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2018-03-09 · 10:48 am
Jackass for the Hour: Chapter 28 – Perfidious Jews
"My dear Cardinal Froben," said the Rabbi, "there is a difference between Redemption and, then, its reception in grace unto justification which saves. Human-sacrifice, as a bribery of appeasement of bloodthirsty gods, is from hell, and those who do it deserve hell. Placating gods with one's 'generosity' and 'submission' is not religion, but blasphemy, a self-deluding congratulation of oneself. A merely human child, because of Adam's sin, is not worthy to be a sacrifice of vicarious atonement. Instead, the Messiah, the Suffering Servant – and I speak as a Jew – must be innocent of all consequences of Adam's sin, then freely take on those consequences, so that, taking our place before the judgment of the Most High, taking upon Himself the justice which awaits us as sons of Adam, and offering our Heavenly Father communion in Charity, in innocence, in goodness, He then has the right in justice, so to speak, to have mercy on us, to ask God the Father that we be forgiven. This Child-Sacrifice – fulfilling all righteousness – makes true religion possible. It reveals what religion is. The would-be sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham pointed to this truth emphatically. Since we are to be children of God, the Suffering Servant must be God, as Genesis 3,15…"
"But is your own work of assent to the Faith not also your justification?" interrupted the Cardinal, trying to win points with both Jews and Protestants.
"Please, do not insult us, your Eminence."
"I did not intend that anyone should feel insulted. I am sorry," said the Cardinal.
"But why are you sorry?" asked the Rabbi. "Are you sorry because you think I feel badly about something which you regret only because it makes you feel badly? Do you feel guilty because you had something to do with these feelings? I'm sick of the emotionalism of blinded consciences." Many in the crowd applauded. They were also tired of this kind of apology-by-way-of-accusation, of belittlement of the supposed over-sensitivity and lack of intelligence of the other.
This reprimand was a new experience for the Cardinal. No one in his office had the bravery to correct him when he attacked them for his own inadequacy, and then insulted them further with the unbounded condescension of blaming them for the 'bad feelings' he guessed they had. "I only meant to say," the Cardinal continued, "that it was after Abraham believed that his belief was credited to him as righteousness by God. This mere declaration of God about Abraham's work of righteousness was only an affirmation of what Abraham already did on his own. Abraham was justified long before any would-be sacrifice of Isaac, or any Suffering Servant."
"You are, perhaps, only a victim of circumstance," said the Rabbi, somewhat sharply, "but the fact of the matter is that Abraham's capacity to believe was a God-given, supernatural capacity, which enabled him to cooperate with this grace of Faith. I repeat… Abraham's assent to the Faith is credited to him as righteousness only inasmuch as he cooperated with the grace given to him to do just this. The text makes it clear, at great length, chapter after chapter, that this wasn't his own 'faith', but the Faith which was gratuitously given to him, and by which he then made his assent. Since you Catholics make some helpful distinctions about prevenient and actual grace, please, do not make Abraham an apologist for your heretic Pelagius!"
"I didn't mean to…" interrupted Cardinal Froben, beginning to apologise once again.
"That's what some Muslims and Protestants do!" interrupted the Rabbi. He said this with venom, for some Protestants – besides some Catholics – had been responsible for so much of the Shoah. "Protestants cut themselves off from Tradition, from sanctification coming from the Most High, demanding Scripture alone, justifying themselves by clever works. They congratulate themselves that their brains work up some kind of theology, and they call their theological work 'insight', 'faith alone', identifying the machinations of their minds with the very Word of God, making themselves, in their own minds, even holier than the Jewish prophets. They do not understand that Tradition, Faith – to use the terminology you should be using – is for belief, while Scripture is for our assent, which is made possible by that Faith, by that belief. The Protestants imagined at the time of the 'Reformation' that they could kill the Jewish prophets – as many of our own Jews had done – with the new Protestants throwing out seven books of our Greek Scriptures and, then, many more from your New Testament, showing just how fraudulent is their claim of 'Scripture alone'. These 'reformers' pretended to be arbiters of the Faith, which was, for them, no longer a Family Tradition uniting us with God by grace, but merely an ever changing theology requiring the relativism of the individuals who were cut off from the Family of Faith. They imagined that they were praying with their 'private interpretations'. Now look at them. We all sin… but they have made a determined policy of it, calling good what the Bible condemns. Their doctrine and morality changes by the minute. It is a free-for-all anarchy, which makes the most horrendous violence of Sodom and Gomorrah possible. And if you Catholics would just follow your own doctrine about Revelation being Scripture and Tradition, your Eminence, there would be less sin in the Church and more respect for the fact that 'salvation is from the Jews.' There would be much less risk of anti-Semitism, much less risk of another Shoah. Do not think you will be justified by following your own whims of theology, instigating another Reformation, this time from within the Church, just like Erasmus. Don't forget, Erasmus, having given up on learning Hebrew, would have been pleased to burn the Jewish Scriptures outside of the Psalms."
Cardinal Froben was trying to gasp, but couldn't. Father Alexámenos thought that the Prelate was going to have a heart attack right then and there.
"It is God's grace," continued the Rabbi, "His actual Revelation, by which He lifts us up to Himself, that will justify us, that will save us, that will bring us to heaven, that will give us some chance, even on this earth, of fulfilling the cry, 'Never again!' which so many so glibly shout, but do not understand in the least, putting the Jews in mortal danger. We know – six million times over – that you have no strength to follow up on your good intentions. As soon as you say, 'We are all nice! We are better than those in the past!' this is precisely when we die. Please, for our sake, do not depend on yourselves, on your own 'niceness', but depend on the grace of God."
"So… you are saying that Father Alexámenos has not offended you, is that right?" asked Cardinal Froben weakly. He was ashen, shaken. The Rabbi's speech had been incisive, as if cutting his heart open, for it was against everything that the Cardinal had been working for in the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity.
"That is correct. Father Alexámenos and I are good friends," replied the Rabbi.
The Cardinal collected his thoughts and then said, "I wonder if you are really correct. Rabbi, you are about to see your friend betray you." Turning to Father Alexámenos, he said, "I know for a fact that you use the Tridentine Missal, Father."
"I hope you appreciate the heavily Jewish setting of the Roman Canon as much as I do," replied Father Alexámenos, an answer which made Rabbi Shelomoh chuckle.
Undeterred, the Cardinal continued: "Tell us all, Father, what do you pray for on behalf of the Jews when you pray for them on Good Friday?"
"I pray that the veil of blindness might be lifted from them," said Father Alexámenos.
"Could you repeat that, please?" requested the Cardinal.
"Would you like me to use the word from the pre-1962 Missale Romanum, your Eminence?"
"Don't you dare!" said Cardinal Froben.
"Perfidus!" exclaimed Father Alexámenos, laughing.
Cardinal Froben took a step back, as if he had been hit. He shook his head, looking at the Rabbi, trying to apologise to him on behalf of the inexcusably rude defendant, but was dumbfounded, the more so because the Rabbi did not seem to be offended in the least. The Cardinal, turning again to Father Alexámenos, tried to run to authority, saying, "The New Mass not only does not pray for perfidious Jews, but rather that the Jews will not become Christian, begging God that they will remain faithful to their own covenant, which we can all agree is efficaciously salvific."
"No, your Eminence. It's not all that bad," retorted Father Alexámenos. "You make it sound like the Liturgy is ripping out of the hearts of all Jews the hope that Jeremiah the prophet gave them; God was promising them a New Covenant. But notice that the second half of the prayer speaks of their coming to the fulness of Redemption so that such fidelity will immediately bring them face to Face with the New Covenant in Christ's Blood. I admit that the Novus Ordo is rather confusing, for the Old Covenant does not have any efficacy now that the New Covenant has arrived. I prefer the clarity of the Missal of Pius V as being more respectful of our Jewish friends. It's refreshing not to have to put up with semi-Pelagian translations which plagued so many for so long. As to the word perfidus, 'faithless', as in 'faithless Jews', this is not a statement saying that the Jews have no Faith, but that they do not yet assent to Christ Jesus being the Messiah. Because the phrase perfidious Jews began to be misunderstood, the word perfidus was removed from the Missal. There is, however, nothing wrong with the usage of the word in the context in which it is found. It is much the same as John the Evangelist using the word Jew as synonymous with a non-believer, someone who is perfidious, but only in the sense that they do not yet assent to belief in Jesus as the Messiah."
"You don't seem to grasp the gravity of the insult inherent in the word perfidus," said Cardinal Froben. "In order to prove to you that it is an insult, I will give you another case current when the word perfidus was in fashion. Tell me what can be read on the Church facing the Synagogue and the Jewish Ghetto here in Rome. They are verses of hatred, are they not?"
"You mean the citation of Isaiah 65:2-3?" asked Father Alexámenos incredulously.
"Exactly. You can't tell me that that mention of perfidious is not an insult, unless, of course, you want to be known as a negazionista," said Cardinal Froben.
The Rabbi leaned forward, intently listening. He read these words daily. It was unavoidable.
A man in the crowd took advantage of the momentary silence and stood up, shouting, "Anyone who's a Christian today is guilty of the Shoah even if he was born after the Shoah. Anyone who blames the Jews for Christ's death should die!" His were pain-filled words, often repeated in many universities and institutes in Rome and the Holy Land. After some seconds, he broke down in tears, asking in anguish, "Why did God remain silent? Why did He tolerate this?"
"But God was never silent. He never tolerates anything. He will never be mocked," said Father Alexámenos. "He eternally speaks the Word, His Son, who, in His human nature, was silent, hanging dead on the Cross, lying dead in the tomb, like a lamb led to the slaughter, opening not His mouth, a Jewish lamb, who knew first hand the horrors of the death camps. His silence was the most eloquent enunciation of "Never Again!" that the world can know. God is just that intolerant of anyone mocking life, desiring to lay down His own Life as the Suffering Servant who, in this way, provides mankind with the grace to stop violence and come to life…"
"If the Cross weighs upon us all…" began the man again, but he could not go on, sobbing as he was, leaving most in the crowd stricken.
Finally, Father Alexámenos replied to Cardinal Froben, saying, "The real negationists, your Eminence, are those who will not learn from the past. They scream, 'Never again!' but are unwittingly preparing to repeat the same mistakes. They want to cover over the past."
"Whom are you accusing?" asked the Cardinal, beginning to fidget.
Pope Paul IV – Cum nimis absurdum – establishing the Jewish Ghetto in Rome (public domain).
"Those verses inscribed on the façade of that church," continued Father Alexámenos, "almost necessarily had to be understood as being ferociously ripped out of context; they carried with them the weight of the memory of Pope Paul IV's establishment of the Ghetto in 1555 with his decree Cum nimis absurdum, as well as the memory of the forced preaching to the Jews begun a few years later in that very church under Pope Gregory XIII. Those were sad days of the counter-Reformation, when, with patent absurdity, Pope Paul IV – so nervous about the new Protestants continuing to rampage through Europe, sacking souls and properties, churches, monasteries and libraries – wanted desperately to come up with a way to feel good as a Catholic. His methodology was to put others down, thinking that, in this way, he was lifting himself up. Even though he was the Pope of the Inquisition, he could not effectively point the finger at the new Protestants; he was having trouble reforming the abuses of the Catholic hierarchy. The idea came to him that if he could put blame for Christ's crucifixion on the Jews – especially the Jews in Rome, who were an easy target – then he could congratulate himself before God as being a Pontiff who was doing his job well. The Jews were sacrificed to his own hypocrisy…"
"So, you are putting down Pope Paul IV so as to build yourself up?" asked the Cardinal.
"Do not think that you are better than Pope Paul IV, your Eminence."
"But we are better today! We've made so much progress! We're the people of Nostra ætate!" exclaimed the Cardinal, proud of Our Age, a document of the Second Vatican Council.
"Anyone thinking he is better than anyone in the past cannot learn from the past, and is on a fast track to bringing the Jews to Auschwitz again," continued Father Alexámenos. "The genocides of the past century continue into our day, but it is just your kind which says, 'We are better! We would never do that! We're nice!'
Cardinal Froben responded without an answer, saying: "I'm aware of recent history."
"Are you?" asked Father Alexámenos. "Tell me, your Eminence, what is the language used for presenting those verses of Isaiah 65:2-3 inscribed on the church facing the Ghetto to this day?"
"Hebrew," said the Cardinal with confidence. "After all, the citation is directed at the Jews, very few of whom knew Latin," though they knew Latin better than he, in yesteryear and in our own day.
"You condemn yourself out of your own mouth," said Father Alexámenos.
"What?!" said the Cardinal. "Everyone thinks of those words as an insult."
"Your Eminence, the Hebrew speaks of stubbornness, not faithlessness. Is there any other language used to present those verses?"
"Latin… the language of the Vatican bureaucracy at the time," said the Cardinal, cautiously.
"According to your logic," Father Alexámenos added, "those verses are aimed at the Catholic Church, and, indeed, they are for the benefit of all those to whom our Lord has given the gift of Faith. It's not the Hebrew, but only the Latin which speaks of your perfidiousness, your Eminence, as in populus incredulus. You cannot accept this because you think you're so nice without the Lord's rebuke, but we are all the Israel of Faith. You insult our Jewish friends."
"I am not on trial!" said the Cardinal.
"Certainly, forcing anything down anyone's throat is imprudent – and many will say that they became Catholic just to get out of being harassed – and the citation may well have been used arrogantly, as if only Jews were sinners and not all the rest of us as well," said Father Alexámenos, "but if anyone is ever going to say anything worthwhile to our Jewish friends, those verses – in the way that they are cited in both Hebrew and Latin on that church – are the best way to start. Those verses say that we are all sinners, that there is one Redeemer of all. That church should be the centre for Jewish-Christian relations, a place of Penance and Conversion from sin. What a blessing it is that the renovation of the façade didn't destroy the inscriptions."
The Rabbi leaned back in his chair, content with Father Alexámenos' answer. Cardinal Froben did not see this, and simply continued his attack: "You don't seem to understand the full gist of what I am saying, Father. I'm nice to everyone, saying that God loves without demands, without distinction. God is love! That is something even you cannot contradict."
"God certainly is Charity," replied Father Alexámenos thoughtfully, "but it does no favour to anyone to forget that the many are saved, not all, that mercy and justice are one in God, who will not be mocked, whether by Jew or Gentile. Don't fool yourself, your Eminence."
"Apparently, you don't know that pro multis is not to be understood as for the many, but for all, regardless of what the new pedantic liturgical translations have. Christ gave Himself for all, not just this or that one. That's what Paul's letter to Timothy says, and that is what Isaiah says! You know Hebrew. Read it for yourself," challenged the Cardinal.
But Cardinal Froben was speaking from the ignorance of giving credence to manipulative scholars, and Father Alexámenos let him know this, however respectfully: "Your Eminence, the key word with Saint Paul is desire, as in, God desires that all men be saved, proving this by Christ giving Himself as a ransom for all, but that does not mean that all will be justified. Christ said that His Blood is poured out for the many, pro multis, who will be justified. In Isaiah, this distinction of the redemption of all and, then, the justification provided for the many, לרבים, is repeated again and again. I repeat: it does no one any favour to forget the justice of God, your Eminence; in doing so, you obscure His mercy. We cannot obtain His mercy if we do not recognise His justice. Woe to the man who obstructs with niceness the Jew's Way to mercy."
"What I am saying," said the Cardinal with increasing frustration, "is that you are incapable of saying even one nice thing about the Jews."
"If I started, I am afraid I could not stop speaking the truth about the Jews," said Father Alexámenos.
"Just give me one example," the Cardinal insisted, thinking that he could not do it.
"As Saint Paul says," replied Father Alexámenos, repeating what he had said on the plane, "it is they who are Israelites, to whom belongs the Sonship, the Glory, the Covenants, the Law, the Worship, the Promises, the Patriarchs and, according to the flesh, the very Christ of God…"
"Narrow it all down to one thing," insisted the Cardinal again, trying to save face.
"I could say something about their hospitality, if you like," ventured Father Alexámenos.
"We know about your good Jewish warden at San Lorenzo; that's anecdotal," said the Prelate.
"I speak of hospitality in the Faith," said Father Alexámenos, "their Eucharistic hospitality."
"I never quite follow you, but that should be interesting," said the Cardinal. "Please, go on."
"When one reads the Hebrew Scriptures," said Father Alexámenos, "it is like being invited into the Family of Faith, into the Household of Faith. An enormous Banquet is being prepared. All the servants and cooks and family members are busy preparing the banquet, speaking of it in fine detail. The aromas of the fatted calf roasting on the fire, and of all the spices and perfumes fill the air with delight. There is music and singing and dancing. The atmosphere of friendship that can only be had with those who profoundly share the same Faith, and who are all working toward the same end, is overwhelmingly good. The more that is spoken about the Truth and Charity that this banquet is, the more that one becomes hungry. One longs for this banquet to begin, especially when one sees this Truth and Charity confirmed by mercy, even the sacrificing of oneself unto death for one's friends as the great Jewish prophets have done for us. As one gathers to sit down at the banquet, all dressed in wedding garments for this, the wedding of God with those whom He calls, one realises that truly, in this very eager longing, the banquet has already begun in grace. There are many, many saints before Christ came."
"But you spoke of Eucharistic hospitality," the Cardinal objected. "Didn't you mean to say that you want Jews to receive Holy Communion?"
"The Hebrew Scriptures and the Faith given to them," your Eminence, "had them look for-ward with longing to the Passover Banquet we call the Last Supper. The Paschal Lamb, who took the place of Isaac in Child-Sacrifice is a Jew, the Messiah, the Saviour, Christ Jesus. The Jews could not be more hospitable than to offer Him to the whole world with His Incarnation and with the Jewish Apostles. We come to the banquet which they have diligently prepared with Charity and Truth, giving their own lives to do so. I long for them to kneel down with us before the Blessed Sacrament, the veil having been lifted, seeing with Faith. Until then, I am in anguish."
"So, you believe that Jews would be better off as Christians?" asked Cardinal Froben.
"You forget, your Eminence," he answered, "that the surprise for you in the New Testament is that the Faith is offered to the Gentiles, even while it is taken for granted that salvation is from the Jews. Everyone would be better off having a profound friendship with the Jewish God-man, Christ Jesus, who loves us all so very much. How could I not rejoice in their knowing Christ?"
"As I said," added the Rabbi before the Cardinal could make any answer, "I respect what Father Alexámenos has to say about Faith and justification, about Faith and Scripture, about Child-Sacrifice and who the Messiah must be as the Suffering Servant, and about the Key of Knowledge being mercy. I couldn't agree more with what he says about Sodom and Gomorrah. I lament that some of our own seminaries have gone the wrong way. Moreover, I am most pleased that he wants the veil to be lifted from my eyes, from our eyes, to know the fulness of Faith. It means that Father Alexámenos loves the Jews as much as he loves himself. He does not exclude us. An invitation means respect. We can always refuse, but that is to be our option, not yours. I despise those who would hide from us the highest expression of love that they know. Instead of wanting us to know the fulness of Truth in Charity, they want us in Auschwitz again, your Eminence."
"You are very severe, Rabbi…" interjected the Cardinal, involuntarily taking a step backward.
"With due respect, your Eminence," concluded the Rabbi, "you must stop dividing Tradition and Scripture. Otherwise, you will effectively sacrifice our prophets, and us. You reject the Faith so as to be left with a Book, into which you must read your own private, individual, non-family-of-faith interpretations, giving you full permission to kill off the image of God in others. Like the fallen creature with the forked tongue, you firstly look to the children of Abraham even if just to drive a knife into the heart of the reality all the more. You must repent before we die. The more you think without the purification of Faith, the more we die, as one of your philosophers once inferred with his 'I think, therefore, I am;' 'Cogito, ergo sum.' Go ahead and seek understanding with the aid of reason, your Eminence, but firstly believe. Otherwise, with your non-family-of-faith, private interpretation, you will put us to death. We died in Auschwitz. I agree with Father Alexámenos that when Tradition is replaced with self, you will be an exemplar of violent inversion."
"Thank you, Rabbi…" said the Cardinal, returning to his seat. "I am learning." Although he said this, he did not know what to think. He determined to arrange for an appropriate special prosecutor for the next session, someone more adept than he in having Father Alexámenos admit to his 'crimes' in Haïti.
✵ ✵ ✵
"Don't celebrate until you can hit him every time," Ermenagildo commanded flatly. He was the leader of a Roman based terrorist cell. "We have one chance only. Practise costs us nothing."
The Italian teenager, Ernesto, a recent convert to Islam, replied, "I know our couriers from Plum Island were eliminated, and I know I'm the next in line to die. I'll get it right. I'm the best."
The enthusiastic teenager jumped a hurdle, wildly ran up the side of small hill as if he were being chased, and threw another tennis ball at an open window halfway up an apartment building, some dozens of metres away. It was a perfect throw. He did it again, and yet again.
Up next: Chapter 29 – We praise the darkness
© International 2005-2018 – George David Byers
Filed under Jackass for the Hour, Jewish-Catholic dialogue
Tagged as Jackass for the Hour, Jewish Ghetto, Jewish-Catholic Dialogue
4 responses to "Jackass for the Hour: Chapter 28 – Perfidious Jews"
Aussie Mum
Thank you Father.
Thank you Fr. George, it was a long wait.
This is wonderful, Father. Thank you, and thanks be to God.
habalady
Happy to be reading this again.I had an unexpected delay in getting to it. Thank you!


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text:
Will anyone buy a UK crypto solution ever again?
The Investigatory Powers Bill is progressing through the Lords, and facing some stupid issues still.
There was a long debate on the matter last night, and Earl Howe seems to miss the point.
Assuming that technical capability orders will be allowed that provide for a capability to remove protection from communications, it basically means that UK companies can be (secretly) banned from making encryption systems that are actually secure (where nobody but the parties communicating can ever see the communication).
So let's ask...
Would you buy this dodgy crypto product?
Would UK government , e.g. The Home Office, buy encryption solutions from a company in a country where they know that country's government can secretly force the supplier to have included some sort of "back door"? (whatever you call it, a means for third party access to the communications)
I'd actually like to see that question asked in the Lords ^^^
I think the answer would be no, and the same would be true for anyone wanting to buy some encryption solution...
Indeed, I have to wonder if the UK government would buy encryption solutions from UK providers after this, as they know that UK providers are basically not allowed to make a solution that is truly secure any more. The UK will have to buy crypto solutions from some other country!!!
On whom do you serve a technical capability order for open source code?
This is a biggie. The idea is to stop UK companies making secure solutions. Well, the idea is to stop anyone, even not in the UK, but there is no jurisdiction to do that. But what if the supplier is not just "not in the UK", but "not an entity" at all.
Open source comes from a collection of people contributing to source code that can be seen. Even if you tried to order one contributor to dumb down the solution, that could not be done in secret, and their change can be seen and removed by the "community".
Why do we need this?
The government want no safe place for a terrorist to communicate. That means there is no safe place for anyone to communicate as any system will not know if the user is a terrorist or not. That is what they want, and have clearly stated that.
But this law will simply mean UK providers cannot provide a safe place, for anyone, to communicate. It does not mean there are no safe places.
There are many ways to communicate secretly, including apps and solutions from non UK providers, open source solutions. Heck! Even pen, paper and dice.
So a person that wants to communicate secretly can do so with very little effort.
The people affected by this are the users that just want the convenience of using a product or service securely. Such products and services will not be allowed to exist, at least from UK suppliers. So those users suffer, as does the whole UK crypto industry.
The criminals do not suffer at all!
Labels: IPBILL, POLITICS
Andrew Murphy Thursday, 14 July 2016 at 11:20:00 BST
This reminds me of the control they're also trying to get in place that porn websites validate the age of the user.
It's completely pointless.
There are more porn websites outside the UK than inside, and the chance of a child stumbling across a UK one is much less than a non-UK!
All it does is disadvantage UK porn makers ... a legal industry!
It will drive porn out of the UK, closing UK businesses and reducing employment...
Now I think of it maybe that's the point? Not to protect the children but to drive that "sinful" porn business out of the UK!
Chris @ Minotaur Thursday, 14 July 2016 at 12:55:00 BST
Or, if one were feeling cynical, a precursor to blocking content from outside the UK "because it doesn't adhere to UK 'think of the children' regulations".
Jon Dixon Friday, 15 July 2016 at 01:02:00 BST
Do you know that union flag is upside down?
RevK Friday, 15 July 2016 at 07:20:00 BST
Did you know the country is somewhat in distress? Of course I did!!!!
John Friday, 15 July 2016 at 12:27:00 BST
You can't say whether or not it's upside down without knowing where the flag pole is. Provided the pole is to the right of that flag, it's fine.
Chris Friday, 15 July 2016 at 08:08:00 BST
At "Official" classification, the govt approved encryption products (remote access) are generally provided by US companies, e.g. Cisco and Microsoft.... So we're all set there.
Interesting side thought, does the IP bill require snooping on traffic transiting a private (non-internet) network?
What if AAISP start providing a PRIVATE uk network to UK citizens for peer-peer communications, along with an international gateway to the internet (e.g. the private network gateways to the internet outside of the UK)
I think the IP bill can pretty much do what it likes, but I'll be reviewing when it comes in to law to see what can be done.
Cecil Ward Friday, 15 July 2016 at 09:07:00 BST
These politicians are unbelievable. is there a way to get through to them and educate them?
0ryn Thursday, 28 July 2016 at 22:52:00 BST
What this means is that we will have to go back to dialup connections for our credit card transactions.
BW Reed & Son Ltd (Builders)
Man cave - the final countdown
Blizzard working on IPv6
Blizzard withdrawing support for IPv6?
Out-geeked by the best
The new elephant in the room - meta data collectio...
Everyone loves Lenny!
Junk calls, TPS and DPA
Operations Manual - bloody stupid

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: How to Copy Contents in one DataGridview to another form DataGridview How to Copy Contents in one DataGridview to another DataGridview that in another form
For i As Integer = DataGridView1.Rows.Count - 1 To 0 Step -1
    With DataGridView1.Rows(i)
        DataGridView2.Rows.Insert(0, .Cells(0).Value, .Cells(1).Value, .Cells(2).Value, .Cells(3).Value)
    End With
Next

A: See this answer which already covers copying from one DataGridView to another.
I took the code and converted to vb.net using an online converter.
For this code to work, make a new project with two forms (Form1, Form2), each with a DataGridView on them (both named DataGridView1). Place a button on Form1 (Button1). Then paste the code in each form's respective code file.
Form1
Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        DataGridView1.DataSource = {"A", "B", "C"}.Select(Function(s) New With {.Value = s}).ToList()
        Form2.Show()
    End Sub
    Public Sub Foo()
        Form2.Bar(DataGridView1)
    End Sub
    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Foo()
    End Sub
End Class

Form2
Public Class Form2
    Public Sub Bar(dgv_org As DataGridView)
        Dim dgv_copy = DataGridView1
        Try
            If dgv_copy.Columns.Count = 0 Then

                For Each dgvc As DataGridViewColumn In dgv_org.Columns
                    dgv_copy.Columns.Add(TryCast(dgvc.Clone(), DataGridViewColumn))
                Next
            End If
            Dim row As DataGridViewRow = New DataGridViewRow()
            For i As Integer = 0 To dgv_org.Rows.Count - 1
                row = CType(dgv_org.Rows(i).Clone(), DataGridViewRow)
                Dim intColIndex As Integer = 0
                For Each cell As DataGridViewCell In dgv_org.Rows(i).Cells
                    row.Cells(intColIndex).Value = cell.Value
                    intColIndex += 1
                Next
                dgv_copy.Rows.Add(row)
            Next
            dgv_copy.AllowUserToAddRows = False
            dgv_copy.Refresh()
        Catch ex As Exception
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message)
        End Try
    End Sub
End Class

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
The discoveries on Mars in 2018 might give us hope for life on the Red Planet.
May 11, 2020 Nana Kwadwo Astronomy Leave a comment
You probably think creatures on Mars are little green beings. Spoiler alert: There are no such creatures on the Red Planet. Sci-Fi movies about Mars depicts the planet as a horrific world of sinister eaten beings. Fortunately, Mars is way more subtle than you'd imagine to be. As a matter of fact, we're not sure if there is life on Mars, for now, but the hope of finding life has lead to some amazing discoveries in 2018. If we talk about life on Mars, we don't mean 'monsters.' We mean microbes.
Related media: Ancient Organics Discovered on Mars
Let There Be Life
In the summer of 2018, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the Curiosity rover — NASA's robot that's been trekking the Red Planet's surface for half a decade — made a huge discovery on Mars. It discovered 'organic molecules.' As a matter of fact, "organic" doesn't mean naturally grown fruits and vegetables. It means that the molecules containing the foundation of life — building blocks of life. This is a really Big Deal.
Organic molecules are basically the elements that are able to sustain life, biologically. The organic molecules found on Mars contains the elements of carbon and hydrogen, which are really important for sustaining life on Earth. Organic molecules may also contain oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus, and some other elements. Discovering organics on Mars is not a certainty of life on the planet, but an optimistic hope. The organic molecules the Curiosity rover found are complex molecular structure, different from the simple ones it discovered years ago.
Curiosity is just a tip of the iceberg. It's meant to set the stage for even more advanced NASA missions to search for signs of life in the near future. The ExoMars rover — European Space Agency's (ESA) own version of Curiosity on Mars — can directly analyze organic molecules for their molecular structures as to how their configuration is similar to how life appears on Earth. NASA's Mars rover set to launch in 2020, is not only capable to search for signs of life on the planet, but also cache rock samples on the surface, and later brought to Earth for further research.
Image: NASA Curiosity Rover
Red Oceans Or Terrains
In the summer of 2018, Scientists at the ESA Mars Express announced that they had made an extraordinary discovery on the Red Planet. The discovery of liquid water beneath the surface of Mars, which appears to be buried under the Martian south pole. We're not too certain what this "liquid water" is. But previous indications suggests that it might be a slurry full of dust. Other news reports called this underground water a "lake." Huh? That's too early to get so excited about.
What we need is more investigations about what's really lurking underneath the surface of Mars, whether it's a lake, ocean or whatever. And even what chemical compounds are in it, before we get excited since the discovery was done via a radar. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter could also be hunting the Martian surface with it's radar that can detect underneath. More than a decade now, it hasn't seen anything yet. Scientists are yet to confirm or deny the Mars Express discovery based on observations.
Let's say that scientists confirm this find, that would be really awesome for the Martian fans. Liquid water is mostly associated with life, whereas the Red Planet is extremely dry, wind swept, and talk of radiation. We're not really looking forward to seeing complex life organisms, but if microbes could be underneath Mars, they could survive. That's what astrobiologists would be excited about.
Image: NASA
A Hope To Be Alive
Hopes for life on Mars also depends on the geology of the planet, since microbes could survive underneath. Luckily for us, NASA's InSight — Curiosity's successor — safely touched the surface on Mars in November 2018, and is deploying it's instruments. We hope for the best in it's quest to find more.
The InSight rover is now searching for signs of possible activities such as "marsquakes," volcanoes, tectonics, and other signs of Red Planet being alive, geologically speaking. Biologically? We'd need a miracle, since the hunt is still on like an 'El Dorado.'
Many attempts in the past has proven not to find life on Mars, and even on other planet. Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) satellites has done the best to find alien life but nothing as microbial life hasn't been found yet. We hope one day it becomes a reality, that indeed, extraterrestrial life exists — at least some microbes.
Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Wed, Dec 20, 2018.
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Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst, Relationship #11 (Palindromes), 2008-2014. Courtesy of the artists and Luis De Jesus Los Angeles.
Taken between 2008 and 2014, the photographs are an intimate, voyeuristic view into the private relationship of two individuals. The portraits convey a specific time and place—the sexuality of two people in love and living in Los Angeles, who have opted for a non-operative transition into an altered gender existence on hormones. As both the subjects and creators of these images, Drucker and Ernst engage varying elements of self-fashioning. Representing themselves in the midst of shifting subjectivities and identities and making images that are both unguarded as well as performative. Relationship is an extension of their narrative filmmaking practice.
She Gone Rogue engages a world of dream-like magical realism. It is a trans feminine take on the "Hero's Journey," offering kaleidoscopic entry into parallel dimensions, where time, space, age and gender collapse in a whirlpool of divergent possibilities.
She Gone Rogue was commissioned by the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, and premiered in June 2012 as part of the exhibition Made in L.A. (2012). It was included in the 2014 Whitney Biennial and at Outfest, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Experimental Film.
Artists/Filmmakers Zackary Drucker and Rhys Ernst are extreme collaborators whose works address layers of representational identity transcendence, futuregender, and living life in a human body. Relationship (2008-2014), an autobiographical photo chronicle of Drucker and Ernst's romantic partnership, premiered at the 2014 Whitney Biennial. Their fantastical hero's journey She Gone Rogue (2012) was shown at the 2012 Made in LA Biennial at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; the 2014 Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum, New York; Fan the Flames, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and at Outfest, where it won the Grand Jury Prize for Short Experimental Film. Collectively and separately, they have shown work at venues such as Sundance, MOMA PS1, Oberhausen, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Deitch Projects, Leo Koenig Projekte, Chicago International Film Festival, REDCAT, LACE, Invisible Exports in New York, Luis De Jesus in Los Angeles, the Moscow International Biennale For Young Art, and at Les Recontres Internationales Paris/Berlin/Madrid. Currently, they are both Associate Producers of the Amazon television series Transparent. Drucker and Ernst live and work in Los Angeles.


Beacon Hose responded overnight on Aug. 30 to a structure fire at 127 Beacon Valley Road. The vacant two-story home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived around 3:30 a.m.
Chief Jim Trzaski ordered a defensive exterior attack and we extinguished the fire in about an hour. About 25 firefighters, including a mutual-aid ladder truck from Naugatuck, responded to the scene. Citizens' Engine Co. No. 2 provided mutual-aid station coverage at our firehouse.
There were no injuries, and we had cleared the scene by 7 a.m. The fire was under an arson investigation.
Thanks to longtime Beacon Hose photographer Jeremy Rodorigo for the first of these photos, and Taylor Docimo for the rest on her first structure fire.


text:
UL shortstop Cantrelle tuning out hot MLB Draft talk
The Daily Advertiser
Back in December, he was listed No. 38 on D1Baseball.com's list of the Top 150 prospects for the June Major League Baseball Draft.
Translation: A possible second-round pick, perhaps even a first-rounder.
It's a big deal, and UL shortstop Hayden Cantrelle knows it.
Yet as the Ragin' Cajuns prepare to open their 2020 season Friday night against Southeastern Louisiana on M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park, it may be the last thing on Cantrelle's mind.
"First of all, it's a great honor," he said. "It's something to be proud of, that kind of reflects on everything you've done in the past.
"But that's all it is. It's just a preview. I've yet to go and earn those things throughout this year. Anything that is draft-related hasn't even happened yet. So for me to be worried about that is just not a smart thing to do."
More:UL shortstop Cantrelle assumes new second-year role
The response comes as no shock to anyone who knows Cantrelle.
Just a junior, the kid from Teurlings Catholic High is mature far beyond his 20 years.
And that's just one reason — beyond his glove, beyond his bat, beyond so much else — he's pegged as a prospect to watch.
"Hayden's got an 'it' factor," UL assistant coach Jeremy Talbot said. "He's very mature, and his baseball IQ is through the roof.
"Some guys just have that. He's got 'feel.' And he understands that (in) this game, gosh, the highs are high and the lows are low, and you just keep working the process."
Talbot, a hitting coach and recruiting coordinator at Texas A&M from 2005-09 who also has worked as an assistant at Jacksonville State and UL Monroe, has been at UL since the day Cantrelle arrived.
He's also developed and coached 75 MLB Draft picks, including 12 who made it to the majors.
He's seen Cantrelle toil every day, and he knows how someone who started last season in a hitting slump worked his way back without worrying about whether or not he would.
Related:Deggs reveals roles for Cajuns baseball coaching staff
More:Alcohol cost Ragin' Cajuns baseball coach Matt Deggs
"He's a professional," Talbot said. "He stays the same guy every day.
"He's not gonna be an emotional roller coaster, and he's not gonna get all hooked up on result. And that's part of being a professional.
"He understands he's a good player," Talbot added, "and if good players consistently go attack their craft each day, eventually things are going to fall their way."
A season ago, Cantrelle was hitting just .125 through UL's first dozen games, .185 through 16.
A few games later, he was on a tear.
He went 4-for-5 with a double, three homers and five RBIs in a mid-March comeback win at Little Rock. Two games later in a win at home against Northwestern he hit for the cycle, becoming just the fourth Cajun to do so.
Before long he was riding a 12-game hitting streak, and reaching into the back left pocket of his uniform pants to show what he was carrying in it — a bubble game wrapper, an old ticket and an empty trail mix bag among the various items, all loose trash he had picked up off the ground at The Tigue and, with his bat now hot, he wasn't about to throw away.
So he's superstitious too, another mark of the makings of a pro perhaps headed to The Show.
Related:Key to streak for Cajun Cantrelle is in his back pocket
More:Cantrelle becomes fourth Ragin' Cajun to hit for the cycle
More:Cantrelle's historic day powers UL in comeback at Little Rock
Cantrelle wound up getting his streak to 14 games before it ended in late March. By early April, his average was up to .336. And when UL's season ended, Cantrelle was hitting a solid .309 with a team high-tying .426 on-base percentage with first team All-Sun Belt Conference honors.
How did he do it?
Cantrelle grew, and for that he credits late UL head coach Tony Robichaux, who passed last July, 10 days after suffering a heart attack.
"I really stumbled out the gate. I really stumbled bad," Cantrelle said. "And everybody was wondering, and asking me, and I was just staying persistent.
"That's one thing Coach and I always talked about, is, 'Just keep going; it's gonna blow up for you.' And then over those next couple weeks, I ended up doing much better than I had at the beginning of the year.
"I think that was a testament to continuing to grind through it, and that taught what perseverance was about," Cantrelle added. "If I was result-oriented that early, time would have ate me up. But I chose to not let that happen, and it's definitely … one of the biggest takeaways of college so far."
Related:UL's Robichaux says Cantrelle 'plays the game slow'
More:Deggs honored to carry Robichaux's torch as UL coach
For that, Cantrelle thanks former teammates too.
"I've played with some older guys who've weathered the storm, who have been fifth-years who've overcome adversity with knee injuries like (outfielder) Orynn Veillon and (catcher) Handsome Monica," he said. "And they've taught me a lot about resiliency and consistency.
"The name of the game is consistency. We're planning on playing 70 games this year, and it's gonna be a grind. So taking things day-to-day, and not being result-oriented, is how you're successful long-term."
YANKEES PICK
Besides what he's learned from those who've moved on, Cantrelle has drawn on a couple other key figures for lessons on how to concentrate on the task at hand and block out the chatter.
One is his father Kevin, an outfielder who played for the Cajuns under Robichaux in the mid-to-late 1990s.
"He just wants me to focus on playing my game," Cantrelle said. "I think the worst thing that can happen to me is me not being focused on my craft.
"So just keeping that lens on things keeps you in the right direction."
During last season's slump, Cantrelle and his dad spoke little about what was happening at the plate.
More:Deggs' UL baseball teams feed off offensive Pack system
It wasn't really needed. The younger Cantrelle already gets it.
But the two talk all time, including how to tune out of the draft noise. And even a lot of that is understood already too.
"It's his second time going around. You know, he's done this before. He's did this as a senior in high school," Kevin Cantrelle said of his son, who became the first Teurlings Catholic player drafted out of high school when he was selected by the New York Yankees in the 40th round in the 2017.
"But this is probably a little bit more real than the last time," Kevin Cantrelle added, "because, really … of what he did in the Cape."
Hayden Cantrelle, who helped lead Teurlings Catholic to the 2015 Louisiana Class 4A state championship game and to state titles in 2016 and '17, spent the past two seasons playing in the prestigious Cape Cod League.
He was an all-star last season, hitting .303 with three homers over 42 games for the Falmouth Commodores.
"There's not a whole lot of question about whether or not he can succeed in pro ball," Kevin Cantrelle said of his son. "He pretty much did in the Cape with a wooden bat, so I think a lot of these question marks have been answered. So there's a lot more serious discussion he's having with scouts.
"But he knows that none of that is even remotely realistic if he doesn't go out and play his game and help his team be successful.
"What he also knows," Kevin Cantrelle added, "is that the more successful the team is, the more attention he will receive, which will ultimately help him down that road, if that's the right direction he wants to go."
More:Divide closed, Deggs likes how UL compares to 2014 club
Hayden Cantrelle's other confidante is former Cajun Blake Trahan, one of his UL predecessors at shortstop and someone who — after getting picked by Cincinnati in the third round, 84th overall, of the 2015 MLB Draft — played 11 games for the Reds in 2018.
Trahan spent most of last season at the AAA level with the Reds' affiliate in Louisville, and he played this offseason in the Dominican Winter League.
"Blake Trahan is one of my good friends. We talk a lot on the phone, probably a few times a week," Cantrelle said. "He's a guy who's got his head on right, obviously. … He's a real talented individual.
"So, not to put myself in the same conversation as Blake, because he was a very good player, but he's definitely told me how to go about things."
More:Reds shortstop Trahan mourns Robichaux
Related:Angels catcher Lucroy buys ad to eulogize Robichaux
'THROUGH THE ROOF'
In addition to the draft, Cantrelle — like the rest of the Cajuns — has another matter hanging overhead going into 2020.
It's dealing with the loss of Robichaux, UL's coach the last 25 seasons.
Taking over is former Sam Houston State head coach Matt Deggs, a Robichaux assistant from 2012-14 who also has worked as an assistant at Arkansas and Texas A&M.
The tragedy-prompted change is a lot for anyone to handle.
But Cantrelle feels equipped, no matter what the circumstance.
"I like to think my entire life I've been in pressure situations," he said.
"Yeah, there's a different atmosphere — a different feel — with Coach Deggs now. But things aren't that much different, to be honest with you. And all my personal goals are in line with everything I had been doing throughout my college career as well.
"So, just taking it day-by-day," Cantrelle said. "That's really cliché, but that's how I'm really doing."
More:Ragin' Cajuns fans applaud hiring of new baseball coach Matt Deggs
More:Contract terms between Deggs, Ragin' Cajuns revealed
Cantrelle's day at the next level will come.
Current Cajun teammates are convinced of it, and so is his new head coach.
Deggs, who was at UL for Trahan's freshman and sophomore seasons as the Cajuns' shortstop, calls Cantrelle "probably the smartest kid I've ever coached."
"And I don't have a problem saying that," he said, "His baseball IQ and acumen is through the roof.
"And he has a very unique skill-set where he's an elite runner with bat-to-ball skills. He can field it, he can throw it, and just has incredible natural instinct. He's a natural leader, and does things I haven't seen since Baby Trahan."
More:Deggs, Robichaux as similar as they are opposite
Related:He did it at STM; now UL's Brennan Breaux may pitch too
Where Cantrelle ultimately goes in the 2020 draft, and whether it's higher than Trahan went, remains to be seen.
But he's poised for a run, and that's talk for others even if his own ears don't hear it.
In addition to being D1Baseball's No. 38, Cantrelle also is MLB Pipeline's No. 55 draft prospect. He's a third team Perfect Game preseason All-American. And he'll get his shot, Cajuns senior centerfield Brennan Breaux firmly believes.
"He's got a lot of talent," Breaux said. "He's a great player. And he's gonna get a good chance.
"He's got work to do, but he's set good groundwork for himself. He works his butt off. I mean, you go out there every day and he's always the one bringing the energy.
"He's always the one right in the middle of everything," Breaux added. "So I have no doubts that he's going to have a great season and he's going to a great opportunity to play at the next level and hopefully play this game for a really long time. I'm pulling for him."


Joe VanDalsem of ParadiseFX in Los Angeles is a very busy man. And with the steep rise in demand for stereo 3D productions in Hollywood today, he's busier than ever!
Founded in 1992, Paradise FX has a well deserved reputation for excellence and innovations, as one of the earliest pioneers in HD3D production and post production, and today, they are well ahead of the curve in 3D stereoscopic production. With a custom designed, state-of-the-art line of 3D "Tri-Delta" dual camera systems, as well as several digital systems in development, Paradise FX is quickly rising to the top of the list for major motion picture producers looking to create the next 3D blockbuster. The results they deliver have earned them industry accolades, awards, and most importantly, some very high profile projects.
We recently spoke with Joe about their latest 3D stereo movie production – A Dophin's Tale 3D, starring Morgan Freeman. When we spoke with Joe, the team was at the precise half-way point in the production. He shared with us some of the technical challenges of 3D production, and interestingly, how expectations and requirements of the directors and DPs are increasingly driving the need for leading edge, real time, on set stereoscopic tools.
There's so much to consider in the stereoscopic pipeline/workflow – you need to be thinking about the role of each element in your pipeline, and how the tools integrate with each other – from camera to post. And the more you can simplify and streamline at the beginning, the more time and money you're going to save.
Right off the bat, we knew we were shooting with RED, so RED Rocket support was critical for viewing dailies. We invested in IRIDAS' SpeedGrade DI for a couple of reasons. One was the RED Rocket support – this alone made it possible for us to be running dailies in 3D and in real time with cinema grade image quality. Before Red Rocket support was part of our tool set, allowing us to stay in RAW format, we'd spend literally hours rendering before we could look at the content. Not to mention, once you've rendered, you're locked into formats, color spaces, resolution… there's no going back – there's no time.
With SpeedGrade DI, we're viewing 3D content in real time without rendering and no commitments to formats. We're shooting a full days worth of stereo content and viewing the entire thing right away – no rendering and in full resolution. This just isn't possible with any other software out there.
Joe is also a big fan of DualStream NX, IRIDAS' stereoscopic tool set at the heart of SpeedGrade DI.
IRIDAS has engineered an intuitive set of stereo tools that are miles ahead of their closest competitors. DualStream NX was another key factor for us. It came down to how DualStream handles stereo files – it's not only just faster, there's an entire range of features that enable us to deliver the director and DPs a theatrical 3D experience right in the production office. To create more of a theatrical experience, we paired an 11 foot projection Stewart silver screen and a FULL 1080p LG CF3D passive polarized projector to emulate what people will ultimately see in theaters. To do this, you need to do more than just muxing left and right eyes; you're color grading, applying looks, everything to create the experience. So not only are we seeing the 3D in real time, we're able to grade, in 3D, on both eyes simultaneously and look at it in real time.
Today, there's an expectation amongst directors, DP and production crews. More than ever, time is money. They want to see shots graded, in stereo, as close to how it's going to look in theaters as possible – and they want to see it now. It's this level of expectation that's driving decision making at the outset of a production – what cameras are you shooting with and in what format, what grading and previz tools are going to slipstream into that workflow and what's going to deliver immediate, cinema grade content so we can ensure we get the shot right the first time – no rendering, no waiting, no reshooting. We're saving money every time we can view a shot and make key decisions on the fly.
With SpeedGrade DI, we know what we're looking at here in real time is exactly what it's going to look like in theaters. And our ability to deliver that level of expertise, quality and peace of mind is invaluable to us at Paradise FX.


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Q: Why is LAST_VALUE() not working in SQL Server? Here's the data I have (note that this is for only one entity id / employee id, there will be multiple. One entity ID can have multiple employee IDs under it):
SELECT  EntityId,
        EmployeeId,
        PayPeriodStart,
        IsFullTime
FROM    dbo.Payroll
WHERE   EmployeeId = 316691
        AND PayPeriodStart <= '12/31/2014'
        AND PayPeriodEnd >= '1/1/2014';

I want to grab the LAST "IsFullTime" value FOR EACH EntityID & EmployeeID combo.
I tried doing this:
SELECT  EntityId,
        EmployeeId,
        LAST_VALUE(IsFullTime) OVER (PARTITION BY EntityId, EmployeeId ORDER BY EntityId, EmployeeId, PayPeriodStart) AS LastIsFullTimeValue
FROM    dbo.Payroll
WHERE   EmployeeId = 316691
        AND PayPeriodStart <= '12/31/2014'
        AND PayPeriodEnd >= '1/1/2014';

But I'm getting this:

The query should return only ONE row FOR EACH EntityID / EmployeeID.
What am I doing wrong?

A: I believe you are looking to use ROW_NUMBER() and the get the last value based on payperiodstart date:
SELECT t.EntityId
    ,t.EmployeeId
    ,t.LastIsFullTimeValue
FROM (
    SELECT EntityId
        ,EmployeeId
        ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER (
            PARTITION BY EntityId
            ,EmployeeId ORDER BY PayPeriodStart DESC
            ) AS rn
        ,LastIsFullTimeValue
    FROM dbo.Payroll
    WHERE EmployeeId = 316691   -- you could probably put this in your outer query instead
        AND PayPeriodStart <= '12/31/2014'
        AND PayPeriodEnd >= '1/1/2014'
    ) t
WHERE t.rn = 1;

A: Try adding ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING
I believe the default window for analytic functions that includes an ORDER BY ends at the current row.
LAST_VALUE(IsFullTime) OVER (
    PARTITION BY EntityId, EmployeeId
    ORDER BY EntityId, EmployeeId, PayPeriodStart
    ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING
) AS LastIsFullTimeValue

A: To see what is happening, you must understand the concept of framing. The frame allows you to specify a set of rows for the window that is even smaller than the partition. The default frame contains the rows starting with the first row and up to the current row. For row 1, the window is just row 1. For row 3, the window contains rows 1 to 3. When using FIRST_VALUE, the first row is included by default, so you don't have to worry about it to get the expected results.
When using LAST_VALUE with the default frame, the window only goes up to the current row. The current row is the last row of the window. To get around this problem, you must specify the frame, in this case ROWS BETWEEN CURRENT ROW AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING. This means that the window starts with the current row and ends at the last row of the partition. Run the next example to see how to use LAST_VALUE correctly.
view http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/T-SQL/124112/

A: Here's the trick. I use FIRST_VALUE + DESC ordering (instead of LAST_VALUE + ASC ordering). Works. It is the shortest way and it let you avoid dreaded ROWS BETWEEN UNBOUNDED PRECEDING AND UNBOUNDED FOLLOWING.
FIRST_VALUE(IsFullTime) OVER (
    PARTITION BY EntityId, EmployeeId
    ORDER BY EntityId DESC, EmployeeId DESC, PayPeriodStart DESC
) AS LastIsFullTimeValue

Agreed, it is confusing why LAST_VALUE is not intuitive and requires so much attention compared to its twin sister FIRST_VALUE.
If you would like to care for performance, read this: https://sqlperformance.com/2019/08/sql-performance/t-sql-bugs-pitfalls-and-best-practices-window-functions


Raths, Raths & Johnson, Inc. (RRJ) is a national engineering, architecture, and forensics consulting firm that provides investigative, design, repair, and testing services for building structures, enclosures, and materials.
Since its inception in 1966, our staff has employed a collaborative, investigative approach that combines an in-depth knowledge of building sciences and construction materials with our testing capabilities to assess and resolve structural, architectural, and building system behavior and performance issues. Key to our technical quality and exceptional service is hands-on Principal involvement in every project.
RRJ's engineering and architectural expertise is complemented by its private testing laboratory. Prototype and component testing for investigation, design verification, and product evaluation are performed in-house or in the field with instrumentation via a comprehensive data acquisition system.
RRJ is a registered Small Business Enterprise (SBE) in the State of Illinois.
RRJ is a qualified SBE by the U.S. Small Business Administration's guidelines.


Luke is the Manager and Valuer at the Bideford office. With more than 13 years in the industry, he has a pro-active, back to basics approach to his work and will personally ensure that your property is well targeted and maintains a high profile. Earning his stripes at a well-known national estate agency in his home town of Weston-super-Mare, Luke progressed to working at a high-end Bristol Estate Agency in Clifton before returning to North Somerset as assistant manager in Clevedon and Portishead; towns with many market similarities to the Bideford area.
Luke joined Stags in 2012 bringing his extensive knowledge of city, town and waterside to a more rural area. Luke lives in Bideford and enjoys having the beach at Westward Ho! on his doorstep and when not trying to learn to surf, he is an active gym member and a master chef in the making.


The monetary objectives of an individual or organization that are often determined by their future requirements for funds. For a business, its financial goals can be expressed as part of an overall financial plan that might include profit targets, projected borrowing requirements, covering operating expenses, and developing a debt payback schedule.
Ted and Nancy acknowledged that they had very different ideas about money and knew that finding the happy medium amongst their disparate financial goals would be a challenge when they got married.
We had to outline our financial goals for the future, which would take a lot of time and some careful planning.
You should always have strong financial goals and hope to achieve them as quickly as you can by working hard.


From Cornfield to Cup - the New Sustainable Packaging Journey. Who's With Us?
Today is an inspiring day here at Stonyfield. Today is the day Stonyfield is launching new breakthrough packaging for our multipack cups –packaging made from plants.
Packaging that looks, feels, and yes, sounds, exactly the same as the old packaging, yet is utterly – and environmentally – different. Packaging that takes an important step toward making sure we leave a healthier planet for future generations. Packaging that slashes greenhouse gas emissions by 48 percent, reduces the total global warming impact of Stonyfield by 9 percent, and raises the bar on new standards for sustainable packaging and the use of bio-plastics.
It's packaging you can feel as good about as the organic yogurt inside.
The cup itself is exciting on its own. But when you look deeper, at the complete story of how Stonyfield got to this day – the journey from conception to cornfield to cup – the packaging change becomes something bigger. Something really worth shouting from the rooftops (or chirping about on your Twitter account).
The move to PLA (polylactic acid) from polystyrene has been a long time in the making. It's been an involved process combining the passion and knowledge of an extremely dedicated group led by the vision of our CE-Yo Gary Hirshberg. There've been many twists and turns, lots of setbacks along the way, some moments when it looked impossible and an incredible amount of learning, too. And never a thought of turning back.
Sharing what we've learned with others, in fact, has been – and continues to be – an essential part of this journey. We've been talking with experts about the move to PLA, discussing the impacts and concerns that accompany the change. Key leaders in fields ranging from recycling to GMOs to children's health have provided key insights to this initiative.
If all dairy companies in the United States follow suit and replace their polystyrene containers with plant-based plastics, carbon dioxide emissions can be reduced by 671,234 metric tons a year. That's equal to the emissions from 1.5 million barrels of oil – or the energy use for 57,000 homes for one year.
Wow. What an impact. And what an ultimate goal to work toward. If our story in the near future could become: from cornfield to cup to complete industry change, then I'd remember today as more than just inspiring…I'd remember it as the day we inspired a revolution. That's what I call a worthy and wonderful Wednesday.


text:
George Zimmerman Verdict Hinged On Definition Of 2 Words
ByOla Abiose
It's taken a long time for me to put down my thoughts about not only the George Zimmerman trial verdict, but also its aftermath. Suffice to say, I've long been uncomfortable with how quickly the narrative changed. And a breathtaking analysis from law professor and best-selling author Alafair Burke helped me realize why. In a Huffington Post column, she stresses the critical role of jury instructions and how, due to a hurried ruling by Judge Nelson, their instructions were incomplete. This could have had a severe effect on the outcome of the trial.
It all boils down to the "initial aggressor" exception to the self-defense statutory scheme: according to Florida law, the right of self-defense is "not available to a person who initially provokes the use of force against himself," with a few exceptions. Naturally, the state asked the court to instruct the jury about the justification of self-defense with the inclusion of this "initial aggressor" instruction, arguing that, based on a certain interpretation of the evidence provided, the jury could reasonably infer that Zimmerman provoked a physical response from Martin, and therefore that the "initial aggressor" exception was at least relevant.
The defense team, of course, objected to this instruction, relying on a 2001 decision from the Fourth Division of the Florida Court of Appeals in Gibbs v. State, stating that initial aggressor exception is only applicable if the defendant provokes the victim's use of force through force or "threat of force." By referring to this case and implying that the court would be in error and potentially reversed on appeal if they granted the initial aggressor instruction, the defense was able to successfully convince Judge Nelson to strike the initial aggressor instruction.
The only problem? The reason why the defendant's conviction was reversed in Gibbs v. State was because the error lay in the delivery of the initial aggressor instruction (construed overly broadly), not the simple delivery of the instruction itself. As Burke notes, "A properly instructed jury should have heard the complete law of self-defense in Florida, not just the portions that helped Zimmerman. Had the jury been instructed about the initial aggressor exception, it might have concluded that Zimmerman's following of Martin, though itself not criminal, was reasonably apprehended by Martin as a 'threat of force.' Put another way, the jury might have concluded that Martin was the one acting in self-defense during the physical confrontation that preceded the gunshot, making Zimmerman the aggressor."
Note: This does not mean the jury would have necessarily ruled any differently. But jury instructions are highly critical in court proceedings; their incompleteness, specifically about such a relevant portion like the initial aggressor exception to the self-defense statutory scheme, poses a threat to the due process many have been celebrating in the wake of the verdict. Much of the conversation debating the relevant initial aggressor instruction should have been left to the jury to decide, not predetermined by the court.
To me, this analysis was precisely what I needed to turn a vague discomfort with the court's proceedings into a coherent criticism, not just of the court, but also of a lot of post-verdict sentiments. I can't help but notice that the Zimmerman trial verdict came a little over two years after the Casey Anthony trial verdict, with starkly different responses. Same state, relatively similar outcomes, and levels of media publicity: both were testaments to the importance of establishment "beyond a reasonable doubt".
Yet while one was met with almost universal outrage, the other has outrage counterbalanced with celebrations of due process and an intact legal system. Obviously, the victims and circumstances around both trials were different; however, I worry that the difference is rooted in a sentiment a friend of mine overheard at a restaurant in Florida.
"Trayvon had it coming, it's not like he was going to amount to anything anyway."
That is certainly part of the narrative that the defense took great pains to construct and, with omission of the critical initial aggressor instruction, they were that much more successful.


Popular photo-sharing platform Instagram on Friday announced its users can now make a "close friends" list on its "Stories" to share it with the people they've selectively added. It is a global roll-out and to add people to their list, users need to go to their profile and tap on "Close Friends" in the side menu. "Only you can see your close friends list and no one can request to be added, so you can feel comfortable adjusting it at any time. When you share to Stories, you'll see the option to share with just the people on your 'Close Friends' list," the Facebook-owned company wrote in a blog post, according to IANS.
If someone has added you to their list, you will see a green badge when you're viewing their stories. You'll also see a green ring around their profile photo in the Stories tray, the company added.
Instagram's Stories lets users post images and videos that vanish after 24 hours. Like Snapchat, the photos and videos shared in an Instagram Story can't be viewed once 24 hours have elapsed.
For the unaware, Instagram rolled out the Stories feature last year and was heavily criticised as it looked like an exact rip off of Snapchat's Snap feature. However, with growing popularity, Instagram Stories has been used way more than Snapchat's feature and the company tweaked it to perfection to offer the best user experience.


The Lives of Carl Kiekhaefer. Gearing amplified the effort of the cranker. By Johnson sales exceeded those of Evinrude and Elto, with the 1 millionth Johnson outboard being produced in It was also relatively reliable and easy to start. Which company built the first four-cylinder outboard motor? Maybe he was crazy after all.
Bianca. je m'appelle esther, une jeune etudiante africaine de 21ans. je suis douce, coquine, souriante, et discrete.
He would personally light it and then lower the outboard into the roaring flames, exhorting his troops as the "enemy's" motor was reduced to a glob of molten aluminum.
And prices stayed low. Gearing amplified the effort of the cranker. Doing Its Part By the time production of recreational outboards was formally halted in Februarymost builders were already doing other work for the military. Sales reached 6, in Got a thing for Mercurys? He updated the design and printed a brochure offering three Thor models, from a 6. Fortunately, his wife, Bess, made up for this.


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Urban Dweller in an Apartment?
Yes, even you can grow your own food
Culture by Vanessa SalviaPosted on 03/06/2014
Oregon's Constant Gardener offers lights for shady spacesPhoto by Trask Bedortha
Anyone can grow fresh food year-round, even apartment dwellers. It just takes a bit of know-how and planning. Amy Doherty, a master gardener and graduate of the UO Landscape Architecture program, specializes in adaptive urban gardens. "There's a lot you can do with container gardening on a sunny balcony or in a window," Doherty says. "The only limit is how much space you have and how much light you can get."
First, evaluate the light that you have. North-facing windows don't receive much light, southern windows tend to be sunny for much of the day and eastern and western windows are sunny for part of the day.
Doherty uses her balcony to grow three "salad bowls" of lettuce mixes. "I trim off of them and refill them as needed," she says. "Lettuce is a cool season crop and doesn't need a great deal of light, so that's doable for almost anyone."
Indoor tomatoes are another story. "Anything that grows fruit like tomatoes or berries is going to have to flower, and they're going to require at least six hours of sunlight a day," Doherty says.
Even a small grow light can make a world of difference. Ryan Brey, manager of Oregon's Constant Gardener in Springfield, says culinary herbs require nothing more than a fluorescent T5 fixture, which runs about $80 for a 2-foot lamp.
"For the more passionate indoor gardener who wants to go full-bore and do sun-loving cucumbers and peppers, that's going to require more light intensity," Brey explains. "A metal halide high pressure sodium system runs $300 up to $450."
At that point, the complete environment becomes a factor. For instance, putting a 1,000-watt light into a cold garage won't work well. "Then you have to create a more full environment with a ventilation fan and fresh air exchange," Brey says.
Then you have to think about pollination. Some plants are self-pollinating, but many fruiting plants need some sort of help if they are not outside.
For the committed apartment gardener, Brey sells small indoor greenhouses that encase an area with blackout fabric. "They self-enclose an environment so you can place them in a corner of your room with 400-watt light and produce vegetables year-round," Brey says.
If lights and fans are too complicated but you're still hankering to do your own harvesting, consider the sprout. "I've done a bunch of sprouts and it's so easy," says Jivan Valpey, who also grows Meyer lemons in pots, which are moved indoors for the winter.
"If you have room for trays, get yourself some potting soil and harvest microgreens," Valpey says, "which sell for about $8 a pound. If you were diligent you could have lettuce every day."
Another easy plant to grow in a shallow tray is radishes. "Radishes grow so fast," Valpey says. "And the sprouts are so delicious and refreshing and crunchy. When you grow a sprout it's the most vital that vegetable is ever going to be. It's always fresh, it's still alive, it's still vibrant. It's as fresh as it will ever get."
Sprouting is also about as easy as growing will ever get, and requires little more than a jar and a handful of whatever seeds or beans you choose: sunflower, broccoli, alfalfa, mung bean, clover, wheatgrass and all kinds of grains are fair game.
Haunt some garden supply stores and check out the different kits available for indoor gardening. YouTube is a great source for many DIY window-gardening projects, such as a system of 2-liter plastic soda bottles strung together and hanging in a window in the manner of a curtain.
The Lane County Extension office in Eugene doesn't have a lot of resources specifically devoted to indoor gardening, but it does offer a class on container gardening suitable for patios. The great thing is plants want to grow, so there's a good chance that no matter how little sunlight or space you have, there's a plant out there that's right for you.
Tags: Digs
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2001-02Top 16Round 2
Local time: 00:00 ABDI IPEKCI SPORTS HALL
Despite missing three of its key regulars and playing on the road in Istanbul, Real Madrid managed to keep its hopes alive in Group F by hanging on for dear life to a 63-67 victory over Efes Pilsen on Thursday. It took a three-pointer by Lucio Angulo in the final minute for the visitors to reclaim a game they had led since late in the first quarter. Alberto Herreros sealed it with two late free throws, leading Madrid with 17 points in the absence of starters Sasha Djordjevic, Dragan Tarlac and Eric Streulens, all of whom were injured. A 14-0 run that bridged the first two quarters put the visitors in control, but their nine-point lead with 5 minutes left to play came under attack by Efes. A Marcus Brown three-pointer ingnited a 10-0 run that Kaspars Kambala completed with a free throw that gave Efes the lead, 62-61, with just under a minute to play. Angulo's big shot came on the next possession, however, and Madrid was on its way to a 1-1 record. Dusan Vukcevic added 12 points, Angulo 11 and Zan Tabak 10 for the winners. Efes, which falls to 0-2 in Group F, was led by Kambala with 23 points and Brown with 16.
The game got off to an even start dominated by the scoring of two players, Kambala on the inside for Efes and Herreros inside and out for Madrid. A pair of Kambala free throws gave Efes its first decent lead at 11-7, but soon Herreros came up with a three-pointer and a driving dunk to reach 10 points himself and to pull Madrid within 15-14. Kambala answered with his own monster dunk, bringing him up to 9. A pair of free throws by Brown gave Efes its biggest lead at 20-14. Right there, however, with two minutes left in the quarter, Madrid stopped its slide. First, young center Eduardo Hernandez turned a loose ball into a three-point play. Then, on the quarter's final play, Vukcevic made one free throw, missed the next, but put his own rebound back to tie the score at 20-20 after 10 minutes.
Madrid capitalized on its first-quarter finish to take full control in the second. After two scoreless minutes, Herreros drained another three and Hernandez followed with another layup. When Vukcevic put in his first three, Madrid had a 14-0 run and Efes seemed in trouble, down 20-28. Madrid had bottled up the inside where Kambala had been successful early, so now Efes looked to its outside ace, Brown, and boy did he respond. His first three-pointer stopped the skid, his second one pulled Efes within 28-30, and his third one limited the damage of another Madrid push. Mehmet Okur joined Brown with a downtown shot that kept the home team within 34-38, but Madrid finished off the half with three foul shots and a 34-42 lead. The key stat then was on the boards, where Madrid was ahead 9-19 despite being short on big men.
Real Madrid kept controlling the match in the third quarter too. Tabak was very affective on both defensive and offensive rebounds. Defense was the issue again as the two teams forced each other to share a pair of baskets through the first five minutes of the quarter. Lucio Angulo gave Madrid its biggest lead thus far at 36-45. Efes struggled to reduce the difference to 5 points, 47-52, on a three-pointer by Kerem Tunceri. Kambala scored the last three points for Efes, but a nice drive by Vukcevic let Madrid enjoy a 50-56 cushion after 30 minutes.
Just as at the beginning of the second and third quarters, Efes could not buy a basket to start the fourth. The home team went 4 full minutes without a point, and when Stefano Attruia canned a three-pointer for Madrid almost halfway through the quarter, the lead stood at 52-61. Suddenly, as the five-minute countdown began, Efes seemed to find itself. Again, Brown tripped the ignition switch with a three-pointer. Kambala followed with a post-up basket, then collected Brown's three-point miss and dunked it. The deficit was down to just 2 points, 59-61. With just over 2 minutes left, Alper Yilmaz stole the ball on the defensive end and finished a fastbreak to tie it 61-61. After a minute full of misses, Kambala was at the line with 55 seconds left, making 1 of 2 free throws for a 62-61 lead, the first in more than 30 minutes for the home team. And the last. On the next possession, Angulo drove, dished off precariously, then raced out to the three-point line. Tabak passed out there and Angulo banged the shot in for a 62-64 Madrid edge with 39 seconds to go. After a Kambala miss, Tabak added one free throw and Herreros two to end it in favor of the visitors, who have two weeks now to recover from their various injuries and challenge in Group F.
Referees: RADIC, DANKO; FACCHINI, FABIO; ZACHARA, IVAN
Efes Pilsen 20 14 16 13
Efes Pilsen
5 BROWN, MARCUS 36:53 16 0/1 4/8 4/4 2 2 5 1 1 3 3 18
6 ONAN, OMER 13:56 2 1/2 0/2 1 2 1 -3
7 STOMBERGAS, SAULIUS 29:13 7 2/4 1/4 1 1 2 1 5 2 3 11
9 VEKILOGLU, ARDA 13:47 2 1/3 0/2 1 2 3 1 2 1 1
10 TUNCERI, KEREM 33:22 6 1/3 1/4 1/2 1 1 1 1 3 2
11 YILMAZ, ALPER 13:22 2 1/1 0/2 1 2 3 1 3 1
13 OKUR, MEHMET 15:02 5 0/4 1/1 2/2 1 2 3 1 1 2 1 2 1 2
14 PEKER, KAYA 9:27 2 1 3 1 2 1 3 2 4
15 KAMBALA, KASPARS 34:58 23 9/16 5/8 1 4 5 3 1 1 3 8 20
Totals 200:00 63 15/34 7/23 12/16 8 14 22 9 11 8 1 3 23 21 54
Head coach: MAHMUTI, OKTAY
4 ANGULO, ALBERTO 17:34 4 2/4 3 3 2 1 8
7 ANGULO, LUCIO 28:47 11 2/3 1/3 4/4 1 4 5 2 4 1 5 6 13
8 VUKCEVIC, DUSAN 26:29 12 4/8 1/4 1/2 2 6 8 2 1 1 1 13
9 TABAK, ZAN 30:26 10 4/9 2/6 2 10 12 1 4 1 1 4 5 11
11 HERREROS, ALBERTO 33:07 17 2/2 3/6 4/4 2 2 4 1 2 3 4 18
15 ITURBE, IKER 14:58 0/2 1 1 1 2 4 2 -4
16 HERNANDEZ-SONSECA, EDU 15:19 5 2/2 1/1 1 3 4 3 1 4 1 4
18 ATTRUIA, STEFANO 33:20 8 2/3 1/4 1/1 1 1 5 2 4 12
Head coach: SCARIOLO, SERGIO
MAHMUTI, OKTAY
"We lost because we did nothing positive to win that game. In these kind of matches, if your performance is lower than 50 percent, you can never win it. Anyway, mathematically we still have a chance for the leadership of the group, so we will fight until the end of our last group match. I did not play Mehmet Okur most of the second half because he was performing very bad. We should score much more points in offence to win this game."
SCARIOLO, SERGIO
"We played a very good defensive game tonight. I'm proud of my players about the defensive job that they did. We only had some trouble in some periods of the game to stop Kaspars Kambala. We played a simple offensive game because of the injuries. And I also have to mention that most of my players are tired because of the heavy schedule. Because of the absence of Alexander Djordjevic, we made lots of turnovers. But anyway, I am very happy about the performance of my players. Now we passed a very important rival and we are still willing to try to make the Final Four."
YILMAZ, ALPER
"Unfortunately, we made lots of mistakes and we were very bad on our shots, as you can see in the percentage on the statistics sheet. If one or two of us had played the way that Marcus Brown and Kaspars Kambala did on offense and had scored in double figures, we could have won the game. The only thing we can do right now to try our hardest to win the last four matches."
HERREROS, ALBERTO
"It was a very hard and very stressfull game for both Efes Pilsen and us. We were all stressed because the losing side would be in big trouble in the group. I think we deserved to win the game, especially by the performance that we showed in the last three minutes. I wish Efes Pilsen good luck for the remaining games."
Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 Round 4 Round 5 Round 6
Skipper Bologna 90
Kinder Virtus Bologna 72
Ural Great 61
Maccabi Elite 77


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Home » Latest Posts » Soccer 101: CM's Guide to the English Premier League
Soccer 101: CM's Guide to the English Premier League
Gianluca Cetraro Dec 31, 2020
In the world of sports, uncertainty and nervousness constantly surround fans. Part of following a certain sport involves watching games with an accelerated heart rate, standing in front of the TV while praying or covering our eyes. Regardless of your age, gender, sexual orientation or religion, sports unite everyone into believing in one cause: triumph, whichever the team and the discipline. While this may sound bizarre to most American viewers, fans in the United Kingdom are so committed to the sport that it rivals religions and creeds.
As the place where soccer originally formed as we know it nowadays, it is no surprise that Britons own one of the most important football/soccer leagues in the world: The Premier League (EPL or English Premier League). The EPL, home of some European giants like Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, dominates the football/soccer landscape with dramatic comebacks in the last minute, mid-table teams doing surprising signings for cheap prices and authentic battles every morning. At the brink of their new season, the EPL returned under the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of stadiums enjoying the heat of the public, fans followed their beloved English Premier teams from their family room's TV.
History of Football/Soccer in England
Football/soccer in the UK relates to tradition, routine and unity. Like American football and the United States, the wonderful love story between football/soccer and the UK began in South Yorkshire, Sheffield, in October 1857. Two members of a cricket team founded Sheffield Football Club (FC) by organizing a match between them, playing with a ball without any official rules. Sheffield FC's kick-off would follow the foundation of the Football Association (often referred as the FA) in 1863, the oldest federation in the football world. The FA supervises both amateur and professional British football. Nowadays, Sheffield FC plays at the Northern Premier League, which stands under the amateur category in the English football system. Nevertheless, the creation of Sheffield FC as the first professional football/soccer club in the world triggered the creation of the clubs most of the fans know nowadays, such as Aston Villa, Chelsea and Manchester United.
The FA recognizes the Premier League, previously referred to as First Division and English Premiership, as the top level of the English football league system, with the English Football League (EFL) Championship one step below. The Premier League table consists of 20 teams, with the first place crowned as champions of England and a qualification to the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League (commonly referred as UCL).
"The UCL provides clubs with huge financial rewards, and players who play for the first time strive for putting their names into the European scenario. Overall, it's just a very lucrative championship," Sergio Palomino Peruvian resident in Maryland Sergio Palomino said.
The second, third and fourth place of the Premier League table qualify for the Champions League as well. As for the fifth and sixth place, they qualify for the UEFA Europa League (UEL), the second most important competition at club level in Europe. Whoever finishes in the bottom three automatically relegates to the championship. Thanks to the FA's relegation and promotion system, every Premier League edition will host newly promoted teams every year, while those relegated teams will strive next season in the championship for a promotion spot.
Structure of the English Premier League
As of September 2020, 20 teams will participate in the upcoming season, with Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Leeds United as newcomers, replacing the relegated Norwich City, Watford and AFC Bournemouth. This season will celebrate the return of a historic English team as Leeds United. Known as the "Whites," Leeds were relegated from the Premier League in 2004 and played in the EFL Championship ever since. Fulham returns to the Premier League after a disastrous relegation in the 2018/2019 season, after spending almost 128 million sterling pounds (170 million dollars) in transfers!
Fulham got their prize after winning the promotion play-offs against Brentford, with a dramatic two-goal lead at extra time. The play-offs consist of the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh place teams from the EFL Championship playingagainst one another. Whoever wins gets the promotion to the Premier League. West Bromwich Albion, or the "Baggies," return as runner-ups from last season's EFL Championship, with Leeds obtaining the trophy then.
Some people who watch the Premier League for the first time may feel as confused as a European watching major league baseball. In English football, an era of supremacy from teams such as Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal gave birth to the nickname "Top Four." These four teams dominated English football during the 2000s, with most of them battling on the top four spots of the Premier League table. Each one of them qualified to the Champions League and/or Europa League every season, leaving no chance to the newcomers and mid-table teams who wanted to give a surprise.
"I remember Arsenal's team during the 2003/2004 season. They had players like Thierry Henry and Dennis Bergkamp as strikers, Vieira and Ashley Cole on the midfield and defence as well," said Peruvian resident at Onley, MD Diego Campos. "Another team I strongly remember that season was Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United. I liked all the players in that squad, especially Nani, Carlos Tevez and a young Cristiano Ronaldo."
Arsenal's "invincible" season, winning the Premier League with no losses, and Manchester United's back-to-back titles demonstrate the domination of the "Top Four" for many years. However, nobody had expected the arrival of two newcomers to change the football landscape. In 2010, the "Top Four" got two new members, becoming the "Big Six." Tottenham Hotspur (commonly referred as Spurs) and Manchester City (nicknamed the "Citizens") interrupted the football scene by finishing into the top four places regularly. In addition, Spurs became one of the first teams to qualify for European tournaments, leaving one of the "Top Four" teams out. Nevertheless, Spurs still owe their fans some silverware, since they only had two chances to win the Premier League in 40 years. On the other hand, Manchester City's success regarding titles surpasses vastly the "Lilywhites" (Tottenham's nickname), which still crave titles until today.
Economic Prestige
Nobody can deny the fact that the Citizens have formidable players. They became the first team to win a domestic treble (Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup) and the only team to win a league with more than 100 points in a single season. After the club's acquisition by Arab owners in 2008, Manchester City's total squad value surpassed 500 million sterling pounds (667 million dollars) and shares its board of directors with other teams such as Girona FC in Spain or New York City FC in the United States.
"I believe that if a club does finances wisely, it will increase both the club and the squad's economic value. Manchester City had the luck to be bought," Peruvian resident Renato Andrade said. "However, money is not always important in football. Take as an example Leicester City, who were crowned champions of England against all odds, beating English giants like Manchester United, City, Tottenham, Liverpool and Chelsea. Now, City is gaining a lot of profit not only for its first team players, but for their youth squad as well, selling them or loaning them to other teams."
The Citizens' financial investment expanded the club's brand and served as the milestone of what football has become nowadays: a sport where money runs like a stream. One hundred percent of Premier League clubs get their income not only from tickets and shirt sales, but also rely on television views as their main source of revenue. For example, from the 2017/2018 season, Arsenal earned 180 million pounds just for TV & broadcasting rights. As for mid-table to bottom-table teams like Brighton Hove & Albion and West Ham United possess a 200-million-pound worth, plus extra for television rights.
In addition, other factors, like players' wages, stadium capacity and average attendance, ought to be considered. Player contracts and signings at sky-rocket prices show the Premier League's economic power, with the recent acquisition of Rodrigo Moreno by the recently promoted team Leeds United. The 29-year-old Spanish striker comes from Valencia CF, one of the most important and historic teams in Spain. Someone who never saw the Premier League would ask how a striker could sign for a mid-table team while playing for a European giant. The answer? Money.
"I consider the Premier League as the most competitive league in the world. It is the most televised league and that most teams are really valuable," Peruvian medicine student Hisami Sakamoto said. "I think that the mere fact of playing in such a competitive league makes players' value in the market sky-rocket, since scouts and managers from national teams will always look out for your performance at every match."
Other examples include Harry Maguire's acquisition by Manchester United from Leicester City for 78 million pounds (104 million dollars) last year, and Virgil Van Dijk's signing for Liverpool from Southampton for 72 million pounds (97 million dollars) in January 2018. Transfers like these are what makes the Premier League a must-watch during the weekends!
Under normal circumstances, Premier League would begin mid-August. However, due to the pandemic, the 2020/2021 Premier League season kicked-off September 12, 2020 at 10am (ET) with Arsenal visiting Fulham's Craven Cottage. Every match tells a different story where different protagonists make each moment unique. However, the best day of quality Premier League football happens on Boxing Day. What is Boxing Day? First, let's leave professional boxers aside. During the last weeks of the year, before the January transfer window, Brits and Premier League fans around the globe spend a whole day watching football while celebrating Christmas Eve with their loved ones. Wait, watching your favourite team play, surrounded by your family and friends in the stadium or in your living room? Count me in!
While other leagues such as the Spanish La Liga or German Bundesliga stop their activities for celebrating holidays, the Premier League does not stop the action! As the EPL returns, the public will not witness first-hand action due to the pandemic. Stadiums will not open their gates to prevent the coronavirus from spreading. Nevertheless, clubs encourage fans to follow their teams at home, or from wherever they are. Regardless of the situation, British football action finally has come! Game on.
About Gianluca Cetraro
Born and raised in Lima, Peru; Gianluca is a Junior communication student at the University of Maryland – College Park Campus. His favourite activities include watching and playing soccer, study languages and history
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Georgia tax receipts rise for seventh consecutive month
Business return from pandemic lows spark gains for 7 straight months
by Dave Williams/Capitol Beat February 5th, 2022 February 5th, 2022
ATLANTA – Georgia's tax collections were in the black in January for the seventh month in a row, the state Department of Revenue reported Friday.
The state brought in about $2.95 billion last month, up $423.5 million, or 16.7%, compared to January of last year.
January's positive trend tracked closely with the first seven months of fiscal 2022, which saw a 17.9% increase in tax receipts over the first seven months of the previous fiscal year.
Georgia's run of strong tax collections has come as the state emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, businesses reopen and customers step up buying those businesses' goods and services.
Healthy finances are allowing Gov. Brian Kemp and the General Assembly to be generous with the state's money.
The fiscal 2023 budget Kemp proposed last month includes a $2,000 raise for Georgia teachers, a one-time salary supplement of $2,000 for school administrators and support staff and a $1,000 supplement for school bus drivers, nurses, nutrition workers and part-time school employees. Law enforcement officers and other state employees are due to get $5,000 raises.
Individual income tax collections last month rose by 21% compared to January of last year, Net sales tax rose by 14.5%.
Usually volatile corporate income tax revenues rose by only 0.2% last month. But within that category, corporate tax refunds soared by 233.1%.
Gasoline tax collections continued to rise, as they have during the last year since Georgia motorists forced to stay home during the pandemic's early days got back onto the highways. Motor fuel taxes were up 7% in January compered to the same month last year.
Kemp trumpets Georgia economy overseas as state economist warns tax collections will slow
Kemp proposes record $32.5 billion state budget
$5 billion: Kemp, Abrams have competing visions for Georgia's surplus
Tagged: Georgia, Governing, Taxes
Dave Williams/Capitol Beat
dwilliams@capitol-beat.org
Dave Williams is bureau chief for Capitol Beat News Service, a service of the Georgia Press Education Foundation. More by Dave Williams/Capitol Beat