text:
My Heart Bleeds Blue Borscht
THEY BLED BLUE: Fernandomania, Strike-Season Mayhem, and the Weirdest Championship Baseball Had Ever Seen THE 1981 LOS ANGELES DODGERS by Jason Turbow. Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020
Why do we read books about baseball seasons of long ago? I love them, probably more than I enjoy reading about seasons not so long ago. Most of the information about this season and last season and the one before was effectively gathered in daily and weekly journalism accounts, and not that much more emerges immediately afterwards, probably because the information that sources wanted to keep to themselves in October still remains tightly hidden there in November.
Years and decades after the facts, though, some of it inevitably bleeds out. Don Sutton wasn't telling anyone about the tricks he used to doctor baseballs while he was still pitching, but by 2020, he's a little bit free-er with his secrets. In THEY BLED BLUE, a new account of the 1981 Dodgers by Jason Turbow, details about Sutton's trickery emerge. Sutton had left the Dodgers to become a free agent just before the 1981 season, with a huge, steaming pile of ill-will between him and the team he'd labored for over the previous fifteen years, particularly between him and Tommy Lasorda, the loquacious manager of the team whose constant barrage of optimistic BS Sutton couldn't abide.
Turbow begins his examination of the 1981 season with some long prefatory chapters, the first of which is devoted to the one play that motivated the team to buy into Lasorda's line of motivational pep-talks: the moment during the 1978 World Series when Reggie Jackson stole a Game Four victory from Lasorda's team by placing a strategic hip in the way of a Bill Russell throw, turning a potential 3-1 Dodgers lead in the Series into a 2-2 tie. For years afterwards, the Dodgers' players felt cheated by Jackson's smart/lucky/clever/underhanded move, and Lasorda stoked the flames of their resentment. It might seem peculiar for a ballclub to dwell on one play for years afterward. After all, there are thousands of breaks over the course of a season, some of which favor one team, others favoring another. It's hard to imagine that a professional ballclub could stick their heads so far up Lasorda's capacious hindquarters that they lose sight of this axiomatic truth, "the breaks all even out," but that was Lasorda's quintessential skill, to make his gigantic ass a warm and welcoming place for his players to gather themselves in.
Turbow traces out Lasorda's twisted path to the Dodgers' leadership that he held for over twenty years, much of that path built out of falsehoods, bombast, distortions of the truth, and an almost clinically insane belligerence towards any person, team, or other entity that stood between the Dodgers and success. Lasorda would literally start fights on a regular schedule when he was a player, a coach, and a manager, and it didn't matter much who fought, as long as he could throw punches at someone and thereby motivate his own team into an oppositional frame of mind. Some of this pugnaciousness might simply be natural to Lasorda, of course, but much of it seems cunningly manipulative of players who might otherwise have taken a less belligerent stance towards their opponents.
That's how Turbow's book begins, with a prologue about what got under the Dodgers' skin in the seasons leading up to 1981, and with a first chapter describing the devious aims behind Lasorda's rah-rah, Us vs. Them motivational persona. In other words, THEY BLED BLUE isn't so much a daily log of a long-past season but Turbow's attempt to put that season into perspective, trace out where it and the players on that team fit into baseball history. Lasorda's hands-on managerial style, for example, simply would not fly with today's players, today's reporters, today's umpires, but it worked in the 1980s, using techniques that went back to the 1950s, when Lasorda's career as a marginal player in the Dodgers' organization began, with some participation by one of his stars, Steve Garvey, who'd worked in the Brooklyn Dodgers' training camp as a young batboy.
It was in that training camp that Branch Rickey's far-seeing education of hundreds of Dodger farmhands took place, and Turbow acknowledges the part that "the Dodger Way" played in these players' mindset. The Yankees, the Cardinals, the Orioles, and several other teams I can think also have their own organizational "way" of playing baseball, and I'm sure that less successful franchises have an absence of a "way" that leads to their lack of success—the specifics of each successful tradition would be a fascinating subject for an in-depth study: does each successful team merely preach a daily sermon on sound fundamental play, and then practice the particulars it preaches, or do teams vary widely in their emphases? Do teams recruit their leaders to enforce an already existing set of principles, or do individuals impose their own meaningful variations on the organizations that they join?
It's dicey to state formulaically what exactly the "Dodger way" entails. Its roots go back at least as far as post-war Brooklyn, where Lasorda's career began, and the Boys of Summer integrating baseball under Branch Rickey's patient leadership, but even going that far back, the principles of Dodgerhood are hazy. Is it a generous spirit, as Turbow says here, citing the extensive training every Dodger got at the eight batting cages in spring training when other teams were willing to spring for only one? Or was it a spirit of parsimony, as typified by Rickey's tightfisted policy against paying his players a fair living wage? Was it founded on unusual camaraderie, as seen in the close bonds formed between Dodgers of all races and religions on those early integrated teams, or more accurately reflected in the squabbling and personal resentments that Turbow details here between longtime Dodger stars Garvey and Sutton, among many others who openly loathed each other? Is Dodger leadership more in the tradition of profane vulgarians like Leo Durocher and Tommy Lasorda or in the straitlaced, soft-spoken style of Burt Shotton and Walter Alston? Is the Dodger way of winning games built on the raw power of Snider-Hodges-Campanella-Furillo and Baker-Smith-Garvey-Cey or on the speed and pitching of Wills-Lopes-Koufax-Drysdale-Sutton-Valenzuela?
Obviously the answer here is "Yes." All of the above, which leaves wide-open what exactly the Dodger way might be. THEY BLED BLUE seeks to characterize one team at the height of their success by citing all the diverse influences that brought twenty-five players and their manager to the World's Championship, which means at least twenty-six different paths must be traced out in some detail.
There are a lot of great reasons to choose this team's story to tell, none of them personal to Jason Turbow. He's not a Dodger fan, for one thing, by his own rooting interests or by his inclination—he grew up a San Francisco Giant fan, which makes curious his choice of subjects for this book or his previous book on the crosstown Oakland A's (which I reviewed here last month), the two natural rivals of his hometown Giants. But a writer goes where his story lies, not necessarily where his own interests take him, and both those A's and these Dodgers have their own stories to tell. The Dodgers' 1981 season was strikingly peculiar, not least because of the long strike that interrupted their pennant race. It also had the breaking up of a persistent core of teammates, most famously MLB's longest-ever four-man infield whose final inning of their eight-year run together was the final inning of the 1981 World Series, and perhaps the single most unusual and dominating rookie in a franchise famous for its Rookies-of-the-Year, Fernando Valenzuela, who singlehandedly can claim responsibility for drawing decades of LA's Mexican-American community into Dodger Stadium.
Turbow tells those many strands of the Dodgers' 1981 season in an unusual and at first fragmented structure and in his own quirky style. The structure of THEY BLED BLUE delays the accounts of the actual baseball games for almost half the book: after opening with close portraits of the 1978 team's mentality forming via Reggie Jackson's hip-thrust and Tommy Lasorda's personality forming through various fist-fights, Turbow devotes a chapter to the Dodger franchise's most singular trait, one that Branch Rickey referred to as "Coconut Snatching," from a tall tale the Mahatma would spin about noticing how a pair of tropical coconut pickers would switch their jobs: when one native got tired climbing trees to shake the coconuts down to his partner, who would catch them, he would descend and become the catcher and his partner would becomes the tree-climber. The Dodgers would switch young players freely to positions they had never attempted before, and this trait was especially pronounced with the 1981 squad: Garvey came up to the majors as a third-baseman but became a first-baseman, both the second baseman, Davey Lopes, and the shortstop, Bill Russell, played the outfield in the high minors, and so on. In the course of explaining how extensive the team's Coconut Snatching was, Turbow introduces all of these players' backgrounds, their signings, and their personalities.
The Davey Lopes passage has a relevance for long-time readers of Bill James, who once used Lopes' background growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, to explain how lazy journalists had stereotyped Lopes into a ghetto kid, when actually (I vaguely remember that Bill's assistant Paul Izzo provided this information) Lopes had grown up in a stable, comfortable middle-class household, had never wanted for anything growing up, and all that ghetto stuff was just the reporters' assumptions based on Lopes' swarthy coloring. But Turbow interviewed many Dodgers, and researched the interviews others had done with them, including Lopes, whom he quotes early in chapter 2 on his upbringing: "the usual ghetto thing, the typical environment -- roaches, rats, poor living conditions, drugs as prevalent as candy, tenement houses with six to a room, welfare, food stamps," adding that Lopes' "mother was a housekeeper, his father absent…..Crime was prevalent in Lopes's neighborhood, and Davey was no exception when it came to perpetrators."
After summarizing the early careers of infielders Lopes, Russell, Garvey, Ron Cey, and then the complicated etiology of the Dodgers' catching staff of Steve Yeager, who split the job with Joe Ferguson and then Mike Scioscia, Turbow runs down Lasorda's prime problem entering the 1981 campaign: star pitchers Don Sutton and Tommy John had left the team, mostly acrimoniously, especially Sutton whose tenure dated back to the Koufax-Drysdale days and who resented Lasorda's use of his talents, so the manager was now struggling to find adequate starting pitching.
At this point, having introduced the team's veteran stars, its manager, its "Way," and its current pitching staff, you might suppose the book's introductory matter was concluded, and the description of their season was about to begin, but no. Not hardly. The most fascinating chapter, "Mania," describes the instant promotion of Fernando Valenzuela from a chubby 19-year-old nobody who spoke not a syllable of English to Lasorda's Opening Day starter and, suddenly, the fulfillment of his wildest fantasies.
Valenzuela's first eight starts beat Roy Hobbs and Joe Hardy put together: eight games of nine innings apiece, all victories, five shutouts, an E.R.A. of 0.50—plus a batting average of .360 in those eight games. In the course of describing these games, "Mania" also delivers an account of Valenzuela's origins in Etchohuaquila, Mexico, his signing, his minor league experience, and a thorough examination of his quirky personality, including his unusual confidence and his even more unusual screwball. But the most unusual aspect of the Valenzuela chapter is not what it contains, but what it leads up to: the solidification of the Dodgers' fan base.
Ever since they arrived in California, the Dodgers had been wildly, phenomenally popular with the citizens of Los Angeles, setting attendance records that other teams could only aspire to, but they had never drawn fans from Los Angeles' huge Mexican-American population. In fact, the team was distinctly unpopular with them, and for a very sound reason: Dodger Stadium was built on the site of a poor but vibrant Mexican neighborhood that was effectively wiped out to make way for a housing project that never got built and then for the Stadium itself. The details are told at length here, and at further length in Shameful Victory: The Los Angeles Dodgers, the Red Scare, and the Hidden History of Chavez Ravine by John H. M. Laslett, a book Turbow relied on heavily for his background on the Chavez Ravine neighborhood. (Even further length, I understand, is provided by the brand-new book on the subject, Stealing Home by Eric Nusbaum, which I haven't read yet but which Rob Neyer and Turbow had each been reading--and admiring-- when they did a podcast last month.)
THEY BLED BLUE raises all sorts of ideas that are outside of the purview of most baseball books, such as the whole concept of unknown players like Fernando Valenzuela stirring up crazes almost instantly. A city like Detroit every so often finds itself in the grips of Bird-mania, and I remember well how the blasé city of Denver was affected by Tebow-mania, and how Madison Square Garden shook in the throes of Lin-mania a few years ago. These stories of sudden, unexpected (and sometimes short-lived) success all involve a rookie, usually unknown or under-valued, blowing the doors off players far more celebrated and experienced. I remember wondering "Why didn't the Mets bring up Jose Reyes sooner?", when Reyes broke in at the age of 19 and played like an All-Star from the start. The Dodgers' GM, Al Campanis, reported a similar reaction to Valenzuela's instant stardom: angry fans gave him sheer "hell for not bringing this kid up earlier." It's a little reductive: when an unknown teenager succeeds, the team that gave him a break obviously brought him up at the precise moment he was ready, all appearances to the contrary, but it's a legitimate question to ask if he might not have had the same success if he'd been brought up a day earlier, especially if his presence in the lineup, like Valenzuela's, was mostly accidental. Logic then demands to know whether he could have succeeded if he'd been brought up a week sooner, or a month, or a full season? We'll never know, but it's tempting to understand the real question is not IF the teenager could have succeeded earlier but simply HOW MUCH earlier could he have played with the big boys.
This sociological diversion, explaining how Valenzuela overcame that deep-seated prejudice and turned LA's Mexican-American community into permanent Fernandomaniacs, takes us almost halfway through the book, and apart from the descriptions of his first eight starts, there is scarcely any mention of the season the book is ostensibly describing. And just when you expect it to take up that central subject—the 1981 baseball season suddenly shuts down, and for 35 pages THEY BLED BLUE turns into a dense, detail-packed account of the underlying labor and management issues, the key arguments of both sides, and the major personalities involved in the strike, few of whom have anything whatsoever to do with the story of the 1981 Dodgers. Like the other 25 teams, the Dodgers played minor parts in the strike saga (Steve Garvey's contract, for example, called for him to continue getting his paycheck in the event of a strike, which caused some strife among his paycheck-deprived teammates, and Peter O'Malley was involved in negotiations, alongside other owners) but the story of the strike bears direct relevance to the story of the Dodgers mainly through the fiery personality of Davey Lopes, who spoke out loudly in opposition to the owners and sometimes to his own union.
Again, this diversion from the pennant race is entertaining and intriguing. The resolution of the race, once the strike was settled, is telling of the disorganization and the improvisational nature of MLB's leadership: a series of nutty and counter-productive schemes for resuming a pennant race in progress were proposed, with the one that was finally being no less nutty and counter-productive than any other. In essence, there were incentives for teams to improve their post-season chances by deliberately losing games, and the entire process seems as carefully thought out as your average cat-and-dog squabble. (The wrong turns of this loopy decision-making procedure might be looked at carefully as MLB attempts this year to resume—or to start—the 2020 season in a way that respects teams getting a fair shot at the post-season. We certainly can't do worse than the process used in the chaotic split-season of 1981 that makes as clear a logical case as a bowl of split-pea soup.) Turbow illustrates the mis-steps MLB made, and the ones they considered making, and the puddles they stepped into and those they stepped over. It doesn't really have all that much to do with the 1981 Dodgers, directly, except that resolving the split-season did get them into the post-season.
Following that diversionary section, THEY BLED BLUE describes thoroughly in its second half the actual game-by-game story of the resumed pennant race, and of the post-season. This story is well-told in fine detail, though the style of this part of the story is a bit anti-climactic after all the novel diversions and side-stories of the first half of the book. (I haven't mentioned them all by any means—I omitted the weird tale of Tommy Lasorda's gay son, and one of his gay players, and his hands-off, hands-on relationship with each of them, among numerous other omissions.) The structure is charmingly strange, but I promised a few pages back to discuss the strangeness of Turbow's writing style as well: he has a few quirks I made notes of, one of which concerns what I think is his use of his own notes, and the effect that has on the book's style.
Every writer I've ever known has a pile of notes (from interviews, from research, from false starts of his own work) that simply do not fit smoothly into the narrative of the manuscript he's just written. "I could almost make a book out of all the stuff I DIDN'T use," is a writer's complaint so common that they won't actually utter it to another writer, at least not while sober, but sometimes they try to shoehorn some of it back into the manuscript, either for purposes of padding or just from an ecological sense of guilt about wasting their efforts if they were to relegate this stuff to the circular file. What Turbow did with some material he gathered but couldn't find a place for in his book was to put into footnotes.
He averages well over a footnote per page. Often there are two footnotes on a typical page, sometimes three, rarely none. (Actual count: 337 total footnotes in 331 pages.*) Worse, numerous of these footnotes carry over to the next page, so that you grow accustomed to interrupting the paragraph you had been engrossed in to read some asterisked or daggered note that was often only marginally relevant to the point Turbow was making, then following up the interrupted footnote onto the next page, and then having to find your place all over again at the point where the asterisk or dagger (sometimes double-dagger) first appeared. It's like reading two books at once, and often losing your place in each of them. Much of the time, the footnoted information is of dubious use to Turbow's narrative.
*Of course I didn't count the goddamned things. Are you crazy? But this sort of quibbling addendum to the statement in my text just shows you what it feels like having the text interrupted about once per page to learn nothing very useful.
When I reviewed Rob Neyer's POWER BALL last year, I remember praising his quirky profusion of footnotes, so what's the difference here? I don't know, except that maybe the content of Neyer's hilariously fragmented narrative that built diversion upon diversion was as entertaining in its footnotes as the main text was? Or maybe it's just more amusing the first time around?
Here's an example, from page 289 of the paperback:
It wasn't that he [Garvey] refused to curse, but that he made known his disapproval of the practice.*
The footnote reads in full:
* Once leading Steve Yeager, out at a restaurant while the two were playing in the Dominican Winter League, to charge at him headlong.
This is material, no doubt gathered painstakingly, that belongs in the writer's trash-bin. The text itself makes the point that Garvey's disapproval of cursing pisses people off—we hardly need an example of pissed-off behavior in action to understand the concept, but the details—the nature of Yeager's charge (headlong), the time of the incident (winter), the location (a restaurant in the Dominican Republic) etc.—seem more than superfluous, as does the odd construction of the footnoted sentence itself: did Garvey's sanctimony really "lead" Yeager to attack him? Maybe "motivated"? "encouraged"?
Other footnotes follow similar patterns, so I ended up making a conscious decision whenever I encountered an asterisk partway through the text: "Do I want to bother following this one down to the bottom of the page and then finding my way back up to where I broke off reading? Or skip it?" Within the text itself, Turbow's construction of sentences is also at times a little too convoluted for my taste (and, as a rule, I like long, complicated sentences). He interrupts his own train of thought and then, after a long clause on a completely different subject (such as the clause that you are now reading, for example), returns to it.
This isn't a terrible stylistic sin, but there were points I thought could have been presented more simply, for instance:
Then Gullickson made one of his only mistakes on the day, feeding Steve Garvey --who on the bench only moments earlier had told Jay Johnstone, "If he throws me a slider on the first pitch, I'm going to drive it"--a slider.
(Let us leave aside one of my least favored constructions, from a copy-editing perspective, the phrase "one of the only." If it's Gullickson's only mistake, then say just that, but if it's one of his few mistakes, say that. "One of the only" really makes no sense at all, and I've often drawn a red line through it when I've seen it in a manuscript.) The syntax is the more confusing issue here: the entire phrase enclosed within dashes leaves suspended the incomplete thought of what exactly Bill Gullickson fed Steve Garvey. A spoonful of Gerber's baby-food? A knuckle sandwich? A smoother construction might have been to write:
Then Gullickson made one of his few mistakes on the day, feeding a slider to Steve Garvey, who on the bench only moments earlier had told Jay Johnstone, "If he throws me a slider on the first pitch , I'm going to drive it."
Or, if the writer wants to obey time-sequence and causality more closely:
Soon after telling Jay Johnstone on the bench, "If he throws me a slider on the first pitch, I'm going to drive it," Steve Garvey drove one of Gullickson's few mistakes on the day, a slider, into centerfield.
The complication of such sentences strikes me as typical of Turbow's syntactic sense and his larger, organizational one—he seems constantly to want to pack just a leeeetle bit extra into his sentences, his pages, his chapters than they absolutely need. One last example, from page 299 of the paperback, of needless sentence-stuffing:
In the dugout, a visibly uneasy Lemon began to relax when Davis put the next batter, Russell, into a 1-2 hole, but he tensed right back up when the shortstop slapped a single to left, scoring the jacket-clad Hooton.
Why is Bob Lemon, whom Turbow hadn't written about in any of the preceding four sentences, the subject of this sentence at all, and why is it focused on his state of internal tension and relaxation, which Turbow could only be speculating about here? Or are we meant to believe that Turbow has closely scrutinized game film of the Yankee manager's face as Russell stepped into the batter's box, observing its wrinkles and furrows and correctly assessing them as unusually "uneasy" but then observed them beginning to unwrinkle and unfurrow as the first three pitches put Russell at a disadvantage, and finally, to seize up again in a riot of tension when Russell hit the fourth pitch? I never thought of Bob Lemon's face (nor Sir Laurence Olivier's, for that matter) as being so emotionally expressive. It's a far simpler sentence, if a slightly less dramatic one, if Lemon is removed from this largely fictional scenario in the first place: "With a 1-2 count, Davis got ahead of Russell, who then slapped a single to left, scoring the jacket-clad Hooton." We can safely assume that Bob Lemon responded emotionally at all points more or less exactly as a few million other Yankee rooters had.
Turbow messes up here and there with some imprecise wording, sometimes amusingly, as when he comments on Dusty Baker's use of "sentence fragments" in describing a fistfight he got into with some Expos' fans (on p. 225):
Baker limited his account of the fight to sentence fragments. How long did it last? he was asked. "It didn't last very long." Who won? "We did."
Baker's two responses quoted here are, of course, grammatically complete sentences, not fragments at all. (The fragmented versions would have been "Not long" and "Us"—for some reason, the more correct fragment, "We," doesn't sound right, though it is.) But since I've now been reduced to finding small faults in a mostly admirable, well-written, thoroughly researched work of considerable artistry, I will leave the remainder of the task at hand here, namely finding similar faults in the structure and style of this review, to you, my faithful readers. Thanks, as always, for your time and attention.
Marc Schneider
Brock Hanke,
The Dodgers, like all the big city teams, seem to be involved in a lot of conspiracy theories like that. I remember in Curt Flood's book, "The Way It Is", he essentially blamed Walter O'Malley for Flood missing the fly ball that turned around Game 7 of the World Series because the schedule, designed to help O'Malley's team, was so onerous that Flood was tired and that caused him to miss the ball. Dubious at best, but Flood did tend toward the paranoid a bit. But part of this theory is mentioned in a book called "The Year of the Pitcher," ie, that other teams in the NL had to play a ton of games with no days off to help O'Malley's Dodgers.
You can't really discount totally the potential influence by powerful owners, but, as in most conspiracy theories, I tend to blame incompetence and stupidity more than some nefarious plot.
8:56 AM May 6th
Brock Hanke
It took me a week to realize this, but the subject matter - the 1981 Dodgers - has a VERY weird interpretation among the conspiracy theorists in St. Louis. So, here's what WE get told in STL if we're too young to remember (I am old enough to remember, but this is a conspiracy theory; I can't "prove" any of it).
Everyone knows the basics - there was a mid-season stoppage in 1981, leading to a "three winner" problem that Bowie Kuhn had to rule on. There was the "winner" of the first half, the "winner" of the second half, and the overall winner for the season. Kuhn ruled the the first-half winners and the second-half winners would make the playoffs, no matter whether their full-season standings would get them in.
This got heat, because it seemed that the first-half winners, who, when they sopped play, did not know that they had been playing that half for a postseason slot, should have a claim over the second-half winner, and the full season winner should have the strongest claim of all.
Kuhn probably figured the this exact run of "winners" would never happen; that the full-season winner would have had to have won one of the halves. Kuhn got burned bad. BOTH St. Louis AND Cincinnati got screwed. Both teams had the best full-season records for their divisions, but neither had won either half, so they weren't in the postseason.
The STL and CIN owners weren't pleased. And it only took five owner votes to remove a commissioner. Well, there had always been one vote against Kuhn for anything - some guy who just hated Kuhn. CIN and STL convinced another owner to join them (don't know who). So, they only needed one more vote to get rid of Bowie as revenge. Then, Gussie Busch had an idea. George The Boss of NYY had been taking a lot of heat for losing Willie McGee in exchange for a 4th starter, Bob Sykes (IIRC). So, Gussie offered to send George a player, who would be retroactively called the "player to be announced" in the McGee trade. The player was Bobby Meachum, a 1st round draft pick shortstop buried in St. Louis. Meachum wasn't half bad, for a "to be named later" player. And it got some of the heat off of George. So, George became the crucial 5th vote.
But wait, I'm not done! A big part of the conspiracy theory goes like this: Bowie Kuhn was Peter O'Malley's "boy." His primary loyalty was to the Dodgers. And the Dodgers had won the first half. So, Bowie instituted a system where, no matter how badly they played in the second half, the Dodgers would make the postseason. And would not change it, because any serious change would involved removing the first-half teams, who hadn't known what they were playing for in the first half. And that's how Bowie Kuhn got fired.
As I said, this came to me as an urban legend. I can't prove any of the various accusations. But it does seem to be an essay that belongs on this thread. So, here I am.
5:25 AM May 3rd
Fyi,. I started reading Turbow's book on the 1970s Oakland A's, "Dynamic, Bombastic, Fantastic" and it is quite good.
10:34 AM Apr 29th
Thanks, Maris. (As if I--or anyone--has the slightest clue what you mean by "it" or "the other." But now we don't need to devote any more effort into deciphering your meaning.)
Steven, MarisFan,
I apologize for the mistake. Sometimes I don't read closely enough.
12:59 PM Apr 26th
MarisFan61
Yes -- thanks for clarifying.
And, I have to say, I had thought from the previous discussion that most likely it was the other. I do think it's worth 'defending' anyone on a thing that might just be sloppy language, but the reason I persisted as I did was that I thought it was in fact most likely the other.
Yeah, that's the edition I've got. For people who want some context, the larger passage reads like this:
By the end of training camp, Smith's surgically repaired shoulder was still in no shape to throw a baseball, despite twice-daily stretching exercises to tear built-up adhesions, a regimen aimed at muscle growth. When the temperature dropped, the shoulder seized, forcing Smith to dial back his program. By the end of March, Smith, once in possession of among the strongest outfield arms in the sport, was hoping merely to regain 80 percent of what he'd once had. He even envisioned a scenario in which Davey Lopes would race toward right field from second base to handle his truncated tosses.If anything, Smith's infirmity exacerbated his long-standing surliness....
Thanks for clarifying, Marc. Appreciate your effort.
I have a kindle edition. It's on page 47. I don't know if the page numbering is the same. But, after rereading it, it's clear the author thought that Smith was generally a surly person. "If anything, Smith's infirmity exacerbated his long-standing surliness . . ."
So I guess I should have read it more closely the first time. And, as I read farther in the book, it becomes clear that Smith was not just surly, but maybe a bit nuts.
Anyway, I think it's a really good book that I highly recommend and I probably would not have read it but for Steven's review. So, thanks Steven.
Which page is the "surly" comment on, Marc? I'll re-read it and see what I think. Also did you get the paperback or the hardcover?
I've probably been imprecise and I apologise. The point I was trying to get at was that I don't know if Turbow was saying Reggie Smith was generally an unpleasant guy or was just frustrated by his injury and reacting in a nasty manner. As I recall, he also used the word intense. I do see surly and difficult as being different, as MarisFan said, I think surly is a subset of difficult. You can be difficult in a lot of ways without being surly. I acknowledge that surly can be a temporary condition. You can be surly in answering the teacher's question without being surly in general. But what I couldn't figure out was if he was trying to say Smith was unpleasant in general.
Sorry, it's me. :-)
He probably made a mistake by focusing on that part of it for you. He was doing you the favor of addressing that part of it, since you were so focused on it -- and in the process of that, he enabled you to keep thinking it was the main thing. "Surly" is sort of a subset of "difficult," difficult being the more general term; he switched momentarily to 'difficult' in that one context because in that sentence, he was talking about the issue more broadly.
The main thing was....ahh forget it. :-)
Let someone else.
OK, can someone other than Maris (Please--I don't want to hear from him on this subject again) explain what Marc's talking about?
The quotation from Marc just below Maris's last comment seems to me VERY SPECIFICALLY to address the difference he finds (and I don't find) between "nasty" and "difficult."
But please--no more Maris.
Steven, you're having some kind of odd block on this.
The main issue isn't whatever different between "surly" and "difficult." That's relatively incidental. Somehow you've gotten fixated on that and you're missing by far the main thing, which both Marc and I have noted and so I won't repeat.
"To me (and maybe only to me), surly implies a much more nasty character flaw than does difficult. Someone can be "difficult" in a wide variety of ways, while being surly, to me at least, implies a more aggressive and potentially violent person."
I think this is where we disagree. To you (and to Maris?) "surly" is much nastier and long-lasting than "difficult." To me (and to Turbow?), not so much. I 've had students who gave me surly answers, for example, or who behaved in a manner I considered surly for an entire semester, but who matured and eventually became fine, respectful, diligent students either later that semester or in a later term. I just don't see it as being radically different as you (and Maris) seem to. I considered these students surly and difficult, but never gave a second's thought to their being aggressive or violent with me, just immature and working out their personality issues.
(I didn't think there was any issue about how you used "difficult" and "surly." It only appeared to be an issue when taken out of context.)
5:14 PM Apr 23rd
MarisFan is correctly interpreting what I was trying to say which is that, to me, surly implies a normal characteristic of that person. I don't know if the author meant to say that. You could say that Smith was reacting in a surly manner while recovering from his injury and that would, I suppose be ok. But it was unclear to me whether he was saying Smith was generally surly or just reacting due to frustration with the injury.
I agree with Maris that it is important to distinguish between the two. I also think that surly implies a general personality characteristic that is different from reacting out of frustration. But, as I said, I would be ok with saying Smith reacted in a surly manner to his injury. It's not clear to me whether Turow was saying Smith was a surly person or just being "difficult" because of the injury. I have no idea what people thought about Reggie Smith.
I think the mistake I made in writing this was conflating "difficult" with "surly." Obviously, you can be a difficult person generally or you can be difficult situationally. To me (and maybe only to me), surly implies a much more nasty character flaw than does difficult. Someone can be "difficult" in a wide variety of ways, while being surly, to me at least, implies a more aggressive and potentially violent person.
Steven: For sure what you're saying is so. That can be.
But you seem to be applying an odd standard, the reverse of what would seem to be the right one, which Marc was implying and which I wouldn't have thought was controversial.
I would have thought it's clear that it's ill-advised to leave any room for it to be read as suggesting the person is characteristically that way unless there's strong reason to think it is so -- and in this case, per what Marc said, it appears there was no particular reason to think it.
If you think there was, you can tell us.
If there wasn't, it was either sloppy vocabulary or huge psychological unsophistication by the writer.
Being surly is one way of being difficult. There are others, like being aggressive or uncommunicative or withdrawn, for example.
11:32 AM Apr 23rd
I think some people are surly (or difficult) people in general, and this only gets exacerbated by hardship, such as recovering from an injury. Sweet-tempered, good natured people will be somewhat cheerful, even when on crutches or in traction. I don't see a disconnect between assessing Smith as a surly, difficult person in general (if that's what Turbow thought) whose personality emerged more strongly under duress. I don't get why Marc is resisting that conclusion. Does he have inside knowledge that Smith was an upbeat, fun sort of guy to be hanging around with, normally?
5:06 AM Apr 23rd
Steven: You're misconstruing what he said.
(I know it's risky to talk about what someone else said or meant, but take this to the bank. I promise you.)
He didn't mean that all you need to do is substitute "difficult" for "surly," which is how you're taking it.
What he said was: "difficult while recovering from an injury."
(italics added)
It would perhaps be a few percent less bad to have called him "difficult" than "surly," because it's a little less severe word, but it would be exactly the same error.
6:47 PM Apr 22nd
My problem is, Marc, that I don't understand your complaint. Couldn't Smith say, if he'd been called "difficult," that he wasn't a difficult person, just one going through a difficult period in his life while he was recovering from injury? How is that different from being called "surly" while recovering from injury? "Surly" seems a tad more specific to me, a particular type of "difficult." I think it's fine.
MarisFan,
That's pretty much what I was thinking. From the context in the book, I couldn't tell whether he meant that Smith was a surly person in general or whether his behavior was because of the injury. As you say, it is, in my mind, a big difference. I guess you could say that Smith exhibited surly behavior when he was recovering from an injury, but the way it was written, it was confusing.
Not a major point but I do think an author should be precise with what he or she is describing.
......It's an example of the difference between "state" and "trait."
Here's maybe a more neutral and clearer example.
Let's say it was a leg injury he was recovering from -- no idea what it was, let's say leg.
He wouldn't be able to run.
Would it be fair to say "he's slow"?
No it wouldn't. It would be, this is how he is because he's recovering from an injury.
BTW, I know that this example could be criticized, but I like it. :-)
I'm with Marc. I think it's an excellent point.
Big and significant difference, especially if you're the one being characterized.
Maybe it's just me, but I always thought of surly as referring to an aggressively nasty personalty, while difficult or intense refers to behavior related to a particular even, ie, recovery from an injury. I don't know if that makes any sense, but that's how I saw it.
Or is this another case of using the right word's second cousin?
12:22 PM Apr 22nd
is there really a huge difference between "surly" and "difficult"? Seems to me either would apply to someone recovering from an injury who was in a constant foul mood and who responded to inquiries about his current health (for example) with "Leave me the fuck alone." Calling such a person either "surly" or "difficult" would be about equally accurate.
9:38 AM Apr 22nd
I've started reading the book and am enjoying it. But at one point, the author talks about Reggie Smith's "surliness" as he recovers from an injury and talks about his intensity. To me, this is an incorrect use of "surliness", which the dictionary (at least the online dictionary) defines as "bad-tempered and unfriendly." Maybe Smith was surly but it doesn't seem to fit the behavior that the author describes, which I interpreted to mean that he was difficult while recovering from an injury but not necessary unfriendly in general. I don't know if anyone else noticed it and I don't know if Smith has a reputation for being surly.
Who do you expect would Go Fund You? Maybe you should go fund yourself.
Should I start a GoFundMe page?
8:29 PM Apr 21st
I don't think it was that he needed the adverb.
However, he did need a hyphen. :-)
Gfletch is notoriously typo-prone.
djmedinah
In reference to "I'm not high educated" in one of the comments below, what is with adverb hatred these days? It's as if nobody can afford "ly" any more.
I don't think of "a" as an article in that construction, but rather as a part of the compound adjective "pastadiving," which always makes me think of Jeter heading face-first into a bowl of fettuccine alfredo. For some reason, I enjoy that image.
6:23 AM Apr 21st
To me and I think many Yankee fans of this recent era, notwithstanding our liking for the personage (so to speak), the usage that immediately comes to mind is "....past a diving Jeter...."
Oh, okay. So '...the article "a" implies that there are several Ribbentrops, of whom the author is choosing to discuss this particular Ribbentrop,' so I guess the proper way would be to replace 'a' with 'the?'
Eh, I'm more comfortable with the commonly used style. This is correct grammar gone mad, I tells ya.
Well, you asked for it, so I'll indulge in a bit of fault-finding, though I usually consider this sort of thing a very minor sin. Still, this partial sentence grated on me: "he seems constantly to want to pack just a leeeetle bit extra into his sentences, his pages, his chapters than they absolutely need." "extra" is not a comparative, not to me anyway.
I get the impression from this excellent review that despite its minor faults I have to read the book, which is annoying, because not long ago I finished Jeff Katz's Split Season 1981. I'm usually put off by books which read like a series of game results, but Katz succeeds in finding a point of interest beyond the raw action in each of his accounts. And he is very good on the labor relations aspect.
Katz does a much better job of presenting individual games than J. Daniel, author of Phinally!, which I'm currently reading, and which obviously is about the 1980 season. It may improve in my estimation by the time I've finished it, but right now, as fondly as I remember that season, I wouldn't recommend it. Admittedly, I may be overreacting to his frequent violation of Mark Twain's admonition to "Use the right word, not its second cousin."
I think (correct me if I'm mistaken) Wovenstrap is saying that the article "a" implies that there are several Ribbentrops, of whom the author is choosing to discuss this particular Ribbentrop. "At that point, one of the goddamned Ribbentrops (no one could tell which one) piped up about Goebbels...", like that.
Those things tagged by wovenstrap...
"a visibly uneasy Lemon." "...a frenzied Ribbentrop shouted down Goebbels...."and I believe to explain his dislike..."There's only one Ribbentrop.?"
Other than perhaps being a literary caricature or cliche, I dunno (I'm not high educated), I don't see the problem. I mean Ribbentrop could also be surprised, pleased, disappointed, aroused, sweaty...Ribbentrop could be all kinds of things, one at a time or several at once. Perhaps I am just revealing my lack of sophistication?
Turbow actually goes into, at some length, the mix of nationalities in Lopes' background, including the Cape Verdean stuff. It's a very thorough bit of reporting--I'm sorry if my review came across as largely negative. I enjoyed it, and tried to explain a few stylistic and structural flaws in an otherwise fine book.
rstattler1
I lived in Providence for twenty years. Didn't know Lopes but he was of Cape Verdean descent. The citizens of that small island nation came to Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts in huge numbers from about 1900 to 1975. They were mostly of African and Portuguese descent, and spoke Portuguese. They certainly did not as a group have much money, but probably had more in common with the city's many white mainland Portuguese and Azorean immigrants than with African-Americans. Whatever stereotypes one might hold about African-Americans will be even less useful in understanding Cape Verdeans, although they faced some of the same prejudice. "Ghetto" would probably be a misleading term for the neighborhood he grew up in, even if raised by a single mother who was a domestic worker.
The LaSalle Academy is indeed a large and well-regarded prep school, mainly for the area's large Catholic population. Most of the city's Italian-American politicial class went through there. It probably would have been unusual for a Cape Verdean kid to have attended there in the 1960s, even if they had some money; I would assume he was a scholarship kid.
wovenstrap
Agree that the Lopes detail there is very useful for longtime readers of Bill's stuff.
Also a copyeditor........ I also dislike that trope of "a visibly uneasy Lemon." This usage of it works OK but IMO a majority of the time writers can't really do it and it's just dumb. "...a frenzied Ribbentrop shouted down Goebbels...." Ugh. Just stop doing that, writers. There's only one Ribbentrop.
Actual footnotes.
This sounds like a great book despite the flaws that Stephen discusses. I enjoy digressions like the ones he does more than I do game-by-game analysis. In any event, even if it's not, I bought it for 74 cents on my Kindle. Don't ask me how these things are priced.
This was a great review, Steven. Thanks. One question. Were these actual footnotes or endnotes as most books have these days?
Sorry if I made it sound like Turbow was slagging on people he didn't like--probably, it more like he was slagging on people I don't like. He was actually pretty circumspect in describing Tommy LaSorda's unpleasant attitude, certainly more polite than I was being in describing his description. As to Lopes, I think it's still wide open as to the "ghetto/middle-class" question. Probably his situation changed over the years, with both extremes being slightly exaggerated. Maybe he overstated it when he gave that "ghetto" quote early in his career (I think 1974) or maybe he did get a scholarship to a cushy prep school in his late teens.
Gfletch--you nailed it. In an interview with Eric Nusbaum, https://anchor.fm/pandemicbaseball/episodes/They-Bled-Blue-Jason-Turbow-in-conversation-with-Eric-Nusbaum-ecgb4v this week, Turbow explains the footnotes as a work-around for turning in a manuscript that was "too long" for his publisher. If he jammed stuff into footnotes, it wouldn't show up in his official "word count" which seems to me a pretty cheesy way of avoiding an editorial conference that you don't want to have. Your solution there works for me, but so does cutting the whole Yeager thing entirely.
About the footnote interrupted account of Garvey vs Yeager, why a footnote at all?
Why not just:
"It wasn't that Garvey refused to curse, but that he made known his disapproval of the practice, once leading Steve Yeager, out at a restaurant while the two were playing in the Dominican Winter League, to charge at him headlong."
If done that way, there would be no risk of annoying the reader while serving to emphasize how damned irritating Garvey's holier than thou attitude was.
I don't know about his young years, but Lopes attended LaSalle College Preparatory. It looks like a rich school but he could have attended on a scholarship. For College he attended Iowa Wesleyan University, which is a liberal arts college. I had a boss who said he was a teammate of Lopes there.
Thanks for the review. It sounds like Turbow write books to rap on people he doesn't like, which make me not interested in either book. There were other things you mentioned that I wouldn't really like about the book also.
I remember Fernandonania and it enjoyed it. I could tell he was tired at the end of the year. One of the highlights of the 1981 World Series was his gutsy 5-4 complete game victory. How he pitched 9 innings I will never know.


text:
As doors close in US, China's Huawei shifts to Europe
SHENZHEN Apr 21, 2018 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Associated Press Apr 21, 2018 12:00 am
As trade disputes simmer, Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, the No. 3 smartphone brand, is shifting its growth efforts toward Europe and Asia in the face of mounting obstacles in the U.S. market. Shenzhen-based Huawei, the world's largest maker of telecoms equipment, has long coveted access to the U.S. but recently laid off key American employees at its Washington D.C. office. The U.S. has regularly stymied Huawei's efforts to enter the America, citing national security concerns. Huawei has failed to find a U.S. carrier to partner with for its smartphones, and the Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday approved a draft order that could damage Huawei's existing business in network gear. The order cited Huawei and its Chinese rival ZTE by name. That came after Huawei canceled a planned January announcement that a major U.S. carrier would sell its smartphones for the first time. The company gave no details but news reports said that partner was AT&T Inc. and scrapped the deal under government pressure.
Huawei's struggles in the United States are in contrast to its booming business in developing countries and growing presence in Europe, where it has been working on next-generation, or "5G," wireless standards. The company's profits rose 28.1 percent in 2017, boosted by strong enterprise and consumer sales and booming business overseas. The recent setbacks have left Huawei's future in the U.S. uncertain. Huawei recently let go of several American employees in their Washington D.C. office, including William Plummer, who spearheaded efforts to convince the U.S. to allow Huawei in for nearly a decade. American companies have long chafed under Chinese regulations that require them to operate through local partners and share technology with potential competitors in exchange for market access.
Huawei and ZTE's burgeoning 5G research is seen as a particular threat, as its expanded transmitting capabilities are seen as crucial for a host of emerging technologies based on artificial intelligence - including self-driving vehicles, robots and other machines that transmit vast amounts of data in real time. ZTE faces devastating threats to its business after the U.S. Commerce Department blocked the company from importing American components for seven years, accusing the smartphone maker of misleading U.S. regulators after it settled charges of violating sanctions against North Korea and Iran. But unlike ZTE, efforts to impede Huawei in the U.S. likely won't stop its rapid expansion elsewhere. Last month, Huawei's president of consumer handsets Kevin Ho said the company is pivoting to Europe and developing Asian markets. He called them priorities "No. 1" and "No. 2." Huawei chose to unveil its latest flagship phone last month at the Grand Palais in Paris, while in Finland, the company employs more than 300 engineers developing cameras, audio algorithms, and 5G technology. Many used to work at Finnish rival Nokia.
Christmas, COVID and vaccines: Top pictures of the week

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Whats the best combination of antivirus/phishing/adware freeware?
Lots of free stuff out there, what's the best combination of anti-virus, anti-phishing, anti-malware?
You are right, there are a lot of free anti-virus sotwares out there..
You can pick and try them out, that is the best way for you.
This is all in one, and it does me fine. It has its own un-installer, so if needed you can just un-install it and then re-apply it later. Plus you can have it on three computers, if you choose the all in one option on their website. But it is down to you to find out what you need.
You could almost be mistaken for taking up the flag of our recently quiesced Oregonian, by ignoring the question and advising on a single, paid-for product, that many of TR would not use even as a substitute for toilet paper.
Mind you, at least you advised something - he advocated a zero-antivirus policy.
Antivirus: Avast, which downloads as a full trial for a month, with the option to reset to the slightly more limited free edition at the end of that period.
Anti-malware: Ad-Aware from Lavasoft, Spybot Search&Destroy (beware of imitations), CCleaner, Spyhunter3 Security Suite.
Wait for some more posts to appear and run up your own tally of what TR members favour - that way you will be able to chart the 'Best Of' series for yourself.
However, that in itself is of no value if you do not favour the frontends of these various programs yourself. Ultimately, the best program for ANY function, is one that is both effective in it's function and comfortable for you to use.
If you had asked me a few months ago, I would have recommended AVG. But since they introduced 8.0, I've switched to Avast and wish I had a long time ago!
I also agree with OldMycroft and his Anti-Spyware/Malware/Adware choices.
And last but certainly not least, I use ZoneAlarm Pro as my firewall.


text:
package com.orientechnologies.orient.core.metadata.security;

import java.util.List;

import com.orientechnologies.orient.core.metadata.security.ORole.ALLOW_MODES;
import com.orientechnologies.orient.core.record.impl.ODocument;

/**
 * Dummy security implementation.
 *
 * @author Luca Garulli
 *
 */
public class OSecurityNull implements OSecurity {
  public OUser create() {
    return null;
  }

  public void load() {
  }

  public OUser getUser(String iUserName) {
    return null;
  }

  public OUser createUser(String iUserName, String iUserPassword, String[] iRoles) {
    return null;
  }

  public ORole getRole(String iRoleName) {
    return null;
  }

  public ORole createRole(String iRoleName, ALLOW_MODES iAllowMode) {
    return null;
  }

  public ORole createRole(String iRoleName, ORole iParent, ALLOW_MODES iAllowMode) {
    return null;
  }

  public List<ODocument> getAllUsers() {
    return null;
  }

  public List<ODocument> getAllRoles() {
    return null;
  }

  public OUser authenticate(String iUsername, String iUserPassword) {
    return null;
  }

  public void close() {
  }

  public OUser repair() {
    return null;
  }

  public boolean dropUser(String iUserName) {
    return false;
  }

  public boolean dropRole(String iRoleName) {
    return false;
  }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NSG Group Appointment of Group Finance Director With effect from April 2007, NSG established an integrated global Flat Glass business, covering all of the Group's Building Products and Automotive operations worldwide.
Article in the Media on 30 November Today (30th November, 2007) there was an article by a newspaper stating that Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") is intending to sell a subsidiary.
NSG to dissolve a Subsidiary Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., the ultimate holding entity of NSG Group, (hereinafter "the Company") announces its plan to dissolve its subsidiary, as below.
European Commission Fine - Building Products Glass Sector
Breakthrough in LED Print Head technology expected to increase demand for SLA® (SELFOC® Lens Array) The NSG Group ("the Company") announces a major breakthrough in LED Print Head technology using the SLA® ( SELFOC® Lens Array ) manufactured by the Specialty Glass business of the Company.
NSG Adopts New Branding Structure Following a major review of its branding strategy, NSG has decided to adopt the 'Pilkington' brand for its global Flat Glass business (which makes glass for the world's buildings and vehicles).
NSG to Post Extra-ordinary Loss in FY 2008 Half Year Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., the ultimate holding company of NSG Group, ( hereinafter "the Company" ) announces its plan to post extra-ordinary loss for the half year ending 30th September 2007 as below:
Notice on Finalization of Details of Issuance of Stock Compensation-type Stock Options (Stock Subscr...
Terms and conditions of stock subscription rights, in the form of stock options, to be allotted to the Company's directors, executive officers, and officers, were resolved at the Board of Directors meeting held on August 30, 2007, and the details of issuance of the stock subscription rights were finalized today as follows.
Announcement of Changes in Representative Directors and Executive Officers Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. announces that, at the NSG Board of Directors held today, the below-mentioned changes in the positions of Representative Directors and Executive Officers were officially approved.
Nippon Sheet Glass to Post Extra-ordinary Gain/Loss in FY 2008 Half Year Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ( "the Company" ) announces its plan to post extraordinary items relating to the sale and disposal of fixed assets, for the half year ending 30 September 2007.
NSG GROUP - Changes in Senior Management Structure With effect from April 2007, NSG established an integrated global Flat Glass business, covering all of the Group's Building Products and Automotive operations worldwide.
Notice Concerning Issuance of Stock Compensation-type Stock Options (Stock Subscription Rights) Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ( "the Company" ) has decided, at the Board of Directors meeting held earlier today, terms and conditions of Stock Subscription Rights, in the form of stock options, to be allocated to the directors ( except non-executive directors ), executive officers and riji , pursuant to stipulations in Articles 236, 238 and 240 of the Corporation Law. Objectives of the issue are: sharing between the Company's shareholders and management of benefits and risks associated with share price movements; and further improvement in motivation for the Company's management to increase the corporate value. Details of terms and conditions of the issue are set out as below.
Correction of Errors in the FY 2008 1st Quarter Consolidated Financial Results and the Announcement ... Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ( "the Company" ) has corrected the errors found in both FY 2008 1st Quarter Consolidated Financial Results and the announcement regarding revision of operating result forecast, both published today, 23 August 2007, as below.
Note : Corrected portion are underlined.
Financial Results to June 2007 (FY08 First Quarter)
Interim Financial Statements for 3 Months to June 2007
Nippon Sheet Glass announces Revision of Operating Result Forecast Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ( "the Company" ) announces the revision made to its previous forecast of operating results for FY 2008 ( April 2007 through March 2008 ) published on 9 August 2007, as below.
Pilkington to Start Construction of Automotive Plant in Vizag, India
NSG announces the start of construction of an Automotive fabrication plant in Vishakhapatnam, India. The plant, which is expected to begin production by summer 2008, will be operated by Pilkington Group Limited ("Pilkington"), a member of NSG Group.
Nippon Sheet Glass announces Confirmation of Extra-Ordinary Gain Figures And Revision of Operating R...
Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") confirms the provisional amount of extra-ordinary gain arising from the sale of shares of a subsidiary, and announces the revisions made to its previous forecast of operating results for FY 2008 ( April 2007 through March 2008 ) published on 6 July 2007, as below.
Nippon Sheet Glass announces Revision of Operating Result Forecast and Recognition of Extra-ordinary... In connection to the sale of the flat glass business in Australasia announced on 29th June 2007, Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") announces the revisions made to its forecast of operating results published on 31st May 2007 and the recognition of extra-ordinary gain for the full fiscal year 2008 ( April 2007 through March 2008 ) as below.
Nippon Sheet Glass announces the sale of Flat Glass Business in Australasia Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") announces that today its extraordinary Board meeting officially resolved the sale of Flat Glass Business in Australasia.
Announcement of Changes in Representative Directors, Directors, Statutory Auditors and Executive Off...
Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd., announces that, at a meeting of the NSG Board of Directors held today, the below-mentioned changes in the positions of representative directors, directors, statutory auditors and executive officers were tentatively decided. The decisions will be made official by resolutions at the 141st Ordinary Shareholders' General Meeting which will be held on June 28, 2007and at a meeting of the NSG Board of Directors to be held following the shareholders meeting.
Annual Highlights of Fiscal Year ending 31 March, 2007 [Amended: June 20, 2007]
Elimination of System Providing Retirement Benefits to Directors and Introduction of Stock Options Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ( hereinafter referred to as the Company ) today announced that its Board of Directors meeting held on May 31, 2007 passed a resolution to submit "Revision of the compensation for directors and determination of the nature of stock options," a proposal based on eliminating the system providing retirement benefits to directors and introducing stock options, to the 141st General Shareholders' Meeting scheduled for June 28, 2007 ( hereinafter referred to as the General Shareholders' Meeting ) as part of an initiative to revise its directors' remuneration system. Details of the proposal are as follows.
Policy on Possible Reduction of Minimum Stock Dealing Unit Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") confirms that the Company regards the possible reduction of minimum stock dealing unit as one of the sensible options to enhance liquidity of the stock, enlarge the shareholder base and activate the stock market.
Summary of Financial Results Fiscal Year Ended 31 March 2007
[With Notes] Summary of Financial Results Fiscal Year Ended 31 March 2007
Nippon Sheet Glass announces Revision of Operating Result Outlook and Recognition of Extra-ordinary ... Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") announces the revisions made to its outlook of consolidated and non-consolidated operating results published on 6th July 2007 and the recognition of extra-ordinary loss for the full fiscal year 2007 (April 2006 through March 2007) as below.
Receipt of European Commission Statement of Objections Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("NSG") confirms that Pilkington Group Limited ("Pilkington"), a member of NSG Group, received a further Statement of Objections on 20 April 2007 from the European Commission.
NSG incurs extra-ordinary loss on asset write-off and disposal Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("the Company") announces that, in the fiscal year ending 31st March 2007, the Company will incur extra-ordinary loss as below.
Receipt of European Commission Statement of Objections Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd. ("NSG") confirms that Pilkington Group Limited ("Pilkington"), a member of NSG Group, received a Statement of Objections on 13th March 2007 from the European Commission.
Infrastructure work starts on Pilkington joint venture float plant in Kazakhstan Pilkington's joint venture company in Kazakhstan announced the start of infrastructure work on the site of the new float glass production line to be built in Kyzylorda, in the south of the country.
Pilkington's new plant in China started its commercial operation NSG announces that the start of commercial production from January 2007, by the float glass plant in Chuangshu, China newly constructed by Pilkington Group Limited ("Pilkington"), a member of NSG Group.
NSG Announces integrated global business organization Following the acquisition of Pilkington in June 2006 and adoption of the NSG Medium Term Plan in November 2006, the board of NSG has now approved the top level organizational structure of the newly enlarged NSG Group, designed to create a truly global leader in the glass manufacturing industry.


To apply for current openings for Total Health Systems, please fill out an application or send your resume via email. A Representative will get back with you shortly!
Chiropractic Assistant / Health Care Assistant position at Total Health Systems. The responsibilities of the Chiropractic Assistant/Health Care Assistant are to provide assistance to the chiropractors with diagnostic testing, Range of Motion (ROM) and obtaining vitals as well as provide general assistance to the other physicians. The ideal candidate would be a skilled multi-tasker who thrives in a fast-paced environment and one who enjoys working alongside a healthcare team dedicated to serving the needs of patients and providing a holistic approach to health care.
Licensed Massage Therapist position at Total Health Systems. The responsibilities of the licensed massage therapist include meeting with patients and reviewing their individual needs and medical histories, analyzing areas for concern and identifying methods to correct their problems, using a variety of modalities to relieve stress and pain, and providing patients with information on how to care for themselves on a daily basis and how their healthcare needs can be met through the care of Total Health Systems. All appointments are scheduled for 60 minutes, 30 minutes, and 90 minute sessions and are expected to be given in their entirety, unless Management confirms different. A period of fifteen minutes is set up between sessions for various duties such as laundry, cleaning for next client, educating new clients on our clinical services and providing facility tours. A self-confident, professional and happy demeanor is necessary.
Physical Therapist (licensed in Michigan) position at Total Health Systems, 1 year required experience. Licensed Physical therapist job responsibilities include providing physical therapy intervention within scope of practice to ensure well-being of patient and support multidisciplinary approach of Total Health Systems. The Physical Therapist has authority over Physical Therapist Assistants. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: Evaluation and treatment of patients. Establishing plan of care for patients. Patient's education and communication. Utilizing medical software, e-Thomas for scheduling and posting, writepad for patient documentation and patients scanned records using unique login name and password to access them. Reports all unusual or irregular problems to management. Recommend other services offered by clinic to patients who can benefit from them. Keeping documentation of patient's care that explains and justifies treatment and meets insurance requirements. Maintains safe and clean working environment by complying with procedures, rules, and regulations. Maintain professional license in good standing. Supervising PTA assistants.
Licensed Physical Therapist Assistant position at Total Health Systems. Physical Therapist Assistant responsibility is to provide physical therapy intervention under supervision of Physical Therapist within scope of practice to ensure well-being of patient and support multidisciplinary approach of THS. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: Treatment of patients under supervision of Physical Therapist. Following plan of care for patients established by Physical Therapist. Patient's education and communication. Utilizing medical software, e-Thomas for scheduling and posting, writepad for patient documentation and patients scanned records using unique login name and password to access them. Reports all unusual or irregular problems to management. Recommend other services offered by clinic to patients who can benefit from them. Keeping documentation of patient's care that explains and justifies treatment and meets insurance requirements. Maintains safe and clean working environment by complying with procedures, rules, and regulations. Maintain professional license in good standing.
Licensed Chiropractor position at Total Health Systems. Services include chiropractic, medical, physical therapy, rehab, massage therapy, nutrition, wellness and fitness. We are looking for a dynamic person who can work with a team and is willing to get involved in the community. Must be licensed in the state of Michigan. Chiropractic Physicians are responsible for the diagnosis and treatment of the patients of Total Health Systems. The Chiropractic associate has authority over the Chiropractic intern and works directly with office management and Chiropractic owner. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to the following: Adjusting patients. Orthopedic appliance examinations. Consultations. X-ray study analysis. Patient education and communication. Rehabilitation procedure. Writing of narratives. Good knowledge of insurance coverage. Exhibits both professional enthusiasm and personal warmth towards patients. Patient recall through phone and mail. Reports all unusual or irregular problems to the office manager and/or chiropractic owner. Remains aware of, and abides by, the policies under which the associate doctor is employed. Overview of intern doctors. Adjunct responsibilities in purchasing and inventory. Chiropractic associates are expected to adhere to all laws guaranteeing privacy of protected health information. It is the sole responsibility of the chiropractic associate to understand HIPAA laws, and the office policies and procedures regarding HIPAA set forth by Total Health Systems, PC.Salary/ benefits are extremely competitive.
Licensed Physician's Assistant position at Total Health Systems. *Must be licensed in the state of Michigan*. We provide Primary medical services, orthopedic/physical therapy services, and nutrition services using a combined traditional medical and holistic approach. Services include Primary medical care, chiropractic, physical therapy, rehab, massage therapy, nutrition, fitness and wellness. We are looking for a dynamic, independent Physician's Assistant and educator who can work in a team environment.


text:
Planning your 2021 reading list? Explore Our New Best-Seller STEM Books Collection!
This is How Earth Could be Entirely Powered by Renewable Energy
New Offshore Wind Turbine Can Power a Home in Just 7 Seconds for 24 Hours
New Technology Promises Data Transmission Through Human Touch
Elon Musk Will Reveal New Updates about Neuralink in a Live Webcast
World's First Molten Salt Fresnel CSP Plant Starts Operation in China
New Machine Learning Algorithm Makes Scientific Research 40,000 Times Faster
Top 10 IoT Development Boards for Engineers & Geeks
How is Thermal Imaging Used to Detect Pyrexia
Hyperloop Technology – The Future of Transportation
10 Best Microcontroller Boards for Engineers and Geeks
Getting Started in GD&T: Basic Concepts
The Ozone Layer Explained
Heat VS Work – Concepts Explained
Differences Between Speed and Velocity
A $59,000 Prefabricated Tiny Smart Home – Cube 2
Design Considerations for Pumping Systems
CNC Machining is a Game Changer for the Manufacturing Industry
Best Tips for Maintaining Heavy Engineering Machinery
Advantages of Shot Blasting in Manufacturing Processes
The Genius Engineer – Claude Shannon
Top 12 Free Online Tools & Resources for Students
Perfect Engineering CV Writing Tips
Top Inspirational Engineering Quotes
All You Should Know About Nanotechnology Engineering
Make: Electronics: Learning Through Discovery
Engineering Passion > Blog > How To > The Ozone Layer Explained
Posted by Muhammad Masood April 19, 2020 6 Min Read
It is atmosphere that makes life possible on the planet earth and earth is the only planet in the solar system with such an atmosphere that can sustain life. Atmosphere protects us from the harmful radiation and blasts of heat emanating from the sun.
The blanket of gases (atmosphere) is about 480 kilometers thick. The earth's atmosphere is divided into five layers: the exosphere, the thermosphere, the mesosphere, the stratosphere and the troposphere.
The second layer as you go up, stratosphere, starts above the troposphere layer and ends about 50 km (31 miles) above ground. This layer provides a very important natural shield that protects us from the harmful ultraviolet radiations from the sun and only let the good rays in. This important natural shield layer of gas is known as the ozone layer.
The ozone layer is about 7 to 25 miles above the Earth's surface and acts as a "sunscreen" for the planet earth.
Ozone (O3) is a colorless gas with its molecules consisting of 3 oxygen atoms and is located in the upper layers of the atmosphere, where it protects us from the sun's harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation by absorbing it.
Although it represents only a tiny fraction of the atmosphere about 3-5 mm thick, ozone is crucial for sustaining life on earth. Without ozone, the sun's intense UV radiation would sterilize the earth's surface. With a weakening of this shield, more intense UV-B and UV-A radiation exposure at the surface would lead to quicker sunburns, skin cancer, blindness, weak immune system and even reduced crop yields in plants.
Chemical Composition of Ozone (O3)
There are natural processes that create and destroy the ozone layer in the stratosphere. These processes regulate a balance of ozone and form the ozone layer. It's the sunlight which create ozone, primarily. When high-energy ultraviolet rays (UV-C) strike an oxygen molecule (O2), they split the molecule into two single oxygen atoms, known as atomic oxygen. This process is shown in the figure below.
High-energy ultraviolet rays (UV-C) strike an oxygen molecule (O2), they split the molecule into two single atomic oxygen atoms.
A freed atomic oxygen (O) then combines with another oxygen (O2) molecule to form a molecule of ozone (O3). This "ozone-oxygen cycle" is continuously absorbing high-energy ultraviolet radiation (UV-C) and blocking it completely from reaching the earth's surface.
This process as shown below, creates heat which warms the upper part of the stratosphere. The air is very dry in the stratosphere and is a thousand time thinner than it is at sea level and this is why balloons and jet aircraft fly here.
A freed atomic oxygen (O) then combines with another oxygen (O2) molecule to form a molecule of ozone (O3).
Ozone is very reactive and attacks other molecules in the air, often regenerating oxygen in the process (this is why ozone is important to us). Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs much of the sun's UV-B rays, splitting back into molecular and atomic oxygen as shown below.
Ozone in the stratosphere absorbs much of the sun's UV-B rays, splitting back into molecular and atomic oxygen.
No matter, how the atomic oxygen atoms are produced, they almost always quickly react with oxygen molecules, reforming the ozone.
So, while ozone is continually being created, it is also continually being destroyed. Sometimes an ozone (O3) molecule reacts with an oxygen atom creating two oxygen molecules, thus ending the cycle. If the rate of ozone creation is equal to the rate of destruction, the total amount will remain the same.
Scientists have found that ozone level change periodically with regular natural cycles such as the changing season, winds and long-time scale sun variations. Ozone also responds to some sporadic solar events such as flares. Moreover, volcanic eruptions may inject substances into the stratosphere that can lead to increased destruction of the ozone layer.
Although Ozone (O3) depletion does not cause global warming, but both of these environmental problems have the same cause: human activities that release chemical pollutants into the atmosphere changing it. Human-made chemicals have been poking holes in ozone layer for years as these chemicals can remain in the atmosphere between 50 and 100 years. Ozone is vital for sustaining life on earth, we should protect it.
Get our latest news, eBooks, tutorials, and free courses straight into your inbox.
Tags: Atmosphere How To O3 O3 Gas Ozone Ozone Formation Ozone Layer Tutorial
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest Share on WhatsApp Share on WhatsApp Share on Linkedin Share on Reddit Share on Telegram Share on Email
Muhammad Masood April 19, 2020
Muhammad Masood
M. Masood is the co-founder of Engineering Passion and a passionate author. He is an engineer and has obtained his bachelor's degree in energy engineering from Kandahar University.
10k followers follow
8 followers pin
1k followers follow
3.1k Members Join
Education & Career17
Industry16
© 2021 All Rights Reserved, Engineering Passion.
Get our latest news, tutorials, videos, and free books straight into your inbox.
I agree with Engineering Passion's privacy policy.


I need a recipe idea for food to bring to work.
I need a recipe idea for portable food I can freeze and bring to work over two weeks. Something with protein. I'm sick of burritos, lasagna, ravioli, and meat loaf. I've tried http://www.supercook.com with no luck. Please help.
How about something like a meat pastie?
Take puff pastry (frozen in a box), and cut the sheets into 4 quarters. Put your filling in (see below for ideas), fold over (either rectangle or triangle shape -- your choice), and press edges with a fork. Bake at 375 until done (usually 30 mintues I think). Then freeze in individual portions. They can thaw on the way to work, and be eaten cold or heated up.
For the filling, use about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of something. I've done meat (beef, chicken, a mixture). You can add veggies (potatoes work well). I've done a chicken/cheese/broccoli mixture (same as the filling for one of those crescent roll filled rings) once. If it is a meat only mixture it can get a little dry, especially if you use already cooked meat (which is easier in that you do not need to worry about cooking raw meat through). But you also do not want the filling too moist or the whole thing falls apart.
Ooh, good one. I made beef pasties at the Folk School and they disappeared.
Got the ingredients for Alton Brown's chicken pot pie, will make tomorrow as a pastie with cheap frozen pie shells instead of puff pastry. Thanks!
Do you have a microwave at work? I bring soup sometimes or things like tuna sandwiches. I like to buy a lunch meat from the deli and some cheese and make a sandwich or wrap. I just made a chicken pot pie the other day but I'm not sure if those can be frozen or not. It would be nice to know since it is huge and I don't know if I can finish the whole thing myself lol.
I have a microwave and a freezer at work. So far I've made lasagna, ravioli, burritos, and wrap sandwiches, and I'm in a rutty rut rut. Maybe I'll buy puff pastry and make half with beef stew and half with chicken pot pie stuff with a little curry powder. That sounds yummy.
I make something like cheeseburger pie (there's a zillion recipes out there) without crust. I wing it, but I brown ground beef, garlic and onion and whatever spices I feel like (chili powder is tasty), I usually add some tomato and peppers, mix that with egg in a baking dish and shredded cheese/mustard/ketchup if you like, top with more cheese and bake for bout half an hour at 350. I usually serve it with some mustard/ketchup on lettuce and tomato and a pickle. I imagine it'd freeze decently, and if you use lean beef and lots of veggies instead of lots of cheese its not that bad for you.
That sounds like an eat-at-home meal, but yummy. I don't think I have the skills to make that portable, but it sounds delicious.
Have you tried posting a request to the cooking community?
Not only can you ASK for help with recipes, but you can post your favorites to share with people.
Oh, hadn't thought of that. Thanks! Off to do that now.
Have you tried chili or black bean soups? One of the ladies in our office makes a white lightning chili too, using white beans.Or have you tried anything with hummus? Or Tuna? I don't have to freeze it - but along with some fruit or fresh veggies - makes for a quick easy lunch - pita maybe??? Just a couple of thoughts for ya. Good luck and if I come up with anything better I'll let you know.
basilwhite: Re: What about chili???
You know, maybe something in a pita. Thanks.
The recipe is a store in the fridge recipe... but I would imagine they will freeze too.
I'd love to make some protein bars. Thanks.
pouches of "no drain salmon"
I should totally take my hippie protein cereal to work. Thank you.
- in seperate bowl, whisk PB, water, and vanilla.
- add pb mixture to dry ingredients and stir to form a sticky dough, stir in / knead in raisins.
-using wet hands or spatula, spread all evenly into the prepared 8-inch pan. Freeze for 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight) until firm enough to cut into 9 squares. Wrap individually and store in fridge.
I use the unsweetened one, it is 40 calories per cup. This is HALF the calories of skim milk! And it tastes good, not offensive, no weirdo aftertastes... (won't vouch for the sweetened one, or the chocolate flavored one).
Anyhow, it is super easy to store at work, and use for cereal breaks. Its often my mid-morning snack with my hippie high protein cereal.
I'm gonna bring my cereal to work, and mebbe some soy milk. I ended up making a Red Wine and Cranberries Glazed Pot Roast, breakfast burritos with bleu cheese, chicken pot pie bridies and rice krispie truffles.


Finally is here. After having an adventure with the postal service for +40 days the uHoo device found its way to my home. I want to thank uHoo for its persistence.
Let me start by saying that this is a very promising device because it features 9 separate Sensors for Air Quality monitoring and there isn't any other device with so many sensors for indoor use. The company was founded in August 2014 and it took them two and a half years to develop uHoo.
The device is compact and it wont take a lot of space from your work surface or any other place. The design permits the air to flow from the bottom to the top without any fan inside and also it inhibits dust to fall into it. For me, it looks like a Modern Asian Skyscraper.
I haven't opened the device, so I don't know for sure, but from an 3D illustration they have on their website, a video on youtube and my experience I can see that they use the following sensors.
It seems that they use the MH-Z19 for CO2 measurements but they don't because their sensor has better ranges. I don't know which sensor is, but from my experience the sensor is super sensitive, so I recommend you not to place it in front of you for example next to the PC monitor because each time you breathe out the device will pick up the CO2 fluctuations. The software plays an important role on how the data are analyzed and interpreted. For example, when the device is turned on for the first time, it will need 48 hours to calibrate, so ignore the first readings. The CO2 sensor will read the values and the values will go through a statistical analysis to address any changes in sensor reading that is attributable to sensor drift. This is cool, isn't it?
The Shinyei PPD42NS sensor is used to measure the Particulate Matter PM. You can read the following study with some additional info for this sensor link.
The Bosh BME280 sensor is used to measure the temperature, humidity and air pressure. Very good sensor with great accuracy and modern design. Read more here.
Finally, I can distinguish a SGX SensorTech sensor but I don't know which one is because some SGX sensors look the same.
The iOS/Android app for the device features four main tabs on the bottom of the screen Home / Health Notes / Notifications / Settings.
On the Home tab you can access your device or devices and all the sensors by clicking on the name of your uHoo device. A clean UI with bold information. They use colour coding for all the stats. Green for Good, Orange for Medium and Red for High.
On the second tab *Health Notes the user can register all the health events like Asthma, Bronchitis, Emphysema and other illnesses and symptoms. This feature is especial useful for the individuals with chronic disorders and a great help for your MD. Your data are safe thanks to the 256-bit encryption.
On the third tab you can read all the notifications. They are ordered chronological. They also provide useful tips for example "Humidity environment can enhance mold growth" when humidity is above 50% for a long period of time or "Check if there is any unsealed household cleaners…" when VOCs have exceeded 250ppb for a period of time.
Finally on the last tab you can find the General Settings.
For me, it is very important the histogram. I want to have access to past readings from all the sensors and average values. The uHoo app provides all this information as you can see below. Once you are on the main tab you can see the histogram by turning your phone on landscape mode. The histogram is adjustable to Hourly, Daily and Monthly. You can also choose a specific time or date to read. A great addiction is the average value for each sensor for the day or hour. When you choose the monthly histogram then you get the minimum and maximum values, handy!
Each user has different thresholds on temperature, humidity, etc. As a result they provide the necessary tools to customize those thresholds on each sensor, look the image above. This way you won't get unnecessary notifications but only the notifications that are really important to you.
uHoo costs US$299 which is a rather high price comparing with the rest of the indoor AQI monitors, but you have to think that it is the only one with so many sensors. The app constantly receives updates which indicates great support and future, no one wants a obsolete device. I would like to mention here that the software development isn't cheap and we have to appreciate the fact that they offer us the app for free. Here, I would like to recommend some changes on the app regarding the landscape mode because in general I have that mode locked and second I would prefer if the stats tab was directly available on the main tab without the need to click on my uHoo device. Finally, I believe they have done a great work and the device offers some unique solutions to those with higher concerns on air pollution.
* The NO2 sensor and Health Notes tab will become available with an app update this fall.
This is not really a review. A review would be your testing the product and letting us know what you think about how it works for monitoring the air quality in your living space.
Can you comment on how this device holds up to the competition in 2019? I am looking for an air quality sensor that can specifically measure ozone – is this device still my best choice or are there others I should consider?
May I ask first, why Ozone is important for you?
Two reasons: 1. I have a whole house air filter running (Lennox PureAir) which has a UV light in it. According to Lennox, it's ozone free, but I want to be sure. 2. We live in a very sunny environment (California) and are in a rather polluted area, next to two major highways. I'm concerned that between these two, we are at risk of ozone. Finally, more of a hunch than a reason, our cat seems to be the one who starts sneezing first when the air gets bad, so I am thinking that whatever it is, it's close to the ground. Hence I am suspecting ozone.
I understand. Unfortunately, there are limited options for O3 monitors. Within 2-3 months I am going to review a device which has an O3 sensor too (waiting for production to complete).


Discussion in 'iPhone Launch Meetups' started by spader, Jul 28, 2010.
Anybody headed out to either Oakridge Mall or Pacific Mall? I'm thinking of lining up at 5:00AM. Crazy?
Since White Spot opens at 7AM, I'm assuming the front doors will be open. Does anybody know if they still have the inner gates closed during that time? Would there be another entrance that's closer and open early?
In terms of Pacific Centre, not a clue. I'm assuming that they may open the doors near Aritzia, since that's the closest entrance there.
Hopefully the lineups won't be (Olympics Superstore @ the Bay) busy, but it should be fine since I work at 2:30.
Swung by Oakridge just after the mall closed at 9pm. There were about 20+ people lining up outside at the back entrance by Kin's Farm Market.
I spoke with an employee at the Apple Store in Pacific Centre a couple minutes before they closed and she said they already had about 70 people in line! She wasn't sure what the situation was like at the Oakridge store but she said she'd heard of a bunch of people heading over there.
I'm gonna line up at 6 am at Oakridge center in hopes of finally getting the phone. If anyone is doing the same and you spot a fellow in a purple hoodie and a unibody macbook, come say hi!
Lining up at 5AM is not crazy at all. I lined up at Oakridge at some time past midnight and it was a very big line. I have pictures and video somewhere. That was for the iPhone 4S.
If anyone wants to do a meetup for the 5S/C, I'm down. I won't be going that early cause I won't be buying from the Apple Store, but I'll be at Oakridge.
Yeah, looks like lines have already started in Canada!
I only got a view of the line this time around 7:30AM, after everyone had been moved inside. I went to a carrier store (shame on me) and they told me they had only 3 iPhone 5S's. T-H-R-E-E. All Space Grey. I was kinda peeved but loved the phone so far.


text:
Last news > In 2015 Ukraine was visited by 12.428 million foreigners from more than 110 countries.
In 2015 Ukraine was visited by 12.428 million foreigners from more than 110 countries.
Total in 2015, Ukraine was visited by 12.428 million foreigners from more than 110 countries, according to the State Statistics. Most of them (11.5 million people, or 93%) were coming to us for personal reasons, including all self-organized visits, including tourism.
Last year more 137 thousands people came in Ukraine with the assistance of travel agencies (1.1% of the total). More than 700 people during the year visited Ukraine with a view to cultural and sports exchange, as well as for religious purposes.Most often, our country is visited by citizens of neighboring countries - the share of the top five account for 78% of visitors (9,742,000). Among the foreigners who came to Ukraine on official business for more than 40% were Turkish citizens. And 62% of organized tourists came to us from Belarus. The leader of the educational visit was to China (21%), and most of all visitors to Ukraine came from Russia - a quarter of the total.