mimblr.com

Beetle Bailey may be well-loved, but he’s what the Pentagon calls “legacy technology” — a laugh-delivery system left over from an era before today’s joint, net-centric military and its wired, Web-savvy service members. Ink-on-paper cartoons, like many legacy systems, still are useful, but you’ll find few new-generation military gagsmiths in your newspaper. Now, of course, they’re online.
For the cost of a domain name and some computer gear, military cartoonists can deliver jokes and characters tailored to an audience of fellow service members who’ll laugh at things that might produce blank stares from civilians.
Take 1st Lt. Ken Dahl, star of “Air Force Blues,” available online at http://www.afblues.com. The fictional F-15 aviator wears an “I’m a fighter pilot” T-shirt for days when his flight suit is in the wash. His most hated enemy: The MQ-1 Predator, which deigns to do an Eagle’s work.
Dahl and “Blues” are the work of Staff Sgt. Austin May, a public affairs specialist at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas.
“What I like best about it is, it’s not being done right now,” May said of drawing an Air Force Web comic. “A lot of people have done them in the past, and they’ve had great success with them, but this niche wasn’t being filled.”
May first forayed into the Web comic world with “AWACker,” based on his experience as an E-3 aircrew member at Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska; the comic still can be seen at http://www.chairforce.com. His new comic is more inclusive of the whole Air Force and is similar in its Web presence to the popular gamer comic “Penny Arcade,” complete with loyal forum-goers.
“Air Force Blues” and “Penny Arcade” inspired another military Web comic, “Anchors Away,” drawn by a Navy F/A-18 Hornet pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Lockhart — in fact, Lockhart credits May for coming up with the “Anchors” name. Online at http://www.navycomic.com, “Anchors Away” takes its inspiration from Lockhart’s daily life in the Navy and from readers’ e-mailed suggestions.

armytimes.com

The March 22 article "Minneapolis schools with low scores will get overhauls" describes a butt-kicking, back-handed approach to school reform.
Washburn and Edison high schools will let go the entire teaching staff, due to the schools’ low test scores on state-mandated tests. They will then rehire the "good" teachers, while the rest are left to flounder in the system, presumably to land a spot in another school where they will, at least in many cases, bump out another teacher. Sort of like musical chairs without the music or happy, party atmosphere.
That test scores are the sole factor propelling this drastic mass exodus is absurd. Test scores alone will never define the rare combination of inspiration, talent, intelligence, patience and stamina that make truly great teachers succeed. Furthermore, exiling the good teachers along with the bad is preposterous. I happen to know the principal of Washburn — she is judicious and sensitive. But her job now must be to hire back the best and brightest, while shoring up morale among a group of "survivors" whose long-time colleagues have been booted off the island.
Private and charter schools are able to mold their own teaching talent; their principals have free rein to hire exceptional teachers and to fire teachers who do not live up to expectations. Minneapolis would do well to play some catch-up, and devise ways to develop their faculty in a humane and effective manner. I would suggest that they begin by pretending "No child Left Behind" was just the empty rhetoric that it is, and enact changes that are truly visionary, not a last-ditch effort that leaves no teacher his pride.
Katherine Kersten’s March 23 column reminded me of Vice President Dick Cheney’s recent response when he was reminded that a majority of Americans don’t think the war in Iraq has been worth the costs.

startribune.com

Schools are responsible for reporting home and away same day results with first and last names of scorers for both teams. Call David Grossman at The Star's hotline number 416-869-4394 or toll free at 1-866-249-1387 or email dgrossm@thestar.ca.
Varsity Girls' Curling — Championship Final - Cardinal Newman 11, St. Joseph/Morrow Park 2; Consolation Final — Mary Ward 7, Senator O'Connor 4; Varsity Boys' Curling — Championship Final - Brebeuf 13, Cardinal Newman 3; Consolation Final — Mary Ward 5, Senator O'Connor 4
Sr. Boys' Hockey — Stouffville 5 (Sam Carrick, 2, Matt Raguseo, Chris Chekay, Scott Van Allen), Dunbarton 5 (Andrew Rhodes, 2, Ryan Lee, Brad McAllister, Colin Campbell)
Varsity Boys' Indoor Cricket — Etobicoke 85, Richview 21; Henry 49, Richview 25; Henry 45, Etobicoke 43.
YORK UNIVERSITY TOURNAMENT
Varsity Boy's Indoor Soccer — At Toronto
Pope John Paul II 5, St. Patrick's 4; . Martin 5, St. Augustine 1; Barton 4, Pickering 0; St. Patrick's 8, Vaughan 2; Ste Famille 4, St. Martin 3; St. Michael's 2, St. Patrick's 2; SATEC/Porter 2, St. Martin 1; St. Patrick's 4, Barton 1; St. Michael's 2, Weston 1; SATEC/Porter 4, Pickering 1; Vaughan 0, St. Michael's 0; St. Patrick's 2, Pickering 0; St. Martin 2, Pope John Paul II 1; Ste. Famille 5, St. Augustine 1; Markham 3, Weston 2; SATEC/Porter 2, St. Patrick's 2; Weston 1, Vaughan 0; Dante Alighieri 4, Churchill 0; Central Peel 8, Sutton 0; Pope John Paul II 2, Ste. Famille 1; Markham 7, St. Patrick's 0; Notre Dame 5, Leaside 2;Pope John Paul II 4, St. Thomas Aquinas 1; St. Thomas Aquinas 2, West Hill 1; Dante Alighieri 10, Sutton 0; Westview 4, Churchill 0; Sacred Heart 7, Notre Dame 0; West Hill 3, Brantford 1; Pope John Paul II 2, West Hill 1; Churchill 3, Sutton 2; Brantford 6, Aquinas 2; Dante Alighieri 6, Central Peel 0; Sacred Heart 4, Leaside 1; Westview 2, Markham 0; Brantford 1, Pope John Paul II 0; Westview 2, Central Peel 0

thestar.com

De’Jon Jackson hit the biggest shot in school history — a long jumper with 1.2 seconds left in overtime — and 13th-seeded San Diego beat No. 4 seed Connecticut 70-69 Friday in the first round of the NCAA’s West Regional.
“The thing I put on the board: Don’t let them get a sniff that we’re two equal teams,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “We allowed them to believe that it wasn’t going to be what everybody said it was going to be.”
Instead, UConn is heading home much earlier than expected. The Huskies (24-9) hadn’t lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament since 1979 and never during Calhoun’s 22 seasons.
San Diego, meanwhile, got its first tournament victory in four tries. The Toreros (22-13) advanced to play No. 12 Western Kentucky in the second round.
And if Brandon Johnson and Gyno Pomare play like they did against Connecticut, the small, Southern California school known mostly for its scenic ocean views could be in for an extended tournament stay.
Johnson had 18 points, five rebounds, four assists and three steals. Pomare had 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting.
Together, they gave UConn all it could handle, especially after leading scorer A.J. Price left the game with a knee injury.
But both of San Diego’s stars fouled out in overtime.
Jackson picked up the slack. He drove right on Jerome Dyson, stopped a step inside the arc, then sank the biggest shot of his career.
The celebration had to wait, though.
UConn had one final chance, but Jackson intercepted the inbound pass. The Toreros rushed the court, mobbed their hero and then celebrated in front of a small group of fans who traveled cross-country to see them make history.
“This feeling right now, I can’t even explain it,” Jackson said. “It’s like the best feeling I’ve had in my life.”

sports.espn.go.com

The striking 21-year-old singer, dancer and actress grew up performing in the Sarasota area before moving to Miami for college. She’s been singing since she was a toddler in a musical family that included three sisters and mother Zelda, a former Motown backup singer.
As a child, Syesha — it’s pronounced “sigh-EE-sha” — sang in church and grew accustomed to performing in public — she once sang the national anthem at a Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game. Her turns in musicals such as
Seussical: The Musical at a Sarasota arts high school drew raves. She’s acted in commercials, sang in a band, won a car in a statewide singing contest and even appeared briefly on a reality TV show.
So nobody back home is surprised that she’s standing among the final 11 on the Fox TV show that has the potential to make her a household name. And, they say, it couldn’t happen to a nicer person.
“When she was going to high school, she was aspiring to do that kind of thing. I remember she and her friends talking about it,” said Johnnie Mnich, theater director in the elite performing arts program at Booker High School. “I think it was a matter of time before it happened. She knows what she wants, and she knows what she’s good at.”
Mnich recalls marveling at Mercado’s talent when the she won the lead in the musical
Once on This Island as a sophomore.
“I was just blown away,” he said. “I was amazed at the level of expertise and strength and training.”
Bruce Merkle, 20, spent all four years in the Booker arts program acting and singing with Mercado. They shared their first stage kiss in
Once on This Island.
“She’s sounded like that since she was 14, as long as I can remember,” said Merkle, now a stage actor and still close friends with Mercado. “She’s the real deal. And she’s genuinely a nice person. She’s very grounded and knows what she wants.”

sun-sentinel.com

On this day in 1881, Vice President Chester Arthur broke a 37-37 tie to cast the deciding vote over competing Republican and Democratic slates of Senate committee chairmen and members. But the Democrats refused to budge on replacing the officers they had chosen in the previous Congress. The ensuing stalemate froze Senate business for the next two months.
The Senate had convened in a special session to deal with nominations for federal office submitted by James Garfield, the newly inaugurated president. In November 1880, the Garfield-Arthur ticket had won the White House by fewer than 10,000 votes.
Soon Republicans split over the issue of filling the New York customs post Arthur once held. Sen. Roscoe Conkling (R-N.Y.) held that senators should exercise personal control over federal appointments within state boundaries. Conkling had resisted efforts by the prior Republican president, Rutherford Hayes, to enact civil service reforms.
In response to Garfield’s failure to take the New York senators into account, both Conkling and Thomas Platt, New York’s new junior senator, resigned in May. They anticipated the New York legislature would soon reelect them and, in so doing, send the White House a message about how to deal with powerful senators. But that did not happen.
Their resignations gave the Democrats a two-vote Senate majority. In the spirit of compromise, the Democrats agreed not to press their numerical advantage and did not insist on resuming control of committees. In return, the Republicans allowed the Democratic staff holdovers to remain in office, at least until the next session.
After Garfield’s assassination in September, the Senate halted its internal management battle. Arthur moved into the White House to begin a surprisingly able run in the presidency.
People still listen when Greenspan speaks; AP reports U.S. military will soon suffer 4,000th death of Iraq war. Check out the most recent edition of Playbook.

politico.com

Thelong anticipated 2008 NCAA March Madness is finally here and wehave the latest bookmakers' picks, predictions, bracket contestsand betting odds on the college basketball games. We will startthe March Madness 2008 NCAA picks with the first scheduled game,the Opening Round Tuesday matchup between Coppin State and MountSaint Mary's. The winner of the March Madness Opening Round gamewill then meet North Carolina in the first round of the EastRegional. So far the online bookmaker BodogLife predicts that MountSaint Mary's will be the winner of the game, being -7 pointsfavorite against the spread.
Now to "more important" March Madnessbusiness - the first round of the 2008 NCAA Tournament(individual March Madness games will be reviewed during theweekend, check back with us later to read the previews.). Again,we will look at the odds offered by the online sportsbook BodogLife to make the MarchMadness picks and predictions.
Starting with the March Madness EastRegional games which will take place in Charlotte, NorthCarolina on March 20-21 (Thursday and Friday). On Thursday inthe East Regional NCAA Tournament we have two games, the picksand predictions are as follows: Notre Dame is the favorite towin against George Mason at -7 points against the spread andWashington State is -8.5 points against the spread when theymeet 13-seeded Winthrop. The remaining games (expect NorthCarolina) are on Friday and here are the bookmaker's picks forthe March Madness East Regional Friday games: Indiana is a smallfavorite against Arkansas, the point spread favors Indiana -1.5points. Oklahoma is also going to have a hard time, predictsBodogLife, when they play 11-seed Saint Joseph's, although theSooners are -1.5 points against the spread. Butler should meetsome resistance from South Alabama on Friday, being just -4points against the spread. Meanwhile Louisville should breezethough its March Madness first round game against Boise State.The Cardinals are -13 points favorite on the spread. And theultimate favorite in the 2008 NCAA East Regional Tournament isTennessee listed at -20 points against the spread for its gameagainst American.
Moving on to the 2008 NCAA SouthRegional Tournament First Round picks, predictions and odds.Total of four games will be played on Thursday and the bookie'spicks are as follows: Michigan State is -6.5 favorite on thespread when they meet Temple, while Pittsburgh should have noproblem bringing it to 13-seed Oral Roberts with a point spreadof -9.5. Kentucky is +6 points underdog on Thursday when theyplay Marquette in the first round of the South March Madnessgames and Stanford is favorite at -14.5 points against thespread for the game against Cornell. Four more games will takeplace in the South Regional NCAA Tournament, starting with thematchup between No.1 seed Memphis and the last-seeded TexasArlington, the Tigers naturally the ultimate favorite of theSouth Regional lusted with a point spread of -24.5 points.Oregon is +2.5 points underdog on the spread for the gameagainst Mississippi State, Miami Florida is just one pointsagainst the spread when they meet Saint Mary's on Friday andfinally Texas is big -16 points favorite against Austin Peay.

ogpaper.com

The Ides of March
The assassination of Julius Caesar on the Ides of March (15 March) 44 BC, has certainly gone down as one of the most ghastly, gruesome and shocking murders in history. His murder has been replayed in numerous dramas and literary works. In fact, it influenced the minds of playwrights so much that the great Shakespeare wrote a drama on it.
Shakespeare read about the murder of Caesar in Plutarch’s “Lives of the Greeks and Romans”. It was later written in Latin and translated to English by Sir Thomas North.
Of all the works on Caesar’s ghastly murder, the most popular is undoubtedly the one by Shakespeare. His drama deals with the assassination of Caesar and its aftermath. Critics argue that the play should have been named “The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus” instead of “Julius Caesar”. This is because most of the play deals with Brutus, one of the conspirators and Caesar’s friend, who suffers from conflicting emotions.
The conspirators, especially Brutus, thought that if Caesar was not murdered he would become an autocrat and by thus assuming all power, would “keep all others in servile fearfulness”, in Shakespeare’s words. But gradually after the murder of Caesar, Brutus realizes that the murder of his dear friend was needless.

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ISTANBUL, March 13 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events which could affect Turkish financial markets on Thursday.
The lira <IYIX=> eased to 1.2360 against the dollar in early interbank trade, down from a close of 1.2205 on Wednesday. Turkey’s main stock index .XU100 rose 2.15 percent on Wednesday while lira bonds also firmed.
The dollar hit a record low against the euro and a 12-year low against the yen on Thursday and Asian shares fell as euphoria subsided about the latest helping hand from the U.S. Federal Reserve and reality — $110 oil and recession fears — returned.
For a full story, click on [ID:nHKG291973]
Turkey’s Constitutional Court on Wednesday cancelled a law allowing sales of real estate to foreign companies, a potential setback in the government’s efforts to open up the $620 billion economy. Continued…

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