Olympics Medal Tally Resuts Day 14

Olympics Medal Tally Resuts Day 14
Countries in the lead in Medal Tally Results count as of Day 14 5:30PM

1. USA
Gold-30
Silver-35
Bronze-35
Total-100

2. China
Gold- 46
Silver-15
Bronze-22
Total- 83

3. Russia
Gold- 16
Silver-16
Bronze-21
Total- 53

4. Great Britain
Gold- 18
Silver-12
Bronze-11
Total- 41

5. Australia
Gold- 11
Silver-14
Bronze-16
Total- 41

Top Ten SEO Myths - Mr SEO

Top Ten SEO Myths - Mr SEO

Ever wonder what the biggest SEO myths are? I have taken the most prevalent myths that seem to be constantly resurfacing and examined them for you. This is a must read for anyone looking to hire an SEO firm or someone looking to do SEO for themselves.

Myth #1 All meta tags are of equal importance
Some meta tags are useful while others are not. I have stated this many times. Search engines are relying more and more about what is on the website than what the tags are telling them. The description tag is used by some (but not all) search engines. The same goes for the keyword tag. Keyword tags are used more by spammers and people using software to find you as a link partner than the search engines. In my opinion, the only tags you should concentrate your efforts on are the robot tag and the description tags.

Myth # 2 You should submit your site to search engines weekly or monthly.Honestly, I never submit any site more than 1 time and sometimes I don’t even do that. If you submit your site once, you’re good. The engines will come back on their own. You can sometimes speed up the process of getting your site indexed by linking it to a high traffic or high PR site. The search engines will find the URL to your site and index it automatically.

Myth # 3 SEO is too expensive
Actually, SEO is probably the most cost effective form of online marketing. Organic SEO is cheaper to set up and maintain than a PPC campaign or banner advertising. With PPC and banner advertising, you pay for clicks or impressions. With SEO, all clicks are FREE. You simply pay for the set up and monitoring of your site’s pages.

Myth # 4 PPC is more effective than natural SEO
In the short term…true. In the long term…false. Why, you ask? Organic SEO is preferred by traffic over 5 to 1 to PPC. People trust organic searches to return relevant results. People also know that the ads to the right of the page are sponsored ads. They have long ago figured out that anyone can bid on any term they want, as many often do, without even a hint of relevance. So, long term SEO structuring can indeed be more effective than PPC, especially when considering the preferences of search traffic. A top 5 ranking may take some time to get, but once you are there (and provided you can maintain it), you will get better results than from a PPC ad.

Myth # 5 Hiring an SEO specialist “in house” is cheaper
The problem with hiring someone in house is, they are paid hourly or by salary. Most SEO firms (Mr-SEO included), charge per item or project. It doesn’t matter how long it takes us, you pay a one time charge. When you hire a firm, it’s like having a team of SEO experts on your payroll. Paying a flat rate saves you money and speeds up the time it takes to complete a job. Additionally, most SEO firms (again, Mr-SEO Included) have specialists who write, submit, redesign sites, post pages, etc… Hiring one person who can do all these things competantly is highly unlikely.

Myth # 6 I can only optimize my homepage for keyterms
You can and should optimize every page on your site. Each page should have it’s own keyterms, with no more than three phrases per page (preferrably one).

Myth # 7 All I need to do is write content with the correct keyword density and my site will rank well
Wrong…especially if you want to rank on Google. You will need off site SEO as well as onsite SEO. Keyword density may work on MSN (for now), but it will take more than that to rank well for all search engines.

Myth # 8 I shouldn’t aim for the most competitive keywords and phrases
If the keywords you are competing for are very competitive, should you optimize your site for them? Of Course! I would optimize for some high, medium and low competitive keyterms. Cover all your bases. The worst case is that you won’t rank well for the high competitive keyterms and that’s ok. You can always work to improve them. Don’t shy away from top keyterms just because they are competitive. You may never know how close you could rank for them unless you try.

Myth # 9 Only work with companies that give you a guarantee
Guarantees would be nice if they were worth the paper they are printed on. In fact, most guarantees from SEO firms have the same stipulation in them. This stipulation usually states that as long as they get one of your keyphrases to the top of any major search engines, they have fulfilled their end of the agreement. This is irrelevant to the competition of the term. In other words…it’s easy to be number one for terms no one is competing for. Don’t be deceived by high rankings listed on SEO sites as they can be misleading.

Myth # 10 SEO requires a 1 year commitment on my part
It certainly shouldn’t. Don’t lock yourself into a year contract with any company unless you already have an established, favorable business relationship. SEO, in most cases, should be performed on a month to month basis with a mutual understanding of the objectives and relative timetable. Often, both the long and short term maintenance contracts that many firms insist on including with each job are unnecessary. As an example…If you have a new site optimized, especially right after an update, you may not see results for three months. Why pay for maintenance in the interim time? Additionally, you may not be happy with the results of an SEO firm or even the level of service. A long term contract may only ensure that you receive a full year of bad service. So, don’t lock yourself in with a year contract, at least until you are comfortable with who you are dealing with.

Hopefully, I put a few common SEO myths to rest. Feel free to contact me with questions you may have regarding these or other SEO myths you want more information on. If you post this article on your site you must link back!

Joe is an SEO expert. His SEO/SEM firm has helped many companies increase there organic placement. He also writers articles and creates a weekly podcast on SEO.

Ways to avoid or shorten your time in the Google Sandbox

Ways to avoid or shorten your time in the Google Sandbox

By: Joe Balestrino - Mr. SEO

Mr SEO’s suggestions for getting out of the sandbox faster.

What is the Google sandbox?
Some people may disagree that there is such a thing, but the Google sandbox does exist.. Here I will talk about what the Google sandbox is and ways to help avoid it, or, at the very least, shorten your time in it.

What is the Google Sand box?
The Google sandbox is a filter that appeared around March 2004. Your site may be indexed within a few weeks of submission, however, it may not rank for any keyterms for several months. This period of purgatory, if you will, is un-affectionately referred to as “the sandbox”. The reason for the delay is that Google is doing it’s best to make sure your site is not using any methods that they feel would constitute spamming. They want to be sure that your site is of a quality nature and useful for some purpose. Google may also use this time to see what you are doing in relation to your site. Are you adding content? What kind of content is it? Are you building backlinks? Are they one way or reciprocal? Who is linking to you and are they related to what your site is about?

Let’s take a new build as an example. We register the domain then build the site and submit it to search engines and wait for it to be indexed. But…what if we wanted to speed the process up? How could we go about doing so?

We know that Google loves domains that have been around a while. Unfortunately, we just built our site from scratch, so everything is new. Here’s the best way to cut down the time frame for getting indexed:

While our site is being built, we create and place 3- 6 pages of real content on the site. When I mean real, I mean readable content related to our site. No one will be visiting our site but we want the search engines to start indexing it site as soon as possible. For that to happen, we will need some content. We want to show the search engines that our site is about quality from the start. The design of the site should be a secondary concern and can always be tweaked later on. Google wants to know about what you have to offer them in terms of content, so let’s show them.
While our site is waiting to be spidered, there are additional steps we can take.
We can start working on backlinks. Link exchanges are alright in my book, but no substitute for links created through quality content.

There are many reasons why articles about topics related to our business should be written and submitted, the least of which are the quality one way links they will create. Let’s say we write a few generalized articles about the types of products or services we will be selling on the site. Now we are one step ahead of the game. We have created articles that will help build backlinks and advertised our site as well.
Another thing we can do is to plan our submission to Google right after a Page Rank update. Planning a time frame for our site’s indexing is important. Updates happen roughly every 3 months. We need to plan our site launch and indexing for the time immediately after an update.

If we launch in the middle or towards the end of an update, we’ll miss out on any links we have worked on. It will be at least another 3 months before we can earn some PR, so we need to plan our site launch time wisely.
Another thing we can do is to allow Google to find our site first. How do we go about doing this? If we can find a site with a decent PR (let’s say 4), that doesn’t have many links going out and get them to link to us once our domain is registered, Google will get to our content pages as fast as we can post them.

My business partner and I recently created the site http://www.articleuniversity.com The domain was purchased and the site built in 2 weeks time. I linked from my blog to the new site and made sure we had content in place as soon as I set it up. After only a few weeks, it is ranking #50 for “free article submissions” on Google. Granted, all my pages aren’t indexed and I have a Page Rank of 0…but the point still stands.
I have been working on one way backlinks, so by the next update I should have at least a PR 3 or 4. This will help boost my rankings and by then all my pages should all be indexed and start ranking for keyterms. The point is that it didn’t take three months to get indexed. There is more that can be done than to reduce the amount of time spent in the sandbox, but these basic steps will certainly help to get your site indexed faster. Please do not use this article unless you plan to keep my author’s bio intact and links active

To learn more about the Google sandbox, listen to my podcast on my site http://www.mr-seo.com Also, feel free to visit http://www.articleuniversity.com if you’d like to read or submit articles. You can read more of my articles at http://mr-seo.blogspot.com/

beasiswa double degree Unpad & Universiteit Twente Belanda

beasiswa double degree Unpad & Universiteit Twente Belanda
Unpad & Universiteit Twente Belanda Membuka Program Double Degree08 September 2008

Program Magister Ilmu Lingkungan Program Pascasarjana Unpad bekerja sama dengan Universiteit. Twente, Belanda menyelenggarakan program Double Degree Ilmu Lingkungan melalui Beasiswa Unggulan Depdiknas tahun 2008. Program ini terbuka bagi lulusan tahun 2003 sampai sekarang, dengan jumlah beasiswa yang disediakan pada tahun 2008 untuk 20 orang.
Syarat bagi para pelamar yang tertarik untuk menempuh studi melalui program ini adalah sebagai berikut:

* Lulusan S-1 dari berbagai disiplin ilmu, baik PTN, BHPMN, atau PTS yang terakreditasi;
* Lulusan tahun 2003 atau setelahnya;
* Tidak terdaftar sebagai dosen tetap PTN ataupun PTS;
* IPK minimal 3,20 bagi lulusan PTN dan BHPMN; minimal 3,52 bagi lulusan PTS;
* Skor TOEFL minimal 450;
* dan bersedia untuk mengikuti seluruh kegiatan akademik di Unpad dan Universiteit Twente
(apabila berhasil lulus tes seleksi).

Keterangan:
* Pendaftaran paling lambat adalah hari Rabu, 10 September 2008; (kemaren baru ke kampus,
ternyata mereka masih buka pendaftaran. jadi tanggal 10 bukan paling lambat)
* Kuliah 12 bulan di Unpad dan 12 bulan di Universiteit Twente Belanda;
* Bagi yang lulus seleksi untuk kuliah dan lulus sidang di Belanda, akan mendapatkan 2 gelar,
yaitu M.Si. (dari Unpad) dan M.Sc. (dari Universiteit Twente);
* Bagi yang tidak lulus seleksi ke Belanda, akan melanjutkan studinya di Unpad dan mendapat
gelar M.Si. apabila lulus sidang (dengan total waktu studi selama 18 bulan);
* Beasiswa yang disediakan oleh Depdiknas adalah biaya kuliah di Unpad dan living cost selama
kuliah di Universiteit Twente Belanda.

Informasi selengkapnya dapat menghubungi
Sekretariat Program Studi Magister Ilmu Lingkungan Program Pascasarjana Unpad,
Jl. Sekeloa Selatan No. 1 Bandung 40132,
telepon 022-2508871,
e-mail: psmil@unpad. ac.id,
melalui contact person Ibu Tuten.

Faith and the Duke Lacrosse Case

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Below is a special letter written by our good friend Joan Collins. The letter was written at the request of Rae Evans based on their recent communications and it looks at an aspect of the Duke Lacrosse Case that, so far, may have been overlooked: faith. Indeed, we find through communications with the lacrosse families that faith was a great source of strength to them and guided them through this most difficult period of their lives.

We would also like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to and honor a very distinguished lacrosse grandparent who is no longer with us: Raymond Forker. Mr. Forker was a most devoted and proud grandparent of David Evans. He passed away almost a year ago without seeing his grandson declared innocent. May this loving grandparent rest in peace with the knowledge we all have that Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann had been falsely accused! They were the victims of some ‘fantastic lies.’

We extend our best wishes to the Evanses, Finnertys, Seligmanns and Presslers as well as all the other Duke lacrosse families. We are greatly relieved that their ordeal is finally over. These families showed endless courage, patience and hope throughout the lacrosse controversy and came out of it stronger than ever before.

Moderator

Faith and the Duke Lacrosse Case

Some supporters became interested in the Duke Lacrosse Case because of ties to Duke University or lacrosse. For others it was thoughts that this could be their son, brother or grandchild. For many it was concerns that with the best justice system in the world how could this happen in our country. As for me, it was faith that brought me to this case.

Several players on the Duke Men’s Lacrosse Team were from my hometown. After hearing some of the media reports, I wanted more information, so I began reading the Court TV message board. I had never before read or posted on a message board or blog.

On April 25, 2006, a photo of Collin Finnerty with a priest appeared in the media. I soon learned that Father Peter LeJacq had devoted his life to serving as a missionary in Africa. In addition to being a Maryknoll priest, Father LeJacq, is a physician who has opened hospitals and trained doctors in Africa. He attended grammar school with Kevin Finnerty and has known Collin Finnerty his entire life. When some posters began referring to the priest as a rent-a-priest, I could no longer remain silent. My first post was “What better time for a family to be drawn to their faith than in a time of crisis!” Little did I know that post would draw me into a case that would consume me for more than a year.

On May 15, 2006, Dave Evans gave an inspiring and courageous speech to the press on the steps of the Durham County Courthouse, flanked by seniors of the lacrosse team, with his parents, David and Rae, standing proudly behind him. For me, Dave Evans epitomized Hemingway’s definition of courage namely ‘grace under pressure’. Convinced Evans was being truthful and that he, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann were innocent of all charges, the thoughts of his speech remained with me for months.

On the morning of August 20, 2006, I decided to put my thoughts into words and wrote “Profile of Courage - Dave Evans”. I had no idea why, but I felt this sense of urgency to post it immediately. It was posted as a letter to Friends of Duke University (FODU) on August 22, 2006 after which I left on vacation. Upon my return on August 31, I learned that Evans’ grandfather, Raymond Forker, had passed away on the morning the profile of courage about his grandson was written and was posted on the same day as his obituary. The timing was an uncanny coincidence, but I was pleased that it had provided some comfort to the family as they prepared for the funeral.

Whether one believes in miracles or not, if ever a case needed a miracle it was the Duke Lacrosse Case. I decided to pray to St. Raymond Nonnatus, the patron saint of the falsely accused, asking that the case be dismissed. In the spring of 2007, I wrote to Mr. Evans that St. Raymond was the patron saint of the falsely accused. It was another coincidence that Rae Evans and her father, Raymond, shared the same name as the patron saint of the falsely accused. Later, I was touched by Mr. Evans’ testimony at Mr. Nifong’s trial about Raymond Forker and how the family had embraced the patron saint.

Well educated, Raymond was born to a noble Spanish family in 1204. His father had planned a career for him in the royal court of Aragon, but Raymond was drawn to a religious life ransoming Christian captives in North Africa. When his funds were exhausted, he surrendered himself up as a hostage to free another. Imprisoned and tortured, he converted some of his guards. To prevent him from preaching, his captors pierced and padlocked his lips. Raymond remained in jail for eight months until he was ransomed. He became cardinal, although he continued to live as a monk. Raymond died in 1239 and was canonized a saint in 1657. His feast day is August 31.

Over the past year, I encountered remarkable, resolute people in the search for truth and justice in the Duke Lacrosse Case. Their research, writings, poems, videos and cartoons energized us to continue. It was a privilege to meet and speak with some of the lacrosse players, their families and the Presslers. Their courage inspired me. The common theme of the conversations was faith and how it had sustained them, provided them hope, and at times carried them through some of their darkest days. When their university turned its back on them, when the media spewed vile things about them, when our legal system did not seem to be working, what remained were family, friends and faith.

Today I met Rae Evans for the first time. She was wearing a St. Raymond pendant and she gave me a special gift of a St. Raymond medal. Faith has taken me on a journey from that first post on Court TV about faith, to writing the Dave Evans profile of courage on the morning of Raymond Forker’s death, praying to the patron saint of the falsely accused and receiving the medal. The St. Raymond medal reminds me that with faith all things are possible.

None of us will forget the Duke Lacrosse Case. We must move forward and learn from the experience. The Duke Lacrosse team will become better and stronger men, sons, husbands, and fathers because of the case. This is not the end, but the beginning for there is still much work to be done. Hopefully, the players and their many supporters will follow in the generous footsteps of St. Raymond, so that something like this never happens again.

Reflecting on the events of the case, its effect on all those involved and looking to the future, the poignant words of Father Bob Joerger, a mission priest who spoke of the story of Lazarus at my church during the past Lenten season seem most appropriate:

“What seems like weakness becomes strength, what seems like failure becomes new growth, what seems like the end, becomes the beginning, what seems like ultimate depravity, becomes redemption, what seems like powerlessness, becomes power, and what seems like death, becomes the seeds of a new life.”

Joan Collins
Garden City, NY

Announcements and a Follow Up

Announcements and a Follow Up

One of the groups sponsoring KC Johnson’s address, Duke Students for and Ethical Duke (not to be confused with the equally estimable Duke Students for an Ethical Durham) is a new group dedicated to making sure that the appalling treatment of certain Duke students by the administration and a few of their professors is not forgotten and does not go unaddressed. They are pledged to “defend the dignity and the academic and legal rights of Duke students, both individually and collectively, whether threatened by other students, faculty, or administrators alike.” Here is an article from the Chronicle.

This is a very encouraging development. The fact that the number of groups focusing attention on these issues is growing and not decreasing with time should indicate to the trustees and administration that these issues are not going to go away. It is also good that the students themselves are getting involved. We at FODU are certainly concerned for Duke as an institution. However, most of all, we have done what we have done for the students. Those of us who are alumni want present students to enjoy what we enjoyed while at Duke: a university committed to the care, nurturing and dignity of ALL students. Those who are parents want these things for their children.

Follow up to Duke and the Police

First, a Duke official contacted me after I posted the last update and took issue with two statements I made there. I repeated information that had been told to me personally and which had also been widely reported. However, this official says these two statements are inaccurate and offers an alternative view. As the other bloggers in this case have done, I reproduce this person’s comments below in order to allow a fair opportunity to reply. I also appreciate this person’s willingness to respond and engage us in a dialogue, something lacking among Duke officials up to this point.

1) No one in the university “hired” Wes Covington. In fact, I was the unfortunate agent who brought him into contact with the players. When I met with them on March 17th and first learned of the police search, I was surprised and concerned that they had neither told their parents about it nor retained counsel. I told them to call their parents and consult with them about a lawyer. I said that I would also find out if there was anyone locally who could help them. I then asked Sue Wasiolek for a recommendation and she pointed me to Covington. I was the one who passed his name along to the four captains. They met with him at least once that I am aware of but to the best of my knowledge, he was never formally retained by any of them. I would be surprised if anyone in the administration other than Wasiolek knew anything about this until much later. By 3/24 (the day after the NTO was served) he was entirely out of the picture as far as I know.

2) The persistent rumor about “student/teacher privilege” is somewhat inaccurate. This came up in a meeting between the captains and Trask, Pressler [and] Alleva . . . on 2/24. By then, the players had all retained counsel and been advised not to speak about the matter without the presence of counsel. Trask had been sent down to athletics (I think) to assess the situation and report back to Allen Building. When he asked the players to tell him everything that had happened, they responded that they had been advised not to speak (in fact, they were dying to tell anyone who would listen what had (or hadn’t) happened). Trask responded that they could call their lawyers to come over and that he would wait for them. The players (specifically, David Evans) then said they would go ahead without representation. At that point, Trask said “We could argue that it (their account of the evening of 3/13) is a protected educational record. We might lose that argument.” The players then went on to detail what had happened at the party. Incidentally, it was clear . . . that Trask was absolutely certain that nothing had happened and that the players were innocent; I’m not sure that he played much of a role in what ensued in the following weeks.

Either way, my larger point remains unchanged. Officials of Duke University–and, in a couple of cases at least, I do think genuinely–were indicating to the players their belief in their innocence at the same time that the University was surreptitiously passing protected personal information about them out the back door to police officers with questionable motives and disputed integrity.

The problems with Mike Nifong and his conduct were manifest as I mentioned in the last post. However, Duke had every reason to be very suspicious of the motives of the police as well. Before that interview with the victim occurred, the original police investigator assigned to the case spoke with Sergeant Mark Gottlieb and they agreed that he would take over the case. As detailed last September in both the News and Observer and the Chronicle, Sergeant Gottlieb had been the subject of numerous allegations involving the violation of the rights of Duke students and use of thug-like tactics against them because of some particular animus he had against Duke students. Days before the lacrosse case incident, Durham Police Department officials had moved Gottlieb from patrol to investigations in District 2 apparently in response to these complaints. Duke officials had been notified of the complaints against Gottlieb no later than February. Now Gottlieb was back chasing Duke students, having in his own words “adopted” the lacrosse case. And into Gottlieb’s very hands, Duke personally delivered this protected information without a subpoena.

Second, in the comments, someone asked why turning the key card data over to the police was prejudicial to the players. Sure it was illegal, but how did it harm them? A good investigator will gather as much information as possible and then form a theory. However, that is not how it is always done. Some police investigators unfortunately do not go wherever the evidence takes them. Instead, they make up their mind what happened and then go out and try to find evidence that supports their theory while ignoring all else. Sometimes they will even make up evidence. Even “good” cops sometimes do all this. No better illustration of these problems can be found than the way Durham police actually conducted the lacrosse case investigation.

Let me be clear. There is nothing inherently sinister about police. Most police officers are dedicated, honest professionals who want to make a difference in the community. As in every human organization, there are some who do not live up to these ideals. In the middle are a bunch of people who see police work as just another job. Even under the best circumstances, the role of a defense attorney, as with any other type attorney, is to protect against the worst case scenario. They do that by forcing police to establish probable cause and preventing opportunities for fishing expeditions.

In investigating an alleged crime, the police must establish two things: whether a crime occurred and who did it. In the context of the lacrosse case, the police had skipped over the first step and were already trying to find three people to indict. This was despite their initial skepticism about the accuser’s story. In fact, throughout the entire case, they specifically avoided looking for corroborating evidence to test the accuser’s claims, evidently afraid of what they would find. Remember that the application for the Nontestimonial Order sought by police stated that the dna evidence would “immediately rule out any innocent persons, and show conclusive evidence as to who the suspect(s) are. . . .” Yet, the police did not wait for the results of the DNA testing to come back before inducing Duke to give them the keycard information. The keycard data helped police establish who was at the party and, more importantly, who was not. As described in the Pressler/Yeager book, the police were afraid that the accuser would pick someone out of the lineup who was not at the party and that is exactly what she did.

It is not that information protected by FERPA can never be obtained by police. All police have to show is that they have some particular need for the information, i.e. that it would be helpful to them in their investigation. That is a very low threshold, yet the police and Nifong were unable to make that showing with regard to the key card data. That they were unable to do so demonstrates that no legitimate reason existed for them to have this information.

Briefly Mentioned
KC-Teach trains new teachers
In response to underdeveloped science programs in urban schools, the National Science Foundation (NSF) donated $750,000 in scholarship funds to UMKC to help increase the number of quality teachers in Kansas City.

The NSF, through its Robert Noyce Scholarship Program, allocated the money to UMKC’s College of Arts and Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, School of Education and the Kansas City, Mo.

A Conversation with Susan Pressler

A Conversation with Susan Pressler

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Today, we are sharing with you another ‘profile in courage’ written by our friend Joan Collins. In her latest profile, Joan writes about a selfless and inspiring woman. A woman who not only stood by her husband and family and supported them through extraordinarily tough times but also stood by 46 other families, Duke lacrosse families, who were devastated by the events that unfolded at Duke a year ago. This woman is former Duke Lacrosse head coach Mike Pressler’s wife, Susan Pressler. Thank you Joan, for talking with Mrs. Pressler and sharing your conversation with us.

In a book that will be published soon, there will be much more on the ordeal that Presslers along with 46 other lacrosse families went through between March 2006 and April 2007. To find out more or to purchase that book, use the link below.

It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives it Shattered by Don Yaeger and Mike Pressler

Profile in Courage
A Conversation with Susan Pressler

For some time now, several Duke Lacrosse mothers have spoken to me about Susan Pressler, wife of former Duke Lacrosse Coach, Mike Pressler. They described a woman who not only has supported her husband and children through difficult and painful times, but has continued to be an inspiration to them and their sons. Some of the words used to describe her were “amazing, “a rock”, and “the wind beneath Mike Pressler’s wings”. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Susan Pressler.

Susan and Mike Pressler met at Ohio Wesleyan University where she was a swim coach, while he was head lacrosse coach. Originally from Illinois, she is both strong and loving. For over 16 years, Susan Pressler stood beside her husband as they made their home in Durham. As head coach, Pressler built Duke Lacrosse into a highly regarded program. Pressler compiled a 153-82 record at Duke, winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship three times, while leading his team to 10 NCAA tournament appearances as well as the Division I men’s national championship game in 2005. Pressler was voted ACC Coach of the Year three times and also was honored as the U.S.I.L.A. National Coach of the Year in 2005. She worked with him in organizing the successful Duke Lacrosse Summer Camp.

The family immersed themselves in the Durham community. Their children were happy. Their two daughters, age 9 and 15, know of no home other than Durham. After her husband’s contract was renewed, they put a large addition on their Durham home, almost doubling its size, making it just the way they always wanted. They expected Durham would be their home for the next 20 years. Everything changed on April 5, 2006, when Mike Pressler lost his coaching job at Duke.

Sadly, Durham became a community Susan no longer recognized. After receiving threats and out of fear for their children’s safety, they sent their eldest daughter to live with friends in another city, while their youngest was sent out of state with family for a time.

Immediately after the players were indicted, she used a labeler to make handmade signs “Innocent #6- Innocent #13- Innocent #45” which she displays prominently on her license plate as she drives around Durham. She proudly wears a Duke Lacrosse wristband with the same inscription. Susan insists she will not remove the wristband, until Reade and Collin each score their first goal and she hears from Rae Evans that Dave is alright.

Although she is the mother of two daughters, Susan considers herself to have hundreds of sons. She spoke in a most loving, motherly way of Coach Pressler’s players, not just the recent team, but of all the players over the last 16 years of coaching at Duke. She estimates that about 200 players have passed through his program. “I am so grateful for the young men my husband has brought into our family. I love every kid,” said Susan. Her youngest daughter refers to the players as “Daddy’s Boys”. I would trust my girls with all 47 boys on the team,” Susan said. Parents of daughters understand what that means.

Several days before the Blue Devils played their first game of the season against Dartmouth, Susan Pressler addressed the team in the locker room, something she had never done before. She told them that Duke is not the administration or professors. She said, “Duke is the students. Once you wear that uniform you are always Duke.” She told the team the Pressler family never blamed them for what happened and that she loved them and they should feel proud again.

About Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann she replied, “I am so proud of these three young men and how they handled themselves in the face of the most unbelievable adversity. As the ones picked, it would ultimately be them and their families that the world would focus on. No one would represent Duke Lacrosse with more class and dignity. After their innocence was announced to the world, they spoke at a press conference, their poise and presence could make every Duke alumni proud again. It showed anyone willing to see, that these are great kids from great families, who were falsely accused.”

Ask to comment on John Danowski as Coach of Duke Lacrosse, Susan responded, “Duke Lacrosse is a great program. We were a big part of building the Duke Lacrosse brand. It is difficult to see someone else in that position, but I am glad it is John Danowski. His purpose is pure. He loves it as we did and he loves the boys.”

In August of 2006 Bryant University in Smithfield, Rhode Island announced Mike Pressler would become their new head lacrosse coach. For the past 8 months Coach Pressler has been working at Bryant settling into his new position, while his family remained in Durham. In the next few weeks, Susan and her daughters will move to their new home in Rhode Island. For the Presslers, starting over will mean many changes. It means a new job, new community, new home, new schools and new friends. Her eldest daughter, a sophomore in high school, plays on a varsity volleyball team, Triangle, which has won 8 out of the last 9 state championships. Unfortunately, she must leave her team which means so much to her.

This past weekend at the Lone Star Classic National qualifier in Dallas, the Presslers eldest daughter, Janet, had a chance to meet some members of her new team, the Rhode Island Blast Volleyball. It was another glimpse for this teenager into what lies ahead. They were scheduled to play in the afternoon pool on court 38, the same court Janet’s Triangle 16-1 team played earlier that morning. Susan Wolcott, mother of a member of the Men’s Duke Lacrosse 2006 Team, was in the stands to cheer Janet and her team. For Susan Pressler, this represented the bridge between the Duke boys and the Bryant boys, which will forever be a part of the Pressler children’s lives.

On the same day back in Durham, younger daughter, Maggie, attended the Duke-Army Lacrosse game where Jimmy Regan, former Duke Lacrosse player and Army Ranger, recently killed in Iraq, was honored in a half time ceremony. Former Duke assistant Joe Albericci, and the Army Captains presented Regan’s parents and fiancé with a cadet sword. The Duke Captains presented his family with his framed No. 10 Duke Jersey. “Jimmy represented and lived the Ranger Creed, extraordinary but not surprising, for a Duke Lacrosse player. This is yet another reason for Duke Alumni to be proud of their lacrosse team again,” she said.

According to Susan, lacrosse in Rhode Island is at a stage similar to North Carolina when they first moved to Duke over 16 years ago. She described a Bryant University community that has been supportive and wonderful in welcoming them. The Bryant parents are excited that their children will have an opportunity to learn lacrosse from a man with the talent and expertise of Coach Pressler. The climate is much colder, so they will be practicing indoors a lot and shoveling snow, however the citizens of Smithfield have warm hearts to compensate for the colder temperatures.

During our conversations, I could not help but think of one of my mother’s favorite expressions, “When one door closes, another door opens.” I thought of all the New England boys who will benefit from another door that has opened.

Susan is optimistic about the future. Bryant has a student body of about 3,500 students. At Bryant’s first game of the season, there were 700 spectators, much more than attended Pressler’s first game at Duke years ago. In the stands were some of Pressler’s former players and their parents.

Susan is excited about Mike Pressler’s soon to be released book, “It’s Not About the Truth: The Untold Story of the Duke Lacrosse Case and the Lives it Shattered”, which he wrote with Don Yaeger. It was written to fulfill a promise Mike made to the 47 players that he would tell the world the truth at the appropriate time and venue.

Bryant opened the door for Coach Pressler. As they hold the door open for Susan Pressler and her daughters to enter, they will soon learn that the woman entering the door has a heart big enough to love each and every one of Bryant University’s sons.

“Optimism is the foundation of courage,” wrote Nicholas Murray Butler, former President of Columbia University. “My goal is to not let the events of this last year taint my children’s view of the world,” said Susan Pressler. She is a testament to finding the inner strength to recognize the open door in front of you, when one had closed unexpectedly.

One former member of the Duke lacrosse team wrote to me, “I am forever indebted to Mrs. Pressler for what she did for me and my friends”. Heroes inspire us. Susan is an inspiration for us all to rise above feelings of disappointment and watch for our own opening doors.

Susan Pressler is a true hero.

Joan Collins
Garden City, NY

Nutritionist Bristol

Nutritionist Bristol

Foods for Life Nutritionists will be visiting Bristol City Centre on the 31st May and 1st June 2008. Nutrition therapy consultations and testing services will be offered at special show offer exclusive rates at The Bristol Vegan Fayre

See Bristol Nutritionists for more information.

Yvonne Bishop-Weston will be joined by Alexa Jarzebowska

Front Ender’s Union

Senator, Target of Anthrax Letter, Challenges FBI Finding - New York Times

Senator, Target of Anthrax Letter, Challenges FBI Finding - New York Times

ABC News

Senator, Target of Anthrax Letter, Challenges FBI Finding
New York Times - Sep 17, 2008
By SCOTT SHANE WASHINGTON - Senator Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a target of the anthrax letters of 2001, said Wednesday that he did not believe the FBI’s contention that an Army scientist conducted the attacks alone …
Anthrax Suspicions Washington Post

Anthrax Target Leahy Skeptical Of FBI Findings On Suspect eFluxMedia
San Francisco Chronicle - USA Today - Reuters - ABC News
all 653 news articles

Husband of Alaska Governor Refuses to Testify in Legislature’s … - New York Times

CTV.ca

Husband of Alaska Governor Refuses to Testify in Legislature’s …
New York Times - 6 hours ago
By AP ANCHORAGE - Todd Palin, the husband of the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, has refused to testify in a legislative inquiry into whether Ms.
Palin's husband refuses to testify in investigation Boston Globe

Palin's husband refuses to testify in Alaska probe Reuters
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette - AFP - WHNT
all 1,281 news articles

China Milk Scandal Shows Ties Between Companies, City Officials - Bloomberg

Times Online

China Milk Scandal Shows Ties Between Companies, City Officials
Bloomberg - 35 minutes ago
By John Liu Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) — A week before the Beijing Olympics began on Aug. 8, officials in Shijiazhuang, China, learned that baby formula made by one of the city's biggest companies was tainted with a toxic chemical.
China recalls dairy products over health scare AFP

China says some liquid milk also tainted The Associated Press
Reuters - Los Angeles Times - ABS CBN News - China Daily
all 2,227 news articles

Video of KC Johnson’s Duke Lecture

Video of KC Johnson’s Duke Lecture
The video of KC Johnson’s lecture at Duke is now up. It is on the website of Duke Students for an Ethical Duke, one of the cosponsors for the event. Here is the link.

While you are over there consider making a donation to DSEDuke. During the lacrosse case, the students as a group were the only ones consistently showing any leadership or initiative on campus. Now that the crisis is over, the students are once again leading the way by making sure that the appropriate lessons are learned and that Duke can once again be a place of mutual respect and concern among all members of the community.

[Update: new link provided]

LieStoppers Message Board

LieStoppers Message Board
Last weekend, the LieStoppers message board was hacked and taken down. Thanks to an incredible amount of work and resourcefulness by the LieStoppers team, their message board is back in business in a new and (hopefully) more secure format and it is now open to the general public again.

PhD Studentship - School of Applied Social Science De Montford University
Full-Time PhD Studentship
School of Applied Social Sciences
Faculty of Health & Life Sciences

Applications are invited for a fully funded three-year PhD studentship starting in October 2008. The studentship includes a bursary of £12,600 per annum (tax-free) for three years and all tuition fees.

Candidates should hold a good first degree (at least an Upper-Second Class or equivalent) in a relevant subject area.

The Faculty of Health and Life Sciences has made available a number of post graduate bursaries, one of which has been allocated to the social sciences. The bursary provides tuition fees and generous subsistence funding to support your PhD study. Bursaries are offered on a competitive basis and it is anticipated that the successful candidate would commence study as early as possible in the autumn of 2008.

Any area of social science study will be considered, however the strengthening of current strategic areas of importance and critical mass in research suggests the following are most likely to meet with support:
- Social science and Disability Policy
- Social science, criminal/youth justice
- Social science and health (particularly health consumer diversity)
- Social science and youth/childhood

Any combination of underpinning social science disciplines would be acceptable, however we have the strongest supervisory standing in sociology, social policy, psychology and philosophy. We are an applied social science faculty and attention to the social outcomes of primary research would be welcomed. We do however value theoretical, epistemological and conceptual approaches to social and human science issues.

Applications are welcome from citizens from the EU and those with overseas status as well as those from UK. Candidates for whom English is not their first language should hold an English qualification at least equivalent to IELTS 6.5.

Enquiries should in the first instance go to the Research Office, De Montfort University, Leicester, LE1 9BH Telephone: 0116 2506309. Web: http://www.dmu. ac.uk/research/ index.jsp

Closing Date: 26th September 2008

An application form may be downloaded from:
http://www.dmu. ac.uk/research/ degrees/procedur e.jsp

Applicants are requested to contact the office to receive a hardcopy admission pack and will need to provide a full CV with two supporting references. Please e-mail: researchstudents@ dmu.ac.uk or call (0116) 2506309 to receive further details.

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