Tips From The Trainer/Aerobic Dance Aerobic workouts have been around for decades and Jazzercise is one of its biggest names. The cardio workouts and the music change every 14 weeks to keep participants interested and challenged, says Danielle Mazur, a Jazzercise instructor in Brandon. The dancing aspect of Jazzercise makes you forget that what you're doing is good for you, she says. ...more

November 1, 2008

Rays manager Joe Maddon had an interesting response in his pre-game news gathering when asked about how he went about changing the culture of the Rays. ...more

October 23, 2008

Here are some of the condolences on TBO.com to the family of former city Commissioner Robert Brown, who died Oct. 12 after a battle with cancer. To view the entire guest book, go to Plantcity.tbo.com. ...more

October 22, 2008

Matt Grothe has brought the "Grohawk" out of retirement. Defensive leaders Brouce Mompremier and George Selvie are back in the starting lineup for the University of South Florida. ...more

October 18, 2008

Rowden's people skills; Druzbick's business savvy. ...more

October 16, 2008

some positive, many negative. There were about 6,000 people in all who I was able to converse with, either in person, on the phone or e-mail and found that there were many issues that concerned the citizens of Hernando County. ...more

September 14, 2008

They have been beaten, smashed, scrunched and leveled - and it has happened for the better part of two years while they were skinny, light and relatively weak - and yet these Lennard Longhorns have stuck together. ...more

September 4, 2008

In May 2004, Cynthia Clancy told Eloise Mudway her house was on the verge of foreclosure. ...more

September 4, 2008

Once again Glades Electric has done a stellar job in restoring power under extremely adverse conditions. The management, staff, line crews, support folks and outside people who came to help (the cooperative way): Withlacoochee River Electric, Coop, Glades Utility Services, Lewis Tree Service, and many more, are to be commended for their untiring efforts on behalf of our members. As one of the employees said, "We plan the work and work the plan." With an attitude like this, anything is possible. ...more

August 25, 2008

I was thinking about the effect of bias in thinking and decision making. It came up in the context of some people indicating they could not vote for Obama for president because he was black, no matter what; a predictable and unfortunate attitude with some in the American South. But it started me thinking about bias in general, where and how much weight it is given in all kinds of thinking, in the process of decision making. Firstly, I was concerned with whether it becomes a factor in evaluation, whether it is included, inappropriately, in a list of concerns which lead to a decision. That would be bad enough but what if it serves as a filter, to block the receipt of otherwise relevant information never let into the process of weighing facts and making choices on a rational basis? I was watching a TV show, book reviewing, and I decided I didn't like the necktie worn by the lecturer. It was a skimpy, pale, stripy bow tie, an utterly silly looking thing and as I looked at it, the words of the lecturer seemed to fade. Was this merely an absurd fashion bias on my part or perhaps my questioning why anyone would wear such a tie and whether the choice of wearing such a tie reflected on the quality of the judgment-making ability of the wearer, and shouldn't I take that into consideration in weighing, or even accepting the quality of his opinion, downgrade his believability or even reject everything he has to say out of hand because of his flawed judgment in necktie selection? ...more

August 11, 2008