A dual action biopsy needle scrapes tissue of cellular thickness from a lesion during forward and rearward reciprocations of the needle along its longitudinal axis of symmetry. A first sharp edge, formed by a beveled distal end of the needle, scrapes tissue during proximal-to-distal travel of the needle. A second sharp edge is provided by a transversely disposed slot formed in the needle near the first sharp edge. The second sharp edge scrapes tissue during distal-to-proximal travel of the needle. In a first embodiment, the second sharp edge is coincident with an exterior surface of the needle. In a second embodiment, the second sharp edge is elevated with respect to the exterior surface and in a third embodiment the second sharp edge is recessed. Additional embodiments include a second slot, a channel, and a hinge for enabling pivotal movement of the second and third sharp edges.
This disclosure is a continuation-in-part of a disclosure of the same title and same inventor, bearing application Ser. No. 09/682,252, filed Aug. 9, 2001.
FIG. 17 is a diagrammatic view of a fourteenth embodiment where the novel biopsy device is used with an endoscope.
Referring now to FIGS.  1-3, it will there be seen that the reference numeral 10 denotes a first illustrative embodiment of the present invention.
The proximal end  12 of aspiration biopsy needle 10 is mounted in a LUER LOK® adapter 13 or equivalent structure to which a vacuum is applied from a remote source of negative pressure, not shown, when the leading or distal end 14 of said needle is inserted into a suspect lesion in soft tissue. The sharp leading end 14 is beveled in a well-known way to form a first sharp edge that scrapes cellular material from the lesion as it travels therethrough in a proximal-to-distal direction.
A vacuum applied to adapter  13 pulls cellular material severed from the lesion into lumen 16 of the needle. The well-known prior art procedure ends at this point, i.e., the needle having a sample of the lesion in its lumen is retracted from the soft tissue and the sample is delivered to a lab for analysis. Additional sample-taking requires additional insertions of the needle into the lesion.
A first innovation of this invention includes slot  18 formed in needle 10, near first sharp edge 14 thereof. Slot 18 is transversely disposed relative to a longitudinal axis of the needle. A lower end or bottom of the slot is distal to the open upper end thereof. A second sharp edge 20 is formed at the distal edge of the upper end of the slot. Accordingly, second sharp edge 20 scrapes cellular material from a lesion when the needle is retracted, i.e., when the needle is displaced along its longitudinal axis in a distal-to-proximal direction.
It should therefore be understood that a physician may reciprocate needle  10 along its longitudinal axis, collecting cells of a suspect lesion that are scraped off by the first sharp edge 14 during the proximal-to-distal portion of each reciprocation, and collecting cellular aspirate of said lesion that are scraped by second sharp edge 20 during the distal-to-proximal portion of each reciprocation. Thus, the chances of collecting a quantity of lesion that is sufficient for analysis is greatly enhanced by the provision of second sharp edge 20.
The circumferential extent of slot  18 is approximately equal to half of the circumference of needle 10, but that structural feature of slot 18 is not critical to this invention; the circumferential extent of said slot could be more or less than that described and depicted.
As perhaps best depicted in FIG. 3, second sharp edge  20 is coincident or flush with the exterior surface of needle 10 in this first embodiment.
FIG. 4 provides a perspective view of a second embodiment of needle  10 where second sharp edge 20 a is elevated with respect to the exterior surface of needle 10 and FIG. 5 provides a longitudinal sectional view of said second embodiment. The protrusion of second sharp edge 20 a above the exterior surface of the needle ensures that the cellular material collected when using this second embodiment should be greater than the amount of cellular material collected when using the first embodiment.
FIG. 6 provides a longitudinal sectional view of a third embodiment where second sharp edge  20 b is recessed with respect to said exterior surface. The lesion, not shown, is under compression as needle 10 penetrates it. Accordingly, an amount of tissue will enter into slot 18 and be scraped off during distal-to-proximal travel of needle 10, even though sharp edge 20 b is recessed with respect to the exterior surface of the needle.
FIG. 7 depicts a fourth embodiment where a slot  18 a is formed transversely to the longitudinal axis of needle 10 as in the first embodiment, but the axis of symmetry of slot 18 a is normal to the axis of symmetry of slot 18. In other words, the bottom of slot 18 a is proximal to the open upper end of slot 18 a. Accordingly, a third sharp edge, denoted 20 c, is formed. Third sharp edge 20 c is auxiliary to first sharp edge 14 in that said third sharp edge scrapes cellular material from a lesion during proximalto-distal travel of needle 10.
FIGS. 8 and 9 depict fifth and sixth embodiments, respectively, where third sharp edges  20 d and 20 e are elevated and recessed, respectively, with respect to the exterior surface of needle 10.
A seventh embodiment, depicted in FIG. 10, includes first slot  18 of the first embodiment and second slot 18 a of the fourth embodiment. The respective axes of symmetry of said slots are normal to one another and said slots 18 and 18 a are longitudinally spaced apart from one another as depicted. In undepicted variations or permutations of this embodiment, second sharp edge 20 is elevated or recessed relative to the exterior surface of needle 10, as is third sharp edge 20 c.
FIG. 11 depicts an eighth embodiment. This embodiment, like the seventh, provides two auxiliary sharp edges to augment beveled edge  14. However, it provides a single transversely disposed channel as distinguished from two transversely disposed slots. Thus, instead of slot 18, transversely disposed channel 21 is formed in said needle 10. Channel 21 includes a pair of longitudinally spaced apart undercuts that respectively form second and third sharp edges 20 and 20 c. Second sharp edge 20 performs in the same way as second sharp edge 20 of the first embodiment, i.e., functions during distal-to-proximal travel of needle 10. Third sharp edge 20 c, however, functions in the same way as third sharp edge 20 c of the fourth embodiment, i.e., during proximal-to-distal travel. Thus, first sharp edge 14 and third sharp edge 20 c function during proximal-to-distal travel, but the amount of cellular material scraped from the lesion during such sharp action may not be the same. This eighth embodiment is also similar to the seventh embodiment because second and third sharp edges 20, 20 c are flush with the exterior surface of needle 10.
FIGS. 12 and 13 depict ninth and tenth embodiments, respectively, where second sharp edge  20 f and third sharp edge 20 g are elevated, respectively, with respect to the exterior surface of needle 10.
FIGS. 14 and 15 depict eleventh and twelfth embodiments, respectively, where second sharp edge  20 b and third sharp edge 20 e are recessed, respectively, with respect to the exterior surface of needle 10.
FIG. 16 provides a longitudinal sectional view where second sharp edge  20 is pivotally mounted by transversely disposed hinge means 22 so that second sharp edge 20 may open as indicated by arcuate directional arrow 24 to the position indicated in dotted lines to scrape larger numbers of cells from the suspect lesion during distal-to-proximal travel of the biopsy needle.
Second sharp edge  20 is biased against outward rotation. Various bias means such as different types of springs could be employed but the preferred bias means is a living hinge formed of nitenol or other suitable material. The hinge is held in its closed, FIG. 16 position when the needle is traveling in a proximal-to-distal direction, i.e., as the needle is inserted, but opens due to frictional forces created by the lesion as depicted in dotted lines in FIG. 16 when the needle is retracted, i.e., when the needle is displaced in a distal-to-proximal direction.
Alternatively, a control means, not depicted, under the control of the physician, causes second sharp edge  20 to pivot about hinge means 22 in small incremental amounts so that the depth of the cellular aspirate taken from the lesion is controlled with precision.
It should be understood that, in addition to first sharp edge  20 of the first embodiment, sharp edges 20 a, 20 b, 20 c, 20 d, 20 e, 20 f, and 20 g could also be provided in pivotal form and placed under the control of the control means.
Moreover, the cell-collection ability of each sharp edge  20, 20 a, 20 b, 20 c, 20 d, 20 e, 20 f, and 20 g may be enhanced by several differing means. For example, empirical studies may show that the cell-scraping ability of said sharp edges is enhanced by making said sharp edges abrasive. A polymer or polymers of the type that cellular material clings to could be added to the sharp edge or edges. Adhesive of the type that cellular material clings to could also be added to said sharp edge or edges.
As drawn, the cut that forms sharp edges  20, 20 a, 20 b, and 20 f are disposed substantially parallel to the bevel cut that forms first sharp edge 14 of needle 10.
Accordingly, said sharp edges scrape tissue with the same degree of efficiency as first sharp edge  14. The scraping action provided by these sharp edges is during the distal-to-proximal stroke of needle 10 whereas the scraping action provided by first sharp edge 14 is during the proximal-to-distal stroke.
The cut that forms third sharp edges  20 c, 20 d, 20 e, and 20 g is substantially normal to the cut that forms second sharp edges 20, 20 a, 20 b, and 20 f. The scraping action of said third sharp edges is during proximal-to-distal motion of the needle and as such said third sharp edges cut cellular material at the same time that first sharp edge 14 cuts cellular material.
Needle  10 is used by inserting it into a lesion in a well-known way and by reciprocating it multiple times along its longitudinal axis. Each proximal-to-distal displacement causes first sharp edge 14 and third sharp edges 20 c, 20 d, 20 e, or 20 g, depending upon the embodiment used, to sever cells from the lesion and a vacuum pulls such cellular aspirate of the lesion into lumen 16. Each distal-to-proximal motion, however, causes second sharp edges 20, 20 a, 20 b, or 20 f, depending upon the embodiment used, to scrape off parts of the lesion. These scraped-off parts of the lesion enter into lumen 16 through slot 18, slot 18 a, or channel 21, depending upon the embodiment in use, under the influence of the vacuum. Thus, in a single reciprocation, novel aspiration biopsy needle 10 collects at least twice the amount of lesion material as would a conventional aspiration biopsy needle. The quantity of scraped-off lesion parts collected is increased with each subsequent reciprocation. In this way, a sufficient sample may be taken with a single needle insertion followed by multiple reciprocations.
Additional quantities of lesion material may also be collected by rotating needle  10 about its longitudinal axis of symmetry after a first set of reciprocations has been made. Additional rotations may follow additional reciprocations, it being understood that each rotational adjustment exposes an unscraped mass of lesion until the needle has been through three hundred sixty degrees of rotation.
FIG. 17 depicts how an endoscope or laparoscope  24 is used in connection with fine needle aspiration biopsy device 10. The well-known attachments to the endoscope such as a light source, camera unit, monitor, and the like are not depicted to avoid cluttering the drawing. Syringe 26 is of conventional construction and is connected to an elongate, flexible polymer tube or a guide tube 28 of the hollow, coiled cable type. Tube wire 28 may be up to one hundred fifty centimeters (150 cm) in length and is inserted into the operating channel of the endoscope or laparoscope 24 as depicted. Novel fine aspiration biopsy device 10 is secured to the distal end of the tube or guide wire 28. Although it is difficult to push device 10 to retrieve cellular material from lesion 30 as in the earlier embodiments, it can be pulled to collect such cellular material because it cuts at the cellular level in both forward and rearward motions. Pulling of guide tube 28 results in rearward motion of device 10.
whereby said cellular material is deposited from said lumen onto a slide, stained, and subjected to microscopic inspection in the absence of any need to mechanically slice said cellular material.
2. The needle of claim 1, wherein said slot has a circumferential extent of about one half the circumference of said open-ended, hollow needle.
3. The needle of claim 1, wherein said second sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
4. The needle of claim 1, wherein said second sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
5. The needle of claim 1, further comprising a hinge means to which said second sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said second sharp edge.
6. The needle of claim 1, wherein a material to which cellular material clings is applied to said first and second sharp edges.
means for communicating a vacuum to said proximal end of said needle so that tissue scraped by said first sharp edge during proximal-to-distal travel of said needle is pulled into a lumen of said needle and so that tissue scraped by said second sharp edge during said proximal-to-distal travel of said needle is also pulled into said lumen.
8. The needle of claim 7, wherein said slot has a circumferential extent of about one half the circumference of said needle.
9. The needle of claim 7, wherein said second sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
10. The needle of claim 7, wherein said second sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
11. The needle of claim 7, further comprising a hinge means to which said second sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said second sharp edge.
12. The needle of claim 7, wherein a material to which said tissue clings is applied to said first and second sharp edges.
means for communicating a vacuum to said proximal end of said needle so that tissue scraped by said first and third sharp edges during proximal-to-distal travel of said needle is pulled into a lumen of said needle and so that tissue scraped by said second sharp edge during distal-to-proximal travel of said needle is also pulled into said lumen.
14. The needle of claim 13, wherein said slot has a circumferential extent of about one half the circumference of said needle.
15. The needle of claim 13, wherein said second sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
16. The needle of claim 13, wherein said second sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
17. The needle of claim 13, wherein said third sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
18. The needle of claim 13, wherein said third sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
19. The needle of claim 13, further comprising a hinge means to which said second sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said second sharp edge.
20. The needle of claim 13, further comprising a hinge means to which said third sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said third sharp edge.
21. The needle of claim 13, wherein a material to which said tissue clings is applied to said first, second, and third sharp edges.
23. The needle of claim 22, wherein said slot has a circumferential extent of about one half the circumference of said needle.
24. The needle of claim 22, wherein said second sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
25. The needle of claim 22, wherein said second sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
26. The needle of claim 22, wherein said third sharp edge is elevated with respect to an exterior surface of said needle.
27. The needle of claim 22, wherein said third sharp edge is recessed with respect to said exterior surface of said needle.
28. The needle of claim 22, further comprising a hinge means to which said second sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said second sharp edge.
29. The needle of claim 22, further comprising a hinge means to which said third sharp edge is mounted to enable pivotal movement of said second sharp edge.
30. The needle of claim 22, wherein material that clings to said tissue is applied to said first, second, and third sharp edges.
depositing said cellular material onto a slide, staining said cellular material, and subjecting said cellular material to microscopic inspection in the absence of any need to mechanically slice said cellular material.
NL2010444C (en) * 2013-03-13 2014-09-16 D O R C Dutch Ophthalmic Res Ct International B V An eye surgical cutting tools.
GB2255282A (en) * 1991-04-30 1992-11-04 Al Sam Salam Zahroon Advanced fine needle for tissue aspiration.
NL9500524A (en) * 1995-03-16 1996-11-01 Metracon C V Aspiration tool celbiopsie purposes.


Sylva-Bay's Sponsorship Program has been designed and intended to help maintain and increase enrollment.
At the same time, provide an incentive to both new families and families currently enrolled at Sylva-Bay. Through this program, every family has the opportunity to help a new family, themselves, and Sylva-Bay.
The new family will be entitled to 1/2 off registration AND waiver of the 1st month's tuition.
There is no limit on the number of families each person can recruit.
A "new" family is considered to be a family that does not have a child currently enrolled or have a child enrolled at Sylva-Bay Academy during the previous school year. A family is deemed to be one or more children living directly in the household of a parent(s) or guardian(s). All sponsored families and sponsors will sign a sponsorship application in the school office. Each application will be reviewed by the Board of Directors for approval.
Direct recruitment of students currently enrolled at other MAIS member schools is not the intent of Sylva-Bay Academy, Inc. and Sylva-Bay Academy, Inc. discourages recruitment of such students.


text:
Probians pay respects at memorial and other Neighbourhood News
A scene from the Mayflower Probus Club of Boston's visit to the International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, in Lincoln.
David Seymour
Published: 10:00 Updated: 11:24 Wednesday 01 May 2019
Pieces for Boston, Gosberton, Gosberton Clough and Risegate, Mareham le Fen, and New Bolingbroke
Members of the Mayflower Probus Club of Boston recently visited the International Bomber Command Centre Memorial, in Lincoln.
The visit was particularly meaningful to Probian Tony Goodwin, 96, of Sibsey.
Tony, an ex-Royal Air Force pilot/flight engineer, flew with 153 (Bomber) Squadron from Scampton.
He survived five operations over enemy territory, followed by four missions at the latter part of the Second World War to the Netherlands – dropping food and supplies during 'Operation Manna'.
Tony then flew as a Mosquito pilot with 4 Squadron at RAF Gutersloh, Germany, before being demobbed in 1946.
"It was a most fitting and memorable visit for Tony, who was honoured by the centre as a veteran by free admission, a meal and a drink of wine," a club spokesman said.
Standing with him are Probians John Stanley and Arnot Wilson, the trip organiser.
* REME
On Tuesday, May 7, the Lincolnshire branch of the REME (Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Association) will hold a spring kurling competition.
It will take place at the Drill Hall, in Main Ridge West, Boston, at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.
Expect a bar, buffet and banter.
All serving and past members of REME most welcome.
For more information, call secretary Graham Matthews on 01754 874200 or email remelincs@gmail.com.
* Open Gardens event
An impressive property with a moat and orangery in Boston is set to open its gardens on Sunday, May 12, as part of the National Open Gardens Scheme.
The home, at 66, Spilsby Road, Boston, boasts a one-and-a-third acre garden featuring a moat, Tudor garden house, summer house and orangery, lawns, mature trees and herbaceous borders.
It will be open for visitors from 11am-4pm.
Admission is £4 for adults, with children going free.
GOSBERTON
* Walk of Witness
It was beautiful weather for the Walk of Witness organised by Gosberton and District Churches on Good Friday.
Those attending assembled at the Baptist Church for coffee before following the cross round the village, stopping at different points.
The service was arranged by the Baptist minister, the Rev Steve Weatherly-Barton, with music played along the way.
All finished at the church of St Peter and St Paul where they enjoyed hot cross buns and coffee and tea.
* Prize bingo
All are welcome to take part in prize bingo in Gosberton Public Hall on Friday, May 17.
Doors open at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.
There will be the usual refreshments and other goodies.
* Flower festivals
Gosberton St Peter and St Paul's Church Flower and Craft Festival was opened on Saturday by the Bishop of Grantham.
This year's theme is 'Celebrating Great Britain'.
The festival runs through to Bank Holiday Monday inclusive, from 10am to 5pm.
There will be a variety of craft, book and cake stalls, a tombola and also refreshments.
Gosberton Methodist Church has a flower festival to the theme of 'Biblical Numbers' opening tomorrow (Thursday, May 2) and running through to Bank Holiday Monday.
On Sunday, May 5, there is a Songs Praise at 6pm.
* House School
Gosberton House School held a successful Easter fair, raising £350.
Thanks are given to all those who supported the event.
* Local history
The next meeting of the Gosberton Local History Society will take place in the church hall on Monday, May 13, at 7.30pm.
It will feature a talk and film show by the Lincolnshire Film Archives.
Entry is priced at £1.
Further ahead, on August 5, there will be an open meeting for people to share findings and research, from pre-history to the 20th century.
* Christmas Cards
Christmas cards are currently on sale in Gosberton Church Hall at £1 for a pack of 10.
There are also tea towels at £2 each.
All proceeds from the sales will go to the Addison's Disease Self Help Group.
* Fun and Fellowship
Gosberton Baptist Fun and Fellowship was held at the home of Des and Rene Curtis.
Members enjoyed playing Triominos.
Refreshments were provided by Mrs Curtis.
GOSBERTON CLOUGH & RISEGATE
* School
Gosberton Clough and Rise-gate Community Primary School raised £243.70 for Comic Relief on Red Nose Day.
In addition, the school has received a School Games Gold award for its activities to promote health and fitness among its children.
The school runs a wide range of clubs and takes part in many games and sporting competitions across the Boston and Spalding areas.
It continues to be successful in the Surfleet hockey tournament, this year entering two teams in the event.
* Coffee afternoons
Coffee afternoons have resumed in the St Gilbert and St Hugh's Church Hall.
Held fortnightly, the dates for May are: tomorrow, Thursday, May 16, and Thursday, May 30.
MAREHAM LE FEN
* Theatre show
Lace Market Theatre company from Nottingham present a play entitled 'Hannah and Hanna' on Saturday, from 7.30pm.
The play follows the lives of two girls from very different backgrounds.
The show is being held at the Community Centre in Mareham le Fen from 7.30pm.
For more details visit www.marehamlefenvillagehall.co.uk or call 07947 130336 and 07530 453605.
NEW BOLINGBROKE
The next meeting of the New Bolingbroke Local History Group will be held in the Town Hall, in New Bolingbroke, on Tuesday, May 14, at 7.30pm.
The speaker will be Pete Skipworth, who will give a presentation about The Battle of Winceby.
All welcome.
Admission is priced at £1 for members and £2.50 for non-members.
Tea/coffee and biscuits will also be available.
** Send your Neighbourhood News pieces to david.seymour@jpimedia.co.uk

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Jan 8, 2021 - 6:38PM
Re: Napoleonic Order Arms question
French Infantry in March attack or advance definately!! Noisily or not!!
I dont know about ducking but another type of set for Napoleonic Infantry could be "in retreat"/"falling back"?
A 50-50 split in a box, of troops retreating in good order and some in blind panic.
Bylandts Dutch/Belgian brigade at Waterloo is one such item that could be depicted this way. Some sources say they fell back in good order, some say they broke and ran. Probably a mix of the two I imagine.
As far as I know, yes troops could be at order arms on a battlefield, as in reserve maybe.
Jan 8th, 2021 - 6:38 PM
There is an absolutely great book from the 'old school' days of wargaming titled 'Wargames', by David Nash and published in 1975. It was, needless to say, a book that I read to destruction when I was 11 or 12 years old. It has some great illustrations, including one which sticks in my mind which is of later (ie: 1812) Spanish infantry in retreat...and it kind of captures what Roger is getting at here. Troops falling back, some still in battle order, so less so....
Good for dioramas, less good for wargames.
Napoleonic infantry in advance/firing/in defence though FIRST, please Strelets!!
Steve Pickstock
That is a good account Minuteman and a fine example of good tactics. As the French approach they can see what is going to happen, and as they get closer the tension builds - it's like an approaching wave of B-52 bombers or Mongol cavalry coming across a plain - you know what's going to happen and you know it's not going to be pleasant.
However at a more basic level and in response to the original question about the order arms position - "if the order arms position was strictly for the parade ground, or was it also seen on the battlefield, mainly for troops waiting their turn to go into the battle?"
The short answer is that there is no seperation between Drill and battlefield, there is just the drill system.
Drill movements have several functions - as above they can be tactical, but more importantly a drill system is about training a soldier how to do something, (learning the routine so that when it's all going pear-shaped around body memory will kick in and take over) It is also a language enabling a commander to convey to his men what he wants them to do, for example to come from the attention position (I'm sorry I speak 17th century drill, my napoleonic drill is very patchy) to the present (or 'shoulder' as Beaugard suggested, though that is another different position altogether) - the commands wuld be "Attention" > "Order" > "Present!" > "Aim!" > "Fire!"
The Order position is a crucial posture. It's a place that the drills depend on when you're doing things, you have to go to Order to do other things, but as in Minuteman's example, it's somewhere with uses of its own. For example having marched in column at the Shoulder, the troops would go into Order to march in close order. (A good officer would have them go to "At Ease" when they arrived in place if there was time) Coming to the Order after loading and before firing is a 'safe' position, hands are away from triggers and locks and both are protected by the left arm and body (though you wouldn't want to stay like that too long - just long enough for the French to get close enough). After firing you'd recover your guys to the Order to make sure no one (who may still be loaded) is going to pop one off.
Sorry about the diatribe. Drill done properly is a beautiful thing and there is much much more to it than many people think.
Wayne W
Jan 9, 2021 - 2:03AM
I agree with Steve's point. Drill and ceremony (D&C) looks great on a parade ground but its original purpose was to move masses of troops from "Point A" to "Point B" in an orderly fashion in an era predating modern communication. Once in position, drill was vital (as Steve said) to provide mass and directed fire in the musket era when the accuracy of the weapons was limited and range short.
Parade ground drill rose out of these necessities. Most of the movements modern armies perform today hearken back to those earlier days when they were effective tactics - except rifle teams tossing their rifles around. That's showing off. :wink:
A side story I hope will amuse: Our Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) in my high school was in its first year when I joined it. Because I was an upper classman I was made a squad leader. Part of my duty was to teach my squad D&C. I was given an FM 22-5 (Field Manual for D&C at the time) and told to go at it. I literally learned D&C by teaching it.
Later on in the 1980s I was in the 82nd Airborne Division I was designated the NCO in Charge (NCOIC) of our periodic D&C Classes one afternoon in garrison. The guys were griping (of course) about what nonsense and a waste of time it was so I decided to give them a break for a few minutes (without them knowing it) by halting them and putting them at rest in place while I explained to them the origins of D&C hailing back to the movements and formations of Ancient Greece and Rome and the bugle calls and drum beats and how we still used marching today. I reminded them of our Annual Division Review where the 16,0000 paratroopers of the Division paraded on Memorial Day weekend each year and asked them what a nightmare that would be if we all weren't trained how to march.
When we resumed training the griping was much less. Maybe they were afraid of another lecture?
Flash forward over 30 years and a bunch of us old paratroopers have reconnected on social media. One of the guys asked me what I did after my medical retirement from the Army. I told him I went into teaching history.
He said it figures and reminded me of that afternoon back at Bragg. I had almost completely forgotten it. Then he said, "Imagine wasting your time trying to teach us lunkheads history."
My reply, "But you still remember it after all these years, don't you?"
"You got a point."
So I knew my Napoleonic drill was patchy. I have been confusing drill postures.
The position that I thought was called Order in Wellington's time was actually Present - with the musket butt held in the palm of the left hand and the musket vertical between the left arm and the left side of the body.
In actual fact Order is the same as I know it in the 17thC, the butt of the musket rests on the floor beside the right foot, with the right hand gripping the muzzle end of the stock.
https://images.app.goo.gl/EimP98ZQ9RQEG1aV6
Sorry about my confusion. Any other comments about the importance or the functions of drill, and whether there is a difference between parade ground and battlefield still apply.
Jan 9th, 2021 - 3:57 AM
"....you know what's going to happen and you know it's not going to be pleasant. "
Reminds me of an impending visit from the in-laws! :sweat_smile:
Order Arms goes back to the 18th century (when the command was "order your - FIRELOCKS", and before that. From the 'order' position, the command to 'rest' 'at ease' or 'parade rest' given as required.
The command "present - ARMS!" was used because as well as the firelock or musket, there was the bayonet and also edged weapons such as swords and the half pikes carried by Serjeants and officers.
Presenting arms was done as a salute - the weapon held out so that it could be taken and inspected by the commander, should he choose to do so; with the advent of shorter breech loading weapons, the 'inspection' was changed to a port arms (rifle held diagonally across the body) stance and present arms retained for salutes.
Every musket drill I have worked with has the soldier return his musket to the shoulder once loaded, both for safety and as a visual signal that he has loaded.
Colin D.
Thank you for all the additional information gents. The Steelers order arms figures are lovely, and it's good to know there's a further use for them beyond parade ground or camp scenes.
Very cool story Wayne. Not to hijack my own thread, but I was actually watching a WW2 movie the other day with American paratroopers who had both the 101st Airborne spade on their helmet and the 82nd Airborne shoulder patch and thought to myself, any paratrooper from either division wouldn't like that!
The Order posture goes back at least to the start of the 17thC, it appears in Jacob de Gheyn's Wappenhandlinghe, it works for both pikes and muskets.
Jan 9, 2021 - 11:30PM
Your guys knowledge of 17th-19th century infantry drill is very impressive! And good on Strelets for acknowledging these drills with their Napoleonic range.


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Drilling jig for the Haps A300 type 2 and 3 leaf doorhinges with a drilling distance of 84mm. Includes spacers for 4, 5 and 6 mm. shadow groove. ..


This exciting mini water park, right in College station, promises fun for the entire family. Some of the most popular attractions are the large serpentine water slide, the stump slide, the tadpole slide (for the real little ones), the lily pad walk and water basketball. There is an Olympic-size swimming pool for all to enjoy with a diving well and an attached wading pool. It's a pleasant and definitely safe place to cool off and have fun. Just remember to bring your bathing suit. After a day of fun here, you will probably be ready to head off to your quiet and comfortable College Station inn.
If you haven't had enough water fun, you could drop by the Bryan Aquatic Center, which is not far from College Station, TX. This facility consists of an Olympic-sized pool that has a gigantic 175-foot waterslide. There is also a baby pool and two diving boards. And did we mention that it has lots of places for the entire family to bask in the sun? The pool is open all year long, so that means you don't have to wait for summer to have a great swim.
In nearby Caldwell, the blueberries grow and grow and grow, so that's why it's a great place to bring your family for a once in a lifetime experience picking your own blueberries. The good news is that the blueberries are all grown organically. The farm has over 100 bushes and four different varieties of blueberries. You can bring your own container, basket or bucket and then have it weighed after it's full. The best season for picking is through June and part of July, farm owners say, and it is better to pick early or later in the day because of the heat. If you like, you can pick in the evening as well. By the time you are through picking your berries, you will probably want to head back to your comfortable College Station bed and breakfast where you might want to share your bounty with your inn keepers.
At this interactive educational facility, children will definitely have a ball. There are hands-on exhibits on theater, where kids get to explore any role they want, an exhibit on health and fitness, and one that teaches youngsters about economics. The Sounds Around Town allows children to explore the world of music, and at Village Arts, kids can paint the VW Beetle and create lots of other crafts. The museum is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.


text:
Het Nationaal park Woko (Engels: Woko National Park) ligt in het oosten van de Australische deelstaat Nieuw-Zuid-Wales, op een afstand van 241 kilometer ten noorden van Sydney.

Woko

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Barentswatch maplib
====================

Fetching the code
----------------
	1. Install nodejs and bower, make sure you can run the commands "node" and "bower" in your preferred command line
	2. Run "bower install https://code.barentswatch.net/stash/scm/bw/maplib.git" (add "--save-dev" to save it to your bower.json)
		or
	add "maplib": "https://code.barentswatch.net/stash/scm/bw/maplib.git" to your bower.json dependencies and run "bower install"

Contributing
------------
    1. Install nodejs and npm
    2. Install grunt
    3. Install ruby and compass to build scss
    4. Clone the git-repository "https://code.barentswatch.net/stash/scm/bw/maplib.git"
    5. Run "npm install" on the command line from within the fetched directory
    6. Run "bower install"
    7. Build and run unit tests with "grunt build"

Architecture
------------

The maplib library is split in two functional parts, BW.MapAPI and BW.MapImplementaion.

The public API used by a consumer is known as the MapAPI, and all classes in this part of the architecture uses the namespace BW.MapAPI.
All logic regarding map functionality is, as far as it is possible, in this part of maplib. Such as handling layers and their sublayers,
what order they are shown in etc., parsing feature responses and creating and activating tools.

All map functionality is handled inside the BW.MapImplementaion namespace. That is, all objects coming from an external map library is
kept within this domain. This is to ensure that the logic of maplib (BW.MapAPI) is not polluted with map-implementation specific logic.
This way the logic inside MapAPI is kept focused on the task of handling the map functionality. Likewise, the BW.Layer-object is not sent
to the MapImplementations, since it only deals with the logic of the map (handling showing of sublayers depending on for example zoom-
levels), instead the BW.SubLayer-objects are processed in the MapImplementations, where Map-specific objects for each sublayer is created,
stored and processed.

Example configuration file
--------------------------
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Simplicity AI have announced that they will be exhibiting at the Aerospace & Defence Forum, taking place on Tuesday, 14 June at the Madejski Stadium, Reading.
Simplicity AI will be located on stand 1 in the exhibition area. Experts from Simplicity AI's team will be on-hand to discuss the company's test engineering products and bespoke services. Technology partners Peak Group will be sited on the neighbouring stand, so that joint software/hardware projects can be discussed.
More details on the A&D agenda, including how to register, can be found on the National Instruments website uk.ni.com/aerospace-defence-forum. Delegates have the chance to win a LEGO MINDSTORM EV3 (powered by LabVIEW) in the free prize draw.


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text:
(2016) AFR Lunch: Michael Easson…
Article based on an interview over lunch by Matthew Cranston, former Property Editor, now Canberra-based Economics Correspondent, The Australian Financial Review, 16 September 2016, https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/management/afr-lunch-michael-easson-on-the-poetic-and-spiritual-side-of-politics-20160908-grbb61
Doctor, doctor: Michael Easson's two PhDs and master's degree are a testament to his love of reading and studying. Photo by Louise Kennerley.
I might have to raise my voice and abandon the Australian drawl for this lunch. Even in the quiet corner of Matt Moran's Aria restaurant overlooking Circular Quay, Dr Michael Easson, chairman of the Association of Superannuation Funds and co-founder of real estate funds manager EG, has some difficulty hearing me.
His hearing impediment, from birth, has played in his favour before and could help with nosy journalists. When presiding over the left and right political factions as the secretary of the NSW Labor Council through the great Hawke-Keating era, Easson gained a reputation for always being unperturbed, conciliatory and calm.
"But really it was just because I couldn't hear what any of them were saying," Easson says with a grin.
His humour is dry but refreshing. I later find out it has been heavily influenced by one of his favourite authors – Clive James – whom he began to read late in life after buying a copy of Falling Towards England for $1 at a throw-out sale.
Easson has taken a seat so his back is to the restaurant. It's a sensible move, possibly designed to forestall interruptions from members of the Sydney business community who frequent the place. After his Labor Council background, as well as a short stint as vice-president of the ACTU and seats on boards ranging from NSW State Superannuation to more than 10 ASX-listed companies such as ING Property Group, Easson has built a prolific network.
Over the years, he has collected a varied group of friends from his wife and former federal politician, Mary, to journalists such as Greg Sheridan and unionists like Joe de Bruyn.
Those Left Behind
I can't help thinking his seniority and presence might have come in handy attracting the waiter's attention. While we wait for him to return, I tell Easson my fears of technology's rapid replacement of jobs.
He responds in his steady, signature baritone with a line he formulated in 1988 in a speech to the union.
"The factory of the future will be run by a man and his dog – the dog to guard the factory and the man to feed the dog.
"What does worry me," he continues, "is whether the disappearance of a lot of traditional jobs means there might be some significant structural unemployment challenges."
Michael Easson's career has spanned politics, unions, property investment and public works. Photo by Louise Kennerley.
He mentions Brexit and the rise of Trump in the United States.
"Life for many such people in the US seems like a dystopian nightmare. Public policy has to mitigate and prevent that outcome here.
"I think it will go back to the social democratic small 'l' liberal tradition, which is what you need to ensure the dynamism of the market economy works – you need a helping hand for those people who need to be lifted up and retrained."
The waiter returns. Easson chooses an entree of spanner crab tart and a main of pink snapper – it is Friday and it's possibly an old-school Catholic choice. I have already gone for the veal brisket.
The Two That Got Away
Politics is on the menu too. Easson claims he tried to recruit Malcolm Turnbull to the Labor Party, along with predecessor Tony Abbott, back in the late 1980s when he was at the Labor Council – he served first as the education officer before moving up the ladder to secretary.
"I met [Abbott] with late DLP senator Jack Kane. Abbott's worry about joining the Labor party was the left and not having a place, but I argued the communists were in the Labor Party not the Liberal Party, so if you want to fight the communists join the Labor Party."
(Abbott later confirms this and says he wrote a piece as a journalist predicting how influential and successful Easson would become.)
One of the best-connected people in Australia – David Gonski – also gives his stamp of approval to Easson's success.
"Michael is an extremely diligent and very experienced person who has straddled beautifully many sectors from business and property to quasi politics and academia," Gonski says straight off the cuff.
Easson – a Catholic boy from south Sydney's Penshurst – had surprised his bank manager father by taking a liberal arts degree with first-class honours at the University of NSW, following years of physics and maths at high school.
Reading and studying clearly appeal. In the past six years, Easson tells me, as he rummages through his ration of first-course crab, he has finished a master's degree from Oxford, a PhD in history from the Australian Defence Force Academy and a second PhD in transport and urban planning from the University of Melbourne.
As for Gonski, it turns out he was one of the earliest motivators for Easson's current property business, EG Funds Management, which has about $2.4 billion in assets under management.
Easson recalls that in 2000, when he was on the board of the Macquarie Goodman Industrial Trust, Gonski had called, asking if Easson could help out a friend who ran Kennedy Health Care.
The friend's father had been knocked back on a rezoning application in Campbelltown, Sydney, and needed advice.
Easson called upon a friend, Adam Geha, who he had met through Macquarie Group. Adam connected Easson to his brother, Shane Geha, who was in property and could help Easson on the rezoning issues.
A week later, Easson received another phone call, this time from an old university acquaintance, Richard Scheinberg, whose family co-founded property group Stockland. Scheinberg also needed help on a rezoning matter.
Easson and Geha formed a partnership advising such people, identifying opportunities to rezone properties. In 2002, Adam joined his brother and Easson to create the funds management business.
EG has been buying properties next to infrastructure for more than a decade and capturing the upside from rezoning. In August EG raised $400 million from investors. Easson does not reveal who the investors are but he has clear views on Chinese investment in property.
"Australia needs investment from China. Promoting ourselves as safe, stable, welcoming destination is critical to our future." He has criticised at length in The Australian Financial Review what he calls populist taxes by governments on foreigners, but he doesn't mince words when it comes to Senator Dastyari and his fall from grace as a result of his Chinese connections.
"On Senator Dastyari, I have none other than to hope he has learnt a hard lesson on the ethics, the implications, and sense of what he did."
Turned off the Rails
Infrastructure and planning have clearly been a big part of his life. After serving as a director on the State Rail Authority in the early 1990s, Easson aimed to deliver Sydney's Western Fastrail project for Leighton Contractors in 2002. The project never eventuated and apart from an appendix in his transport PhD thesis – which he says people never read but which he needed to get out of his system – Easson has never again attempted to lobby for rail projects.
"It's too hard – it's for other people with deeper pockets and greater patience. I'll write another PhD on why road projects get up and not rail," he says smiling.
For him, the road lobby was and is smarter and it pieces together private and public partnerships better.
"Rail projects have been poorly executed. The Epping to Chatswood project [in north-west Sydney] which was supposed to cost $750 million ended up costing $2.3 billion, so I think people in government thought if you touch rail it's a disaster."
As we begin to work our way through the minimalist, artistic cuisine – both the snapper and veal are glistening in their glaze or verjuice – we look out onto the Sydney foreshore. There is a quick reference to Barangaroo and how James Packer lobbied to get his casino and tower project approved.
The result Easson describes as: "Almost incredibly incredible if one might say so."
Easson has discretion when it comes to big business.
Tony Berg – the first managing director of Macquarie Bank – asked Easson to join the Macquarie Goodman Industrial Trust in 2000 and said: "I want you to keep an eye on two people as an independent director."
The first was billionaire Lang Walker, who had a joint venture with Macquarie, and the second was Bill Moss, who was the head of property at Macquarie.
"'I want you to play devil's advocate,' Tony said to me and so I did. But Bill Moss, I learnt a lot from him," he says with a smile. "Indefatigable determination," was the key lesson but also to "try and be interesting – other people will want to talk to you."
Eccentric Affinities
Easson explains that he has a great desire to learn, even from eccentrics.
His master's thesis was about an eccentric architect from the early 20th century called Arthur Penty.
Easson had come across a book referring to some essays Penty had written in 1914 on what the world would be like post-industrialism. Penty had been the first to use the phrase "post-industrialism" – a concept which has huge relevance today in the world of booming technology.
However, Easson could find no trace of the Penty essays, not even in Oxford's Bodleian Libraries or WorldCat – the world's largest bibliographic database.
He soon worked out that the book had never been published because of the First World War. That sent him on a global search and he finally found the "missing book" in manuscript form in a dusty cupboard in Texas, United States.
Easson's analysis of Penty's ideas on post-industrialism forms a full chapter in his thesis. He says Penty believed that "society [had] plunged light‐heartedly into the perils of industrialisation, with little thought as to the future".
Penty wanted a post‐industrial world to "reverse some of its deleterious consequences upon modern life" and suggested that might include a return to the decentralised, small workshop artisan society, ennobling work.
Easson says Penty was disappointed with the Fabians because of their rationality and rejection of the past, in their haste to move forward. "Yet on Penty's reckoning, the past stays with us whether we recognise it or not."
Why so Shy on Religion?
Easson's mandarins with macadamia nut, white mulberries and yoghurt arrive. The bottle of Clare Valley shiraz has steadily emptied; our conversation turns to literature.
George Orwell is an Easson favourite but more for the essays like A Nice Cup of Tea which sets out rules on how to make tea and describes how even the best manner of making it has been the subject of "violent disputes".
"Orwell gave [G.K.] Chesterton credit for thinking about how to write cleverly. Even though Orwell was an anti-Catholic, he was one of the greatest writers and he was influenced by people he disagreed with."
Easson laments that most people in political life seem to have no vigour in their language anymore – they seem bound by a "carefully scripted dullness".
"What's terrible about them is that there is no spirituality associated with what they say," Easson, a "regular" Sunday Mass attendee, says.
In Australia, he thinks there are some good young politicians coming through. Among the conservatives, he picks Josh Frydenberg and Angus Taylor while on the Labor side he likes Jim Chalmers, Richard Marles and Chris Bowen.
Easson's sense is that a politician's spiritual side can be one of the most valuable things they possess.
"Actually a person's faith is an interesting feature of what makes up their person," says Easson. "Some of them are so different from their public personas. In public life there is almost a fear of projecting, and I think we are slightly embarrassed of revealing our true colours on religion."
But one of Australia's greatest poets, Les Murray, whose Archibald portrait Easson donated to the liberal arts college Campion College, in Sydney, wrote a poem The Last Hellos which dealt a little with the self-awareness of one's religion. It doesn't beat around the bush.
"Snobs mind us off religion
nowadays, if they can.
F— them. I wish you God."
Michael Easson, the poetry lover, laments the lack of vigorous language in politics today. Photo by Louise Kennerley.
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text:
wmlevine@levinedisputeresolution.com
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Michael Cohen: Bringing Home the Swamp
Litigating colleagues tell me that the casual relationship between "facts" and reality in the Probate and Family Court has become more attenuated, accelerating with the daily lying of the 45th president. Stephen Colbert's "truthiness" has given way to Trump's "when in doubt, lie - the more - and the bigger - the better".
This echoes the political jousting in Washington at large, which reminds me of the arguing of bomb-throwing divorce lawyers in court, but every day, and impacting the world, rather than "merely" the family.
The political and family law circles merged last week during Michael Cohen's testimony to the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) asked Cohen why, for goodness sake, he used a home equity line of credit to source hush money payments to cover up his client's extramarital romps. It is something about which I have long wondered.
I didn't see the hearing live. So, it took Michelle Singletary's "Color of Money" column in the March 3 Boston Sunday Globe to tell me Cohen's answer: it was the best way to do it without his wife getting wise to the payment.
Perhaps he feared Washington Post. Maybe the Democrats or the FBI. But, of course, Mrs. Cohen. A lawyer, a fixer; but ultimately, a guilty husband!
How'd did a recovering divorce litigator miss that one?
The Goose, the Gander and the TCJA
We know that under the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) alimony instruments executed before December 31, 2018 will carry over deductibility when modified thereafter so long as the parties (or the court?) don't opt out of that treatment. While we all hope that we can successfully maintain this important tax leverage for the sake of restructured families by incorporating existing temporary (interlocutory) orders into 2019-and-later agreements, a question (among many) that continues to nag is, just how malleable is this rule?
It seems clear that if one modifies former Spouse A's alimony by reducing the sum or increasing it, deductibility remains intact.
I also assume that if we change former Spouse A's alimony from an expressed sum to a formula, in whole or in part (i.e., $5000 per month to .325 of gross pay, or $5,000 per month to $4,000 per month plus .325 of future bonuses) deductibility is not jeopardized.
And, if former Spouse A's alimony durational term is reduced or extended, there seems to be no reason why the opt out rule should not apply.
But, here is the payoff question:
What if former Spouse A loses her job, former Spouse B's career has taken off, and the modification shifts the payment obligation from A to B, is deductibility still available for this new obligation?
If this sounds a bit familiar, we wondered in an earlier blog entry if the durational limits of the Massachusetts Alimony Reform Act (eff. 3.1.12) apply to one spouse, or to both when they trade alimony places. As in, if the presumed duration is 7 years, and halfway through, the alimony obligation shifts, does the clock re-set, or does the second payor get credit for the former payor's time served?
In an era of 2 partner family income predominance, this is not a far-fetched scenario — and now we have to worry about deductibility, too.
Dreaming About Alimony…
In 2017, any waking person knew that Congress and the administration were furiously digging for ways to stem the flood of money out of the U.S. Treasury that they were about to cause by cutting corporate and top individual income tax rates. After all, "elections have consequences."
In the fourth quarter, it became apparent that Congress had the alimony deduction – a longtime GOP target -- in its crosshairs. As a fiscal matter in context, its cost was marginal, but the decades-old subsidy for divorcing families offended some on moral grounds and compliance was poorly enforced by the IRS, causing greater treasury losses.
But, while the potential yield was small (see our August 15, 2018 post "Alimony and TCJA: Less A Misconception than a Worry…at www.levinedisputeresolution/divorce-mediation-blog/) but the target was rich: middle income and upper middle-class families – many professional – many Democrat – families with large tax rate gaps between spouses, where the alimony deduction helped most. (Low marginal tax rate families gained little from the alimony deduction while both spouses of the uber-rich donor class live at the highest rates, eliminating the value of leveraging family dollars with alimony.)
By December 2017, EVERYONE knew that Congress had repealed the alimony deduction, but had deferred the effective date of repeal by a full year, being effective January 1, 2019.
That's when Massachusetts' prominently specialized court, its sophisticated family law bar, financial expert cohort and state legislature all kicked into high gear, to buffer the impact of the family losses engineered by Congress that would soon impact a significant portion of their constituency…
… bar groups immediately conferred on how to press the state legislature to amend the Alimony Reform Act (eff. 3.1.12) in plenty of time to be sure that by January 1, 2019, the courts would have an alimony statute (initially based and passed on presumed deductibility) that is reconciled with the new reality that the federal deduction is gone…
… as they did so, the Probate and Family Court swung into action, setting up "listening" sessions in the various counties so that local practitioners and county bar associations could weigh in on their fears and suggested solutions…
… the court sought out the most prominent experts in the field to begin to come to grips with the economic impact of the lost alimony deduction on its constituent families…
… the court conferred with its judges to see how they might create common approaches to making sure that no one would gain unfair advantage by demanding windfalls for payors or payees, because of an ARA that was now out of sync with federal tax law…
… interest groups communicated to make sure that none of them would advocate for results that would unfairly advantage one side or the other because of the tax law changes…
… the court and various bar groups worked closely to make sure that a legislative fix would be put before the legislature in plenty of time for it to act before January 1st, so that everyone would hit the ground running with the understood goals of the ARA preserved despite federal action...
… the proactivity of the court, the bar and the interest groups led to a unified approach, a smooth glide path to the 2019 reality, so that predictability reigned, and the system didn't miss a beat…
As I said, I was dreaming…
February 4, 2019's Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, Vol. 45, Issue No. 5, article, "Bar: need for alimony fix is urgent" recounts the efforts of the joint alimony task force to move a bill to the legislature with the simplest form of fix, the reticence of at least one interest group, silence from the court -- and as for the legislature – well, who knows. Per Lawyers Weekly, "…the effort is just now gearing up…", with the horse well outside the barn
As I have asked lawyers in my divorce mediation sessions if they are seeing a common approach in the courts, they look at me like I am still dreaming.
Dividing the Personal Possessions at Divorce: A Primer
As Christmas approaches, I am drawn to the sad irony that some of the impending happy gifts between spouses may someday turn to bitter lemons, riven by sour grapes in divorce. While none of us can make lemonade out this sad fruit salad, we can help make it all a bit easier for our parties in divorce mediation by giving them ideas of how to take some of the emotion out of this transaction, which is frequently (and intentionally) the last issue tackled, packing one last punch to the gut of the negotiating parties.
Our colleague and friend, David Hoffman of Boston Law Collaborative has synthesized a host of ways to offer people ways out of the worst of this last insult, in his recent piece "Fair and Square…" in Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly. With David's permission, I am linking it here as a between-the-holidays guest blog. We have all implemented some, but undoubtedly not all of David's strategies in the past, and it is really great to have it all under one headline, both as a refresher and as and a fantastic handout for mediating spouses.
Sometimes the parties will select one of these processes. They are all interesting, useful and clever.
More often than not, the tired spouses will say, "Really? Do we really have to do this?" Most of the time, they will then figure out how to swallow enough pride and hurt to adopt their own "good enough" solution, which is usually good enough to end this unique form of pain.
Thanks, David.
Can't Blame a Guy for Trying, But the Courts Do their Job in Dilanian v. Dilanian
The recent decision, Dilanian v. Dilanian, from the Massachusetts Appeals Court describes a litany of unreliable evidence from which a trial judge drew negative inferences about the malfeasance of a divorce-litigant husband, finding that he tried to obscure and shelter both assets and income from his wife and from the court. The Appeals Court agreed with the Probate and Family Court judge, and upheld her decision.
The self-employed husband depressed his apparent income after the divorce filing, by decreasing his profit distributions and increasing his retained, undistributed earnings, without legitimate explanation. You can't do that!
On a defined contribution plan, the sole- business-owner husband presented documents with the number of retirement plan participants yo-yoing periodically, attempting to reduce his share of the pension pool, for equitable division with his wife. Can't do that either.
By post-trial motion, the executor-trustee-beneficiary husband tried to take back his inaccurate trial testimony in which he overstated his rights in his father's estate, which the court had accepted, and later sourced to the husband's own inexcusable neglect. That doesn't work.
But the howler in the bunch, of which the Appeals Court made but passing note, the pension plan-administrator husband tried to dilute his share of a defined benefit pension plan by including his late father as a member of the plan, thus trying to divert a chunk of the pension from the court's equitable division powers.
Only problem was that the plan documents that the husband himself offered in evidence showed that his father was no longer alive when the plan was created.
None of this is particularly surprising in the Probate & Family Court, where Stephen Colbert's notion of "truthiness" has a long history. But, the audacity to lie in plain sight of a dated document that he himself put into evidence is, simply put, Trumpian.
To borrow a cliché from left wing TV, the "institutions held": the trial judge sniffed out the ruse, and the appellate court backed her up.
Good for them.
Lost in Translation: Reading Tea Leaves on 2019 Alimony Deduction
Translation can be a tricky thing.
Just ask this restaurant owner in China, above. (https://lingualinx.com/blog/the-funniest-examples-of-translation-gone-wrong/).
Or, yourself, as you try to assemble your kid's imported toy next month using instructions that seem reverse engineered from Chinese to Japanese to English; and while reading your next off-shore spam email.
Q4 2018 is a time of searching for clues from the U.S. Treasury about how it will apply 2019's alimony prohibition for those still struggling to strike alimony deals this year in hope of retaining future deductibility. We'd hope that the challenge would not be compounded by language whose meaning has been lost in translation, but…
While lawyers, judges, mediators and arbitrators struggle to glean government's intentions through statutes and regulations, the public relies on IRS instructional publications for their primary understanding of tax law.
A colleague recently shared the following draft language for Publication 504 "Divorced or Separated Persons", the IRS's public instructions about matters including alimony. Read it as a layperson might:
Line 11 Alimony Received Enter amounts received as alimony or separate maintenance. You must let the person who made the payments know your social security number. If you don't, you may have to pay a penalty. For more details, see Pub. 504.
That's my underlining. It is self-referential and circular, but hey, it's only a draft.
More substantively, the language continues:
TAX TIP: Alimony received will no longer be included in your income if you entered into a divorce or separation agreement on or before December 31, 2018, and the agreement is changed after December 31, 2018, to expressly provide that alimony received is not included in your income.
That is their italics, presumably to draw us to its importance. The color-coding is mine, to help illustrate the following. What does this communicate to the reader?
The impatient reader, or one who recalls her English teacher defining an independent clause as phasing that has a subject and a verb, and produces a complete thought, may focus on
"Alimony received will no longer be included in your income if you entered into a divorce or separation agreement on or before December 31, 2018…"
From which taxpayer might rightfully conclude that her lawyer was crazy in trying to craft an alimony deal in 2018 since taxable alimony has been retroactively repealed. What was the rush about, anyway?
She might also conclude, let's wait to talk turkey until after new year, since this clause also implies that 2019 agreements will produce deductible alimony. Huh?
The more patient taxpayer will also read "…and the agreement is changed after December 31, 2018, to expressly provide that alimony received is not included in your income." After suffering through two dependent clauses that rely on the passive tense and a sort of double negative ("no longer" and "not"), one may well wonder "what's the big deal?" After all, if my 2018 alimony deal does not produce reportable income to me, then who cares if a change to my agreement simply confirms that result?
Careful and repeated readings of this one sentence, by one who understands tax law, will ultimately yield an accurate statement of law. But given its intended audience, might not the drafters have simply said:
"If you and your spouse signed a divorce or separation agreement before December 31, 2018, that required taxable alimony, the alimony that you receive in 2019 or later will be included in your income. However, if you and your spouse or former spouse amend that agreement in 2019 or later, and your amended agreement expresses that future alimony will not be taxable, then the alimony that you receive in 2019 or later will not be included in your income."
Is draft publication 504 a symptom of poor drafting or something more insidious, like deliberate obfuscation of taxpayer's rights and obligations?
On a more nuanced level, does the fact that draft publication 504 makes reference to "divorce and separation agreements" only, and not to court orders or judgments, imply that 2018 alimony agreements will be deemed qualified deductible support in 2019 without the need for a judge's endorsement, as much precedent suggests?
I hope so. The absence of reference to court orders is soothing, and perhaps indicates that my previously expressed worries are misplaced.
But then, what happens if the parties take a merging agreement for alimony, signed in 2018, to a court in 2019, and the judge does not approve the deal for incorporation into an order or judgment?
Of course, this is only a draft, and as a public "instruction" only, it is not law. See, https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2015/11/11/amazingly-irs-says-you-cant-rely-on-irs-instructions/#21b2923d341a.
So, I think I'll still wait for the temporary regulations before I let down my guard entirely.
Thanks to David H. Goodman, CPA, of Gosule, Butkus & Jesson, LLP for the draft language. Stay tuned for David's piece about alimony trusts in the next LDRC newsletter.
"Thanks for your service, son. Now, about that child support…" Bobblis v. Costa
I've drafted a lot of separation agreements over the years. I have also been accused, on occasion, of trying to anticipate some pretty unlikely events. But I never considered the possibility that a child support payor might try to stop paying because his kid earned a college scholarship, let alone one that committed him to military service after graduation!
Instead of saying "congratulations, and thank you, son", the father demanded retroactive termination of child support to the start of his son's ROTC training, junior year, citing the "military enlistment" emancipation provision of the parties' divorce agreement. And to think, Claire Booth Luce had never heard of the Bobblis case when she coined "No good deed goes unpunished".
The Probate and Family Court dispatched the father's demand with careful legal analysis. The Massachusetts Appeals Court did the same, crediting Judge Lisa Roberts' good work, and distinguishing military enlistment (and full time attendance at West Point or other military academy), from attending college on a military-provided scholarship. The appellate panel upheld the trial judge's ruling that the child remained unemancipated, and child support unchanged.
The father represented himself at the trial level, but he had counsel on the appeal. Presumably, his lawyer advanced irony-free arguments that she believed would survive the giggle test. The Appeals Court accorded the appellant and his counsel the dignity of a reasoned, published decision rather than the "you've got to be kidding me" reply a/k/a summary disposition.
They even declined to award appellate fees for advancing a frivolous argument.
Food & Beverages Aren't Entertaining Under JCTA
Our colleagues at Gosule, Butkus & Jesson, LLP sent out an interesting newsletter recently in which they address the fact that the Job Cuts and Tax Act of 2017 (JCTA) has eliminated the entertainment portion of business deductibility, but not the 50% deduction for food and beverages. As the meat (ahem) on the statutory bone, the Treasury Department "intend[s] to publish" proposed regulations to clarify what will remain both ingestible and deductible:
The expense must be ordinary and necessary
It may not be lavish or extravagant
The taxpayer or employee must be present
The food & drink must be consistent with that provided to other similarly situated business contacts
And, if the grub is purchased during entertainment it must be invoiced or specified separately from the entertainment.
They're all fun, but Item 5 on the menu caught my eye particularly. Gosule points out a $5 hot dog at a Red Sox game will be half deductible, while the $1,500 game tickets (hell, it's playoff time) are not; while $200 worth of food and drink in a Celtics luxury box will not be deductible at all because it is not paid or billed separately from the ticket.
That's as logical as calling another 9th inning pitching change in a 16-1 rout or 4th quarter NBA garbage time "entertainment".
It does call to mind the tricky job of courts, arbitrators and special masters in adjudicating adjustments to a self-employed spouse's income for attribution purposes. A lot of season tickets get packed into pass-through expense schedules! And, many of those tickets actually do go to customers…
It also reminds me of the dilemma of creating and parsing Probate and Family Court Rule 401 financial statements, where "food", "meals out" and "entertainment", both personal and business, mix and mingle with regularity, with double counting galore!
Coming to a deposition or hearing room near you…
Spousal Disqualification Still a Good Rule After M.T.J.C. LLC, et als. v. Steven Simon
In the unusual context of a U.S. Bankruptcy Court case, Judge Melvin S. Hoffman examined an evidentiary statute that is daily fodder in family law litigation, M.L.G., ch. 233, §20, known as the "spousal disqualification". In short, §20 prohibits married or divorced person from testifying to private conversations between them that occurred during marriage.
It is not a waivable privilege, like the right to withhold testimony in a criminal proceeding against one's spouse. It is a rule that neither party may relax, certainly not unilaterally; and, arguably, a judge should not rely on disqualified testimony, even if neither party is vigilant enough to object to its admission.
There are exceptions to the rule: domestic and child abuse cases, and at issue in M.T.J.C. LLC, et als. v. Steven Simon, cases where the spouses have entered into a contract with each other. Appellate cases have previously addressed construction questions such as: "can a 'conversation' be in writing?" (no); and "what is private"? (where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, which may be negated by the presence of other persons who have the capacity to overhear and understand); and most recently, does the Alimony Reform Act (eff. 3.1.12) definition of marriage length (M.G.L., ch. 208, §48) terminate the period of disqualification? (no, private conversations remain disqualified until absolute divorce, under Balistreri v. Balistreri, Appeals Court 2018).
But, this bankruptcy judge faced a question that neither §20 nor appellate case law have yet addressed, namely, does the contract exemption to spousal disqualification apply in a lawsuit in which a third party is litigating against one of the spouses?
Because of the paucity of authority, Judge Hoffman tasked himself with "… predict[ing] how the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court would rule on this issue". In doing so, he carefully reviewed the statute and interpretive case law, and concluded, soundly, that the contract exemption only applies when the spouses are themselves lawsuit opponents.
In other words, the court could not order Ms. Simon to testify about her private conversations with Mr. Simon about a contract between them, at the demand of someone else suing her husband.
Judge Hoffman's scholarship is an interesting read, especially for those who encounter the disqualification on a daily basis, and rarely question its premises. He recites history and policy that underlay the statute: that spouses were considered "as one" in common law, that their interests were uniformly aligned, that the "bias of affection" would undermine reliable testimony, that marital peace would be disturbed, and that cross examination of the declarant might cause prejudice to the other spouse.
He concludes that even if many of these reservations "seem quaintly outdated", they nevertheless ground a statute, which the trial courts are not free to alter.
As a family law arbitrator, special master and litigating-lawyer-in-recovery, I can't miss the unavoidable irony in the "bias of affection" justification for spousal disqualification. The divorce court's problem is in fact, the polar opposite: think, "the bias of disaffection".
Who among us has not encountered an estranged couple about whom we have thought "they can't even agree that the sky is blue"? Hell, many of us have been there in ourselves personally…
The fact of the matter is that, quaint or not, spousal disqualification is a good rule. What harmonious couples talk about privately is no one else's business; and how conflicting spouses remember it, or choose to recount it, clouded by conflation, confusion or convenience, gives rise to inherently unreliable testimony.
Factfinders struggle enough with the quantum of evidence in a field where parties and counsel fear leaving even the smallest pebble unturned. Opening divorce trials to endless "he/she/they said" testimony would be a race to the evidentiary bottom, producing even more heat and precious little light.
As a young litigator I felt the opposite. Age has its privileges, I guess.
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text:
Q: Google Maps v3 - Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'Marker' of undefined I have my map div container always on the page:

at first I was trying to append this to the DOM in the ajax callback aswell but was having troubles so decided to make it static for now.
I am trying to initialise the map from a jquery ajax callback
...
complete: function(data) {
    // build the map
    $.getScript("http://maps.google.com/maps/api/js?v=3&libraries=geometry&sensor=false&region=uk&async=2&callback=MapApiLoaded", function () {});
    running = false;

    if(running) return false;
    running = true;
    setMarkers();
    flightPath.setMap(null); // Remove polyline
    flightPathProgress.setMap(null); // Remove polyline

    setTimeout(function() {
        flightPath.setMap(map);
        flightPathProgress.setMap(map);
        flightPathProgress.setOptions({
            strokeOpacity: 0
    });

    var progress = 0;
    var intvl = setInterval(function(){
        progress += 0.01;
        if(progress > 1) {
            clearInterval(intvl);
            running = false;
         } else {

         }

         // Calc progress
         var progressLatLng = google.maps.geometry.spherical.interpolate(userlatlng, serverlatlng, progress);
         // Update polyline
         flightPathProgress.setOptions({
             strokeOpacity: progress,
             path: [userlatlng, progressLatLng]
         });
     }, 50);
     }, 1000);
 }

I also have the following outside of the document ready function
var map;
var serverlatlng;
var userlatlng;
var servermarker;
var usermarker;
var flightPath;
var flightPathProgress;
var running;

function MapApiLoaded() {
    serverlatlng = new google.maps.LatLng(34.0625, -118.123);
    userlatlng = new google.maps.LatLng(54.167, -4.48211);
    var centerlatlng = new google.maps.LatLng(44.0835, -61.241055);

    // Create the map
    var myOptions = {
        center: centerlatlng,
        mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.TERRAIN,
        panControl: false,
        zoomControl: false,
        streetViewControl: false,
        mapTypeControl: false
     };

     map = new google.maps.Map(document.getElementById("map_canvas"), myOptions);

     // Centre map on user and server locations
     var bounds = new google.maps.LatLngBounds();
     bounds.extend(serverlatlng);
     bounds.extend(userlatlng);
     map.fitBounds(bounds);

     // The grey outline path
     flightPath = new google.maps.Polyline({
         path: [userlatlng,serverlatlng],
         strokeColor: "#666",
         strokeOpacity: 0.5,
         strokeWeight: 4,
         geodesic: true,
         zIndex: 1
      });

      // The red progress path
      flightPathProgress = new google.maps.Polyline({
          path: [userlatlng,userlatlng],
          strokeColor: "#ff0000",
          strokeOpacity: 0,
          strokeWeight: 4,
          geodesic: true,
          zIndex: 2
      });
}

function setMarkers() {
    if(servermarker != undefined) servermarker.setMap(null); // Remove marker if exists
    servermarker = new google.maps.Marker({
    position: serverlatlng,
    map: map,
    title:"Server",
    animation: google.maps.Animation.DROP,
    icon: 'images/marker.png'
});

    if(usermarker != undefined) usermarker.setMap(null); // Remove marker if exists
    usermarker = new google.maps.Marker({
        position: userlatlng,
        map: map,
        title:"User",
        animation: google.maps.Animation.DROP,
        icon: 'images/marker.png'
    });
}

The error message I am getting is Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'Marker' of undefined.
The full expanded message is
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'Marker' of undefined
www.domain.co.uk/:345
setMarkers www.domain.co.uk/:345
$.ajax.complete www.domain.co.uk/:242
fire jquery.js:3064
self.fireWith jquery.js:3176
done jquery.js:8259

callback`

A: You are trying to use the Google Maps API constructor for a google.maps.Marker before the API is loaded.
Update:
the setMarkers function is running before the API is loaded.

A: Apparently this is a bug in the new Google Maps update. It only seems to effect those users who have the new version of maps. For them, the marker will not show up even on the google api code sample: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/marker-simple
The developer console will have the Uncaught TypeError: Type error
if you logout of google and visit the same page, you are most likely to see the marker

A: I solved this because I was missing geometry from the end of this url

A: if you do not have a business account, it could also give you this error which comes from this response of the server:
{
 "error_message" : "You have exceeded your rate-limit for this API.",
 "results" : [],
 "status" : "OVER_QUERY_LIMIT"
}

Which means that either you load the api too many times a day/too concentrated or that you try to load many addresses. Check the server response and see if you get it.
This particular response will also cause this error.
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'geometry' of undefined

Here you can find some tips that might help. https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/business/articles/usage_limits

A: I think you need to load the JS google maps API using a "script" tag, NOT using $.getScript.
According to the jQuery API docs (http://api.jquery.com/jQuery.getScript/), getScript loads a JavaScript file from the server using a GET HTTP request, then executes it.
This is probably not the right way of loading the Gmaps JS API. Note that the documentation for the GMaps API says, "The URL contained in the script tag is the location of a JavaScript file that loads all of the symbols and definitions you need for using the Google Maps API. This script tag is required. ... To [asynchronously load the JS API], you can inject your own  tag in response to a window.onload event or a function call, but you need to additionally instruct the Maps JavaScript API bootstrap to delay execution of your application code until the Maps JavaScript API code is fully loaded. You may do so using the callback parameter, which takes as an argument the function to execute upon completing loading the API."
You can see the gmaps API docs here: https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/tutorial
In my case, I did the following. Note that the callback parameter is required for this to work:
function initializeGmaps() {}
$(document).ready(function() {
  $('head').append('

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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The Beast from the East has gripped Derbyshire and the UK with deep snow and icy conditions.
The Beast from the East is refusing to release its icy grip as temperatures remain below zero and driving conditions are still treacherous across Derbyshire today, Saturday, March 3.
A gradual thaw is expected from the south of the country but cold conditions are expected to stay across the north for a while longer but with less frequent and less heavy snow showers.
Nationally, Armed Forces have had to be called in after the last three to four days have been dubbed the worst weather for a generation with the Siberian Front colliding with Storm Emma across the UK.
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