Freedom High football team's seniors leading turnaround

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Freedom played six games before running into one of the Eastern Pennsylvania Conference's elite football programs.

The Patriots' Week 7 effort put them into the power-team conversation for this season.

A 29-28 overtime win against Whitehall last week has this group of Pates in uncharted territory. Freedom (7-0 overall, 5-0 South Division) is tied for the South Division lead with Easton. The current players head into a Friday matchup with Parkland (5-2, 3-2) owning a better record than the Trojans, something they have never had in previous meetings.

Freedom hasn't won the championships coach Jason Roeder talks about wanting to compete for year after year just yet. The Patriots have plenty of challenges ahead.

But after winning six games total over the last two seasons, Freedom's seniors have enjoyed watching the work that started in the offseason lead to game-night success.

"Once we started in the weight room over the summer, it was all about getting money and putting it in the bank," senior center and nose guard Ryan Mullen said. "We take it back out on the field and withdraw it on Friday nights."

Mullen, Jake Young, Joe Santos, John Callahan and Bryant Connor are among the senior leaders that have set the tone for the Patriots. Some of them provide words to keep Freedom on task. Others deliver quiet on-field performance.

Their collaborative efforts have helped Freedom rebound from two down years despite having one of the smaller varsity rosters in the South. The seniors and their teammates bought into the overhauled weight program instituted by former Liberty standout linebacker Andres Morales after last season. Improved conditioning has helped the Patriots play well late in games.

Last week against Whitehall, Freedom drove 90-plus yards for touchdowns three times in the second half. The Patriots then won the game in overtime with a touchdown and two-point conversion.

Freedom will need its seniors more than ever this week. Sophomore quarterback Joe Young is out for the season with a fractured hip socket suffered last week against Whitehall. Junior Jonah Gundrum, who started several games at quarterback last season, will replace Young.

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Freedom High football team's seniors leading turnaround

Campaign Spending Freedom Is Great For Speech and The Advertising-Media Sector

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Many voices on the left complained vociferously each time in the past few years that the Supreme Court rolled back unconstitutional campaign finance restrictions. Yet the loosening of the rules on campaign donations and campaign spending are showing positive signs in both the political arena and in an economic one: the advertising sector.

In terms of politics, it should be self-evident that more speech is better than less. The first amendment really only had two points as the Founding Fathers saw it: protect the press so they could expose any government wrongdoing and ensure freedom of speech for political arguments. Nude dancing was not on their minds.

Read the history of the revolutionary period and the early presidential campaigns and you will realize that the campaigns were wild, often dirty, free-wheeling affairs. Todays negative campaigners have nothing on their forefathers of two centuries ago.

New Orleans house with a collection of signs for all the mayoral candidates, with the comment More candidates than voters? (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Yet, beginning with a perhaps natural reaction to Watergate, a few incumbent politicians who wanted to protect their own reelections by making it harder for non-incumbents to raise money pushed through a series of restrictions on campaign financing, effectively reducing freedom of speech. We should all be glad that we are moving back in the direction of freedom of political speech. And no one has more to be glad about than the political operatives who design and buy advertising time and the corporations who sell the media slots to them.

According to Ashley Parker in The New York Times, spending on political advertising for the 2014 elections is up 70 percent over the last midterm elections in 2010. That will add up to about $2 billion in advertising buys just on House and Senate races with gubernatorial and local races added to that. Media consultants and campaign advisors who help design their candidates media strategy and place the advertising buys commonly earn high salaries and commissions equal to as much as 7 percent of the advertising spending.

That means that media consultants could stand to make $50 million off the increased spending just in the Congressional races. Freedom of speech appears to be excellent for media consultants. The Supreme Courts ruling in Citizens United might have been one of the best stimulus actions of the entire Obama presidency.

For media companies that are selling the advertising space, the increased political advertising is a bit of a mixed bag. Political candidates must be offered time or space for their ads at the lowest rates the outlet has charged to any other advertisers for equivalent spots. That means that more political ads could mean lower revenues for the media companies.

However, there is good news for the media companies as well. In this election cycle, an increased share of the political ads is being bought by outside groups. Outside groups do not benefit from the same preferential pricing, so media companies can charge them higher rates. Thus, the Supreme Court rulings like Citizens United that have made it easier for such groups to operate is a boon to those selling space for political ads.

Political speech is a good thing. When all sides and parties are free to express their opinions and make their case in favor of their causes and candidates, we get better, more informed elections and hopefully better election results.

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Campaign Spending Freedom Is Great For Speech and The Advertising-Media Sector

Wellington welcomes freedom campers

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Wellington City Councils environment committee agreed at yesterdays meeting to welcome and allow campers visiting the Capital to freedom camp except in some parts of the city.

The Council has been permissive but at the same time protective of Wellingtons open green spaces, reserves, flora and fauna.

Changes have been made to part (12) of the Public Places by-law consistent with the Freedom Camping Act 2011. Parliament originally intended to prohibit freedom camping and now the permissive legislation allows it, except where it is prohibited. The recommendations from the committee will have further public consultation after the November Council meeting.

Councillor Helene Ritchie says, "Visitors and campers to Wellington will be able to enjoy the city and the natural environment we have so close to the heart of the CBD, the harbour and the Coast. However, camping will be prohibited in central city parks such as Frank Kitts or Waitangi Park; campervans will eventually have a new site on Port land, and camping on reserve land or inner city parks will still not be allowed".

The Bylaw will regulate camping in specific public places to protect particular areas and the health and safety of visitors to these areas, with notices and friendly rangers who will have warrants but will only as a last resort exercise the power that they will have to fine people up to $200 who damage plants or leave litter behind.

49 submissions were received as part of the consultation on the draft bylaw and most were supportive of the proposed changes.

While freedom camping in most reserves is still restricted under reserve management plans, except for some coastal areas, freedom camping will be encouraged at the Te Kopahou Reserve entrance at Owhiro Bay, and campers in self-contained vehicles will be able to stay at the southern end of Evans Bay marina.

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Wellington welcomes freedom campers

Freedom High QB Joe Young, Emmaus RB Kyle Boney out for season

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Two of the EPC South Division's top eight rushers won't see the football field again this season.

Freedom suffered a crushing blow this week when it learned that sophomore quarterback Joe Young would miss the rest of the season with a fractured hip socket. Emmaus also took a huge hit when junior running back Kyle Boney was diagnosed with a fractured tibia.

Young suffered his injury last week in a 29-28 overtime win against Whitehall. He finished the game without knowing the severity of his injury and scored a touchdown in overtime that set up the game-winning two-point conversion.

"I feel terrible for Joe," Freedom coach Jason Roeder said Thursday night. "Hes hurting, but hes already switched roles. Hes working on being an outstanding teammate and still doing everything in his power to help us win the next game. He even said the prayer at our team dinner tonight."

Young passed for 899 yards and eight touchdowns, and ran for 404 yards and seven touchdowns to help Freedom start the season 7-0. The Patriots will turn to junior Jonah Gundrum at quarterback this week when they host Parkland.

Gundrum started several games at QB last season before Young took over. Gundrum was playing wide receiver this season and was also a special-teams ace.

Boney's season-ending injury comes one week after Emmaus dismissed senior running back Wyl Miller from the team for disciplinary reasons. Miller was the team's leading rusher at the time of his dismissal with 712 yards.

Boney ran 17 times for 117 yards last week in a 31-28 win over Central Catholic but ended the game on crutches. He rushed for 436 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 9.3 yards per carry this season.

With Boney and Miller both gone, Emmaus will need someone to emerge to complement Andy Davidson. Davidson is coming off a 315-yard game against Central Catholic but also is the Green Hornets' best defender. Davidson ranks third in the South Division with 893 rushing yards.

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Freedom High QB Joe Young, Emmaus RB Kyle Boney out for season

A History of the Eugenics Movement – Tripod.com

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EUGENICS

Five items appear below:

1 Editorial 72 2 A Brief History of the Eugenics Movement (Dr Bergman) 72 3 Reply to Bergman on Eugenics (Dr Potter) 73 4 Is the Orthodox History of Eugenics True? (Dr Bergman) 77 5 Reply to Bergman: Some Tangential Points (Dr Potter) 77

EDITORIAL: INVESTIGATOR 72; 2000 May

Jerry Bergman has donated the article A Brief History of the Eugenics Movement. Dr Bergman's conclusion on Eugenics (= racial improvement by scientific control of breeding) are reminiscent of the conclusions of "Anonymous" on the related topic Social Darwinism. (Investigator 33)

Social Darwinism was the theory that "societies and classes evolve under the principle of survival of the fittest." With eugenics such evolution toward better/fitter societies could in principle be speeded up.

Dr Bergman shows that eugenic ideas were supported by many scientists, were contrary to the Bible, discouraged help to the poor, culminated in the Holocaust, and became untenable with newer scientific research. "Anonymous" showed the same of Social Darwinism.

A Brief History of the Eugenics Movement

(Investigator 72, 2000 May)

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A History of the Eugenics Movement - Tripod.com

Fifth Annual "5K Run for the Future" Raises More Than $70,000 for ROI

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Newswise Fairfax, Va., October 16, 2014 The fifth annual 5K Run for the Future set new records during the September 15, 2014 event held at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco220 runners participated, including six teams from academic institutions, and more than $70,000 was raised to support the Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI). The 2014 total is nearly triple 2013s record of $24,000. Donations were generated through runners registration fees and fundraising, as well as corporate sponsorships. The five-year total (2010-2014) raised for the ROI by the Race now stands at more than $150,000.

The 2014 Race included a new Academic Team Challenge, whereby institutional teams competed for a $1,000 academic scholarship. Each teams top three runners times were averaged for a Total Team Time. Team Mayo Clinic won the challenge with the fastest Total Team Time of 20:35.

The top two 2014 individual winners, male and female, were Matt McCurdy, MD, PhD, of the Marshfield Clinic in Marshfield, Wisconsin, with a time of 15:52, and Megan Daly, MD, of the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center in Davis, California, with a time of 18:55.

Held each year on the Monday of the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) in the Meetings host city, the 5K Run for the Future was held previously in Atlanta (2013), Boston (2012), Miami (2011) and San Diego (2010). Runners include radiation oncology physicians, medical students and other members of the radiation oncology treatment team, as well as radiation oncology industry leaders.

Thank you to all of the runners, supporters and sponsors of this fun and exciting race, particularly Radiation Business Solutions for their leadership of this event, said Theodore S. Lawrence, MD, PhD, FASTRO, president of the ROI Board of Trustees. It is extraordinary to witness the growth of the race this year, and we appreciate the generous support it generates for the ROI. Each dollar raised for the ROI strengthens our ability to support critical radiation oncology research that will improve patient outcomes and sustain the specialty for years to come.

The 5K Run for the Future is hosted and organized each year by Radiation Business Solutions, and all proceeds from the Race are donated to the ROI. The 2014 event was also sponsored by Elekta Inc., Varian Medical Systems, AE Design and Northwest Medical Physics Center.

ABOUT ROI The Radiation Oncology Institute (ROI) is a non-profit, 501 (c)(3) foundation created in 2006 by the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Board of Directors to support research and education efforts around the world that enhance and confirm the critical role of radiation therapy in improving cancer treatment. ROI strategically funds research on new and existing radiation therapy treatments to identify links between best practices and improved outcomes, to evaluate the efficacy and cost-benefit of radiation therapy and to foster multi-institutional research in radiation oncology. For more information, visit http://www.roinstitute.org. ###

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Fifth Annual "5K Run for the Future" Raises More Than $70,000 for ROI

New optical device designed to measure gravitational pull of a planet should speed the search for Earth-like exoplanets

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Oct 13, 2014

Astronomers Chih-Hao Li and David Phillips of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics want to rediscover Venusthat familiar, nearby planet stargazers can see with the naked eye much of the year.

Granted, humans first discovered Venus in ancient times. But Li and Phillips have something distinctly modern in mind. They plan to find the second planet again using a powerful new optical device installed on the Italian National Telescope that will measure Venus' precise gravitational pull on the sun. If they succeed, their first-of-its-kind demonstration of this new technology will be used for finding Earth-like exoplanets orbiting distant stars.

"We are building a telescope that will let us see the sun the way we would see other stars," said Phillips, who is a staff scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He and Li, a research associate at the Center for Astrophysics, will describe the device in a paper to be presented at The Optical Society's (OSA) 98th Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics, being held Oct. 19-23 in Tucson, Arizona, USA. Li is the lead author of the paper, which has 12 collaborators.

Astronomers have identified more than 1,700 exoplanets, some as far as hundreds of light years away. Most were discovered by the traditional transit method, which measures the decrease in brightness when a planet orbiting a distant star transits that luminous body, moving directly between the Earth and the star. This provides information about the planet's size, but not its mass.

Li and Phillips are developing a new laser-based technology known as the green astro-comb for use with the "radial velocity method," which offers complementary information about the mass of the distant planet. From this information, astronomers will be able to determine whether distant exoplanets they discover are rocky worlds like Earth or less dense gas giants like Jupiter. The method is precise enough to help astronomers identify Earth-like planets in the "habitable zone," the orbital distance "sweet-spot" where water exists as a liquid.

Better Precision with a Laser

The radial velocity method works by measuring how exoplanet gravity changes the light emitted from its star. As exoplanets circle a star, their gravitation tugs at the star changing the speed with which it moves toward or away from Earth by a small amount. The star speeds up slightly as it approaches Earth, with each light wave taking a fraction of a second less time to arrive than the wave before it. To an observer on Earth, the crests of these waves look closer together than they should, so they appear to have a higher frequency and look bluer. As the star recedes, the crests move further apart and the frequencies seem lower and redder.

This motion-based frequency change is known as the Doppler shift. Astronomers measure it by capturing the spectrum of a star on the pixels of a digital camera and watching how it changes over time.

Today's best spectrographs are only capable of measuring Doppler shifts caused by velocity changes of 1 meter per second or more. Only large gas giants or "super-earths" close to their host stars have enough gravity to cause those changes.

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New optical device designed to measure gravitational pull of a planet should speed the search for Earth-like exoplanets