Datasets:
Recag
/
C4_37

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
Community
text
stringlengths
9
87.3k
"My whole mentality was like 'Man, I'm doin this for hip hop music.' It wasn't about trying to bring nobody down," he said. "At the end of the day, I just expressed what I feel about hip hop and I'm gonna keep it on that level."
The Fourth of July is nearly here and many area groups have set their fireworks and other festivities.
Midland's yearly show begins at the Chippewassee Park near the Tridge with Friday entertainment to celebrate Independence Day.
It starts with a concert by the Chemical City Band from 6 to 7:30 p.m. After that, the John Smith Jazz Band - 17 musicians from the Lansing area - will perform until 10 p.m. The jazz vocal harmonies of Midland's Good Company will accompany the band.
Fireworks start at dusk. There will be food vendors and perhaps a face painter.
The dog park will close at noon because that is the area where the fireworks will be shot.
The events are sponsored by the Midland Parks and Recreation Department.
The residents of the Village of Sanford will sponsor a fireworks display on Sanford Lake on July 4. Fireworks begin at 10 p.m. and are fired from the Community of Christ Campground, which is on the west side of the lake.
Earlier in the day, boaters can join in the Fourth of July Boat Parade at 3 p.m. on the lake.
In Beaverton, the Fourth of July Celebration runs through July 4 to 6, featuring a parade at 11 a.m., garden tractor pull, muzzle loader shoot, inflatable toys and pony rides for children, and cardboard boat races, followed by a fireworks display at dusk.
In Harrison, the Chamber of Commerce organizes a parade starting at 1 p.m. On the evening of the Fourth, USA Demolition Derby will start at 7 p.m. Fireworks will be presented after the derby.
In Bay City, fireworks range for three nights - Thursday, Friday and Saturday - along with a host of other activities.
At Veteran's Park, there will be a beer tent, live entertainment, and Texas hold'em poker tournaments.
A majority of independent voters believe President Barack Obama has “over-politicized” his authorization of last year’s killing of terrorist kingpin Osama bin Laden, according to a new poll from The Hill.
While the president promised after last May’s takeout of bin Laden that the administration wouldn’t “spike the football” in celebration, many think it has done exactly that for the one-year anniversary of the mission.
A total of 52 percent of independents think the White House has over-politicized the anniversary, while 36 percent think the response has been “about right.” Among likely voters overall, 45 percent believe Obama over-politicized the anniversary, while 46 percent think he got it about right.
Among Republicans, 65 percent think Obama has over-politicized, while 28 percent think he got it about right. Among Democrats, 74 percent think the president got it about right, while 16 percent believe he over-politicized.
As for how Obama has handled the war in Afghanistan, 30 percent of likely voters overall think he has done a “poor” job, 29 percent say he’s done a “fair” job, 21 percent says he’s done an “excellent” job, and 19 percent say he’s done a “good” job.
A total of 46 percent of respondents say they trust Obama more on foreign policy than his likely GOP challenger Mitt Romney, while 44 percent choose Romney. But Romney leads among independents — 48 to 38 percent.
Last summer, the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the entire league when they traded their second best player, Kyrie Irving, to the Boston Celtics for Isaiah Thomas, Jae Crowder, Ante Zizic, a 2018 first-round pick, and a 2020 second-round pick. It was later revealed that Irving expressed his desire to step out of LeBron James’ shadow and demanded a trade from the Cavaliers. As of now, most people will agree that the Celtics won the blockbuster deal.
The assets the Cavaliers acquired from the Celtics failed to make themselves fit playing alongside LeBron, and two of them, Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder, were sent out of Cleveland before the Eastern Conference Playoffs 2018 started. The Cavaliers tried to revamp their roster before the February NBA trade deadline, but that was not enough to help them win their second NBA championship title.
According to Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report, the Cavaliers can still call the Kyrie Irving trade a success. Swartz explained that the Cavaliers’ decision to engage in a trade deal with the Celtics is not really about acquiring Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder. The Cavaliers pushed through with the deal because they were already seeing the inevitable post-LeBron future.
Trading Kyrie Irving helped the Cavaliers get ready in the second departure of LeBron James in free agency. It’s worth noting that before the February NBA trade deadline, the Cavaliers flipped Isaiah Thomas and Jae Crowder into Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, and Rodney Hood. All those three players are expected to become part of the Cavaliers’ long-term plan. Also, Collin Sexton, the Brooklyn Nets’ 2018 first-round pick the Cavaliers acquired from the Celtics, is currently one of the top favorites to win the Rookie of the Year award next season.
The only time the Celtics can say that they win the blockbuster trade with the Cavaliers is once Kyrie Irving succeeds to help them win an NBA championship title. The Celtics are predicted to become the new ruler of the LeBron James-less Eastern Conference, but it remains questionable if they have what it takes to beat the reigning NBA champions, Golden State Warriors, in a best-of-series. Also, Irving is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, and there are speculations that the All-Star point guard is planning to leave Boston to team up with his Team USA teammate Jimmy Butler.
A human rights group has urged the US president to use his visit to Pakistan next weekend to press Pervez Musharraf to resign as army chief and hold fair elections.
General Musharraf, Pakistan's president, seized power in a bloodless coup in 1999, and has reneged on a pledge to relinquish his military post by the end of 2004.
Musharraf argues that the dual roles are necessary because Pakistan needs the military's firm hand to build a democratic state and fight terrorism.
But the US-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a civilian government would best be able to protect human rights and allow more democracy.
George Bush, the US president, should urge Musharraf to give up his military post during his 4 March visit to Pakistan, the group said.
Brad Adams, director of the Asia division at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Saturday: "Turning a blind eye to Musharraf's ongoing power grab undermines the Bush administration's aim of fostering democracy in the Muslim world.
"President Bush must tell Musharraf that he can no longer count on US support to subvert the Pakistani constitution and block genuine elections."
Musharraf's term expires in 2007, and there has been much debate and speculation over whether he plans to resign from the military and seek re-election as a civilian.
This week, Bush praised Pakistan's "generally free press" and the right of Pakistanis to criticise their government. But he also said: "Pakistan still has a distance to travel on the road to democracy."
The US has been careful about criticising Pakistan because the country has become a key ally in its "war on terrorism".
Reddit users were asked to sum up their first time with a GIF. The responses were magnificent.
34. And the worst GIF.
Democratic Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York plans to introduce legislation in the coming days that would limit access to the type of weaponry used to gun down Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D) and 19 other people.
Giffords remains in critical condition after 22-year-old alleged gunman Jared Loughner open fired at a town hall-style meeting at a Tuscon grocery store on Saturday. Twenty people were shot and six were killed. The shocking incident prompted the House of Representatives to call off this week's planned business and has spurred some lawmakers to propose some new laws related to the shooting, including McCarthy's proposals.
McCarthy today will officially announce she is working on a bill targeting the high-capacity ammunition clips the gunman allegedly used in the shooting, as Politico first reported.
"My staff is working on looking at the different legislation fixes that we might be able to do and we might be able to introduce as early as tomorrow," she told Politico.
The congresswoman plans to discuss the legislation this week with Speaker John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, her staff confirms to CBSNews.com.
"We need to look at how this is going to work, to protect people, certainly citizens, and we have to look at what I can pass," McCarthy said. "I don't want to give the NRA - excuse the pun - the ammunition to come at me either."
The Glock 19 9mm semi-automatic pistol the alleged shooter used was purchased legally. The gun's high capacity magazine would have been illegal under the assault weapons ban, which Congress allowed to expire in 2004.
Arizona's gun laws are some of the most lax in the nation, the Washington Post reports. Any law-abiding resident older than 18 can purchase a firearm, and Loughner passed the federally-required instant background check.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania plans to introduce a bill to make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a member of Congress or federal official, CNN reports.
"The president is a federal official," Brady said. "You can't do it to him; you should not be able to do it to a congressman, senator or federal judge."
Saturday's shooting has led to a national debate over whether the current climate of partisan rancor led to the shooting.
"This is not a wake up call, this is major alarms going off," Brady said. He took specific issue with some of the rhetoric used by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
"You can't put bulls eyes or crosshairs on a United States congressman or a federal official," he said. "I understand this web site that had it on there is no longer in existence. Someone is feeling a little guilty."
A staffer for Palin over the weekend insisted there was nothing wrong with the crosshairs imagery Palin used during the 2010 elections and that the ex-governor had nothing to do with the tragedy.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords "Holding Her Own"
1:00 p.m. – 1:20 p.m.
Dan Moreland, publisher of PCT magazine, is an award-winning journalist who has covered the professional pest management industry for more than three decades. A graduate of Kent State University, where he majored in Journalism, Moreland has served as editor of the last three editions of the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control, as well as Rodent Control: A Practical Guide for Pest Management Professionals by Dr. Robert Corrigan. In this session, he will provide an overview of key trends in the mosquito control market.
Presented by: Dan Moreland, Publisher, PCT Magazine, Cleveland, Oh.
1:20 p.m. – 2:20 p.m.
In this informative keynote session, one of the country’s leading university educators and urban entomologists will share his “real-world” insights about the health threat posed by mosquitoes and review what the industry is doing to combat vector-borne disease outbreaks. With a Ph.D. from Cornell University, Dr. Koehler is a much sought-after speaker at industry educational events. A former medical entomologist with the U.S. Navy, Dr. Koehler is an Endowed Professor of Urban Entomology at the University of Florida who divides his time between university extension work, research and teaching.
Presented by: Dr. Phil Koehler, Endowed Professor, University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.
2:20 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Gregory Pest Solutions is a leading provider of mosquito control services in the Southeast, offering a comprehensive program designed to protect families and pets throughout the mosquito season. During this session, Motes will discuss in detail the company’s Smarter Mosquito Control service program, which starts with an inspection followed by Gregory Pest Solutions developing a customized treatment plan, including vegetation management, exclusion and targeted pesticide applications for each customer. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Motes is Past President of the South Carolina Mosquito Control Association and a former board member of the Georgia Mosquito Control Association.
Presented by: Larry Motes, Director of Operations, Gregory Pest Solutions, Greenville, S.C.
3:30 p.m. – 3:40 p.m.
3:40 p.m. – 4:40 p.m.
In this highly anticipated session, June Van Klaveren, a veteran marketer with more than 25 years of industry experience, will provide PMPs with practical advice on how to grow their mosquito business through effective marketing. With a client base of pest control companies across the United States, Van Klaveren has worked with PMPs to create a wide array of marketing materials designed specifically for the mosquito market, including flyers, door hangers, invoice stuffers, postcards, and custom e-communications. A graduate of Iowa Wesleyan College, Van Klaveren is the author The Edge Up: How Small Businesses Can Leverage Customer Service as a Competitive Advantage, and frequent speaker at state and national pest control meetings.
Presented by: June Van Klaveren, Owner, Compelling Communications, Chesterfield, Mo.
4:40 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
SOUTH PORTLAND — The Mount Desert Island High School Big Group jazz ensemble was only a few bars into its opening number, “Baby Carrots,” when it became clear why the audience was standing-room-only at the Maine Music Educators Association’s Maine High School Instrumental Jazz Festival.
With the opening click, click, click of a drumstick, the 19-member ensemble pulled off a performance worthy of a Greenwich Village jazz club. At the end of their performance, audience members leapt to their feet to clap and hoot in appreciation.
The Mount Desert Island High School Big Group was one of 80 ensembles from 40 Maine high schools competing Saturday at the festival at South Portland High School. More than 2,000 people descended on the school for the two-day festival, which opened Friday, said Craig Skeffington, South Portland band director and chairman of instrumental jazz at the association.
The event draws spectators from across the state, and not just band parents. A contingent of eight students from Caribou High School drove five hours just to watch, not perform; they included juniors Owen Martin, 17, and Abigail Wimmer, 16, who said they were impressed by the Old Town High School Jazz Ensemble.
Owen gave them the best marks for the day so far because of their groove. Abigail said it was their depth.
“They had the most balance, and overall every piece was together,” Abigail said.
South Portland was not initially scheduled to host the event, but the original host school had to drop out. Skeffington said that despite the late notice, the festival went off without a hitch.
Each band had 25 minutes to win over the judges, who looked at factors such as the ability to play together and musical selection.
Some high schools have a strong jazz band tradition, which can be partly driven by the director, Skeffington said. Some music directors are more oriented to jazz than to concert or marching bands.
“And part of it is the kids and their work ethic. If the band has been good, they want to carry on that tradition,” Skeffington said.
About a half dozen Maine high schools consistently do well in national high school jazz competitions. At this year’s Berklee Jazz Festival in Boston, Cape Elizabeth High School placed second, South Portland and Mount Desert Island third, and Fryeburg Academy and Westbrook High School fourth, in their respective divisions.
On Saturday, Beth Chapman traveled from Old Town to hear her son, Alex Chapman, play alto sax with the Old Town High School Jazz Band. She said her son, a senior, has played since fourth grade and will probably continue in college.
“It is just a part of him now,” she said.
Evan Robbins, 15, of Cape Elizabeth, a freshman at Baxter Academy, was making his festival debut on the trombone with the school’s 12-member high school jazz band.
“It was the little band that could,” said his father, Tim Robbins.
Evan said he was nervous before the performance, but relaxed once on stage.
“I think it went pretty well,” he said.
For a condensed version of yesterday’s press conference announcing SPN.tv, check out this link.
In addition, the team is expected to announce three player signings tomorrow, so be sure to check back here in the afternoon.
Posted in Uncategorized on March 25, 2014 by Mike Ashmore.
IN JULY 1890, some four months after the Prince of Wales stepped from the royal train to ceremonially tighten the last of those legendary six and a half million rivets, two brass plaques were unveiled on either side of the Forth Bridge.
One of them bore the start and completion dates of the mammoth construction task, the other the names of the great and good – the railway company directors, engineers and contractors involved.
There was no such memorial, however, for 13-year-old David Clark, a rivet catcher, who ended his short life by plummeting 150ft from the emerging superstructure, possibly the youngest fatality incurred during the construction of this triumph of Victorian engineering prowess, or for labourer Peter McLucas, who also died in a fall and was, at 61 the oldest, or the 71 other "briggers", the unsung bridge-builders now known to have perished in the construction of one of the world's iconic structures.
For many years the "official" figure of deaths during the bridge's construction was 57 nameless casualties. In recent years, however, research has suggested a considerably greater figure, and now a book published this month sets the roll of those who died as direct result of working on the bridge as 73 confirmed so far – with more than 30 other deaths also related to the project. And more than listing anonymous statistics, The Briggers, written by Elspeth Wills with a team of South Queensferry-based researchers, names them, while a wealth of photographs puts faces on the long-forgotten navvies, engineers, divers and others who pulled off one of the greatest engineering feats in history.
"We discovered that although there was this oft-quoted official statistic of 57 deaths, nobody had ever traced the names," says Wills, a historian and author who became involved with the Queensferry History Group. Four of the group's researchers – Frank Hay, Jenni Meldrum, Len Saunders and James Walker – had been gathering information about the bridge casualties, their task given increased momentum by calls for a memorial to the dead bridge-builders.
In response to suggestions that the death toll may have been much higher, Wills reckons there could well be 70-plus, although not necessarily as many as 100. "Over a hundred is often bandied about, but the researchers were rigorous in rejecting, for example, press reports for which the death certificates couldn't be traced, or reports that didn't name anyone, particularly towards the end of the project, by which time it had ceased to be news."
Whatever the true figure, as the book's appendices suggest, death on the bridge could come suddenly and violently: crushing by machinery, slipping and plunging into the Forth – despite the presence of safety boats – falling tools, metal plates and machinery, wind-blown planks … Rivet teams could include more than one generation of the same family, and it is impossible to contemplate the feelings of Patrick Shannon as he watched his son, Thomas, aged between 13 and 15, plunge to his death, landing virtually at his father's feet.
Then there were the often specialised workers from Europe who laboured in the pneumatic caissons, the 70ft diameter wrought iron cylinders used to create foundations for some of the bridge piers and towers. Their double walls were filled with concrete to sink them, and during installation they acted like diving bells, pumps maintaining air pressure to stop water entering while the men laboured in them.
There were horrific accidents, too, away from the bridge, such as the fire near Aberdour in October 1888 that consumed a contractor's dormitory hut housing navvies working on the northern rail approaches. Three men died. No-one ever claimed their charred remains.
The researchers combed through the archives of three newspapers published during the construction period – The Scotsman, the Dunfermline Journal and the short-lived Queensferry Observer. "We had seven years of newspapers to go through, one of them a daily, so it was a huge task," explains Frank Hay, who runs a website business from South Queensferry.
"We only had 11 names after a month's work. Then I spoke to my sister-in-law, Sheila Hay, who was working at that time at Register House with another genealogist, and they got really involved and tore through all the death records for Inverkeithing, Queensferry and Edinburgh, and started to give us names and dates.
"We could then look more specifically in the papers, though sometimes the names were wrong, or ages different, and we would have to check them."
The archive work also revealed press awareness of the rising death toll – and also the contractors' anxiety to play down the casualty rate."They got upset about the newspaper reports, especially the Dunfermline Journal headline 'When will this slaughter stop?'"
From 1886 onwards, as the bridge cantilevers reared further above the Forth, the death rate rose until, says Hay, it reached an average of a death every six weeks or so.