text:
Das Stadtmuseum Dresden ist das zentrale Stadt- und Heimatmuseum der sächsischen Landeshauptstadt Dresden. Thema seiner Sammlungen und Ausstellungen ist die über 800-jährige Geschichte der Stadt. Es gehört zum zehn Museen umfassenden Verbund Museen der Stadt Dresden.

Gemeinsam mit der Städtischen Galerie, die seit 2002 als kommunales Kunstmuseum den städtischen Kunstbesitz verwaltet, befindet sich das Stadtmuseum im Landhaus.

Gebäude und Umgebung
Das Domizil des Dresdner Stadtmuseums ist das Landhaus. Es wurde zwischen 1770 und 1775 nach Plänen von Friedrich August Krubsacius in einer Stilmischung aus Barock, Rokoko und Klassizismus errichtet. Seinen Namen verdankt es seiner Funktion als Sitz der Landstände und von 1832 bis 1907 des Sächsischen Landtages bis zu dessen Umzug ins Sächsische Ständehaus. Das Landhaus befindet sich am Ostrand der Inneren Altstadt zwischen Wilsdruffer und Landhausstraße. Dabei liegt es zwischen dem Neumarkt und dem Pirnaischen Platz. Das Polizeipräsidium mit dem Polizeimuseum Dresden ist direkt benachbart; in der näheren Umgebung stehen unter anderem die Frauenkirche und das Kurländer Palais. Andere Dresdner Museen in der Nähe sind das Museum Festung Dresden sowie die Neuen Meister im Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden).

Ausstellungen

Die Dauerausstellung des Stadtmuseums thematisiert verschiedene Aspekte der Dresdner Stadtgeschichte, darunter die Kultur- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. In vier Sälen stellt das Museum mehr als 1000 Exponate zur Schau. Die Gesamtfläche der Ausstellungen beträgt über 1.800 Quadratmeter und erstreckt sich über mehrere Etagen, 20 Medienstationen informieren zusätzlich über den Werdegang Dresdens innerhalb der letzten acht Jahrhunderte und werden durch vielfältige museumspädagogische Angebote ergänzt.

Ausgestellt sind unter anderem drei historische Stadtmodelle, das älteste Dresdner Stadtsiegel von 1309, der sogenannte Sophienschatz sowie Dokumente und Gegenstände von der Zerstörung der Stadt durch die anglo-amerikanischen Luftangriffe auf Dresden 1945. Die Besucher können außerdem einen ca. 10 Meter × 6 Meter großen begehbaren Luftbildfußboden der Stadt Dresden betrachten sowie Erläuterungen zu einem 2 Meter × 1,50 Meter großen Reliefmodell des Dresdner Elbtales bekommen.

Neben der Dauerausstellung zur Geschichte Dresdens werden Sonderausstellungen zur Kultur-, Wirtschafts-, Gesellschafts- und Architekturgeschichte gezeigt. Der repräsentative Festsaal wird für Vorträge und andere Veranstaltungen genutzt.

Sammlungen

Nicht nur die Dauerausstellung des Museums ist für Dresden bedeutend, sondern auch die Sammlung, welche die Grundlage für das Stadtmuseum als Forschungsstätte bildet. Die Sammlungen sind recht vielfältig und umfassen Stücke aus den Bereichen Kultur, Alltag und Geschichte Dresdens. Sie lassen sich in mehrere Hauptbestandsgruppen untergliedern.

Die mit Abstand größte Gruppe stellen die Fotografien und Postkarten mit etwa 200.000 Objekten. Die Schwerpunkte der Sammlungstätigkeit in diesem Bereich liegen auf Stadtansichten, stadtgeschichtlichen Ereignissen, Porträts von Dresdner Persönlichkeiten und Arbeiten Dresdner Fotografen, unter anderem August Kotzschs. Die Sammlung enthält Daguerreotypien, Ferrotypien und andere Zeugnisse alter fotografischer Verfahren sowie mehrere Komplettnachlässe verstorbener Sammler. Hierbei ragen die mehrere 1.000 Objekte umfassenden Altbestände mit Aufnahmen des Dresdner Stadtbilds und Dresdner Persönlichkeiten von der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts bis etwa 1930 heraus.

Die Gegenständlichen Sammlungen beinhalten etwa 30.000 Objekte in 29 Teilbestandsgruppen. Sie beinhalten Einrichtungs- und Haushaltsgegenstände, Kleidung, Militaria, Musikinstrumente, Spielwaren, Medaillen und Münzen, Maschinen und Gerätschaften sowie kunstgewerbliche Objekte. Bedeutende Bestandteile dieser Gruppe sind auch Spezialsammlungen wie beispielsweise die 1951 erworbene Schmiedeeisensammlung Kühnscherf mit ihren insgesamt 1.708 Kunstschmiedearbeiten. Andere Hauptbestandsgruppen der Sammlung des Dresdner Stadtmuseums sind Plakate, Dokumente und Schriftgut sowie Landkarten und Stadtpläne.

Die Museumsbibliothek verfügt über 20.000 Bände, die ältesten unter ihnen sind aus dem 16. Jahrhundert. Sie ist in zwei Hauptbestandsgruppen gegliedert, in denen Werke über Dresden im weitesten Sinne beziehungsweise andere Werke gesammelt werden. Einen großen Anteil an den Dresdner Werken haben die jährlichen Adressbücher der Stadt und ihrer Vororte ab 1809 bis 1844. Gesammelt werden vordergründig Werke über die Landes- und Stadtgeschichte, insbesondere Rechts-, Militär- und Polizeigeschichte, Vereinsleben, Schulwesen, theologische Literatur, Kulturgeschichte u. v. m. Sondersammlungen der Bibliothek sind die Bestände des ehemaligen Körner-Museums mit Literatur von Theodor Körner sowie aus dem Freundeskreis von dessen Vater Christian Gottfried Körner, darunter Friedrich Schiller und Ernst Moritz Arndt.

Im Jahr 2011 errichtete die Opernsängerin Clementine von Schuch, Enkelin des bedeutenden Dresdner Dirigenten Ernst von Schuch (1847–1914) und seiner Ehefrau, der Kammersängerin Clementine von Schuch-Proska (1850–1932), zusammen mit zwei Cousinen die Familienstiftung Ernst Edler von Schuch, die Erbstücke ihrer bedeutenden Großeltern aus deren Schaffenszeit dem Stadtmuseum Dresden überreichte. Den ersten 30 Exponaten, darunter der elfenbeinerne Taktstock des Dirigenten, der während der Ära Schuch von 1872 bis 1914 die musikalischen Geschicke der Semperoper bestimmte, folgten in den nächsten Jahren weitere Stücke. Im Jahr 2014 wurde auch damit zum 100. Todestag von Schuchs im Stadtmuseum eine Sonderschau gestaltet.

Geschichte

Das Stadtmuseum Dresden wurde am 6. Januar 1891 auf Initiative des Ratsarchivars Otto Richter im Palais Loß gegründet. Dort hatte es auch seinen ersten Sitz in acht Räumen, gegliedert nach Sachgruppen und historischen Ereignissen. So gab es einen Bildersaal mit Dresden-Ansichten, drei Räume mit Ansichten der Stadt und ihrer Umgebung, ein Zimmer mit Modellen und Zunfttruhen, einen Kirchensaal mit religiösen Altertümern sowie zwei Kabinette mit Erinnerungen an die napoleonische Ära. Das Museum war Ausdruck einer bewussten bürgerlichen Abgrenzung von den Königlichen Kunstsammlungen. Den Grundstock seiner Sammlung bildeten ortsgeschichtliche Objekte aus den Beständen des Ratsarchivs, des 1869 gegründeten Vereins für Geschichte und Topographie Dresdens sowie der 1879 gegründeten Stadtbibliothek. Das Palais wurde 1905 für den Bau des Neuen Rathauses abgerissen. Das Museum zog 1910 in das Erdgeschoss des Neubaus in 13 Räume. Bis 1919 stand es mit dem Ratsarchiv und der Stadtbibliothek unter einer gemeinsamen Leitung und Verwaltung.

Kurz nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg wurde das Stadtmuseum mit Körner- und Schilling-Museum zu den Städtischen Sammlungen zusammengefasst. In den 1920er Jahren begann der Aufbau einer Abteilung neuzeitlicher Kunst. Außerdem gehörte damals ein kleines Heimatmuseum in Leuben zum Stadtmuseum.

1937 wurde in der Nazi-Aktion "Entartete Kunst" aus der Sammlung des Museums eine große Anzahl von Kunstwerken beschlagnahmt. Viele davon wurden anschließend vernichtet.

Im Zuge der Luftangriffe auf Dresden 1945 wurde das Neue Rathaus und mit ihm das Museum zerstört, die Gemälde des Stadtmuseums wurde zuvor durch Auslagerung gerettet, die gegenständliche Sammlung ging zu 80 Prozent durch anschließende Plünderungen verloren.

Nach Kriegsende diente die Bienertsche Villa in der Würzburger Straße 46 als Zwischenlösung, befand sich jedoch in schlechtem Zustand. Im Jahre 1950 bezogen die Städtischen Sammlungen einige Räume in der damaligen Nordhalle in der Albertstadt. Am 16. Januar 1951 wurde Franz Zapf zum Museumsdirektor bestellt und leitete den kontinuierlichen Wiederaufbau seines Bestands ein. Bereits ab dem 10. Mai 1951 konnte die Ausstellung "Das Stadtbild Dresdens" gezeigt werden. Ende 1951 begründete die Ausstellung "Weihnachtsstimmung in den Städtischen Sammlungen" die bis heute weitergeführte traditionelle Sonderausstellung "Weihnachten im Landhaus". Weitere Ausstellungen in dieser Zeit waren 1952 die "Dresdner Dokumente zur Arbeiterbewegung" im Lichthof des Rathauses, 1953 "Vom Dorf zur Stadt" in der damaligen Stadthalle sowie Ausstellungen im Gedenken an Ludwig Richter ebenfalls 1953 und Martin Andersen Nexö 1955.

Das neugegründete "Museum für Geschichte der Dresdner Arbeiterbewegung" wurde 1957 zu einer Abteilung der Städtischen Sammlungen, wodurch in deren Bestände verstärkt politik- und wirtschaftsgeschichtliche Objekte Eingang fanden. Die Wiedergründung des Stadtmuseums erfolgte im Januar 1966 unter dem Namen "Institut und Museum für Geschichte der Stadt Dresden". Im August 1966 bezog es mit seiner ersten Ausstellung sein heutiges Domizil, das Landhaus. Aus einer Sonderausstellung entwickelte sich ab 1968 die Sondersammlung zur Geschichte der Feuerwehr, welche sich inzwischen in den Technischen Sammlungen befindet. Im Jahre 1977 wurde der sogenannte Sophienschatz aus dem Museum gestohlen, was eine der größten Fahndungsaktionen der DDR zur Folge hatte. Im Jahr 1986 fand man einen ersten Anhänger, weitere 38 Objekte tauchten 1999 in Oslo auf und konnten 2005 zurückerworben werden. Ein weiterer Anhänger einer Kette wurde 2002 in Hannover identifiziert und 2006 an das Museum zurückgegeben. 2017 kehrte ein weiterer Anhänger aus München zurück. 16 Objekte sind weiterhin verschollen.

Seit 1990 heißt das Museum wieder "Stadtmuseum Dresden". Nach der Wende wurde Matthias Griebel am 1. September 1990 zum Direktor des Dresdner Stadtmuseums berufen. Diese Stelle hatte er bis zum 5. März 2002 inne. In den 12 Jahren seiner Amtszeit konnte Griebel den Bestand des Stadtmuseums erheblich ausbauen. Ebenfalls 2002 wurde die Städtische Galerie Dresden gegründet und übernahm den Kunstbestand des Stadtmuseums mit etwa 1.900 Gemälden, 800 plastischen Arbeiten und mehr als 20.000 Grafiken, die aus der Zeit vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart stammen.

Anschließend war das Stadtmuseum längere Zeit geschlossen, da das Landhaus modernisiert wurde. Seit dem 2006 begangenen 800-jährigen Jubiläum der Ersterwähnung Dresdens ist es wieder geöffnet und zeigt seither seine große Dauerausstellung zur Geschichte Dresdens sowie mehrere Sonderausstellungen im Jahr.

Vom 1. März 2010 bis 31. März 2020 war Erika Eschebach die Direktorin des Museums. Seit 1. April 2020 wird das Museum von Christina Ludwig geleitet.

Künstler, deren Werke 1937 aus dem Museum als "entartet" beschlagnahmt wurden
Henryk Barczynski, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Paul Berger-Bergner, Siegfried Berndt, Heinrich Campendonk, Pol Cassel, Hans Clar (1893–1944), Otto Dix, Herbert Ebersbach, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmüller, Friedrich Karl Gotsch, Otto Griebel, George Grosz, Hans Grundig, Fritz Häberlein, Guido Hebert (* 1900), Erich Heckel, Hein Heckroth, Wilhelm Heckrott, Josef Hegenbarth, Karl Hofer, Eugen Hoffmann, Walter Jacob (1893–1964), Eric Johansson, Wassily Kandinsky, Edmund Kesting, Hans Kiekebusch, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Bernhard Kretzschmar, Otto Lange, Heinz Lewerenz, Elfriede Lohse-Wächtler, Karl Lüdecke, Oscar Lüthy, Fritz Maskos, Otto Meister (1892–1969), Constantin von Mitschke-Collande Paula Modersohn-Becker, Otto Mueller, Ernst Müller-Gräfe, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde, Max Pechstein, Christian Rohlfs, Arthur Rudolph, Wilhelm Rudolph, Clemens Oskar Schanze (1884–1938), Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Gustav Schmidt, Otto Schubert, Kurt Schwitters, Lasar Segall, Fritz Skade, Johannes Tietz, Christoph Voll, Johannes Theodor Eugen Walter-Kurau, Paul Weißkopf, Margarethe Wichmann-Dobbert, Fritz Winkler, Wilhelm Doms und Erich Wünsche (* 1893).

Literatur
 Stadtmuseum Dresden (Hrsg.): Das Stadtmuseum Dresden im Landhaus. Dresden 1996. (Museumsführer)
 Museum für Geschichte der Stadt Dresden. In: Manfred Bachmann, Hans Prescher (Hrsg.): Museen in Dresden. Leipzig 1991, S. 174–180.

Weblinks

 Homepage
 Museen der Stadt Dresden
 Das Stadtmuseum auf dresden.de
 Bilder in der Deutschen Fotothek

Quellen

Dresden
Museen der Stadt Dresden
Museum in Dresden
Landhausstraße (Dresden)
Wilsdruffer Straße
Pirnaischer Platz


text:
China's 'sexy cyborg' took on Silicon Valley bro culture — and won
Most of Naomi Wu's projects center on wearable technology for women. (Dec. 8, 2017) (Sign up for our free video newsletter here http://bit.ly/2n6VKPR)
By Jessica Meyers
Dec. 7, 2017 9:24 AM PT
Reporting from Shenzhen, CHina —
There's no mistaking Naomi Wu amid Shenzhen's deliverymen and investors.
Her long, auburn-dyed hair falls over tight, low-cut tops; her miniskirts reveal more. Wu often wears these outfits in do-it-yourself videos that show her devising an LED-lit skirt or creating heels that hide hacking tools.
Wu calls herself a "sexy cyborg." She also calls herself a "maker," the term for tech hobbyists who build creative DIY projects. Her endeavors have earned Wu 157,000 subscribers on YouTube and more than 43,000 Twitter followers in a country that blocks both platforms. She has more than 700 supporters on Patreon, a crowd-funding site.
But in recent weeks she's received even more attention — first from skeptical online commentators and then from Dale Dougherty, a California executive who helped launch the maker movement. They accused her of fraud.
Their remarks not only challenged her brand, they dismissed her ability. They took unsupported aim at an aspiring woman in a male-dominated industry — and, in particular, a young Chinese female who likes to dress revealingly.
That set off a social media tirade that spread across continents, underscoring the rigidity of gender stereotypes and the Internet's powerful role in determining a person's fate.
"It doesn't make sense," said Wu, 23, speaking in rapid-fire English outside one of the world's largest electronics markets. "Competent women never doubted me."
Wu works as a freelance web developer in China's electronics manufacturing hub, a southeastern coastal city that grew from a collection of fishing villages into one of the country's wealthiest metropolises.
The city is home to Tencent, the social media company that temporarily surpassed Facebook in market value. Apple recently established a research and development center here. Wu takes pride in her city, like she does in her creations.
Most of her projects center around wearable technology for women, such as LED eyelashes or a makeup case that holds a tiny computer. She also tests products in her videos, and films 360-degree tours around Shenzhen's tech spaces.
Naomi Wu purchases components in Huaqiangbei, Shenzhen's electronics mecca.
(Jessica Meyers/for the Los Angeles Times )
"I'm determined, diligent, and I work hard," Wu said, striding through Huaqiangbei, a mecca of electronics goods shipped throughout the world. Wu, clad in a sea-green jumpsuit and white lace-up boots, ignored the male eyes peering from beyond mountains of mouse pads and microchips. "Visibility is very important to me," she said.
Even before the accusations, online comments questioned Wu's near fluent English (she was an English major) or her technical skills (she taught herself to code because she was an English major and needed work).
But the attacks grew more pronounced this fall, when an anonymous blog post claimed Wu was the face of a boyfriend's operation. Wu insisted the projects were her own creations.
Then Dougherty got involved. He's often referred to as the father of the movement, which promotes everyday creators from basement tinkerers to inventors of talking robots. Dougherty also runs Maker Media, a San Francisco media company that publishes Make: magazine and organizes events for the industry known as Maker Faires.
Wu had criticized Dougherty online for excluding her from such events and attacked him personally. He responded in November.
"Naomi is a persona, not a real person," he tweeted. "She is several or many people."
Dougherty told his nearly 26,000 followers to send him a direct message for more information. Then the small spat turned into an international battle.
Wu said employers started pulling out of potential deals or asking more questions about her work.
Other makers began demanding Dougherty's resignation. Andrew "bunnie" Huang, an American researcher and hacker, wrote a 2,345-word defense of Wu on his blog.
"It's not a big leap for me to accept Naomi as a Maker," he said in the post. "I do my best engineering when sitting half-naked at my desk. … I don't have the strength to challenge these social norms" that associate certain dress with intelligence. "Secretly, I'm glad someone is."
Naomi is just a flash point ...because she is extremely vocal and not ashamed of her femininity.
Andrew "bunnie" Huang, an American researcher and hacker
Two days after his tweet, Dougherty apologized. He followed it with a more comprehensive mea culpa in Make:, calling his comments "completely inappropriate."
His words, he said, "reflected my unconscious biases; and the negative impact of my tweets were amplified by the fact that I, a white, Western, male CEO of a key company in the Maker community publicly questioned a young, female, self-employed Chinese maker."
He offered to put Wu on the cover of the magazine and include a story about her work. He also invited her to participate in an advisory board for events in China.
Dougherty, in an email, confirmed the magazine is working on a piece about Wu for the next issue, but declined to say more.
"Dale was wrong, and he knows that," said Sherry Huss, vice president of Maker Media. "It was really just an unfortunate situation."
Huss, who helped start Maker Faires 12 years ago, said the movement is by nature an inclusive one. "It's people that are curious and have a creative mind, that's the group we're trying to appeal to," she said.
Maker Media partners with another company for the Shenzhen fair, which Huss attended in mid-November. Event organizers pulled together a meeting of 13 women to discuss their experiences.
"The conversations have started and the healing has begun, and that's a good sign," Huss said.
Wu considers the situation resolved — although it refuses to die on the Internet.
"Naomi is just a flash point for the issue because she is extremely vocal and not ashamed of her femininity," Huang said in an email. "It's kind of disappointing that it takes someone so far from the average to make progress."
Mao Tse-tung, the founder of modern China, encouraged women to join the labor force in his quest for an industrialized society. Despite that legacy, Chinese women still struggle to achieve top positions in academia and politics. No woman has reached the highest rung of power, a seven-member leadership panel. Only one serves on the 25-member Politburo.
Chinese women find more success than those in the U.S. when it comes to tech, according to a 2016 report by Silicon Valley Bank. Nearly 80% of Chinese startups include one high-level woman, it concluded, compared with 54% of American startups.
Zhou Qunfei, founder of touch-screen maker Lens Technology, labored in factories before she ran them. Now she's the world's richest self-made woman. Hu Weiwei, a 35-year-old former journalist, heads China's hugely successful bike-sharing service, Mobike.
That advancement only goes so far. The World Economic Forum's global gender gap index ranks China at 100 out of 144 countries, above Turkey and Korea but below Tajikistan and India. Despite China's increasing affluence, its spot has fallen for nearly a decade.
Discrimination persists in more nuanced ways, analysts say, from not hiring a woman near childbearing age to assuming a foreign male has more expertise.
"There's this perception that if you are the woman, you must be the translator," said Law Yee Ping, founder of Hong Kong Innovation Services, which works with makers in Shenzhen.
Law admitted to her own bias when she first heard about Wu. "On second thought, I said, 'We have a right to choose what we wear.'"
Much like her wearable designs, Wu considers her visibility a tool to defy norms of appearance and profession. That commitment, she said, has only intensified.
"Every day now, I'm doing everything I can to promote women in tech," she said, before resuming her shopping — for a new microcontroller.
Meyers is a special correspondent.
Twitter: @jessicameyers
In Beijing, a mass eviction leads to a rare public display of rage
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North Korea's missile launch is a triumph for the rogue nation, 'worrisome' for the world
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Podcast: The pandemic will end. We promise.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


I'd like to add my voice to this topic. I was just browsing through the modules under "admin themes", sorted them by date and oh… the latest one is 4 years old… And almost all of them stopped with version 2. As much as I like this CMS, I'm having more and more of a hard time convincing clients to use it, and I think it has a lot to do with the looks. It feels old and somehow odd… i just came across the module "admin theme boss" by @Noel Boss and what a relief! Finally something I can present to my clients without shaking. I'm really hoping for improvements in this field, since I'm a true believer in the love at first sight, or at least how important first impressions are.
It's an old post but still a hot topic… I create a lot of websites for clients in german, sometimes in french. I often end up with a mix of languages either in the fields or templates names… Anybody working with multilanguage sites with a good practice suggestion?
Hi, On GitHub it's posted as solved, although I still get that problem with integer fields on Form Builder. Anybody still having that problem?
I had the same issue and this seemed to fix it. What is this function?
Language Switcher: do i need to update all URLs in the API?
You nailed it. It's an old site (one of my first ever with pw), and I wasn't rendering the URLs correctly. It works now. Thanks a lot for your help, wbnjfktr (whatever that means).
Yes, I did. "en" and "de". But the names of the languages (under "languages") are "default" and "deutsch". But as far as I know, they don't have to (can't) be the same?
Yes, I'm aware of that. That's my issue. That's what I get with sharpening set on SOFT. Are the core rendering engines just not that good?
HI, Has anyone encountered quality issues with the croppable module? I know I'm very picky when it comes to image quality, but I'm getting pretty bad results and I'm wondering what i can do about it. I've tried no sharpening, sharpening soft, quality 90 and 80, but the images still look "pixelated", specially in the diagonals. See screenshot attached. Original left, cropping on the right.
Ok ok ok… You got me curious, I'll try out your module ;-) I was reluctant to use it since I only need the first page of each PDF, but the PDFs I'm dealing with have 1-5 pages, so it's not likely going to take too much storage space. Will it work if placed in a repeater?
Hi Richard, I've tried out this module on version 2.6 and it works nicely! I've tried installing it in version 3.0 and had to restore the database from backup: I got error messages and couldn't reach the PDF-field anymore. The information about compatibility is misleading: on the module page it says compatible with version 3.0, but later on it's stated <3.0. Too bad I can't used it now, I liked it a lot! Thanks.
Yep. Just what i was dreading: I installed the module and it's not compatible with version 3.0. Now I can't delete the field that cause the issue, and I can't get rid of the module since it's used by a field… PS: I could restore from backup. I'll inform the compatibility issue in the right forum.
I haven't tested the module yet. True, I missed the compatibility part. It says somewhere below: Requirements: Processwire >=2.5 <3.0 That's what threw me off. I guess the text isn't quite up to date… I'll give it a try now. Thanks for your help.


text:
Fright Night's Anton Yelchin: Jedward are really cool
Sarah DeenThursday 1 Sep 2011 1:02 pm
Anton Yelchin – who stars in vampire flick Fright Night alongside David Tennant, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Colin Farrel – has described X Factor duo Jedward as 'cool' after meeting them in the Celebrity Big Brother house.
Anton Yelchin enjoyed meeting 'very nice' Jedward in the Celebrity Big Brother House. Probably because he wasn't with them for long (Picture: Getty)
Anton and his Fright Night co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse headed into the CBB house to hand out a ticket to a screening of the new horror flick, also starring Irish beefcake Farrell .
Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk, Anton described the zany twins as 'very cool'.
He said: 'Meeting them was nice. They and the other housemates seemed a bit stir-crazy and wired. But Jedward were nice; both of them were really cool. Everyone in there was great to me and Chris.'
Despite singing the praises of his housemates, 22-year-old Anton confessed that he would never appear on the show himself.
'I probably wouldn't do Big Brother myself, or something like Dancing With The Stars. I just wouldn't want to do that stuff. It doesn't sound like it would be very fun.
'I was shocked when I found out they couldn't even have a book in there [the Big Brother House]. I was like "What? You can't read?". They can't even have a newspaper.'
The Star Trek star also praised his Fright Night fellow actor David Tennant for his role as a failed Las Vegas occult act – although he confesses he hasn't seen him Doctor Who.
'I haven't seen Doctor Who but I'm sure he's good in it' he said, 'David's great in Fright Night, and he's a lovely man. It was a blast to watch him act, and create his character. It was just so much fun.'
Fright Night is released this Friday 2nd September
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This Morning viewers call out Dr Michael Mosley as he stands by 800 calorie diet after Lose A Stone in 21 Days
Tipping Point presenter Ben Shephard pays tribute to contestant who died before episode aired
Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani thinks Game Of Thrones is documentary about 'fictitious medieval England'
John Barrowman has been seeing therapist for five months after struggling in lockdown: 'I was going into a room and sobbing'
Home › Entertainment › TV


Sadness fills the land as Jeremy, the webcomic about the kid with the heart of gold and the body of criminal parts, comes to a close. He'll be missed. However, I'm proud to announce the addition of two transgender webcomics. The first, Venus Envy, is about a young bisexual MtF and her trials and tribulations as she explores her gender identity and tries to live a normal life in a new town with a crazy lesbian friend, a hostile FtM, a supportive father, a worried mother, and lots of boy interest. So far it's been very funny while touching on many real-life issues transfolk deal with. The second, Lean On Me, started out with a young boy named Yun who liked to dress in feminine clothes and a sweet nerdy girl who adored him for it; the arrival of Jennifer, a new girl in school who turns out to be MtF, helps Yun realize that she is also transsexual. Young transsexual lesbian bliss, mixed in with violence from transphobic classmates, follows. Right now Lean On Me is focusing on Jennifer as she goes to college and deals with the stresses of knowing nearly nobody and worrying about gender prejudice everywhere. I love both strips greatly and can't wait for more.


Performance improvements for write operations (backups, exports) using the Shrink or Deflate algorithms.
Improved messaging for out of disk space errors.
Resolved issues with initialization on encrypted archives.
Added Processor Affinity capability for HyperBac Registrations.
Added support for xcopy operations with integrated compression/encryption.
Enhanced support for compressed/encrypted DTS operations.
Improved HyperBac Configuration Manager interface.
Resolved issues with remote file backup indexing on some systems.
Version 2.6 introduces a new Configuration file (hyperbac.conf) format. Previous versions of the Configuration file (hyperbac.conf format) are not compatible with version 2.6.
Improved performance for AES encryption operations.
Enhanced status notification architecture and event logging.
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Resolved issues with concurrent file handling.
Resolved issues with dynamic backup file indexing on remote systems.
Changes to default HyperBac program files directories are implemented in this version.
New, improved HyperBac Configuration Manager application.
New, improved system tray Status Manager application.
Extended debug and logging capabilities.
Resolved issues with compatibility with specific remote storage drivers.
Resolved issues with service heartbeat on systems under heavy load.
Updated license management, including added security and consolidation of licenses per company.
Resolved intermittent service issues on Windows 2000 systems.
Installation support for SQL Server 2005 Named Instances.
ZIP32 and ZIP64 output file format support.
HyperBac Status Manager application added.
Backup performance improvements for multi threaded systems.
Restore performance enhancement for large files.
Extended support for USB mass storage devices.
Reboot no longer required for new installations.


text:
MOROCCO GETS BYD PLANT
The Chinese vehicle manufacturer BYD has signed an agreement with the Moroccan government about plans. to construct a factory in the north African nation. On the envisaged production site near Tangiers BYD plans to engage 2,500 employees to construct passenger vehicles, buses and trucks with electric engines, as well as produce a range of batteries.
This comes as both Renault and Peugeot-Citroen have previously announced plans to open manufacturing sites in Morocco, which is hoping to eventually produce more than 650, 000 vehicles per year. Adding a fourth facility will enable Morocco to reach these goals by 2021, according to government authorities.
The move to integrate BYD into Moroccos' long-term infrastructural planning strengthens the nations plans to fully commit to sustainable development, which has also announced plans to produce 52% of the nations energy needs from renewable sources by 2030.
BYD Company Ltd:


Plenty of cats would be perfectly content to live in a tiny home with a window to gaze out of and a lap to curl up in. Six-year-old Tigger is not one of those cats. His natural curiosity, energy and desire for human attention can quickly turn into boredom, and he finds ways to entertain himself — usually by escaping through whatever door he feels is holding him back from his best life.
While it's true that Tigger needs more adventure than most cats, he can get himself into situations that make him anxious to the point that he'll scratch and bite. When his life is plenty exciting and interesting (but in a safe way), his behavior improves greatly. That's why caregivers at Cat World are giving Tigger everything he needs to keep him happy and not so focused on door-dashing.
Before coming to Best Friends, the handsome tabby-and-white cat lived with a person in an RV park. Due to an injury, Tigger's person was unable to give Tigger enough physical exercise or mental stimulation, so the clever cat figured out other ways of keeping himself entertained. He kept escaping and wandering around the RV park.
That created a dilemma for Tigger's person: How can someone help a cat trying to constantly escape outside when he or she can't physically give the cat the attention and enrichment he wants and needs? And what happens when the neighbors get concerned when a cat keeps running outside so much that he seems to be a stray?
Clearly, life in the RV park wasn't working for Tigger. By the time he came to the Sanctuary, he was already an accomplished feline escape artist. Once he settled into his room at Cat World, he learned how to get out of that, too. Fortunately, the buildings at Cat World are secure, so Tigger couldn't run outside and disappear. Instead, he waited until someone opened the door of his room, and then — seeing his chance — he'd dash out into the lobby.
It can be dangerous when a cat "door-dashes," especially if he's going from a place of safety and familiarity to one that is less safe or less familiar. And when a cat keeps running out the door and finding himself in a place that triggers anxiety and causes inappropriate behavior (like Tigger did), it's a significant challenge.
The lobby really wasn't where Tigger wanted to be. Unfamiliar cats and new situations make him feel unsettled and upset. While Tigger doesn't particularly love other cats, he was getting used to the ones in his room. But the cats in the lobby were new to him and made him more nervous. When he dashed out into the lobby, he also found himself in a busy, bustling place where caregivers were cleaning, preparing food and medication for the cats and greeting the many visitors and volunteers who come and go throughout the day.
All the commotion made Tigger feel so agitated that, whenever someone tried to pick him up to take him back to his room, he'd lash out with his teeth and claws. His redirected stress and frustration sent a clear message: He desperately needed time each day to explore the world outside of his room and to satisfy his curiosity. He also needed a way to do it that would keep everyone happy and safe.
To help, Tigger's caregivers designed a behavior plan to reduce his anxiety, give him the socialization and adventure that he craves and teach him skills that would allow people to handle him safely. First, with the help of a clicker, Tigger learned to walk willingly into a cat carrier. This way, when he escaped his room, he could be taken back safely and securely in the carrier with no additional stress.
Next, Tigger learned to walk on a harness and leash, and to ride in a cat stroller. Caregivers began taking him outside at the same time each day for stroller rides or walks on a harness and leash. Tigger is a smart cat, and he soon learned that he had an adventure to look forward to every day at 11 a.m. That stopped him from door-darting before that time. And because he usually felt satisfied after an outing, it kept him from dashing out of his room for the rest of the day.
After learning to use a cat carrier, then a kitty booster seat with a leash clip, and then (after several weeks) just a cat harness and leash, Cat World caregiver Levi Myers taught Tigger to ride on a golf cart.
While golf cart rides for dogs are a favorite activity in Dogtown, they're not as common in Cat World. But Raed, one of the Sanctuary's most iconic cats, loved them and found them endlessly entertaining, so Levi thought he would try them with Tigger.
Although he was unsure at first, Tigger now looks forward to his daily golf cart rides. They just might be his favorite activity, as well as being a great reward for his good behavior. He's gone from peeking cautiously out of his carrier to sitting on the seat beside his caregiver, or jumping onto Levi's lap and putting his paws up on the steering wheel with his face in the wind. Halfway through the golf cart ride, they stop in a quiet place so that Tigger can have a good walk and a chance to roll in the sand.
He's certainly gained more confidence in the months since his training and outings began. During his walks, he used to hunker down nervously whenever a car passed on the nearby road. Now he barely reacts at all. At the end of his walks, if he's strayed too far from the golf cart, Tigger allows his caregiver to pick him up and carry him back to their ride without acting out in any way.
At the end of each adventure when he's safely back in his room and his harness is removed, Tigger gets treats to help end the session on a positive note and help him understand that what he just did was good. Then he can relax and look forward to the next day's outing.
While Tigger Time has turned the tide against the cat's door-darting and redirected frustration, he still has behavior challenges. He'll always needs structured outlets for his energy and adventurous spirit. But when he gets what he needs, he's truly happy.


Ok, I know this is frowned upon and just so everyone knows, I take VERY good care of my batteries. However, for about year now, I've been using 2600mah 18650 canister and 1200 "flat" LiOn batteries out of laptops. The weight ratios are comparable and over the years I've collected DOZENS of these guys. I never run them without a timer and never more than 20% of cap.
And just so everyone knows, I'm not condoning the use of canister lithium batteries. They are DANGEROUS if you're not careful. Think about all the times you've puffed a lipo. If that were a Lion, you would have had fireworks inside your plane. The reason Lions are able to be used in laptops is because of the extremely dynamic charging systems they use. With that being said, be sure to balance charge, always charge outside or in a protected area, and never over amp lions. Also, be wary of gutted batteries. With their use/misuse unknown, the chances get much higher for an accident.
Disclaimers out of the way, I've built several 2s, 3s, and 4s setups with both of these versions of Lion. I'm also going to be using a pair of them in my fs-i6x. I figure I've made about $300 worth of bat packs over the last year and I still have dozens of laptop packs to gut. I just tore another 9 out of an old thinkpad last week and I'm planning on setting up a 5200 3s pack for the Golden Goose MkII. But that's another thread for another time. I will say that I get much better performance out of the Lion packs than I do with Lipo. This isn't a very fair comparison though since I only buy Lipos on the cheap. Lions do seem to take a bit longer to charge, they don't seem to get nearly as hot, and they HATE the cold. I don't know if this is just because of the casing or just their age. Also, I have yet to have a Lion go bad on me. All of these were old (10+ years) and after a couple of break-ins they all have worked flawlessly over and over and over again.
Would you mind posting a how-to on this. I know there area number of videos. and I have a number of these batts. on hand from defunct electronics. I wanted to turn them into a flight pack.
When I get home tonight, I'll grab my new set that I haven't soldered up yet and see if I can't do a quick video on putting one together without a tray.
I also found some crazy 18650s with circuit protection and a micro usb charger built in. Very interesting to say the least but you'll have almost twice as much in one of these as a 3s compared to a lipo softie.
Lithium ion batteries are great when you know what to do with them, there is a reason they are loved by the long range FPV community. They have much better energy density than regular lipo at the cost of lower C rating, as for use they arent that contraining, charge them at 0.7c (usually), never go over their rated discharge and balance them. I have a 7000mah 3s2p pack in a glider, it weights as much as a 4400mah lipo pack but gives better performance due to the higher capacity. Having a spot welder is recommended to solder them because heat will damage them rapidly but I found using a hot iron and pre-tinning the contacts to solder onto them with a short amount of time works, also having some sort of heat sink around them to make sure they don't overheat.
Fluburtur you make an excellent point. The exact batteries I've got on hand are Sanyo UR18650FM with a 2c rating. I should have made the point as you did to NOT over discharge these cells. SO, will these be a direct replacement for all of your LiPo needs? No, not if you're running high amp systems. I will say that I've used these in a 3s config on my dual engine Goose, but I behaved myself and never experienced any excessive heat or performance issues. Granted I'm only running 1000kv 2212s and it doesn't take much throttle to float her around. I would also recommend adding some telemetry readers as well if you're pushing the envelope (which I'll be doing with the MKII).
FoamyDM here's the guts I'll be working with. I believe these came out of an old generic Thinkpad x60. As you can see, I try to keep all of the factory wiring in tact to use as my connection points. I didn't get a chance to start the build last night but I'll try to finish it up this evening. Basically this battery was setup as a 9 cell 3s. 3 sets of 3 in parallel with the sets in series giving us roughly 11.1v at 7800mah. I like to use the series sets as they usually have some wiring already available to use. You'll need to break the series apart and rewire in parallel.
It also helps having the factory wiring as it gives you multiple places to add a balance plug or in the least a 3 point charging setup so you can manually balance. I've been manually balancing mine just because I don't have any balance plugs at the moment.
I won't get into too much detail right at the moment, but I'll try either doing a video tonight or a photo/instructional. (getting my new knock off go-pro tonight so I've gotta try it out anyway!).


text:
H.R.4935 - To amend title 38, United States Code, to increase the size of the estate an incompetent veteran being furnished institutional care by the Department of Veterans Affairs may have without being subject to suspension of benefits.106th Congress (1999-2000)
Rep. Minge, David [D-MN-2] (Introduced 07/24/2000)
House - Veterans' Affairs
House - 12/07/2000 Referred to the Subcommittee on Benefits. (All Actions)
Cosponsors (23)
Cosponsors: H.R.4935 — 106th Congress (1999-2000)All Information (Except Text)
Sponsor: Rep. Minge, David [D-MN-2] | Cosponsor statistics: 23 current - includes 8 original
Rep. Evans, Lane [D-IL-17]* 07/24/2000
Rep. Oberstar, James L. [D-MN-8]* 07/24/2000
Rep. Holden, Tim [D-PA-6]* 07/24/2000
Rep. Frost, Martin [D-TX-24] 07/26/2000
Rep. Reyes, Silvestre [D-TX-16] 07/26/2000
Rep. Gordon, Bart [D-TN-6] 07/26/2000
Rep. Davis, Danny K. [D-IL-7] 07/26/2000
Rep. Baldacci, John Elias [D-ME-2] 07/26/2000
Rep. McKinney, Cynthia A. [D-GA-4] 07/27/2000
Rep. Gutierrez, Luis V. [D-IL-4] 09/12/2000
Rep. Bonior, David E. [D-MI-10] 09/12/2000
Rep. Green, Gene [D-TX-29] 09/13/2000
Rep. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT-At Large] 09/14/2000
Rep. Stupak, Bart [D-MI-1] 09/14/2000
Rep. Capuano, Michael E. [D-MA-8] 09/19/2000
Rep. Baird, Brian [D-WA-3] 09/28/2000
Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9] 10/03/2000
Rep. Murtha, John P. [D-PA-12] 12/14/2000
07/24/2000 - Rep. Evans, Lane [D-IL-17]*
07/24/2000 - Rep. Oberstar, James L. [D-MN-8]*
07/24/2000 - Rep. Holden, Tim [D-PA-6]*
07/26/2000 - Rep. Frost, Martin [D-TX-24]
07/26/2000 - Rep. Reyes, Silvestre [D-TX-16]
07/26/2000 - Rep. Gordon, Bart [D-TN-6]
07/26/2000 - Rep. Davis, Danny K. [D-IL-7]
07/26/2000 - Rep. Baldacci, John Elias [D-ME-2]
07/27/2000 - Rep. McKinney, Cynthia A. [D-GA-4]
09/12/2000 - Rep. Gutierrez, Luis V. [D-IL-4]
09/12/2000 - Rep. Bonior, David E. [D-MI-10]
09/13/2000 - Rep. Green, Gene [D-TX-29]
09/14/2000 - Rep. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT-At Large]
09/14/2000 - Rep. Stupak, Bart [D-MI-1]
09/19/2000 - Rep. Capuano, Michael E. [D-MA-8]
09/28/2000 - Rep. Baird, Brian [D-WA-3]
10/03/2000 - Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. [D-IL-9]
12/14/2000 - Rep. Murtha, John P. [D-PA-12]
Independent [1]
Illinois [4]
Pennsylvania [3]
Texas [3]
California [1]


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Finished a few review books I was happily inundated with recently... Two are excellent treatments, but, regrettably, another was perhaps one of publishing's greatest wastes of compressed wood pulp (maybe I'll save it for a 'worst book I read this year' posting). But on to what's good about Civil War publishing.
Ironclad's No Such Army Since the Days of Julius Caesar is a definitive piece of the military history of Sherman's Carolinas Campaign. I get the feeling that most authors are so spent near a project's completion that the analysis section, which is always positioned at the end, often suffers. It feels rushed, belabored by obvious points, and spare with detail as compared with previous chapters. Not so here. The authors (Mark Smith and Wade Sokolosky) are career military officers and their critical analysis of the campaign is truly impressive.
University of Kentucky Press's Contested Borderland: The Civil War in Appalachian Kentucky And Virginia is a fine introduction to the Civil War in the Big Sandy Valley and the mountain divide between eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia. It's coverage is broad in scope, touching on military leaders and events (both regular and irregular) as well as analyzing how social, political, religious, and economic ties factored into determining regional loyalties and support for the war. Brian McKnight's work here is the first really comprehensive examination of the Civil War in this particular region of Appalachia. I look forward to his future work.
**If you're interested, my reviews of these two books will probably appear in the next issue or two of North and South magazine and will be republished later on here as well.
"The Yankee Invasion of Texas"
I recently obtained a copy of The Yankee Invasion of Texas by Stephen Townsend. After posting about a couple books I admire dealing with the Overland Expedition to Texas in the Fall of 1863 (here and here), I was pleasantly surprised to find a title coming out that deals with the interrelated coastal invasion, the "Rio Grande Expedition", of the same period. I haven't had a chance to read it yet, but, at first glance, it looks like another good Texas A&M press title. When the time comes, I'll post my thoughts about it here.
Donald S. Frazier. "Tom Green's Texans: The Civil War in Southwest Louisiana". College Station: Texas A&M University Press, forthcoming.
Donald S. Frazier. "Americans at War, 1861-1865: The Struggle for Southern Independence". London: University College London, forthcoming.
Although I shouldn't prejudge from title alone, I'm not quite sure we need another book like the last one on the list, but the first two definitely have my deep interest. The press Texas A&M is affiliated with has had a nice run of recent Civil War titles. I hope they keep it up.
Michael Burlingame: "The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln"
While viewing a CSPAN2 Booktv program last year(I wish I could remember which one), a historian mentioned that Michael Burlingame was working on a multivolume biography of Lincoln. Unfortunately, since that time I haven't seen any further mention of such a project.
Michael Burlingame's The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln (University of Illinois Press, 1994) is my favorite 'Lincoln book'. It's been called a psycho-biography. This is unfortunate in some ways because the book isn't a biography in the classic sense and so many previous authors, perhaps in an attempt to make their mark in a crowded field, have vastly overreached when constructing their conclusions from the available evidence. Right or wrong, the psycho- prefix has reflexively become a bit of a pejorative term in the minds of many readers. In my opinion, Michael Burlingame's work in this regard is among the best out there. His measured approach takes neither criticism nor praise too far and he generally avoids the overreaching conclusions mentioned above that harm the credibility of so many writers (at least that's my memory of it).
Inner World is a collection of excellent essays dealing in turn with AL's ambition, anger, and depression; along with his attitude toward marriage, women, parenting and slavery. My personal favorite is the very first chapter, which traces Lincoln's development from party hack to statesman. Burlingame marks the transformation in the context of a midlife crisis of sorts. I was immediately hooked as this aspect of Lincoln's political development was something I had never seen in any other scholarship--although admittedly I don't read the majority of the new Lincoln stuff that spews forth every year. On the other hand, in Inner World, some important issues were left out. One notable omission was a self-contained essay on Lincoln and religion/spirituality.
Frequent scans through the upcoming and new release CW books on Amazon seems to reveal a marked uptick in Abe Lincoln 'issue books' over the past year or so. I hope readers don't confuse The Inner World of Abraham Lincoln with Tripp's The Intimate World of Abraham Lincoln.
The operation was massive in scale (up to 120,000 Federals and 75,000 Confederates); and who knows if these numbers are even accurate, and, additionally, I've never seen a detailed order-of-battle anywhere.
We have the interesting and unique opportunity to study Halleck as field commander; and, furthermore, all the 'big men' from the U.S. side--Pope, Grant, Buell, Thomas, Sherman--were in the field together for the only time during the war.
The political, social, and military consequences of the war's first mass bloodletting at Shiloh (including the handling of Grant) could be studied to good effect at this moment.
It was perhaps during this campaign more than any other that disease had the greatest influence on the condition of the opposing armies. The swampy terrain's insect denizens and lack of potable water put men in the hospital by the tens of thousands. A medical study of this campaign could probably fill a book of its own.
The railroad junction at Corinth was one of the 'great points' of the Confederacy and a detailed reevaluation of the periods immediately before, during, and after the siege may provide some rich ground for a fresh strategic analysis.
The lack of a signature battle or truly any significant fighting at all (the fight at Farmington won't cut it) has probably contributed to this campaign being ignored relative to the other western campaigns in 1862. It's a shame.
The Battle of Bull Run is so full of drama, controversy, and interesting personages that there always seems to be room for a fresh interpretation. Professor David Detzer, whose previous Civil War book Allegiance was well received, has entered the mix with a new history of the battle that challenges many of the conclusions of prior authors. The jacket boldly proclaims that Donnybrook is the "first major history of Bull Run to detail the battle from its origins through its aftermath". Questionable premise aside, the result is a bit of mixed bag.
Donnybrook is not a classic battle study, but rather a vibrant narrative history that will appeal to a wide range of readers. Detzer's style is informal and a bit eccentric but very effective and unfailingly entertaining. How many academic historians would describe Stonewall Jackson as a "twit" or quote boxer Mike Tyson in a chapter head? Another passage, related to Israel Richardson's new marriage, amusingly stated that "though his loins may have been more relaxed, his fighting instinct remained". Granted, the style isn't for everybody, but the substance cannot be discounted. Although there is no bibliography to compare with previous works, detailed endnotes are included that make it abundantly clear that the author did his homework. Detzer uncovered a vast number of primary accounts and skillfully weaved them into the text.
Even the most jaded Bull Run specialist will enjoy reading this book. In my opinion, the most interesting aspect of Donnybrook is the author's unabashed challenging of the battle's many myths and interpretations. There are far too many to list here but they include perhaps history's least condemning review of Robert Patterson's generalship (ed. 3/12/06 - Russel Beatie is similarly corrective in volume one of his Army of the Potomac series). The author's assessment of the campaign's heroes and villains is certainly unconventional. Detzer additionally holds the actions of Jackson and his Virginians to be unexceptional and he is never afraid to confront previous historians's conclusions about specific events that took place during the fighting on Henry House Hill.
However, the book is not without flaws, some serious. The absence of even a single map is really unacceptable. Considering how inviting most of the book is to the novice reader, how that person will begin to understand the confused fighting without maps is beyond me. Though the depiction of events up to and including the action on Matthew's Hill is excellent, the previously smoothly flowing narrative breaks down on Henry House Hill. Mythbusting tangents and conflicting sources notwithstanding, the author fails to construct a likely sequence of events from the sources available that is comprehensive enough to give the reader a reasonable impression of what happened there. The previous works of Hennessy, Davis, and most recently Rafuse were much more successful in this regard. Finally, the ending was rushed. Though organized into three books, the action on Matthew's Hill does not begin in earnest until Book Three and the battle's aftermath takes up only a dozen pages or so in a book containing over 400 pages of text. This wasn't enough space to convincingly lay out the author's thesis minimizing the negative consequences of the Union defeat.
Nevertheless, everyone interested in the Battle of Bull Run should read this book. Detzer's narrative style is extremely entertaining, accessible, and can draw the general reader in in the vein of a Foote or a McPherson and the multitude of new interpretations of persons and events should spark a lively debate among the specialists.
I was wondering when the third volume (well, actually the second, as the author did them out of chronological order) of David Detzer's trilogy detailing the first three months of the Civil War was going to be released. Looks like Dissonance : The Turbulent Days Between Fort Sumter and Bull Run will be out in May of this year.
I think I take the minority view of the overall quality and level of importance of Detzer's earlier volumes, Donnybrook and Allegiance , but they are certainly worth reading. Aside from a lack of alliterative consistency with the other two titles, I found Detzer's Allegiance to be a decidedly inferior 'Fort Sumter book' to Maury Klein's excellent Days of Defiance . If nothing else, Detzer has a free swinging style and an entertaining take on the leading personalities of the period.
Nevertheless, I am looking forward to reading Dissonance. At least the ground covered here is a little less trampled.
"Mr. Lincoln Goes to War"
Thanks to Brian Dirck for mentioning an upcoming Lincoln book (Mr. Lincoln Goes to War) by William Marvel in his blog. Although I have only a limited familiarity with the entire range of Marvel's work, I think it's safe to say that Dirck need not worry that Marvel's level of scholarship or depth of thought will bear any resemblence to that of DiLorenzo, Bennett, or Tripp. Even so, the book's description sounds provocative to put it mildly.
"Focusing on the North's road to war in 1861, he (Marvel) argues that Abraham Lincoln made armed force a first choice, rather than a last resort, in addressing the Union's breakup. While conceding the complex problems Lincoln faced, and the corresponding limitations on his options, Marvel describes the president's course of action as "destructive and unimaginative.""
It is a subject worthy of close examination (and one you won't find treated seriously in any respectable Lincoln study that I know of). I am interested in seeing the development of Marvel's argument, but I guess it will have to wait until May.
Review: "Spartan Band: Burnett's 13th Texas Cavalry in the Civil War"
In recent years, students of the Trans-Mississippi theater of the Civil War have been treated with several fine Texas unit histories. The best known of these is probably Richard Lowe's excellent book Walker's Texas Division, C.S.A: Greyhounds of the Trans-Mississippi. This outfit, commanded during most of its active history by John G. Walker, marched and fought all over southern Arkansas and western Louisiana from 1862 to 1865 before ending up back in Texas at war's end. The "greyhounds" sobriquet was a result of the incredible marching distances covered by the division during the war. The 13th Texas Cavalry, organized by Mexican War veteran John H. Burnett, was one of the greyhound regiments and participated in all of the division's major campaigns and movements.
Spartan Band is a well-researched and engagingly written social and political history of the 13th Texas Cavalry regiment. In his discussion of the unit's organization, author Thomas Reid surveys in detail the demographics of the regiment and confirms Lowe's findings. Following assembly and training, the Texas cavalrymen were sent to Arkansas where they were promptly dismounted, forcing the men to fight on foot for the rest of the war. One very interesting subject that Reid covers is the effect of the Conscription Act on units already organized. The legislation had a profoundly negative impact on the 13th Texas, which lost over one-fourth of its strength, including many men with military experience.
Up until its operations against Federal conclaves west of the Mississippi during the Vicksburg Campaign, the regiment's service was largely confined to interminable and seemingly pointless marching and countermarching across the theater. Exhaustion and constant exposure in the wet woods and swamps of Arkansas and Louisiana took a terrible toll on the Texans's health. Over the length of its service, disease killed almost ten times as many men in the 13th as enemy bullets did.
Although one participant commented that Walker's Texas division marched more and fought less than any other Confederate division, the Texans did see significant action at the battles of Mansfield, Pleasant Hill and Jenkins's Ferry during the 1864 Red River Campaign. In the book, the role of the 13th Texas in these battles is portrayed adequately enough for most readers, but some may find the level of tactical detail in the maps and text to be wanting in places. Overall though, Spartan Band is a very solid regimental history that interested parties of all stripes will find well worth reading.


text:
The Oratory Parish » Activities » Spiritual Activities
Brothers of the Little Oratory (Chaplain: F. Philip Cleevely) The Little Oratory was the first work of S. Philip Neri while he was still a layman and provides an opportunity for men who, though not following a vocation to the priesthood, would like to devote a portion of their time to prayer, charitable works and to the spread our holy religion. 'The Brothers' meet on Tuesdays evenings, after Benediction, at 8.20 pm in S. Philip's Chapel for prayer followed by refreshments and socialising. All men welcome to attend.
Union of Catholic Mothers (Chaplain: F. Paul Chavasse) The Oratory branch of the UCM meets on Tuesday evenings at 8.20, after Benediction (except in August). In addition to the weekly prayer and social evenings, there are various fund raising events, organised trips to places of interest and two Retreats, sometimes locally and sometimes further afield such as Hawkestone, Belmont Abbey, Prinknash. Open meetings of illustrated talks by guest speakers are also organised from time to time. In July each year UCM members from all over the country go on pilgrimage to Walsingham. All married women welcome to attend.
S. Philip Neri Circle (Chaplain: F. Philip Cleevely) Three series of intellectual talks per annum on various faith and morality issues are followed by discussion, compline and coffee. Details are advertised by poster and on the newsletter.
Altar Society (Chaplain: F. Paul Chavasse) The Altar Society looks after the decoration of the altars in church, including the flowers and linens. New members are always needed and training will be given. Requires some availability during the day on weekdays.
Walsingham Association (Chaplain: F. Paul Chavasse) We have an active branch of the Walsingham Association, which organises an annual pilgrimage to Walsingham and Mass in honour of our Lady of Walsingham at the Oratory, and maintains a lamp burning constantly before her image in our church.
Society of S. Hugh Started over 45 years ago by one of our sacristans, Mr Hugo Holland, who still organises it, this prayer group meets for 15 minutes at 12.45 pm in the Oratory House, on the first Sunday of each month. There are special Masses and outings two or three times a year. Meetings are advertised on the newsletter.
Patricians Discussion Group Monthly talks and discussions on various issues, given by parishioners, are advertised on the newsletter.


city-building and the distinct set of material and political parameters through which these forms are shaped.
The theme of our first issue, "Looking Inward," is broadly construed as an interrogation of a "New World" taken for granted. Rather than abandoning this new world for a newer world to the east or or circling the wagons here at home, this issue of MANIFEST speaks less to a continual rehearsal of the initial American experiment in favor of a prompt toward the active shaping of its evolution. "Looking Inward" asks how can we take the reigns of a process once deemed to be a function of destiny. Why does America merit scrutiny? Assuming America deserves scrutiny, what parts have been overlooked and are deserving of attention? Of the areas that have received attention, how can they be amended, broadened, or rendered new and unfamiliar? What are the projects of America? For this issue, MANIFEST encourages a range of narratives, from the panoramic to the miniature, so long as they recast our understanding of how America is artificial, peculiar, and intriguing.
While one measure of the issue will be to articulate the necessity of the American project (the "why", "when", "where", and "why now?"), we also hope to jump right into the "how" by suggesting approaches through which to re-ignite the formal, political, economic, and perhaps even the poetic efficacy of the American built environment. The publication will act as a forum—though not a disinterested one—and in this effort, no ideological or methodological precept will be taken for granted. As withdrawal and engagement are never acceptable as ends in themselves, we ask that claims of autonomy, revolution, pragmatism, continuity, advocacy, and/or activism offer compelling narratives of the ends that inspire their means.
— For essays, please submit an abstract of 500–750 words + images, along with a brief bio or CV.
— For columns (op-eds or historical vignettes), please submit an abstract of 250–500 words + images, along with a brief bio or CV.
— For projects, speculations, graphic narratives, or photo essays, please submit relevant drawings and images, along with 250–500 words of text. Please also include a firm profile, bio, or CV.
— For reviews, please submit a 250–500 word description of the project, exhibition, or book under consideration and the critical approach to be explored. Please also include a bio or CV.
We encourage abstracts and proposals to provoke as much as describe and each should offer an insight into the narrative threads driving the work. Authorial tone can range from academic to irreverent and text lengths will vary (750–1500 words for columns and 3000–5000+ words for essays). The subject matter is wholly up to the discretion of the authors. MANIFEST encourages the submission of pieces of historical interest alongside more projective tracts and speculative arguments. Please submit all material in a single PDF (5MB maximum file size) to editors@manifestproject.org by Friday, 14 December 2012. Authors of selected proposals will be notified by late December and the editors will work with authors to develop their pieces.


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Public Notice - Planning Committee - June 6, 2019
Notice of application and public meeting regarding proposed amendments to the City of Kingston Official Plan and the Zoning Bylaws
A public meeting will be held on Thursday, June 6, 2019, at 6:30 p.m. in Council Chambers, City Hall, 216 Ontario St.
Address of property: City-Wide
Applicant: The Corporation of the City of Kingston
City file number: D35-004-2019
Purpose and effect of the proposed amendment:The proposed Official Plan amendment is intended to clarify that both new and existing low density residential development with at-grade access will not have front-yard parking except for parking in a permitted driveway as per the provisions of the Zoning Bylaw.
The proposed amendment to the zoning bylaws is intended to implement the above-noted amendment to the Official Plan, add or amend provisions related to driveway widths, and amend provisions related to the parking and storage of recreational vehicles, watercraft and trailers in residential zones.
The Official Plan contains front-yard parking policies for new residential development in Section 4.6.59 and for existing residential areas in Section 4.6.60.The intent of these policies is to preserve the character of existing neighbourhoods and maintain the designed character of new neighbourhoods.The proposed amendment to the Official Plan is intended to:
Consolidate the policies of Section 4.6.59 and 4.6.60 into one section;
Clarify that both new and existing low density residential development with at grade access will not have front-yard parking, except for parking in a permitted driveway as per the provisions of the Zoning Bylaw;
Remove the restriction that parking in a driveway is only permitted where the driveway leads to a permitted parking space in a garage, side or rear yard; and
Separate out the criteria for the review of requests to establish front yard parking in Section 4.6.60 and add new criteria.
The proposed amendments to the Zoning Bylaws are intended to:
Clarify that for residential uses that have at grade access such as single detached dwellings, semi-detached dwellings, row houses and linked dwellings, vehicles may not be parked in a front yard except in a permitted driveway (for conformity with the Official Plan policies);
Add new provisions or amend existing provisions regarding minimum and maximum permitted driveway widths for residential zones;
Permit tandem parking for residential uses that have at-grade access in areas where it is currently not permitted; and
Amend the provisions related to the parking and storage of recreational vehicles, watercraft and trailers in residential zones to remove the 72-hour time limit in a month for the temporary parking or storage of special vehicles and to regulate their temporary parking and storage on a seasonal basis.
The changes are intended to enable more consistent interpretation and application of the above-noted zoning provisions across the zoning bylaws.The proposed Zoning Bylaw amendment affects Zoning Bylaw Numbers 8499, 96-259, 97-102, 76-26, 32-74, 3077 and 8402.
Key map:The proposed amendments apply City-wide; therefore a description of the subject lands or a key map is not provided.
Additional information about the proposed amendments, including copies of the proposed amendments, can be viewed at the office of the Planning Division at 1211 John Counter Blvd., between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday to Friday, or by accessing the Development and Services Hub (DASH) at www.Cityofkingston.ca/DASH.
The address in DASH is shown as City Hall, 216 Ontario St. Enquiries may be made by telephoning Sukriti Agarwal, project manager, 613-546-4291, ext. 3217.
For more information about this matter, including information about appeal rights, contact the planning division via:
Mail: 216 Ontario St., Kingston, ON K7L 2Z3
Email: sagarwal@cityofkingston.ca
Notice of Collection: Personal information collected as a result of this Public Meeting is collected under the authority of the Municipal Act, the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA), the Planning Act, and all other relevant legislation, and will be used to assist in making a decision on this matter. All personal information (as defined by MFIPPA), including (but not limited to) names, addresses, opinions and comments collected will be made available for public disclosure to members of the public, at the meeting, through requests, and through the website of The Corporation of the City of Kingston. Questions regarding the collection, use, and disclosure of this personal information may be directed to the director of planning, building and licensing services, 216 Ontario St., Kingston, Ontario, K7L 2Z3.
DATED: at Kingston Ontario
this 14th day of May, 2019.
John Bolognone


Elegant suite in eco friendly B&B on farm with pool, perfect location, brunch instead of breakfast, excellent restaurant, nature lovers welcome!
Family-friendly, very well equipped apartment with 2 bedrooms, on the farm with dog and cat, pool and large panorama.
Fine rustic one-room apartment with terrace, parking and pool in the village outskirts, 18 km from the sea. High quality restoration and equipment!
'Casa di Gio' is in a marvellous silent and panoramic position with own parc, olive grove. 3 sleep.
Independent house in the hills of Castellina Marittima with panoramic views over the surrounding countryside and the sea.
Beautiful holiday apartment on a farm and 14 km from the beaches of Rosignano.
Typical Tuscan farmhouse of the 19th century, mostly with furniture of the same period. Located in the heart of the Tuscan countryside near Pisa.
Charming villa close to the beach and main Tuscan cities, provided with air conditioning, panoramic pool and a large garden.
Casa Chiara! Rustic Tuscan charm combined with modern comfort, beautiful location, embedded in nature, swimming pool and easy accessibility.
Vacation in a real "Podere" (a mansion), surrounded by 3000 olive trees.
The holiday home is situated on a highly panoramic hill, posed 250 meters above the sea level and covered with luxuriant Mediterranean scrub.
Exclusive Guesthouse middle in a farm of 240 hectars, which is located over a cellar and where you can taste the wine and oil production. Enjoy!


Detection of invasive species before or soon after they establish in novel environments is critical to prevent widespread ecological and economic impacts. Environmental DNA (eDNA) surveillance and monitoring is an approach to improve early detection efforts. Here we describe a large-scale conservation application of a quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay with a case study for surveillance of a federally listed nuisance species (Ruffe, Gymnocephalus cernua) in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Using current Ruffe distribution data and predictions of future Ruffe spread derived from a recently developed model of ballast-mediated dispersal in US waters of the Great Lakes, we designed an eDNA surveillance study to target Ruffe at the putative leading edge of the invasion. We report a much more advanced invasion front for Ruffe than has been indicated by conventional surveillance methods and we quantify rates of false negative detections (i.e. failure to detect DNA when it is present in a sample). Our results highlight the important role of eDNA surveillance as a sensitive tool to improve early detection efforts for aquatic invasive species and draw attention to the need for an improved understanding of detection errors. Based on axes that reflect the weight of eDNA evidence of species presence and the likelihood of secondary spread, we suggest a two-dimensional conceptual model that management agencies might find useful in considering responses to eDNA detections.
Megan O'Connor, Christopher Hawkins and David K. Loomis. : "June 2008." : Also available online in PDF via National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science home page. : Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-82).


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Game designers can now submit unreleased prototypes
Application phase until 30.09.2019.
Application via our online form.
The internationally known competition takes place for the 32nd time.
Until the 30th September 2019, all game designers will be able to submit their unreleased game ideas.
The new website (hippodice-competition.net) have brought us positive reactions; this year, authors can once again use our slightly improved online application form.
The application for the preliminary round is initially made by the digital submission of a game description and the rules of the game. Then come the actual phases of the competition:
Preliminary round: Hippodice editors will evaluate the digital submissions from September.
Main round: The best prototypes are requested, tested and evaluated in numerous test rounds.
Final round: An expert jury of publishing editors will determine the winning titles in the spring.
Important information about the author competition
Procedure: What are the phases? How does the competition work? What happens after that?
Terms and Conditions: The "Rules" of the contest. Important for all authors before submitting the application.
Application form: Use this form to enter the game and author data, and upload game descriptions and game rules as PDF


Souplantation is a proud partner of Healthy Dining Finder. We both are working towards promoting healthy choices when eating out and one way we're working together to do this is through our Interactive Nutrition Menu powered by Healthy Dining Finder. With this interactive menu, you're able to see a personalized menu of Souplantation items based on nutrition goals, allergens, or dietary restrictions you choose.
Without the availability of an interactive nutrition menu when you're dining out or eating at home, it can be difficult to know if you're portioning your meal to reach health goals and incorporate a healthy amount of each food group. To learn how to properly portion your plate, see the post the Souplantation team did on Healthy Dining Finder's blog, complete with helpful infographic!


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Sound Strategy
Karl Moehring, CEO of Washington Shoe Company, makers of Chooka, Western Chief and Staheekum, on the power of corporate culture, managing through supply chain chaos and marching toward the $100 million sales goal.
Greg Dutter
February 2022, Q&A
Karl Moehring, CEO of Washington Shoe Company.
For the record, Washington Shoe Company is a 130-year-old, fourth-generation-run, family-owned business. That's a lot of accumulated footwear and family history—years and years layered like sedimentary rock. It wouldn't be surprising if the Kent, WA-based company was firmly set in its ways. And in some respects it was, which is something CEO Karl Moehring has addressed since taking the day-to-day reins from his father, Robert Moehring, in 2015. From a top-down approach, Moehring believes if Washington Shoe Company is to continue to grow and thrive in the years ahead, it must be able to adapt to a rapidly changing industry landscape—and the best way to do that is to develop a corporate culture that attracts, retains and rewards top-notch talent.
"I'm really passionate about our culture, and I'm always willing to try new things to make it an even better place to work," Moehring says. "I geek out on that stuff. I read as much as I can about it in books and in magazines like the Harvard Business Review, and when I'm socializing with our team, I'm always asking, 'Hey, what do you think about trying this, doing that, etc.'"
One such recent read was No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings, which is about Netflix's culture and how the streaming service focuses on talent density by paying top dollar to attract the best people, as well as its practice of 360 feedback throughout the organization so employees can voice concerns and ideas. "We've incorporated 360 feedback into our culture—everyone can pipe up any time, and we also hold quarterly events," Moehring says. "We're from the Northwest, so we're kind of passive-aggressive. We want to break that mold a bit and be a little more New York style."
Another recent read was Delivering Happiness, the late Zappos founder Tony Hsieh's corporate culture manifesto on the power of a joyful workplace. Moehring says the books are yin and yang in regard to their philosophies on creating a good corporate culture. "Tony's is more about how everyone should have a good time, all the time, whereas the other one puts a little more bite to it: We want to you have fun, but we want to hold you a little more accountable," he says. "I'm trying to find the balance between these two books and blend that into our culture at Washington Shoe Company."
So far, so good. Moehring believes the efforts to make Washington Shoe Company a happy and collaborative workplace have already paid enormous dividends. In fact, he credits those improvements as a key reason the company has weathered the pandemic as well as it has so far. (Washington Shoe Company registered record sales in 2020 and, despite massive supply chain woes, this past year came in only 15 percent short of its aggressive budget projections.) Moehring attributes the success largely to how its 65 employees rallied together in a challenging period. "A lot of our people had issues with childcare and couldn't come into the office or couldn't work at all, and other people stepped up for them," he says. "Or it was salespeople who kept bringing in orders even though we struggled to get the inventory. Everyone has just rolled with the punches and leveled up." Moehring says the inspiring performance proves that his approach to building corporate culture has merit. "It tells me we're doing it the right way, which is something that we've really focused on over the last five years," he says. "Not that we saw it coming, but the perfect weapon against the pandemic is a great corporate culture."
Moehring believes a strong corporate culture will be even more important going forward. In order for the company to meet its growth projections, it must attract and retain the best talent—something that has become a challenge since the onset of the Great Resignation/Realization. The pandemic has upended the entire planet, but perhaps no more so than in the way billions of people are choosing to work. Attracting good people has gotten exponentially more difficult. "In the past, we'd post a job and would generally receive 100 applications, and now it's like three," Moehring says. "So we've had to find new ways to recruit people—like headhunters, which we never had to do before, and making sure our company is a place people love working." He adds, "They're going to have to really want to commute to that office, and the reasons are more than just salary. They're going to have to like their coworkers, appreciate their boss, want flexibility and believe in the company's mission and values. We've got to compete on all that."
Again, so far, so good. Moehring believes his company's upgraded efforts to attract and retain talent are working. For example, the first-ever Thanksgiving bonus was issued to employees this past year. "Money still works as a morale booster and motivator," he says. "The extra funds helped out a lot of our people over the holidays." Washington Shoe Company also continues to be accommodating in its work-from-home policy. "If, for example, a preschool gets shut down for two weeks, we'll be very flexible so they can work around that," he says. Then there are frequent team-building events. "We do regular Zoom happy hours and play games just to let everyone see a sense of normalcy," he says, noting that during the lockdown period some employees got pretty depressed. "So we're always trying to do bonding events."
Indeed, the world has changed dramatically and quite likely permanently. Disruption is the new black, and even the best-laid plans now come with a Covid caveat. Still, Moehring is bullish about the future for Washington Shoe Company—starting with record sales projections for 2022. "We're doing the right things to stabilize the supply chain as best we can and, while there will be shocks in the system, we've learned to roll with the punches as well as have our partners," he says. He cites goals to diversify the company's China sourcing base to include Vietnam and the U.S. over the next three years. Washington Shoe Company is also on track to hit its $100 million sales goal by 2026. However, none of that happens, he notes, without its talented team working in unison. "Our culture is the strongest it has ever been," Moehring says, noting its latest quarterly employee feedback survey saw its highest ratings in five years. "That's like the canary in the coal mine. It's an indicator of what the staff is really feeling about the work they do here. I'm excited by what the future holds for Washington Shoe Company."
How would you best describe the last two years?
Looking back at the dark days of February and March of 2020, we assumed it was going to be like the Great Depression and the year would be our worst in 130 years. That's saying a lot, because when I first started working here about 20 years ago, we almost went through a bankruptcy, which was intense. But this has just been beyond. In hindsight, I'll take the Financial Crisis over what we are dealing with now. It was a scary boogeyman, but it went away 18 months later after the Fed stepped in. There are no answers with this pandemic, really. Where is the endzone on this?
Can you see one in the distance?
It keeps moving out further. I thought we would be through the pandemic for the most part by now. But here we are, in the depths of it again with the Omicron wave. The last two years by far have been the most challenging I've ever faced.
Yet the company registered its best sales year in history in 2020. What gives?
Everything worked. We conserved cash right away—earlier than what we were hearing in the industry. And that might be because we are based in Washington, which was more aggressive and shutdown early. We did a round of layoffs of about 15 percent of our staff. It was the toughest decision I've ever made as CEO, but based on the information we were receiving, we felt it was the right decision. Fortunately, we were able to bring back the people who wanted to come back a few months later, and I think we have a stronger workforce today because of that turnover. We also informed our top retailers that had big programs with us that we were cutting purchase orders by 25 percent. They initially pushed back, telling us they weren't seeing that slowdown, but we just didn't feel comfortable with those amounts. Those were really tough calls to make. But they paid dividends because many of those same buyers thanked us later, after they did shut down some stores and had to cut fall deliveries.
Still, how did you achieve record sales if you didn't ship as many shoes?
Well, we still bought seasonal stuff, as well as a few other available programs. And when our big box retailers reopened and their demand for replenishments increased dramatically, we were able to fulfill those replenishment orders because a lot of the factories had orders cut by other brands. Factories still had a lot of capacity as many companies around the world cancelled orders. So there was a lag of three or four months where the factories were hungry for business.
Was it a particular brand that performed well?
All of our brands really took off, as we play in the outdoor and slipper categories. Dollar-wise, Western Chief was the driver. Our kids' rain product performed very well. But Staheekum, our slippers brand, had the most growth percentage-wise and is our fastest-growing brand right now. It's really resonating with the overall casual lifestyle trend, both in our DTC channel and with our big retail partners. It's that van lifestyle—a hybrid between Vans and a slipper with also that Hey Dude feel. We don't see this trend subsiding any time soon. I was talking with our CFO recently who joked about our old dress code: a button-down shirt and slacks Monday through Thursday and the luxury was on Fridays we could wear jeans. Now, jeans are dressing up. The world has changed completely, and I don't think we'll ever go back to the suit and tie days.
What went wrong in 2021?
Nothing went right—2021 was the dumpster fire that we initially feared. The ignorance was let's just repeat what we did and it'll be another record year. But then the supply chain crisis hit. That's when I began making calls in May and June to our big customers saying I know we priced this huge program with you but freight costs have quadrupled. Plus, we couldn't get enough production. That's when being in sales was the worst job you'd ever want, because you'd have to tell customers you couldn't guarantee when they'd get their order, if ever. And, by the way, I'll probably call you in a month and try to increase the cost.
And the response to those calls?
Um, no. But some of our biggest partners appreciated our honesty. We were very blunt on the reality we were facing and basically threw ourselves at their mercy for any in additional funding. And some actually did, which they noted was a first. While it didn't take care of our shortfalls entirely, it was a big gesture on their part that we remember. Whereas, I've seen emails from other brands informing retailers they must pay this amount more and that's final. They laughed at the ultimatum and basically said they won't do business with them anymore.
Lots of people talk partnership, but people will remember if you truly were understanding, accommodating, decent, etc.
They will. At times, we were in the driver seat with inventory. If they didn't want to pay that amount, we had five other retailers who would. But we took the road that these are partnerships. I told our team that it'll pay dividends, and it's already been brought up in meeting with our retailers. It's a case of, 'Hey, I have this extra program that I need to fill and I thought about what you guys did for us last year and I want to give you the opportunity.'
Nonetheless, 2021 was tough.
It was. We had a pretty aggressive budget, and we came in 15 percent short of our projections. Halfway through the year, I started messaging our team that our goal was to just break even. But we happily blew past that and made a profit—just not a record one. But I look at 2021 as a year that really built our character as a company. While there wasn't a celebration at the end of the year, we held it together. Sure, there were a lot of missed programs. Snow boots, for example, showed up in January that should have arrived three months earlier. And with product sitting on the ocean for so long, other problems have arisen that we never even thought of before. Mold became a huge issue after sitting in a container for 90 to 120 days. Also, when factories have so many orders that they don't know what to do with, their quality tends to drop. They can demand higher prices for lesser quality, because they have 10 other customers who'll buy that inventory at that price tomorrow. Every day we'd come into the office and it'd be like what else could possibly go wrong? That was 2021. But we just kept rolling with the punches.
Has anything changed that makes you more optimistic about 2022?
We look to be dealing with supply chain issues through at least most of this year. But at least it won't be a shock. I think retailers and us have gotten used to it and know how to weather it better. We're doing things to mitigate those risks, and I'm hopeful 2022 will end at a much better place than 2021.
What are you doing to mitigate supply chain risks?
We've moved up our seasons by six months in order to secure the production space. We're also extending our demand planning out quite a bit further. We're utilizing smaller ports, which can unload goods a lot faster. For example, the port of Everett is 35 minutes north of Seattle and unloads in a day or two versus Seattle where it's 60 days. We've also added staff to our supply chain department because it's such a critical function of our business now. In the past, supply chain wasn't something we thought much about. You book a container, no problem. Now, a lot more logistics are involved. Lastly, since the trade war with China we've been discussing the need to diversify our sourcing partners, but the pandemic has prevented us from doing scouting trips. Our five-year goal is to be producing in China, mostly likely Vietnam and the U.S.
When, where and what types of products do you plan to make in the U.S.?
Some of our kids' PVC product, like our light-up boots, can be done with injection machines. It's a pretty low labor-intensive production. One of those machines, operated by two workers, can make about 3,000 pairs a day. But we need to import those machines first. That's why it's a five-year plan, which is tied to our goal this year to secure a new facility. We want to purchase a building where part of that space would be used for injection production.
Will the costs be competitive with overseas production?
Yes, plus the shipping costs will be a lot lower. It's a high duty product also, so that offsets price increases. Obviously, we need people for packaging and some trim work, but the benefits outweigh importing.
Despite all these challenges and unknowns, are you optimistic 2022 will be better for Washington Shoe Company?
Yes. While we can't change the macro environment and can only handle what we can affect, I'm more optimistic heading into this year than any year prior. Our forecasts are for another record-breaking year—we expect to blow past our 2020 numbers. I feel like we have the best people we've ever had at Washington Shoe Company. The culture work that we've done has created an amazing team. And we continue to hire amazing people in the face of the Great Resignation. We're still staffing up with great employees. On that note, I think the change in how people want to work has really empowered them—like when unions first started. People have more rights now because of the pandemic. 'I want to be happy. I want to work somewhere that makes me happy. And I have 10 other companies who are interested in me, so you can't treat me poorly.' That's a good thing.
Where do you envision Washington Shoe Company in five years?
In addition to production in China, likely Vietnam and the U.S., we have our "Road to 100," which is a sales growth goal of $100 million annually by our 135th anniversary. That's what we're marching toward now.
Does meeting that goal involve brand acquisitions or launches?
We think we can reach that with our current brands through our retail partners and a somewhat expanded DTC presence. We'd like to get that channel to a double-digit percentage of overall sales. I think that's very manageable and one that our retail partners won't see as a threat. On that note, we always have the highest prices on DTC. Another big push for growth is moving beyond seasonal rain boots and into year-round brands. For example, we're making kids' Western Chief play styles, as well as casual styles in men's and women's for Chooka. The non-rain silhouettes are still waterproof and tie back to the brand. And after a few years of that iteration, maybe they no longer have to be waterproof or water-resistant. They'll be seen more as lifestyle brands. Both have the brand width. We just have to make that a focus to bring that forward.
Any added pressure as the fourth generation to run the family business?
Obviously, there's some added responsibility to previous generations, as well as potential future ones. But the upside is I have a built-in layer of trust where we can tell a retailer or a factory that we're a 130-year-old company that's still family run. It shows that we don't burn bridges and that we're honest. Plus, we have tremendous flexibility. For example, we took some really low margins on some programs this past year where we lost money, but we were very open with our partners about it because we signed a deal. We told them we're going to honor it, because we look at the long view. That matters.
Is there a fifth generation waiting in the wings?
We have some nieces, possibly. They're interested. They ask to model once in a while, and one is interested in footwear design. So they're asking some questions. We'll see.


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Joel Smallbone of for KING & COUNTRY Can See in Full Color for the First Time
By Timothy Yap Jan 02, 2016 03:02 PM EST
Joel Smallbone, one half of the contemporary Christian band for KING & COUNTRY, has got the best Christmas gift in his life. His wife and fellow singer Moriah Peters gave him some special lenses to correct his color blindness.
For years, Joel has been suffering from color blindness, such that he is unable to distinguish some colors from each other. To give him the chance to see the world in full color, Moriah has the lenses of his sunglasses replaced with glass recently developed by EnChroma. As a result, Joel got to see the full spectrum of colors for the first time.
On his Facebook, Joel writes: "Confession: I'm colored blind. It sounds worse than it is, but I find it hard to decipher certain color tones from others. This Christmas my dear wife did a stack of research, stole my sunglasses, and had the lenses replaced with a revolutionary new glass by EnChroma! This glass enables folks with my condition to see as you see. Here here is a snippet of the video when I first put them on... Wow!
It truly was an 'eye-opening' moment for me, if you will. Somehow I find there to be a correlation between this moment and how I often live life... In minutes and seconds, in days and hours, in going through motions. But I do believe, like in this moment if we were to put on spiritual glasses, where we see things as God does, we would see people, circumstances, and life from heavens POV.. With all the colors and vibrance and drama and hope, as it was intended."
Likewise, Moriah rejoices with her husband on her Instagram: "This Christmas, we gave my favorite colorblind man a special gift: the rainbow! Witnessing his world go from gray to vivid through @enchroma lenses is a miracle moment I'll never forget...I can't wait to watch our first real sunset together."
The couple shared a video of the moment when Joel could finally see in full color for the first time:
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