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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/L5xYpI0NQNM/story01.htm
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Thursday, January 26, 2012
Geohot quits Facebook and is back to hacking
Iconic iPhone hacker George Hotz was hired at Facebook a while back. That didn't seem to work out very long as he's no longer there. What's he up to these days? It appears he's back to hacking and coding.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Illinois unemployment rate drops to 9.8 percent (AP)
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. ? Unemployment in Illinois dropped to 9.8 percent in December. It was the second month in a row with a decrease
The Illinois Department of Employment Security said Friday that the unemployment rate fell despite the overall number of jobs in the state dropping by 4,100 in December. Statewide unemployment had fallen slightly in November to 10 percent after six straight months of increases.
Federal officials said earlier this week that national unemployment fell to a three-year low of 8.5 percent in December.
For all of 2001, Illinois unemployment rate averaged 9.4 percent. That was down almost a full percentage point from 2010.
Manufacturing employers added 2,200 jobs in December. That was more than any other type of employer. The biggest jobs losses were in construction, where firms cut 4,300 jobs.
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Why does Mitt Romney have money in the Caymans? Two potential reasons.
The Cayman Islands used to be known as a 'tax haven.' ?That's not necessarily true anymore, but there could be other reasons for Mitt Romney use the Caymans to store his millions.
Mitt Romney?s official residence is Belmont, Mass., a suburb of Boston. But at least a part of his money resides in the Cayman Islands, best known to many Americans as a nice place to escape winter.
Skip to next paragraphMr. Romney says he reports his income from there and pays his taxes ? and will prove it in April or whenever he releases his taxes ? assuming he does.
But why was it there in the first place?
The Cayman Islands used to be known as a ?tax haven,? a place where people could set up an account with a friendly banker whose lips were sealed. However, tax experts, say in 2009 the Caymans agreed to exchange tax information with at least a dozen IRS-type organizations around the world. Suddenly, it became more difficult to hide assets or income and some banks actually shut down their operations on its sunny shores.
But there could be other reasons to use the Caymans to store millions, other than the discreet bankers.
One of the reasons could relate to Bain Capital, which Romney founded and ran from 1984 to 1999. The company could have been trying to attract foreign investors who did not want to deal with the US tax code. A Cayman Islands-based company could invest in US companies and then move their profits offshore.
?A company that is set up in the Caymans would not subject their foreign investors to US taxation,? says Seth Cohen, a principal in the accounting firm WeiserMazars in New York.
But Romney is a US investor and must report his income to the IRS, which he apparently has done. ?Because he [Romney] is reporting this we know he is obeying the law,? says Mr. Cohen. ?If we did not know about his Cayman?s investment that would be a problem.?
However, some other tax experts think Romney may have had a different reason for having money in the Caymans.
While Romney says he paid taxes on his Bain investments,?Daniel Shaviro, a professor of taxation at New York University Law School, says Romney may have been trying to avoid paying a specific tax on investments made by his Individual Retirement Account (IRA).
Mr. Shaviro thinks Romney may have invested some of his IRA money in ?super high performers.? But Romney wanted to increase his return on investment by getting his IRA to borrow so that he could buy even more of the stocks. However, under IRS rules Shaviro says, nonprofits such as IRAs that borrow to hold investments?face?something called the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT).
Shaviro hypothesizes that to avoid paying that tax, Romney?s lawyers set up a separate Caymans entity, which would borrow and buy the stocks. Romney?s IRA invested in that entity.
?Congress is sort of aware of this but has not changed the law,? says Shaviro. ?It is not a top secret tax planning trick but it is a common end-run around the purpose of the law.?
If Shaviro is correct ? that the funds are accumulating tax-free ? in the Cayman Islands, Romney may have no reason to repatriate them to the US. ?It?s not as if he needs the money back here to pay his rent,? says Shaviro. ?Plus, if he did the same thing using a US entity, then it would face US corporate tax on the income.?
Shaviro points out that Romney?s Cayman Islands stash is likely to be debated politically. ?If I was thinking of working with someone in business and I heard they had done this, I would not be upset,? he says. ?You could say he did something that any clever and savvy investor would do.? But, he adds, ?If you believe that someone who is running for President should live by a higher standard, then you could take offense at it.?
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Tiny amounts of alcohol dramatically extend a worm's life, but why?
ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2012) ? Minuscule amounts of ethanol, the type of alcohol found in alcoholic beverages, can more than double the life span of a tiny worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans, which is used frequently as a model in aging studies, UCLA biochemists report. The scientists said they find their discovery difficult to explain.
"This finding floored us -- it's shocking," said Steven Clarke, a UCLA professor of chemistry and biochemistry and the senior author of the study, published Jan. 18 in the online journal PLoS ONE, a publication of the Public Library of Science.
In humans, alcohol consumption is generally harmful, Clarke said, and if the worms are given much higher concentrations of ethanol, they experience harmful neurological effects and die, other research has shown.
"We used far lower levels, where it may be beneficial," said Clarke, who studies the biochemistry of aging.
The worms, which grow from an egg to an adult in just a few days, are found throughout the world in soil, where they eat bacteria. Clarke's research team -- Paola Castro, Shilpi Khare and Brian Young -- studied thousands of these worms during the first hours of their lives, while they were still in a larval stage. The worms normally live for about 15 days and can survive with nothing to eat for roughly 10 to 12 days.
"Our finding is that tiny amounts of ethanol can make them survive 20 to 40 days," Clarke said.
Initially, Clarke's laboratory intended to test the effect of cholesterol on the worms. "Cholesterol is crucial for humans," Clarke said. "We need it in our membranes, but it can be dangerous in our bloodstream."
The scientists fed the worms cholesterol, and the worms lived longer, apparently due to the cholesterol. They had dissolved the cholesterol in ethanol, often used as a solvent, which they diluted 1,000-fold.
"It's just a solvent, but it turns out the solvent was having the longevity effect," Clarke said. "The cholesterol did nothing. We found that not only does ethanol work at a 1-to-1,000 dilution, it works at a 1-to-20,000 dilution. That tiny bit shouldn't have made any difference, but it turns out it can be so beneficial."
How little ethanol is that?
"The concentrations correspond to a tablespoon of ethanol in a bathtub full of water or the alcohol in one beer diluted into a hundred gallons of water," Clarke said.
Why would such little ethanol have such an effect on longevity?
"We don't know all the answers," Clarke acknowledged. "It's possible there is a trivial explanation, but I don't think that's the case. We know that if we increase the ethanol concentration, they do not live longer. This extremely low level is the maximum that is beneficial for them."
The scientists found that when they raised the ethanol level by a factor of 80, it did not increase the life span of the worms.
The research raises, but does not answer, the question of whether tiny amounts of ethanol can be helpful for human health. Whether this mechanism has something in common with findings that moderate alcohol consumption in humans may have a cardiovascular health benefit is unknown, but Clarke said the possibilities are intriguing.
In follow-up research, Clarke's laboratory is trying to identify the mechanism that extends the worms' life span.
About half the genes in the worms have human counterparts, Clarke said, so if the researchers can identify a gene that extends the life of the worm, that may have implications for human aging.
"It is important for other scientists to know that such a low concentration of the widely used solvent ethanol can have such a big effect in C. elegans," said lead author Paola Castro, who conducted the research as an undergraduate in Clarke's laboratory before earning a bachelor's degree in biochemistry from UCLA in 2010 and joining the Ph.D. program in bioengineering at UC Santa Cruz. "What is even more interesting is the fact that the worms are in a stressed developmental stage. At high magnifications under the microscope, it was amazing to see how the worms given a little ethanol looked significantly more robust than worms not given ethanol."
"While the physiological effects of high alcohol consumption have been established to be detrimental in humans, current research shows that low to moderate alcohol consumption, equivalent to one or two glasses of wine or beer a day, results in a reduction in cardiovascular disease and increased longevity," said co-author Shilpi Khare, a former Ph.D. student in UCLA's biochemistry and molecular biology program who is now a postdoctoral fellow at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation in San Diego. "While these benefits are fascinating, our understanding of the underlying biochemistry involved in these processes remains in its infancy.
"We show that very low doses of ethanol can be a worm 'lifesaver' under starvation stress conditions," Khare added. "While the mechanism of action is still not clearly understood, our evidence indicates that these 1 millimeter-long roundworms could be utilizing ethanol directly as a precursor for biosynthesis of high-energy metabolic intermediates or indirectly as a signal to extend life span. These findings could potentially aid researchers in determining how human physiology is altered to induce cardio-protective and other beneficial effects in response to low alcohol consumption."
Clarke's laboratory identified the first protein-repair enzyme in the early 1980s, and his research has shown that repairing proteins is important to cells. In the current study, the biochemists reported that life span is significantly reduced under stress conditions in larval worms that lack this repair enzyme. (More than 150 enzymes are involved in repairing DNA damage, and about a dozen protein-repair enzymes have been identified.)
"Our molecules live for only weeks or months," Clarke said. "If we want to live long lives, we have to outlive our molecules. The way we do that is with enzymes that repair our DNA -- and with proteins, a combination of replacement and repair."
Researcher Brian Young, now an M.D./Ph.D. student at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, is a co-author on the research.
The research was federally funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Los Angeles. The original article was written by Stuart Wolpert.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Paola V. Castro, Shilpi Khare, Brian D. Young, Steven G. Clarke. Caenorhabditis elegans Battling Starvation Stress: Low Levels of Ethanol Prolong Lifespan in L1 Larvae. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (1): e29984 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0029984
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/pjCF0Ezs5nw/120120184540.htm
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Saturday, January 21, 2012
Flacco's litmus test awaits
Ravens QB is better than people give him credit for, but he must crack a barrier Sunday
APRavens quarterback Joe Flacco celebrates his touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin during their victory over the Texans last Sunday.
By Chris Wesseling
NBCSports.com contributor
updated 2:04 p.m. ET Jan. 19, 2012
Entering Sunday's NFL conference championship games, no player is under more scrutiny that Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.
For over a decade, the working narrative has been this: the Ravens? ground attack and swarming defense compensate for an anemic passing game.
"I'm sure if we win [the Super Bowl], I'll have nothing to do with why we won, according to you guys," Flacco told the media last week. Since then, the Ravens ? thanks to four turnovers ? squeaked past a Texans team that posted more first downs, total yards, and yards per pass play than Baltimore.
Former AP defensive player of the year Ed Reed, among others, fingered Flacco as the primary culprit, taking aim at his shaky pocket presence and loss of composure in managing just three points over the final 45 minutes.
But does Flacco deserve his status as the public?s playoff punching bag?
Team leader Ray Lewis, who said from "Day 1" that Flacco?s arm was special, defends his quarterback as a ?flat-out winner.? And the numbers back that up. For his career, Flacco is 5-3 in the playoffs during and 44-20 in the regular season, including a 7-0 record against playoff teams this season.
No quarterback has more regular-season victories in his first four seasons.
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Flacco has shown the ability to move the ball through the air with the best of the league?s passers. He entered the season as one of just six quarterbacks in NFL history with 10,000 yards in his first three seasons. Flacco is the only quarterback since the NFL merger in 1970 to start a playoff game in each of his first four seasons. Through nine games this season, he was on pace for the sixth most passing attempts in history.
That success, though, masks a disturbing habit of following standout performances with disappointing losses against inferior teams. Flacco?s inconsistency forced the Ravens to alter their blueprint down the stretch, winning six of seven games while leaning on Ray Rice and a typically stingy defense.
Even against a Patriots defense that surrendered the most completions of 20-plus yards and the second-most passing yards in history, Baltimore?s first priority will be to jumpstart a running game that averaged just 2.8 yards per rush last week.
?Time of possession is going to be huge? at New England, coach John Harbaugh said, essentially giving away his game plan. It?s no secret the Ravens offense is best when Rice and Ricky Williams set up Flacco?s down-field strikes to Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin.As great as the Reed- and Lewis-led defense has been, Tom Brady?s surgically precise offense won?t implode the closer it advances toward the red zone as overwhelmed rookie T.J. Yates did a week ago.
It?s going to take more than 20 points for Flacco to finally ascend that AFC summit of Brady-Manning-Roethlisberger and reach Super Bowl XLVI.
If the Baltimore faithful have any hope of parading in the streets of the city that welcomed the Mayflower moving vans of their beloved Colts in 1984, Flacco is going to have to go against script to outgun Brady by taking advantage of that porous Pats secondary. This is his litmus test. In fact, one national report suggests Flacco?s future in Baltimore may hinge on his ability to finally knock off one of the NFL?s elite quarterbacks in the postseason.
? 2012 NBC Sports.com? Reprintsadvertisement
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46059088/ns/sports-nfl/
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Uncrop Your Photos, Raise Minesweeper From the Dead, and Shoot Your Way to Victory [Video]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/EdrQjKS3dYE/
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Friday, January 20, 2012
Tape shows cruise ship crew denying emergency (Reuters)
ROME (Reuters) ? A crew member of the capsized Costa Concordia told the Italian coastguard the vessel had only suffered a power outage and there was no emergency onboard, even after passengers had put on life vests, according to a new recording aired on Thursday.
News channel Sky TG 24, which broadcast the tape, said it was the first radio conversation between the coastguard and the cruise ship after the liner, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, hit a rock off Tuscany's coast on Friday night and keeled over.
The conversation began at 10:12 p.m. (4:12 p.m. ET), about 30 minutes after the accident, Sky TG 24 reported.
By then, many passengers had called relatives on their cell phones asking them to alert the police, who in turn told the coastguard to check on the state of the ship.
"Good evening Costa Concordia, please, do you have problems on board?," a coastguard official asks the bridge.
An unidentified member of the crew replies: "We've had a blackout, we are checking the conditions on board."
The coastguard asks: "What kind of a problem? Is it just something with the generator? The police ... have received a phone call from the relatives of a sailor who said that during the dinner everything was falling on his head,."
He says some passengers were already wearing life jackets.
The crew member simply repeats that there has been a blackout. "We are checking the conditions on board," he says, promising to keep the coastguard informed.
Eleven people were killed in the accident and 24 are still unaccounted for, although some of the dead have yet to be identified.
The captain of the ship, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest and has been accused of multiple manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.
In another leaked recording released this week, the Italian coastguards are heard angrily pleading with Schettino and telling him to return to his listing ship.
The ship operators have blamed him for the disaster and praised the rest of the crew for their efforts to save lives. Passengers have complained that they were left for hours waiting in lifeboats, stairwells and assembly points before the order to evacuate was issued.
(Reporting By Silvia Aloisi; Editing by Ben Harding)
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Thursday, January 19, 2012
NCAA Basketball Gambling: Indiana exposed on defense in Big Ten play
College Basketball Betting Trends: Marshall looks to maintain ATS success vs. WVU | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Virginia -3.5 vs. Marshall O/U 135 Marshall and West Virginia renew their rivalry tonight in Charleston, WV. The Thundering Herd have owned the series from a pointspread perspective but tonight's matchup has seen a massive adjustment in the line compared to previous meetings.
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NFL Playoff Gambling: California bettors show support for 49ers at Reno sportsbooks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| -NY Giants- at San Francisco -2.5 O/U 42 Reno's Peppermill and Cal Vena sportsbooks have seen a lot of betting support for the San Francisco 49ers. "Are you putting your money on the 49ers this weekend?" asked reporter Andrew Del Greco. "Of course," said Reyes. "Good luck," said Del Greco. "I'm going to bet my whole check if I have to," said Reyes. "The 49ers are going to the Super Bowl!" "Our ticket counts are up about 20 percent, it's mostly 49er fans," said Cox. Tags: NFL San Francisco 49ers New York Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College Basketball Betting: Oklahoma State has trouble lasting 40 minutes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oklahoma State at Iowa State -8 O/U 137 Oklahoma State's youth and lack of depth really showed in last week's 106-65 loss at Baylor. But it wasn't the first time those shortcomings were exposed. The Cowboys are 2-2 in Big XII play, but?have been?outscored in the second half in all four games by a combined 45 points. Fatigue obviously could be a favor tonight with Iowa State looking to push the tempo. The Cyclones aren?t an ideal mid-range favorite, but perhaps we'll have?a halftime opportunity with a cheaper adjusted price. Following the loss to Baylor, OSU head coach Travis Ford dropped this gem of a quote... ?I told our guys and I want them to understand this, ?It?s not about winning and losing at this point, it?s about how you are playing,?? Ford said. ?Because we can play well and still not maybe win the game. ?About eight to 10 minutes to go in the (Baylor) game, we didn?t have much fight in us.? ? ? Tags: College Basketball Oklahoma State Cowboys Iowa State Cyclones | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NBA Handicapping: Clippers blasted in Utah sans Paul, return home to face Dallas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dallas at LA Clippers Without Chris Paul, or any real desire to put forth an effort, this happened to the Los Angeles Clippers last night. Head coach Vinny Del Negro wasn't shy about voicing his disappointment. The Clips still trail a majority of the team in terms of games played but will be facing the third game of a back-to-back-to-back tonight against Dallas. As of this morning, Paul (hamstring) was listed as questionable. ? "I didn?t like our approach," Del Negro said. "I didn?t like our focus. I didn?t like our toughness. I didn?t like our energy to start the game. We dug ourselves a hole. "We?re not going to win a lot of games playing with that type of effort. I don?t care if it is a back-to-back game, where we?re playing, how much rest they have. We have to play better than that." "We just came out and played poorly. We didn?t have good energy," Del Negro said. "We weren?t aggressive. They were more aggressive. Give Utah credit, but our starters didn?t get off to a good start with their energy defensively and Utah got into a rhythm. "There?re no excuses. We?ve got to bounce back tomorrow night and play much harder, play smarter, play tougher, and that?s what I expect." Tags: NBA Los Angeles Clippers Dallas Mavericks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NCAA Basketball Gambling: Indiana exposed on defense in Big Ten play | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana -4.5 at Nebraska O/U 131 Despite dropping back-to-back games, Indiana isn't going into panic mode as it travels to face Nebraska tonight. Despite some impressive wins this season, the Hoosiers continue to be exposed on the defensive end of the floor. Through six games in league play, IU ranks 12th in points per possession allowed (1.12), 11th in effective FG% (54.9) and 10th in 2-point FG% defense (55.3). The numbers should improve with their next three games against offensive challenged Nebraska, Penn State and Wisconsin. But the Hoosiers have built a rep in the betting markets and if they want to continue to win games (and cover pointspreads) they'll need to improve on the stopping the opposition. ?I think this is an important game because it?s the next game,? said IU freshman Cody Zeller. ?We?re just going to take this one game at a time whether we?re on a big winning streak or on a two-game losing streak. I think every game is important to us.? ?We?ve had two tough losses and now we have to bounce back from them,? Oladipo said. ?The most important game is our next one and that?s (today). We have to come out with an edge and with some energy.? ?Tags: College Basketball Indiana Hoosiers Nebraska Cornhuskers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NFL Playoff Betting News: High-octane offenses drop like flies | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore at New England -7.5 O/U 50.5 Despite all of the offense that took place during the regular season, the postseason has already weeded out two of the top three offenses (Green Bay and New Orleans). The Patriots are the only team remaining but are they on borrowed time or will their situational defense be enough to survive? Don't forget that the Saints, Patriots and Packers ranked 30th, 31st and 32nd respectively against the pass this season. Also note that the New England is just 1-6 ATS in its last seven postseason contests (the lone cover last week vs. Denver). ? Tags: NFL New England Patriots Baltimore Ravens | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NBA Handicapping: Dallas Mavericks one of many teams struggling to score | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Some startling numbers?on how bad offenses have been in the NBA with a focus on the Dallas Mavericks who shot 35% in last night's ugly 73-70 loss to the Lakers. There are currently 21 teams shooting 45% or worse ? up from last year's 13. Nineteen teams are averaging 96 ppg or less. "Hasn't been there all year," Terry said of a Mavs offense that ranks 21st in scoring at 92.6 points a game and 22nd in field-goal percentage at 43.1. "But defensively, we're doing our job. We just have to make shots. Stay encouraged; defensively we're playing our ass off. We'll get there. Again, it was just an uncharacteristic, off-shooting night for us. I'm not really concerned." "Throughout the season," said Dirk Nowitzki, averaging just 17.9 points on 46.9 percent shooting and 19.2 percent from 3-point range, "I expect a lot of ugly games like that to happen. It's just normal." Tags: NBA Dallas Mavericks | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Handicapping the NFL Playoffs: Statistical percentages vs. Betting lines | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Quick look at the comparison between Football Outsiders' DVOA (Defense-adjusted Value Over Average) playoffs odds and CRIS's betting lines.
Here are the moneyline to percentage calculations based on CRIS's lines. New England (-350) is 78% to beat Baltimore San Francisco (-135) is 57% to beat New York Here are the odds to win the Super Bowl; moneyline and percentages. New England (+105) 48.7% New York Giants (+240) 29.4% San Francisco (+240) 29.4% Baltimore (+650) 13.3% ? Tags: NFL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NBA Betting Free Pick: Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Submitted by Teddy CoversGolden State +2.5 at Cleveland O/U 196.5? Recommendation: Golden State Expect another strong effort out of Golden State tonight as they continue their road trip with a game in Cleveland against the Cavs.? Here?s what forward David Lee said on the eve of the trip: ?If we come back with a losing record from this road trip, it should be a huge disappointment. This is a road trip to places where we need to go take care of business and get three or possibly four victories. I don't see it any other way at this point." But Mark Jackson?s squad started the trip with a complete no-show in Charlotte, blown off the court by the lowly Bobcats.? They were outscored 66-46 before halftime, and never came close to making up the deficit in the final 24 minutes of play.? Forward Dominic McGuire: ?We took it for granted. We came out thinking this was an automatic win?.I don't think it was anything they did. They were hitting shots but ... 38 points for the Bobcats in the first quarter? C'mon." The Warriors bounced back strong against the Pistons on Sunday, coming away with an eight point road win as a 4.5 point underdog.? And their primed to do it again tonight, facing a tired Cleveland squad, playing on the second night of back-2-backs with their ninth consecutive court change as they return home following a grueling seven game road trip.? The Cavs stepped up in the second half to earn a much needed win at Charlotte yesterday, leaving them a tad bit ?fat and happy' here, as evidenced by this quote from head coach Byron Scott: ?I told the guys that if we can come off this seven-game trip with three wins, it?d be pretty good. And we did that. And we had some other close ones, so the road trip pretty much was a success.?? Look for the Cavs to really struggle matching the Warriors intensity this evening, especially without injured sharpshooting starter Anthony Parker in the lineup. Tags: NBA Golden State Warriors Cleveland Cavaliers Teddy Covers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gambling on the NFL Playoffs: Baltimore prepares for trip to New England | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Baltimore at New England -7.5 O/U 50.5 New England has defeated Baltimore six out of the last seven in the series, but the Ravens did win in Foxboro during the 2009 playoffs. Winning on the road during this year's regular season proved to be difficult for Baltimore but the team is instead focusing on its past success on the highway during the postseason (4-3 SU/ATS last four years). "The last four times we played them, going back to `97, all four of them have been wars," Johnson said. "Even though they've won three of the four, they had to earn it. This one is not going to be any different. It's going to be an extremely intense situation and environment, and we're looking forward to it. It's going to be fun." "I think it helps just by the fact that we've done it," he said. "Most of our team has been there before. Those young guys can relate to the older guys, and the older guys can share some wisdom. "But it's not going to impact necessarily this game except to the extent that our guys have been there before and it's certainly not going to be anything new to them. And that's a good thing." ?Tags: NFL Baltimore Ravens New England Patriots | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NFL Betting News: Sportsbooks in fear of a New York Giants Super Bowl run | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Both offshore and Las Vegas sportsbooks are facing some hefty payouts if the New York Giants continue to win. The Giants right now are our biggest loser if they were to win the Super Bowl,? Kevin Bradley, Bovada sportsbook manager told the New York Post last week. ?Before the first Cowboys-Giants game (in Week 14), we actually had a big customer put down a large bet on the Giants to win both the NFC crown and the Super Bowl,? Chris Andrews, assistant director of Club Cal Neva Sports Books, said. ?This customer took 60-1 for the Super Bowl and 30-1 for the conference." ?If the Giants win the Super Bowl, it will be a very nice score for the betting public,? says David Mason, spokesperson for Panama-based BetOnline.com. ?It seems like no matter the sport, there is just so much public money coming out of the Big Apple, we are more often than not exposed a bit. This year is no different. Even a season like this one, when the Giants had to go down to the wire to even make the playoffs, their faithful bettors always saw value in their long odds.? Tags: NFL New York Giants | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sports Betting Podcast 1-17-2012 with Rob Veno and Erin Rynning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tags: College Basketball NBA Rob Veno Erin Rynning | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gambling on the NFL Playoffs: San Francisco well aware of different Giants team | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| The red hot Giants, led by quarterback Eli Manning, look to be a different bunch than the ones that traveled to San Francisco earlier in the year. The 49ers have taken notice. Some quotes and notes here from the Mercury News: "Eli's not throwing many interceptions," said 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown, who had one of the 49ers' two interceptions against Drew Brees in Saturday's 36-32 divisional win over the New Orleans Saints. Manning tallied nine touchdown passes, one interception and 953 yards as the Giants won their past three elimination games: A 31-14 victory over Dallas to clinch the NFC East, a 24-2 rout of the Atlanta Falcons in the wild-card round and Sunday's dethroning of the Packers. Manning had two passes intercepted in the Nov. 13 loss. His fateful 40th attempt was knocked down by lineman Justin Smith's right hand on fourth down with 34 seconds left. "Eli has been money all year," Smith said Monday. "(When) we played him, he was dropping balls in there that only the receiver could get to. It's going to be a tough matchup." Tags: NFL New York Giants San Francisco 49ers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NBA Betting Trends: Chicago Bulls fit strong profile for matchup vs. Phoenix | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pretty impressive betting trend in action tonight in the NBA with the Chicago Bulls off a game in which they allowed more than 100 points* (102-86 loss at Memphis). Over the last two seasons, the Bulls are an amazing 14-3 ATS and 4-13 O/U in this profile. The two 64-point performances came this season. The rest during the 2010-11 season. No line yet on tonight's game against Phoenix ? Derrick Rose currently listed as doubtful. *In regulation
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NBA Handicapping: Phoenix Suns continue to struggle on offense | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Phoenix at Chicago Article of Phoenix's struggles on offense this year. The Suns are averaging 11.2 ppg below last year's mark and don't feature a player in the top 50 in scoring. ?I think everyone is going to score more,? said Nash, who posted 20 points and 10 assists despite a sore quadriceps. ?There?s going to be more cohesion. We?ll see more balance, and we?ll see more guys scoring. It?ll get better.? ?We?ve got to have Channing shoot the ball better than he is,? Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. ?JD (Dudley) is starting to come into his own, shoot better and make plays. We?ve just got to get ourselves running and get easy layups. The history of our team and how it has shot well came from how we would get layups and dunks. To be in a half-court situation so often is not good.? ? Tags: NBA Phoenix Suns Chicago Bulls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College Basketball Betting: Analyzing close against the spread results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Submitted by Fairway JayThis is Part I of a series of articles to be posted on college basketball results and the impact against the spread (ATS). I?m often asked about close results and usually emailed, tweeted or text a message about a close win or loss (usually loss). It?s important to understand some of the random variances that can take place in betting sports, and in this case college basketball. Over the course of a college basketball season the average margin of a final score will fall with 8-9 points from the betting line. Over the past few weeks we have suffered our share of close ATS losses, including 0-5 the past three days for results that landed within five points of the betting line. Along with some service selections, my personal wagering has resulted in a 0-5 recent run for games that landed within one point of the betting line.? Yet despite some recent less than desired results, we?ve been on quite a run on our top-rated Big Drive plays. Since late November the record stands 25-7. Through the winning run and full season, I spend many hours logging and tracking scores, stats and lines. I?ve been tracking scores and documenting the results as it relates to ATS wins and losses. In November I wrote a blog about ATS results. Over the years, I?ve used a 5-point result from the betting line as a pretty solid standard for random ATS results. Over the course of a college basketball season, approx. 40-42% of the games and final scores will land within five points of the betting line. In the opening month of the season covering over 580 lined games, 34.6% of the CBB games fell within five points of the betting line, proving that early season college basketball can be more beatable as the oddsmaker is not as sharp as it relates to final scores ATS. Understand that betting lines move based on market activity, and I?m usually grading from the closing line. But the results shown would still be close even to the opening line. In the month of December, there were over 660 CBB games. Of those games, 41.4% landed within five points of the betting line, and exactly 10% of the games landed within one point of the line; which is usually the average over the course of a CBB season. Regardless of your level of handicapping ability, long term results of these close ATS games should produce close to 50% ATS winners and losers. If you?re results are more losers than winners on these close ATS results, then you?re just having a negative random variance and unfortunate results. Along with line moves, bookmaker juice and other challenges in preparing to win and beat the bookmaker, it can be frustrating if you are suffering too many close ATS losses. We?ve experienced that first hand recently, going 5-13 on results that have landed within five points of the betting line in the month of January.?? We?ll review January results in Part II along with additional ATS parameters as we continue to evaluate the results, stats and match-ups, and work to become even more proficient in point spread prognosis in our never-ending pursuit of profit. Check back throughout each week for additional articles, analysis, insight and ?Fairway Forecasts? along with the best sports betting information at sportsmemo.com/blogs. Fairway Jay is a recognized leader and one of the sports industries insightful point spread prognosticators. He?s having another winning and profitable season in 2011-12 highlighted by 16-units of profit in December alone (1 and 2 unit scale). Fairway Jay?s current top-play Big Drive run is a bankroll-building 25-7 including 11-3 on his top-rated 20* Big Drive plays. Fairway Jay has won 67% of his top-rated Big Drive selections this college basketball season. Fairway Jay is a proven pro and performer in the college basketball game with a 5-year stretch of consecutive winning seasons and profits that placed him on the leaderboard among the nation?s top college basketball handicappers. With documented success and experience to battle with the best and beat the bookmaker, join Fairway Jay on the college basketball court and profit from his experience and well-rounded game. Follow on Twitter: @FairwayJay Tags: College Basketball Fairway Jay | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NCAA Basketball Gambling: Michigan looks for three straight over rival Michigan State | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Michigan State -1 at Michigan O/U 131.5 Notes on tonight's Michigan State-Michigan matchup in Ann Arbor. Both teams come in off of losses ?MSU fell at Northwestern 81-74 and UM was blown out at Iowa, 75-59. The Wolverines has some pretty strong ATS trends in their favor: 15-4 ATS run vs. Big Ten, 27-8 ATS run as an underdog, 15-6 ATS run at home. Michigan won both meetings last season, 70-63 (-1) and 61-57 (+11). ? Tags: College Basketball Michigan Wolverines Michigan State Spartans | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College Basketball Free Play: Maryland Terrapins at Florida State Seminoles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Submitted by Andrew LangeMaryland at Florida State? Recommendation: Maryland +6.5 1st half Beating North Carolina at home wasn't that monumental of an achievement for Florida State ? despite what the Seminoles? student body showcased after the buzzer. However, hanging 90 on the Tar Heels in route to a 33-point victory is no doubt going to make FSU's players feel good about themselves. Letdowns happen all of the time in college hoops and the odds of that occurring to the Seminoles ? for at least parts of tonight's game ? are pretty good. I will say that of all of the potential letdown victims, it is the teams with elite level defenses which are typically the least susceptible ? something that FSU without question has. The one thing the Seminoles don't have though is the ability to consistently knock down shots. Against a majority of the better teams on their schedule, the Seminoles failed to top 1.0 point per possession. Maryland is a different squad than it was at the start of the year. After adjusting some to first-year head coach Mark Turgeon and going to battle with a full complement of players, we've seen the Terps play some competitive basketball with 9 out of 10 wins (lone loss, 79-74 at NC State). They take a big step up in class defensively against FSU but this is a scrappy enough team to hang around. Look for the home side to come out a little flat as we make a play on the underdog in the first half.? Tags: College Basketball Maryland Terrapins Florida State Seminoles Andrew Lange | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
College Basketball Betting: Kentucky Wildcats struggle to cover pointspreads | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Submitted by Andrew LangeTypically, the best teams in college basketball post against the spread records around the .500 mark. They obviously win a lot which is correlated with covering spreads but on the same token, the extra "tax" and attraction to bettors often keeps them from putting up great ATS numbers. Take last year from example. North Carolina (16-17 ATS), Duke (20-16 ATS), Kansas (18-17 ATS), Pittsburgh (15-14 ATS), Syracuse (15-18 ATS), Ohio State (18-16 ATS) and Kentucky (16-16 ATS) were all right around the .500 mark. There were some expectations, most notably UConn (23-12 ATS), but the Huskies came from way off the grid to go 10-1 ATS during the postseason. But this year, something odd is taking place. Kentucky, which is considered to be one of the best teams in the country, is a horrific 3-13-1/4-12-1/4-13 ATS (depending on what numbers you go by). Based on one set of numbers I saw, the Wildcats haven't covered a game since November 19 ? after starting the season 3-0 ATS. So why has Kentucky been such a poor spread team? No question, there is a tax tacked onto the Cats ? but the same can be said about a lot teams. But unlike those teams, Kentucky is young, and winning games by margin ? which often takes a full 40 minutes of effort with already inflated lines ? can be difficult with such a young cast of characters. The Cats have missed out more than a handful of covers by laying off the pedal late, not to mention they were wildly overpriced in their first two road games in the SEC. I think some of it can be attributed head coach John Calipari and his emphasis on development and gearing his young teams for the postseason. Unlike other squads, he doesn't have multiple years to develop team chemistry and teach these kids the little things involved in being a champion. He's handed a ton of inexperience and little to no time to teach them how to win. And the learning process, which we are witnessing right now, is forced to take place in games, rather than in practice or the offseason. As a result, Kentucky is winning a lot of games on sheer talent alone, which is a big reason why they've faltered against the spread at such a high rate. And I've seen enough of Calipari to know that close wins and losses are almost a welcome sight as they better prepare his teams for a Final Four run. I think moving forward, the Cats are going to stumble upon a handful of ATS victories but their struggles are no fluke if you break down all of the factors involved. Tags: College Basketball Kentucky Wildcats Andrew Lange | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NCAA Basketball Betting Trends: 71% of Missouri Valley games have gone OVER the total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Submitted by Andrew LangeBuilding on the blog we posted the other day about the increase in scoring in the Missouri Valley Conference this season. The MVC has long been known as a grind-it-out league that on occasion sees a team or two willing to play up-tempo. Below is a chart of the team-by-team yearly pace rankings according to Ken Pom. As you can see, from 2008-10, the MVC's average rank was between 233 and 241. This season however, we've seen that number climb to 173 as half the league ranks 143 or higher. I think we'll see the overall pace numbers dip once these teams play more conference games which brings us to our next point. Amazingly, 25 of the MVC's 35 league games have gone over the total thus far. The only two teams to not trend towards the OVER in league play are ironically the league's two top offense, Creighton and Wichita State. And only one team (Drake, 6-9 O/U) has trended UNDER from a season long perspective.
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NBA Betting Alert: Bogut slated to return for Milwaukee Bucks today | |
| Submitted by Otto SportsMilwaukee at Philadelphia -9 O/U 185 Andrew Bogut returns to the lineup on MLK day for the Milwaukee Bucks after suffering from concussion symptoms. The starting center is so important to the Bucks from a defensive standpoint, something head coach Scott Skiles has discussed on more than one occasion during the season. Note the Bucks are 0-5 without Bogut to date. Here?s a quote from Skiles in a recent article: "In some of our better defensive stretches, it's because Andrew has erased some mistakes," Skiles said of Bogut. "And not just with a shot block but with his presence around the painted area. It brings out some of the flaws in our overall team defense when he's not out there." His return along with an increased effort on the defensive end after an embarrassing loss to Dallas last time out should see Milwaukee at their best. And they?ll have a willing partner in a defensive showdown. Philadelphia is the NBA?s top ranked defensive efficiency team, ranking No. 1 in field goal and three point percentage allowed and No. 2 in points per game allowed. Look for this game to be a low scoring tilt.? Tags: NBA Milwaukee Bucks Philadelphia 76ers Marty Otto | |
NBA Betting News and Notes 1-16-2012 | |
| Submitted by Teddy CoversWe're only three weeks into the young NBA season, yet we're already seeing teams morph away from how they looked earlier in the campaign. Let's take a look around the league, concentrating on key notes and quotes, the type of information that has the potential to make us some money in the weeks to come. Detroit ? Pistons starting forward Tayshaun Prince has had a fascinating career arc. He?s been on a championship team in 2004 and returned to the Finals again in 2005. Prince has helped his team reach the Eastern Conference Finals six times. He?s also played for six different head coaches in Detroit, including their current head honcho, Lawrence Frank. But with a 3-10 record to open the season including four consecutive non-competitive home losses, Prince has been vocal about his frustrations, just weeks after inking an extension to stay with Detroit for the next four years. Prince: ?We got to figure out a way to get in the paint a lot more. Right now, we?re confused on both ends and we?re settling for jump shots. I know myself in general, I?ve taken shots that really haven?t come in the flow. You?re kind of forced to take shots you really don?t want to take. They?re not rhythm shots. That?s when it becomes frustrating.? After the John Kuester coaching disaster led to a near player revolt last year, the change to Frank was supposed to be an easy, automatic upgrade. Prince doesn?t seem to think so, at least when it comes to Detroit?s on court improvement (or lack thereof).? ?At some point, even though you?re in a struggling process of trying to learn, you want to see consistent signs, and you?re not seeing those signs right now.? The hiring of Frank hasn?t resulted in any sort of attendance boost. When Detroit was competing for championships, they were selling out the 22,000+ seats at the Palace of Auburn Hills every night; a streak of 259 consecutive games. This year, the Pistons have averaged less than 12,000 fans per game, dead last in the NBA in attendance. And, as Prince alluded, the team is struggling mightily learning Frank?s systems on both ends of the court. The head coach raised some eyebrows with this quote: ?Not to be insensitive, everyone wants a baby, few want to go through the pregnancy. Guess what, this is going to be hard?. I?ve got the utmost respect for women, O.K. But my point is, there are going to be labor pains.? Golden State ? Watch out of the Warriors on their current East Coast swing. Golden State went on the road trip with high expectations, facing off against a quartet of bottom feeders: Charlotte, Detroit, Cleveland and New Jersey.? Forward David Lee on the eve of the trip: ?If we come back with a losing record from this road trip, it should be a huge disappointment. This is a road trip to places where we need to go take care of business and get three or possibly four victories. I don't see it any other way at this point." But Mark Jackson?s squad started the trip with a complete no-show in Charlotte, blown off the court by the lowly Bobcats. They were outscored 66-46 before halftime, and never came close to making up the deficit in the final 24 minutes of play. Forward Dominic McGuire: ?We took it for granted. We came out thinking this was an automatic win?.I don't think it was anything they did. They were hitting shots but ... 38 points for the Bobcats in the first quarter? C'mon." Coach Jackson: ?We didn?t show up. As a coach, that?s on me. Somehow my guys didn?t come out ready to play. We jumped on them early and took our foot off the gas. We thought it was going to be easy. ? This type of effort cannot be accepted.? The Warriors certainly played hard against the Pistons on Sunday, coming away with an eight point road win as a 4.5 point underdog. Coach Jackson: ?We defended, we didn?t make excuses, and we didn?t get frustrated. It was just a great performance overall?.. I think the guys felt challenged, and first and foremost we are a defensive-minded team. We started to get stops and it affected our offense.? Let?s see if that defensive effort carries over to the remainder of their trip. New York ? The Knicks enter the week on a run of six straight Unders, only reaching 100 and allowing 100 once apiece during that nine day span. The Knicks haven?t been known for playing any defense at all since Patrick Ewing left for Seattle and Jeff Van Gundy abruptly resigned 19 games into the 2001-2002 season. And head coach Mike D?Antoni hasn?t been known for coaching a defense-first style at any point of his decade long NBA career. As Vince Lombardi might say, ?What the hell is going on out there?? New York won a game last week against the 76ers when they didn?t make a single basket for the final nine minutes of the fourth quarter. They missed their last nine shots from the floor and committed nine turnovers; managing only seven free throws down the stretch. But they held Philly to 37 percent shooting for the game and gave up only ten assists on the Sixers 32 made baskets. Carmelo Anthony: ?We're not worried about our offense. That will come. Right now, we're focused on our defense. That's where we need to be. We're committed to doing it.? ?Melo, explaining how last year?s playoff sweep at the hands of the Celtics has left his team hungry for defensive improvement: ?I think that's in the back of our minds. For me personally, I was on a personal vendetta. I get tired of hearing it.? Anthony continued: ?I think most importantly that once we got Tyson [Chandler] everybody was saying he was the key to the defensive changes. But it was going to start with myself and Amare to help him out. We can't rely on Tyson to do everything out there. As long as I'm out there putting the effort forth, as long as Amare is doing the same thing, going for the loose balls, rebounding, talking, communicating, we'll be a great defensive team. I can see us moving in that path." Rookie point guard Iman Shumpert moved into the starting lineup just as the Knicks were transforming defensively. ?When I came in here, people were telling me that I was going to have to change the attitude of this team. But when I stepped onto the floor, it was Amare and Melo who came at me, telling me, 'You're going to have to defend.' So it was clear to me that those guys made the change in their minds at the end of the last year. Obviously, during the lockout, they made a commitment to themselves that they were going to play defense and they were going to make sure everybody on this team played defense. So I just came in and did what I normally do. Somehow, it seems like it's starting to click right now." 76ers head coach Doug Collins certainly noticed New York?s defensive improvement.? ?I thought what [the Knicks] did tonight was, by far, the best defense I've seen played all season long. They're big and strong. Their guards got into us. I take my hat off to them. Very impressive." Philadelphia ? If the playoffs started today, the 76ers would be the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, behind only Chicago. Doug Collins team was a pointspread juggernaut down the stretch last year, consistently undervalued by the betting markets. With a 10-2 ATS mark so far this year, at first glance, it sure looks that the markets are still undervaluing the Sixers on a nightly basis. But when we dig underneath the surface, we see that Philadelphia?s SU and ATS records may be more than a tad bit misleading. First, we?ve got to look at Philly?s early season schedule. To say that it?s been a weak slate of foes is something of an understatement. The 76ers have beaten the Wizards twice, the Kings, Raptors, Pistons, Hornets, Warriors, Suns and Pacers for their nine wins. Of that grouping, only Indiana is a likely playoff team. So far, all we?ve seen Philly do is beat up on weaklings. And when we take a closer look at the weaklings Philly has been beating, their schedule looks even weaker. They beat Golden State without their best offensive player, Monta Ellis. Against the Hornets, New Orleans was without their best defensive wing, Trevor Ariza. They beat Detroit without Ben Gordon, Charlie Villanueva and Rodney Stuckey in the lineup. The win over Indiana came when the Pacers were without Danny Granger and George Hill. Kings leading scorer Marcus Thornton was on the sidelines in street clothes in Philly?s win over Sacramento. Basically, the entirely of Philly?s red hot 9-1 SU and ATS run in their last ten games came against bottom feeders with significant injury concerns. There?s no question that Philly is pretty good, but there are real questions about whether the Sixers current status as the second best team in the East will leave them with any pointspread value as their schedule toughens up in the weeks and months to follow. Tags: NBA Detroit Pistons Golden State Warriors New York Knicks Philadelphia 76ers Teddy Covers | |
College Basketball Gambling Preview: Baylor Bears at Kansas Jayhawks | |
| Submitted by Fairway JayKansas and Baylor battle in a key Big Xll game Monday night with both teams 4-0 in conference play. They should put on a great show at raucous Allen Fieldhouse, where Kansas is 60-1 SU the last 3+ years. Baylor?s collection of big men may be the best in the nation with a long, athletic group of forwards and some top NBA prospects including sophomore Perry Jones lll and freshman Quincy Miller. Kansas counters with a 7-foot center and the league?s No. 1 rebounder, junior Thomas Robinson. I saw Baylor (17-0) play West Virginia in December at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The Bears? athleticism and length is impressive and they?remain one of just three undefeated teams in the country. Here is a statistical profile of tonight?s top game on ESPN. League stats show the following. ??Baylor leads the league in scoring at 79 ppg while Kansas has the league?s No. 1 scoring defense allowing just 57 ppp? Despite a rising total, let?s play this game under the total as a Free Fairway Forecast. Fairway Jay is a recognized leader and one of the sports industries insightful point spread prognosticators. He?s having another winning and profitable season in 2011-12 highlighted by 16-units of profit in December alone (1 and 2 units scale). Fairway Jay?s current top-play Big Drive run is an incredible bankroll-building 25-6 including 11-2 on his top-rated 20* Big Drive plays. Fairway Jay has won 68% of his top-rated Big Drive selections this college basketball season. Fairway Jay is a proven pro and performer in the college basketball game with a 5-year stretch of consecutive winning seasons and profits that placed him on the leaderboard among the nation?s top college basketball handicappers. With documented success and experience to battle with the best and beat the bookmaker, join Fairway Jay on the college basketball court and profit from his experience and well-rounded game. Follow on Twitter: @FairwayJay Tags: College Basketball Baylor Bears Kansas Jayhawks Fairway Jay | |
Sports Betting Podcast 1-16-2012 with Brent Crow and Teddy Covers | |
| Tags: College Basketball NBA Brent Crow Teddy Covers | |
NBA Handicapping: Bobcats go small ball with Augustine and Walker | |
| Cleveland at Charlotte -2 O/U 194 The Bobcats saw positive results in Saturday's 112-100 win over Golden State when they put DJ Augustine and Kemba Walker in the backcourt and moved Boris Diaw to the bench. Head coach Paul Silas noted the team played much faster and with more energy. Obviously it was just one performance (against the Warriors) and the Augustine-Walker duo could cause issues on the defensive end, but it was a rare bright spot in what has been a dismal season for the Bobcats. "We weren't just standing around with no energy level," Silas described. "(Saturday) we weren't just settling for jump shots. We were really passing it inside." "Defense can be an issue. We'll be dealing with larger" shooting guards, Silas said of his new lineup, which faces the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday in a 2 p.m. Martin Luther King Day matinee at Time Warner Cable Arena. "But Kemba is tough-minded; he's not going to back down. I thought he did a great job on Monta Ellis." Tags: NBA Charlotte Bobcats Cleveland Cavliers | |
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The fermented cereal beverage of the Sumerians may not have been beer
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Public release date: 17-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
4000-year-old cuneiform writings from Mesopotamia tell us little about the brewing techniques used at the time
This press release is available in German.
Archaeological finds from cuneiform tablets and remnants of different vessels from over 4,000 years ago show that even around the dawn of civilisation, fermented cereal juice was highly enjoyed by Mesopotamia's inhabitants. However, besides the two basic ingredients, barley and emmer (a species of wheat) the brew produced in the clay jars of the Sumerians is shrouded in mystery. Despite an abundance of finds and scribal traditions which point to an early love of fermented cereal beverages, reconstructing ancient brewing methods is very difficult, according to the historian of science and cuneiform writing scholar Peter Damerow of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. A scholarly paper by Damerow, who passed away at the end of November 2011 in Berlin, carefully examines the beer brewing technologies of the Sumerians. However, the author also expresses great doubts as to whether the popular brew in ancient times was even beer.
Although many of the more than 4,000 years old cuneiform texts contain records of deliveries of emmer, barley and malt to breweries, as well as documentation of the activities, there is hardly any information on the details of the production processes, and no recipes to follow. According to Damerow, the administrative texts were most likely written for an audience that was already familiar with the details of brewing. They were not intended for informing the modern-day reader about the processes.
Moreover, the methods used for recording this information differ between locations and time periods. Also, the records and calculations are not based on any consistent number system. Instead, the Sumerian bureaucrats used different number systems depending on the nature of the objects to be counted or measured to count or measure.
This has cast doubt on the popular theory that Mesopotamian brewers used to crumble flat bread made from barley or emmer into their mash. The so-called "bappir" (Sumerian for "beer bread") is never counted as bread in the administrative texts, but in measuring units, like coarsely ground barley. Damerow also points out that the high degree of standardisation, which meant that the quantities of raw materials allocated to the brewers by the central administration remained exactly the same over long periods, sometimes even decades, makes it difficult to base any recipes on them.
According to Damerow, even the "Hymn of Ninkasi", one of the most significant sources on the ancient art of brewing, does not provide any reliable information about the constituents and steps of the brewing process. This lyric text from the Old Babylonian period around 1800 B.C. is a mythological poem or song that glorifies the brewing of beer. Despite the elaborate versification, Damerow states that the procedure of brewing is not conclusively described. It merely offers an incomplete record of the individual steps. For instance, there is no clue as to how the germination of the grain was interrupted at the right time. It can only be speculated that the barley was layered and that the germination was stopped by heating and drying the grain as soon as the root embryo had the right size.
Furthermore, the content of the hymn does not quite fit the results of the Tall Bazi Experiment. This was a brewing experiment carried out by archaeologists from the Ludwig Maximilian Universitt in Munich together with brewing experts from the Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan at the Technische Universitt Mnchen, with the intention of reconstructing the ancient brewing processes. Using cold mashing, the archaeologists managed to produce a brew of barley and emmer and adjust the alcohol level by changing the percentage of water; however, in Damerow's opinion, this result must also be treated with scepticism.
Nothing suggests that a production process that worked under the special conditions of Tall Bazi must have worked in the same way at other places in Mesopotamia, since the local conditions varied greatly. In fact, the experiment only demonstrates how modern methods can be used to produce a beer under the same conditions that were prevalent in Tall Bazi.
These uncertainties lead to a question, which the author considers "much more fundamental": to which extent is it at all possible to compare ancient products with modern ones? "Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol", writes Damerow. There is no way of ascertaining whether the brew was not more similar to the bread drink kvass from Eastern Europe than to German Pilsner, Altbier or wheat beer.
Nevertheless, Damerow considers the approach of the scientists in the Tall Bazi Experiment to be a good way of finding the answers to questions about the early history of the art of brewing. "Such interdisciplinary research efforts might well lead to better interpretations of the 'Hymn of Ninkasi' than those currently accepted among specialists working on cuneiform literature", writes Damerow.
###
Damerow, Peter. Sumerian Beer: The Origins of Brewing Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2012:2 ISSN 1540-8779 Version: 22 November 2011 [PREPRINT]
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Public release date: 17-Jan-2012[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Simone Rieger
rieger@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
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Max-Planck-Gesellschaft
4000-year-old cuneiform writings from Mesopotamia tell us little about the brewing techniques used at the time
This press release is available in German.
Archaeological finds from cuneiform tablets and remnants of different vessels from over 4,000 years ago show that even around the dawn of civilisation, fermented cereal juice was highly enjoyed by Mesopotamia's inhabitants. However, besides the two basic ingredients, barley and emmer (a species of wheat) the brew produced in the clay jars of the Sumerians is shrouded in mystery. Despite an abundance of finds and scribal traditions which point to an early love of fermented cereal beverages, reconstructing ancient brewing methods is very difficult, according to the historian of science and cuneiform writing scholar Peter Damerow of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. A scholarly paper by Damerow, who passed away at the end of November 2011 in Berlin, carefully examines the beer brewing technologies of the Sumerians. However, the author also expresses great doubts as to whether the popular brew in ancient times was even beer.
Although many of the more than 4,000 years old cuneiform texts contain records of deliveries of emmer, barley and malt to breweries, as well as documentation of the activities, there is hardly any information on the details of the production processes, and no recipes to follow. According to Damerow, the administrative texts were most likely written for an audience that was already familiar with the details of brewing. They were not intended for informing the modern-day reader about the processes.
Moreover, the methods used for recording this information differ between locations and time periods. Also, the records and calculations are not based on any consistent number system. Instead, the Sumerian bureaucrats used different number systems depending on the nature of the objects to be counted or measured to count or measure.
This has cast doubt on the popular theory that Mesopotamian brewers used to crumble flat bread made from barley or emmer into their mash. The so-called "bappir" (Sumerian for "beer bread") is never counted as bread in the administrative texts, but in measuring units, like coarsely ground barley. Damerow also points out that the high degree of standardisation, which meant that the quantities of raw materials allocated to the brewers by the central administration remained exactly the same over long periods, sometimes even decades, makes it difficult to base any recipes on them.
According to Damerow, even the "Hymn of Ninkasi", one of the most significant sources on the ancient art of brewing, does not provide any reliable information about the constituents and steps of the brewing process. This lyric text from the Old Babylonian period around 1800 B.C. is a mythological poem or song that glorifies the brewing of beer. Despite the elaborate versification, Damerow states that the procedure of brewing is not conclusively described. It merely offers an incomplete record of the individual steps. For instance, there is no clue as to how the germination of the grain was interrupted at the right time. It can only be speculated that the barley was layered and that the germination was stopped by heating and drying the grain as soon as the root embryo had the right size.
Furthermore, the content of the hymn does not quite fit the results of the Tall Bazi Experiment. This was a brewing experiment carried out by archaeologists from the Ludwig Maximilian Universitt in Munich together with brewing experts from the Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan at the Technische Universitt Mnchen, with the intention of reconstructing the ancient brewing processes. Using cold mashing, the archaeologists managed to produce a brew of barley and emmer and adjust the alcohol level by changing the percentage of water; however, in Damerow's opinion, this result must also be treated with scepticism.
Nothing suggests that a production process that worked under the special conditions of Tall Bazi must have worked in the same way at other places in Mesopotamia, since the local conditions varied greatly. In fact, the experiment only demonstrates how modern methods can be used to produce a beer under the same conditions that were prevalent in Tall Bazi.
These uncertainties lead to a question, which the author considers "much more fundamental": to which extent is it at all possible to compare ancient products with modern ones? "Given our limited knowledge about the Sumerian brewing processes, we cannot say for sure whether their end product even contained alcohol", writes Damerow. There is no way of ascertaining whether the brew was not more similar to the bread drink kvass from Eastern Europe than to German Pilsner, Altbier or wheat beer.
Nevertheless, Damerow considers the approach of the scientists in the Tall Bazi Experiment to be a good way of finding the answers to questions about the early history of the art of brewing. "Such interdisciplinary research efforts might well lead to better interpretations of the 'Hymn of Ninkasi' than those currently accepted among specialists working on cuneiform literature", writes Damerow.
###
Damerow, Peter. Sumerian Beer: The Origins of Brewing Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia Cuneiform Digital Library Journal 2012:2 ISSN 1540-8779 Version: 22 November 2011 [PREPRINT]
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/m-tfc011712.php
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