sebastian (Telfair), because he and Zach didn't work. Sebastian wanted to be in the open floor and play with the ball, and Zach is more of a halfcourt player, so you have to slow things down and play off him.", he concluded that "... I still think you need a low-post presence in this league in order to win"

From the Oregonian this Sunday, January 21, 2007
JASON QUICK

Meanwhile, Aldridge, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2006 draft, has become one of those rare commodities in the NBA: a big man who has feathery touch from the outside, polished moves inside and the wherewithal to block shots. He has also established himself as one of the top disciples of strength and conditioning coach Bobby Medina, who predicts Aldridge can sculpt his body quicker and better than former Blazers prodigy Jermaine O'Neal.

Yes! This team is prepared for a breakout game, a statement game tonight, a game that will open the second half of the season showing the league what every team they face will be in for, coming to Portland, the latter half of this season will mean.

Thursday, January 18, 2007

Wow, What a Game!

LaMarcus Aldridge had 14 points off the bench, and Sergio Rodriguez added nine assists. The Trail Blazers rolled to a 94-76 victory over the road-weary Cleveland Cavaliers.

On the win: "When he's making his jump shots, he's almost unbeatable," said Roy, speaking of the Cavaliers All-star LeBron James, who had 19 points and 10 rebounds in the Blazers' 94-76 victory over the road-weary Cavaliers on Wednesday night. "Tonight he wasn't making those shots," Roy added.James scored 23 points for Cleveland, which is 2-3 on its seven-game road trip. The Cavaliers were coming off a 101-96 loss in Seattle.

The win was number 16 on the young season for these Portland Trailblazers. The season is about halfway over marked by the game on this Friday. At any rate, the Blazers are assured of finishing their first half with a better record than last season, when they were 15-26.

A crowd of 19,228 at Portland's Rose Garden saw what could be a promising future, as the Blazers' three rookies, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Sergio Rodriguez stood out last night. They again came in and picked up the game when the starters stagnated.

It was the largest winning margin for a home victory in the latest, "McMillan era". It also tied the largest victory of the season, earlier in New Jersey.

The Blazers had an ides. The key was the Blazer defenders keeping the Caveliers, especially James and Hughes in front of them. Ime Udoka, the Blazer forward guards every opponent's top scorer each and every game. Udoka, spent his entire game, frustrating James by constantly touching him.

"I would just make sure I kept a hand on him, and I don't think he liked that," Udoka said. "There was some pushing, and I got in his face, because I wanted to make him shoot contested shots. It didn't seem like he ever got into his groove until late in the game." These guys think they can beat people. When Brandon Roy took his turn defending LeBron, he too admitted he had shared the attitude, "I wanted to measure up to him," Roy said of James. "And the biggest thing for me was to treat him as an equal, not as a superstar."

Friday night the Blazers close the first half of the year against the Phoenix Suns. Can they catch
the Suns napping while taking this new game on the road? We will just have to see.

They are hungry again.





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