| PEDAL POWER: Nonprofit empowers adults, kids by helping them build and ...
To Maurice Potts, bicycles were simply large toys, good for just riding around the neighborhood, with no destination in mind. That was before the semi-retired doctor took a class two years ago to learn to build and repair bicycles at Back Alley Bikes, a nonprofit program in Detroit's Cass Corridor that teaches children and adults how to build their own bikes from scrap parts and do repairs. There, Potts discovered that for many inner-city residents who don't have access to cars and can't afford public transportation, bikes are a tool, a necessity. .
A Personal Rememberance by John Allen, League Board Member
In 1972, I was halfway home with a flat tire and walked into a bike shop that was just closing. Sheldon stayed late to fix it. That's how I first met him. There were 46 bicycles in or around his house "with a few shared wheels", by his recent count, mostly in his basement. He didn't buy bicycles off the shelf -- as a challenge to his mechanical ingenuity, and a way to spend less money and spend more time doing what he liked to do, he cobbled up customized bicycles from parts he acquired mostly through special deals, barter or secondhand, to suit himself or someone in his family. He often came up with a something unique, clever and useful. You may read about his bicycles on his Web site. He had an eye for style, but also, one or two rusty clunkers hung out by the back door getting rustier, for the quick ride to the convenience store, and several old hulks of bikes lived under the front porch.
Tournament/Camp Schedule
AUG. 18 -- O'Neil Pass/Dan Crain Memorial Road Race. Starts at Spearfish City Park, travels up O'Neil Pass and finishes on Highway 14A near the Chophouse Restaurant. Entry is $20, $10 for students. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. at Spearfish City Park. Race starts at 9 a.m. For more information, call Betsy Cordes at 642-4277.SEPT. 8 — Brookings Domestic Abuse Shelter benefit ride. Departs at 7:30 a.m. from the Sioux Valley Bicycles & Fitness store in Brookings. Ride travels 17 miles to Schade Vineyard. For more information, call Sherry Oswald at 692-5022.OCT. 13 — Breat Cancer Research Foundation benefit ride. Two rides, one of 10 miles and another 25 miles in length. For more information, call Sherry Oswald at 692-5022.GolfAUG. 10 — Fellowship of Christian Athletes Four-Person Scramble. At Hart Ranch G.C., Rapid City.
State of the Swoosh: Nike forges ahead
Slingshot irons that look pregnant; square drivers rather than pear-shaped ones; and its new all-green IC putter. (The color of the head is designed to blend with putting surfaces and provide a stark contrast to its white alignment aid; Nike Inc.'s staff ophthalmologist, who helped invent Nike's Maxsight distortion-free sports contact lenses, assisted with the putter's design.) Nike doesn't even package golf balls conventionally, preferring to sell dozens in cube-shaped boxes rather than flat, rectangular ones.
Don't expect Wood to apologize. Frankly, he doesn't give a damn.
“The minute we try to appeal to every single person out there or even care what they say, all respect, we're dead," Wood says. “It's not how you can run your business."
Alienating the Establishment isn't a road often traveled by golf entrepreneurs, which underscores again just how different Nike Golf is.
India's youths are in perilous grip of a smoking epidemic
My skin is even gross, my lips are black because of it," sighed Ahuja, her ashtray filled with cigarette butts. Her friends, a pilot and a writer, took long drags on their cigarettes, exhaled puffs of smoke and agreed that it's just not easy to stop smoking. Young Indians, especially women like Ahuja, represent one of the largest markets for cigarette companies. They also face a high risk for smoking-related deaths, according to health officials. Recent findings from the first nationally representative study of smoking in India found that this country is in the grips of a smoking epidemic likely to cause nearly a million deaths a year starting in 2010. There are 120 million smokers in India, half of them younger than 30, the study found. India has a larger population of smokers than any other country in the world except for China.
Friends disunited
Last week, the rumour mill cranked up a gear with the names of likely candidates such as Otto Thoresen, chief executive of Edinburgh neighbour Aegon UK – better known for Scottish Equitable – thrown into the melting pot. The latest gossip was inevitable following the will-he-won't-he departure of highly regarded Trevor Matthews as Standard's head of UK life and pensions, a key lieutenant who played a vital role in the company's transition from basket case to membership of the FTSE-100.Matthews was also the heir apparent, the plain-speaking Australian who had arrived at the firm's Lothian Road headquarters at a time when the company was – by some accounts – a busted flush. He'd taken a gamble, leaving a secure and senior job in Japan with Manulife to join a struggling Scottish company not only in need of modernisation but some firm foundations to ensure it stayed in business.Matthews was a breath of fresh air, popular with the staff and a huge asset when the company began its roadshows to sell the share issue.
Responding to the Jack Lynch Non-Story
I'm going to try not to flip out. Which I may anyway. Because I'm angry, and I'm repulsed by this whole episode, and it's a large part of what's been keeping me away from this "blog" for too long. A Spokane Police Department internal investigation released in its entirety Wednesday says Deputy Mayor Jack Lynch was not stopped in High Bridge Park last August or apprehended at any time for any illegal activity.
Remaining unanswered are the circumstances surrounding Lynch's still-unexplained medical leave, which was announced Dec. 29 and is expected to continue until March 1. So what? This has always always been a complete and utter distraction from the "story," intended only to damage Mr. Lynch's credibility by implying he's infirm, and likely has a disease of which he is ashamed, or that implies activity unbecoming to an All Powerful City Employee(!).
Times Article Rallies Support for McCain
A Feb. 21 New York Times article examined the relationship between Sen. John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman. The article created a firestorm by asserting, Convinced the relationship had become romantic, some of his top advisers intervened to protect the candidate from himself. The Times quoting John Weaver, a friend and adviser to McCain reported, He [Weaver] had warned Ms. Iseman away [in 1999] because of 'what she had told people' that had 'made its way back' to the McCain campaign." According to the Daily News, McCain, when asked directly if he ever had a romantic relationship with Iseman, replied, "No." He added that if aides were concerned about the possibility of such a relationship, as the Times article said, "They didnt communicate it to me.
New Era Canning Company recalls beans
New Era Canning Company recalls beans Cans of beans may cause botulism Posted: Thursday, January 24, 2008 at 11:20 a.m. New Era Canning Company has issued a recall on cans of green beans and garbanzo beans because they may cause botulism. New Era Canning Company is recalling all cans of #10 (6 to 7 pounds) green beans and garbanzo beans because they may have been processed under conditions which could have led to production of botulinum toxin, which can cause life-threatening illness or death. “The Illinois Department of Public Health has confirmed the recalled green beans have been distributed in Illinois," said state public health director Dr. Damon Arnold. The codes on the affected product begin with the numbers “00249" or the letter “GREEN" or “GARB." The recall only affects the products in the large #10 cans.
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