Anyone who's ever yearned to visit Paris will feel right at home in The Phillips Collection's latest special exhibition, showcasing the work of Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) because his work is literally the stuff that populates dreams of the Cit's of Lights. In a relatively brief life, Toulouse-Lautrec documented and defined French popular culture in a way that still affects us today. It's impossible to visit any of DC's universities without running into the famed "Chat Noire" on a freshman's wall.
-opening experience for me in several levels.
Personally impressed, Toulouse-Lautrec then pressed his perceptions indelibly into the modern medium of printing: preserving and diffusing far-and-wide a vibrant record of his age. In this, modern as he may have been, Toulouse-Lautrec was a man of tradition: he handed on what he had received. And not only from his own era. From time to time, he would borrow or carry over motifs from earlier prints (17-18th centuries), updating them for his day. This understanding of tradition, so critical to the Christian faith may be what's so endearing to me about Toulouse-Lautrec's work.
What a wonder, to have all the world agree that in a few brush-strokes on paper you have captured the multifaceted living breathing reality of an entire society! And what a society!
Here we move beyond Degas' dancers or Parisian women ironing. Toulouse-Lautrec descends from the wrought iron balconies of the Champs Elysees into the dirt and grit of Paris' late nineteenth century demi-monde. Here we meet celebrated poets, clowns, dancers, and even prostitutes of the day.
They drew artists and tourists alike to the city Haussmann built… so strong was the attraction that even the Franco-Prussian war could not long slow Paris' growth nor dim its glow.
This praise must be matched, however, with a certain mourning. If Toulouse-Lautrec's capacity to preserve and hand on the Paris of his day is a joy to behold, the content of that day is certainly a cause for weeping. …and that's no prudish judgment on my part. Look carefully at each of the exhibit's posters. Do you see any happy people?
Often, Toulouse-Lautrec's figures practically drip. In some cases their features almost resemble wax melting off a candle… a sign of the excess of the age. In other works, the artist's reductionist approach yields lumpy broad-angled bodies.
Reflecting on tis exhibition, questions naturally arise: how does this relate to life today? Are we, the great-grandchildren of the belle epoch, different? Better? Worse? I'm not sure… and there's really no time for me to dive into it here and now, but the estimable work of this artist certainly lends credibility and merit to the questions… questions to be carefully examined with eyes of faith.
It's been a while since I last paid vows in that awe-filled agora of the aesthetic, the National Gallery of Art. So I was thrilled to find on exhibit the works of Hubert Robert (1733-1808). This French luminary was known in his time not only for his mastery of architectural painting and classical history, but also for his identity as something of a bon vivant in Parisian and Roman society… quite an achievement given the French Revolution consumed many of his working years.
Robert's particular genius was to evoke the grandeur of ancient Rome. His nick name, "Robert of the Ruins" comes from his love for depicting the remains of the imperial city. Often, he would combine various monuments into what is known as a capriccio, "trick," depicting scenes that never actually existed. Looking at Hubert Robert's work through eyes of faith, what can we see?
Like most who've tried to capture "ROME" in stone or on canvas, Robert conveys three sensations: warmth, la vita, and greatness.
Located as it is in central Italy, Rome has always been a warm city. Snow is so rare that when it fell on the Esquiline Hill, Pope Liberius dedicated the Basilica of Mary Major on the spot! This gave rise to the Roman saying, "when it snows, we build churches…" but I digress. Looking out over Rome on any given afternoon there is a sense of haze… sometimes that of modern smog, but more often a glow of sorts; perhaps the result of the city's stones radiating the day's heat back into the atmosphere. It slows down life. Roman's walk slower, take their time at meals and are rarely in a rush to work. Romantics suggest this is a nod to the city's eternity… a state in which rushing is pointless… I like that idea well enough, but practical experience taught me, things are slow because it's just plane hot. Robert captures this warmth in his paintings, and perhaps especially in the hazy strokes of his favorite medium, red chalk.
La Vita is a concept characteristic of Italians. It's their sense that life will be what it will be and we have very little control over it. Consequently life should be enjoyed. Historians and commentators suggest that La vita rises from centuries of conquest as foreign powers literally marched all over the peninsula.
This sense of la vita is typified most eloquently by the Italians' use of a joyfully sardonic or ironic humor throughout their literature. Robert captures la vita by juxtaposing monumental architecture with the realities of peasant living; it's subjects pulsing with triumph, tragedy and a healthy does of groundling laughter throughout.
Finally – and most important for us – Hubert Robert's Rome is a GRAND vision. Think for a moment, have you ever seen a "humble" vision of Rome? No. Everything from Ben-Hur to Gladiator to the works at the Gallery show Rome as mighty. To be sure, when one walks the via Sacra in the Roman forum, it is impressive. The fact that at it's height the city was home to well over one million people… two thousand years ago… is astounding. And yet… our images of Rome are often even greater than her reality. One sees this on display in Rome today. The Victor Emmanuel II Monument (the famed "Birthday Cake") was built to show Rome's resurrection under the Kingdom of Italy (1870), but – with the exception of the Colosseum – it dwarfs all of the monuments that once stood in the forum… which is one reason that modern Italians generally consider the monument to be garish in its disproportion. Nonetheless, behold the power of imagination.
Imagination has a vital role to play in our lives and should be exercised often. St. Thomas Aquinas spoke frequently about the role of imagination in prayer, in dialogue with the Lord, and generally in transcending this world. St. Ignatius Loyola gave great practical advice in this regard, by tracing out the concept of "Imaginative Prayer" as part of his Spiritual Exercises. In a hyper-empirical age, Robert's outsized image of Rome could be criticized as "inaccurate," but it was ideas fit to those mythic proportions that inspired people like George Washington and Thomas Jefferson; ideas like "Republic," "Equal Justice Under the Law," "Freedom from tyranny"… all of which found their origins in Roman government. That same dream of Rome is at the core of our city: the Capitol is spelled with an "o" as a reference to Capitoline Hill in the Forum… which, by the way, is reflected in the National Mall… Even Constitution Avenue, used to be a canal running through the capitol… a canal called, "Tiber." Maybe, even in a scientific post-modern age, a little imagination has a useful role to play in building up our own city on a hill and bringing us all to the heavenly city one day.
Local Cultural Recommendations: Visit the National Gallery of Art to see the artwork below. Also stop in at Epiphany Parish in Georgetown… a gem of a parish with a growing parish life… a wonderful quiet place to pray during the day.
They came from "the East." The arrival of the magi in Bethlehem is one of the most touching moments in the Gospel. One of the deep roots of our joy on this feast is locked up in that very general phrase, "the East." The magi – whose number, by the way, is never limited to three though only three types of gifts were brought – represent the every man. They are the first of the gentiles to worship Christ. To quote, Pope St. Leo the Great, "they are the first harvest of the gentiles," and the fulfillment of God's promise to make Abraham the father of many nations. Yes, with the arrival of the magi, hope is offered to all the nations. Because they came from everywhere, no kingdom is excluded from God's Kingdom. Because they came from every circumstance, no circumstance is excluded from God's sympathy. Because they were sinners, no sin is excluded from his mercy. …And as a result of all this expansive welcoming of the nations, I have hope because it means I am not excluded from God's love either.
They were guided by a star… these magi were astronomers, observers of the natural world. Careful study of the natural world, careful use of human reason led them to the divine. For God is the Father of all Creation. The magi remind us that we need not fear responsible science, because it will lead us to a better comprehension of Christ in the end.
The magi were intimidated by Herod. When he tells them to bring back news of Jesus, you can almost imagine him using air quotes around the phrase, "that I too might do him homage." Political intrigue hanging over them, the magi continued on their journey to proclaim Christ. Leaving by "another way," their lives would never be the same, and neither would those who received the Good News from the magi in their homelands. Has my life been changed by Christ in concrete, observable ways? Can I overcome the discomfort of speaking about Jesus with others? If I perceive a threat hanging over me as a result of my Christian faith, do I pray for courage?
The answer to some of these questions, and really an encapsulating moment for this entire reflection, must be the moment of encounter between the magi and Mary. For weeks we've heard how Mary "kept all these things in he heart." She is the first Christian contemplative. And while it's not explicitly outlined in the Gospel, I'd like to think that like most mother's, Mary shared something of her maternal experience with those who had come to meet Christ. While showing these scientists from the East how to hold the child, "aways support the neck," did she share with them the fruits of her contemplation? I'd like to think so. Learning from her who loved Christ perfectly and shared him perfectly, we can do likewise in our own lives.
The bronze above is a beautiful piece on display at the Freer Gallery on the National Mall. Cast by Augustus Saint-Gaudens its title is "Law Supported by Strength and Love." Saint-Gardens was an American sculptor of the 19th century who engaged in serious study in Paris before returning to the U.S. to memorialize great achievements of the Civil War. He was part of an entire American movement to bring knowledge of the arts and sciences from Paris to our still-new Republic (see David McCullough's "The Greater Journey") . Over the course of the late 18th-19th centuries, both the U.S. and France underwent revolutionary changes that were taken by the rest of the western world to be shining lights of what government of, by and for the people could achieve. Neither experiment was perfect. But at their best these two newly democratic states discovered important truths. One of them is above. "Law Supported by Strength and Love" shows a critical part of democratic government. Most people can deduce that the coercive power of strength is essential to governance… but just as necessary, especially in a democratic system, is LOVE.
The concept isn't new… it dates back to the earliest recollection of the Romans. In his History of the Republic, Titus Livius (Livy) describes the camaraderie of the early settlers of Rome, their concern for each other overthrew the Tarquinian monarchy to establish the Republic. It was founded on a love of country, concern for neighbor, service of family and piety before heaven. The Romans discovered that such love is the basis of the self-regulating civil society essential to the functioning of a republic. Why? Because citizens inevitably tire of and rebel against coercive power. States shouldn't be in the business of intimidating their people, but rather inspiring them. Likewise, citizens shouldn't have to call on the power of the state to regulate their relations with each other, but rather they should serve each other. Love has the power to move a nation without whipping it into submission.
This great advance in political thinking was not however the unique preserve of enlightenment philosophers. In fact many of them would've readily discounted such a sentimental approach to democracy (Hobbs, Hume, even our own Alexander Hamilton, for example). Nonetheless, mutual respect for human dignity became the basis of western democratic thought. How? Here we have to look with eyes of faith. Faithful people (at that time of an almost entirely Christian background) exercising their religions brought New Testament LOVE and compassion to the nascent French and American democracies. As a result the greatest achievements of those democracies (the American Constitution / Bill of Rights and the post-Napoleonic French Republic) liberated both countries' citizens for the pursuit of happiness.
Stop in at the Freer and visit Saint-Gaudens' sculpture in the central court. It'll make you think… it might even inspire you to love your neighbor… for his good, for your own, and for the good of our country.
A new exhibit at the National Gallery of Art is quite the gem. Recent Acquisitions of Italian Renaissance Prints: Ideas Made Flesh focuses on a medium that's actually been getting quite a bit of attention in the Gallery's downstairs exhibition space this year: Printing.
In high school we all learn about the importance the printing press for producing the Gutenberg Bible, revolutionary political tracts and other texts… but the Press was also used to great effect in diffusing the beauty of images. For the first time hundreds of copies of original masterpieces could be made and sold to patrons rich and poor… spreading not only the fame of the artist, but also people's sense that they could touch the sacred through beauty. Brining the sacred and the beautiful ever more into daily life is a priority of the New Evangelization… Consider visiting the exhibit. It may spark some ideas!
Continuing on the them of memory from my last post… Some thoughts about the National Mall.
I was riding my bike earlier this week and snapped a few quick shots of buildings along our very own Forum Americanum, The National Mall. At first I was playing a game of "Which of these ones is not like the other one. Taking in the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) was a little startling to say the least.
The museum's jagged motif and bronze coloring are startling in the midst of the classical splendor that characterizes the Mall. The shock value of the building inspired me to do some research. The NMAAHC's design is drawn from a traditional three-part column characteristic of the Yoruban culture of Africa, as well as the motif of a crown. For more details on the building philosophy, see this LINK for the Architect's vision. Unto itself, I'm actually somewhat impressed with the museum's design concept. So why do I still recoil?
Relative to it's neighbors the NMAAHC doesn't seem to match… but riding along further I was reminded that other structures on the Mall also don't seem to fit. The Air and Space Museum, East Wing of the National Gallery, the Hirshorn, American Indian Museum and even the Smithsonian Castle. Under closer examination I realized that MUCH of the National Mall doesn't match DC's general Greco-Roman theme. So what does pull the Mall together?
I.M. Pei's East Wing of the NGA is built along the angles characteristic of DC's squares and traffic circles. An unorthodox structure perhaps, but thoroughly Washingtonian even if only subconsciously. Also it's facing stones match the white-gray color scheme of classical architecture. The building is part of who we have been.
Color and general shape links the air and Space Museum to the rest of the Mall as well. It's proportions and building materials help it blend in. As to it's actual design, simplistic and brutalist architecture represent a major movement in post-WWII western art, which fled from the ornament of previous ages for a highly utilitarian (if not exactly exciting) design. Similar principles inspired the Hirshorn Gallery's geometric purism. Both buildings are thus part of who we have been.
The American Indian Museum is clearly drawn from the native cliff dwellings of the pre-colonial southwest. It is a part of what America was long before it was America.
The Smithsonian Castle looks NOTHING like the Mall today… but the Mall once looked much more like the Smithsonian Castle. It's a leftover from the Victorian-age of red brick neo-gothic architecture (still with us in the turrets and brick faces of our townhouses). Like Augustus in Rome, FDR found Washington a city of brick and left it a city of Marble. The Castle is certainly part of who we have been.
In the end, the unifying principle behind today's National Mall seems to be a memory of who we have been. My anxiety, I think, springs from the past tense of that sentiment: who we HAVE been… because putting it in the past tense leave open the question: Who are we today? and Who will we be?
As Catholics we believe in a hermeneutic of continuity guiding us as a Church. There's no rule binding DC or even the US to a hermeneutic of neo-classical continuity… but the questions remain, "Do we know who we are anymore?" "Are we running toward a positive new identity, or just fleeing from an old one?" I don't have answers but I think these are all questions worthy of examination through eyes of faith.
Just a few fruits of the new relationship between our beloved National Gallery of Art and The Corcoran Collection… all now on display at the NGA!


text:
Iran election: huge turnout in presidential poll after bitter contest
Winner will influence not only Iran's immediate future but also the looming battle to choose a new supreme leader
Iran's presidential elections: everything you need to know
Iranian women cast their ballots at a polling station at the Lorzadeh mosque in southern Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images
Emma Graham-Harrison in Tehran
Fri 19 May 2017 23.19 EDT First published on Fri 19 May 2017 01.22 EDT
Millions of Iranians have voted in a bitterly contested presidential election that has pitted hardliners against reformers and is expected to set the country's direction for a generation.
The official announcement of the results was delayed on Saturday due to a high turnout, but the victor will influence not only Iran's immediate future but also the looming battle to choose a new supreme leader, who will rule for life.
What's in a ring? Iran's Khamenei sends mixed election messages
The two main candidates are both clerics, but have little else in common. The incumbent, Hassan Rouhani, 68, is a moderate who opened his country to the world and relaxed controls on Iranian society, his four years in power defined by the landmark nuclear deal he secured against the odds.
Supporters determined to hold on to those changes flocked to voting stations across more liberal areas of the capital, Tehran, where hundreds welcomed their reformist political heroes with a frenzy saved for film or rock stars in other countries.
A sea of smartphones and chants of "We love you" greeted politicians and turbaned clerics throughout the morning, as they cast votes in a memorial hall favoured by prominent reformers.
"I have been waiting here since 7.30," said Mahsa Behzad, 28, determined to both vote and see her idols. "We don't want the past to repeat."
If Rouhani does lose, it would be an historic upset, as all previous presidents since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei became supreme leader in 1989 have been returned to office for a second term.
His main challenger, former prosecutor and judicial official Ebrahim Raisi, whose black turban signifies that he claims descent from the prophet Muhammad, was initially written off as uncharismatic and virtually unknown.
But the 56-year-old has built a populist, isolationist and religiously conservative coalition that has transformed him into a serious threat to Rouhani, whose legacy he has attacked and promised to unpick.
A voter casts her ballot at a polling station in Tehran. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
He appeals to voters frustrated by a weak economy and unemployment running at over a quarter among young people, and those who feel the small freedoms Rouhani has allowed undermine Islam.
"Raisi tackles capitalism and injustice. Don't you get bothered or upset when someone in your country gets extremely rich, and others are very poor?" said Najemah Farahani, a 37-year-old housewife voting in Tehran's less wealthy south, which is dominated by conservatives.
Raisi offered Iran a future more in line with the values of the country's ultimate ruler, the hardliner Khamenei, she added. "We love our supreme leader, and we love our religion."
In Iran's unwieldy hybrid of democracy and theocracy, these votes do not deliver ultimate control of the country, but neither are they the empty propaganda charades put on by countries such as North Korea.
Iranians vote in presidential election – in pictures
The president has considerable influence – even though he is always constrained by the supreme leader, who has control of a range of unelected military and religious bodies.
If Raisi wins, it would almost certainly bring to an abrupt halt Iran's engagement with the west, and ultimately doom the 2015 nuclear agreement – even though the enduring popularity of the deal means he did not directly attack it during the bitter campaign.
It could also set him up to become Iran's next supreme leader, only the third man to rule the country since the 1979 revolution. Khamenei is now in his late 70s and battling health problems, and Raisi is on an unofficial list of candidates to succeed him.
A term as president would add to his resumé a job that Khamenei also held, along with a sense of legitimacy delivered by a public mandate.
Khamenei kicked off the poll at 8am, casting his own ballot in a polling station set up in the heart of his leadership compound and then urging 56 million Iranians eligible to vote to cast their ballots as soon as possible.
The supreme leader casts his vote first thing on Friday. Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
"The destiny of the country is in the hands of the people," said Khamenei, who is believed to favour Raisi but has officially stayed out of the fray. "People should go to the polling stations as early as possible."
That call to vote was echoed by leaders across the political spectrum, although high turnout tends to benefit reformist candidates in Iran.
Rouhani got his 2013 mandate on the back of a turnout of over 70%, and one of the biggest fears of his campaign this year was that voters disappointed by his failure to rekindle strong economic growth would stay at home, particularly after Raisi picked up momentum.
"People are worried, that's why they are gathering here," said Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a prominent reformer and former presidential chief of staff, who was mobbed for selfies by reformist voters after he emerged from the polling station. "These worries are a main reason for casting a vote."
Casting a shadow over largely smooth overseas polling for Iranians living and working abroad was news from Thailand, where police said an Iranian man set himself on fire in front of the embassy in Bangkok to protest against the poll.
Iran election: frantic campaigning as high-stakes vote goes down to wire
He suffered burns all over his body and was taken to hospital, but it was not clear what exactly he was protesting against, police told Reuters news agency.
Voting was extended by five hours to 11pm on Friday evening, with counting expected to start at midnight, and the first partial results due not long after that. The final tally will not be announced until much later.
If Rouhani can secure a second term he will have to focus on coming good on economic promises made four years ago but only partially achieved.
He did stabilise an economy that had been shrinking fast under his predecessor, and tamed rampant inflation. But after his nuclear deal failed to spark the hoped-for flood of foreign investment, growth is still feeble and more than one in four young Iranians are out of work.
"They just want to force people to go to the polls," said greengrocer Mojtaba Salimi, who works just a few steps from a polling station but won't be voting.
His tax bill has gone up twelvefold in the last two years, and he can barely cover rent on his shop. "We have heard a lot of lies over the past years. Nobody cares about ordinary people."
Hassan Rouhani
Iran's president heckled at rally after criticism by supreme leader
Rift between Iran's ayatollah and re-elected president widens
The guidebooks and selfie-sticks arrive as Rouhani's Iran declares itself open to all
The Trump administration's Iran policy is dangerous and flawed
Iran: Hassan Rouhani wins landslide in huge victory for reformists
Hassan Rouhani declared winner of Iranian election – video

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Happy New Year to everyone who will not read this until way after the fact. But for what it's worth… I hope everyone had a good year. Goodbye 2017 and Hello 2018.
For my life, the past year had been all about trying to regain stability after enduring 8 deaths in the family from July 2015 to January 2017. Only to experience a death of a close friend of the family. He unexpectedly passing away in September 2017. It's been a wild ride.
For the past 2 years I've been questioning my own mortality, taking more time to be with family, having a better work life balance. In my spare time I have been learning about subjects that I always wanted to learn: Higher Science, Physics, Quantum Physics, Machine Learning, Blockchain and much more. All the while putting the world into perspective.
In the beginning of December, work from the business dwindled as it does every year around this time. So instead of panicking, I called upon my Jedi skills and used this time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. I'm not talking about just 2018 as I don't believe in New Years resolutions. Rather in short terms anticipating the year 2020. Just geek out on that for a second and let your mind go crazy, that's what I did.
For those people who know me and read this then you wont be so surprised to hear that I'm about to shake things up a bit this year. To you I'm always doing something outside the box and it seems crazy, right? To everyone else, I just have to keep striving for new challenges, I have to keep raising the bar on everything I do. Not for money but instead for happiness.
1. Where our world is going in terms of business and lifestyle.
2. My love for helping people and the desire to grow.
3. To capture and document moments in time for my future family members.
Everyone who knows me will tell you that I'm a bit of a private person. I barely have a social media presence and I don't put my personal business out there. But guess what, using what I've learned and know the way the world is going, the internet will expose us all, whether we like it or not. This means, less privacy and more transparency. So in my case, I'd rather be in control and I'm diving in head first. Welcome to my first ever and only personal website.
This year, I'm going to step outside of my comfort zone and create content on the necessary platforms that will tell my story. I'm not looking to become a "YouTuber", an "influencer" or even to become popular online. I just want to have fun, do something different, create online content that might be helpful, travel the world with family and connect with new people.
So with all that said, there is a great deal of research, planning and re-configuring of my current life that needs to be done in order to get to where I want to go. So this post is the start of my new journey. It's not as easy as moving to a new home. Since I'm self employed and can work from virtually anywhere with an internet connection, it's going to be less stressful. I plan to document my progress using videos and blogs. This will act as the time capsule for how ever long it takes to tell my story.
If any one person in the world can find value in what I experience, then I'd be happy. But if my future family can find me online and get to know me, see what kind of person I was and learn from my mistakes, then I say, "Mission Accomplished".
For those who we've mourned and knowing the "important" people in the world who will continue to lose there's a common factor. We all wish we could have known them more, spent more time with them, listened to their next song, been able to witness their biggest accomplishment, or just something as simple as listening to their voice and seeing them smile once more. It's part of life and a part of being human. It's important for each of us to tell our stories otherwise they will die when we pass away. The question is, how would you like to be remembered? Peace.


text:
Q: Subquerying in MongoEngine Having the sample code:
import mongoengine as mongo

class User(mongo.Document):
    name = mongo.StringField()
    age = mongo.IntField()

class Post(mongo.Document):
    title = mongo.StringField()
    author = mongo.ReferenceField(User)

I want to get all the posts created by users with ages below 30, one way is to make the request in two steps:
users = User.objects(age__lt=30)
posts = Post.objects(author__in=users)

But even this is not totally bad, it is calling and connecting to the database N times unnecessarily. So I want to make the query in just one step, I tried:
posts = Post.objects(author__age__lt=30)

But does not work, it just returns me a empty list, not an error. What am I doing wrong?

A:
What am I doing wrong?

Nothing you can't query across reference fields - see Embed Vs Reference
So even if the syntax was supported it would take two queries behind the scenes.  If its something thats wanted - add a ticket to github and I'll look into adding it :)
Updates to MongoEngine are coming in thick and fast at the moment - so a new release will be coming soon!  Some exciting improvements are on the dev branch, including efficient lazy dereferencing and update deltas for atomic saving!

A:
... it is calling and connecting to the database N times unnecessarily

MongoDB supports an $in clause that allows for the selection of multiple objects with only one query, one connection. If you're seeing multiple connections, you should probably report this to the author of mongoengine.
Because MongoDB does not support joins, your method of "load users, load their posts" is generally the correct method.

What am I doing wrong?

For this level of detail, your best bet is to contact the author directly. The github page has both his e-mail and his blog. Looking at the repo, his last update was October 2010 and the last version number was 0.4. Three months with no update is a long time in this space and he doesn't even have a 1.0 version, so it's quite likely that you'll need to speak with the author directly.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Thank you to everyone who contributed to the Comprehensive Plan Update process!
And thank you to those who participated in the Campbellton Crossroads Planning Meeting on May 29, 2018.
The Community Development Department is responsible for the City's Comprehensive Plan, zoning, land use activities, code enforcement, building inspections and permitting. The Community Development department also serves as the liaison to economic development activities.
The City's Zoning Ordinance implements the City's Comprehensive Plan by regulating how land may be used within the City. Each parcel in the City is assigned a zoning designation that describes the regulations under which that land may be used. The zoning code identifies allowable uses and sets standards such as minimum lot size, maximum building height, setbacks, and preservation buffers.
Planning and zoning activities are intended to protect, maintain, and develop a sustainable, attractive, safe, and healthy environment. Primary functions address property development and land use activities occurring in the City.
Planning and zoning activities are managed by the City Planner, who provides direction and leadership in implementing the goals, objectives, and policies of the Comprehensive Plan as adopted by the City Council.
The City Planner also provides technical assistance and staff support to the Planning Commission.
The City's building inspector is available on an on-call basis. To schedule an inspection call 770-474-9393, or for a consultation, call (678) 216-0641.
A Guide to Building in Chatt Hills – Start Here!


text:
Thank you for your request for the Phishing Simulation
An email will be sent to you shortly with more details.
How to Protect Your Sensitive Information from Word Document Malware
If you're a company that uses email scanning technology as the first line of cyber defense, you should know about a recent slate of malicious Word document-based attacks. These attacks are designed to deliver malware and ransomware to targeted systems.…
Massive Phishing Attack by Chinese Hackers Used 42,000 Imposter Domains
Cybersecurity researchers recently identified a massive phishing attack campaign targeting major companies around the world. The attack used more than 42,000 imposter domains that Chinese hackers registered to impersonate trusted websites of the targeted organizations. The attack was likely intended…
Gift Card Scams: How to Easily Spot and Avoid These Cyber Threats
Did you know that gift card scams are among the most popular cyber threats? The same things that make gift cards popular with consumers—convenience and ease of use—also make them attractive to scammers as a vehicle for fraud. Gift cards,…
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I am creating a Graphic Novel and I made a blog documenting the process, i'll have artwork, sketches, ideas & more posted on there. I saw you were into graphic novels and thought you would like to be interested in following the blog. I need followers to build up a buzz and if you think the project looks cool, I would appreciate it.
It's interesting your other choice for the homework assignments. Nice, fun, and simple character. Looks like fun to pose him in any way!


Since the good folks residing at Lard island have been so helpful in the past, I was wondering if anyone could point me in the direction of an Imperial Roman army list for Dux Britanniarum? Thanks!
You need to be much more specific. The imperial period of Rome covered about 300+ years over which the army underwent many changes. Also, the Eastern and Western empire armies would have different proportions and types of troops available.
Osprey probably has books on which war-frontier-period you are interested in.
Sorry, I guess you are looking for the Roman army in Britain before the last legions left forever. Once again Osprey is probably a good source.
Yeah, I was looking for the period between 0AD and 200AD, about at the height of the Roman empire. If anyone knows of an pre-written army list that would save me the hassle of trying to devise one meself, Id be most appreciative.


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text:
Why Too Many Mothers Are Still Dying At Childbirth in West Africa
Maternal mortality rates in West Africa are among the highest in the world. One in every 30 Nigerian mothers die in childbirth compared with one in every 30,000 in Sweden.
This is still much better than it used to be. In Sierra Leone in the early 1990s, more than 2300 women were dying for every 100,000 babies that were born alive. In Nigeria, 1100 women were suffering the same fate. The situation in both countries has improved dramatically in the past 25 years. Sierra Leone has more than halved the number of maternal deaths to 1100 for every 100,000 births, as has Nigeria – where the rate is 576 women for every 100,000 births.
But this is still way out of kilt with developing countries. In Sweden, there are four deaths for every 100,000 births. In the US, there are 28 for every 100,000 births.
Since 1990, maternal deaths worldwide have dropped by 45%. This has been partly as a result of countries adopting the eight Millennium Development Goals. As part of meeting the goals, member countries committed to cut maternal mortality by 75% by the end of December 2015.
But the drop has been marginal in most West African countries. Several attempts have been made to reduce the rate in the region through programmes such as the Safe Motherhood Initiative – but there has been limited success. Not all cases of maternal mortality can be prevented, but in most – especially in poorer countries – many women are still dying unnecessarily.
Source: allAfrica (link opens in a new window)


The Durham train trestle has stood its ground for the last 100 years.
This fact doesn't deter some drivers from challanging the bridge about once a month. all of them fail.
All footage courtesy of www.11foot8.com/ - copyright Jürgen Henn.


When you buy an old house everybody warns you because "you never know what you're gonna get".
And who can blame them? Everyone knows a story where the foundation just wasn't good enough or where the ceiling collapsed after the first shower in the new bathroom.
But there can be some nice surprises as well.
So today I will share some of the hidden treasures we've found in our house.
While we were wrestling layers and layers of wallpaper and other various wall covering (apparently laminate floors were proper wall decoration at some point in time…) we found something fun.
Why you would use old newspapers behind the wallpaper is beyond me, but that is exaclty what we found.
Old newspaper from 1979, if you look closely you can see it's from December 24th.
Large pieces of newspaper from 1979!
Most of the sheets were not salvageble, but we did manage to save a few large pieces. They peeled right of the wall without effort.
By now we've sorted the useless from the fun. We kept the best texts and ads and I plan to use these at a later stage. Maybe put them in a nice frame?
Old General Motors ad from 1979.
At the top of the page you can see an ad for dancing lessons with two dancing pigs haha.
In multiple places we have found old pictures/images. There was an old small poster of a dog (didn't peel of the wall nicely unfortunately) and in the most random places we found stickers on walls and window sills.
A gnome conducting an orchestra of birds in lovely watercolors.
The dress of the girl is woven with colorful yarn.
Is any house ever complete without a cat picture?
You can tell from the lines around it was cut from a magazine.
Between the top floor and the downstairs ceiling we have found a stunning portrait picture as well.
This pictures has found it's way to the former resident. It turned out to be a photo of a deceased loved one, so it was a pleasure to return it.
What shall we do with these treasures?
I plan to give these items a nice place in our house. They represent the time past, a lot of history and I hope it will give a intage feel to an otherwise very new interior.
Maybe I will put htes in a frame on the wall, but if you have a nice alternative I'm happy to hear!
We also found several news papers in our walls! From 1936, with lots of pre-war stories.
Have you kept them? I really like old stuff like this!
PS I think framing is a great idea to reveal the treasures you have found so far.
Hi Elizabeth, how super awesome you found us all the way from Australia! Welcome 🙂 When it comes to the history of our house I plan to go to city hall to see if there is more specific info about our house available. There is some discussion about the precise year it was built, we believe it to be around 1920-1925. I will definitely write an update on this if I have new info. Good idea to write a piece on our neighborhood as well. It is very different from our previous living area so that might be interesting.


The Department of Justice has cleared Virginia new election legislation to become the law. Like 15 other Southern states Virginia needed DOJ pre-clearance to amend election legislation due to history of voter discrimination. Unlike other Southern states, especially South Carolina and Texas Virginia allows a broad range of documents to be used for voter identification. It doesn't necessarily have to be state issued photo id card or driver's license; Social Security card or even a utility bill would cut. A voter with no piece of identification at all can still cast a provisional ballot, he just needs to bring an approved identification document with 7 days from election day.
I think it also mattered that Virginia has been requiring id for voting for years but would allow to vote without any identification as long as the voter would swear he is who he's claiming to be. The affidavit identity voting privilege was taken out with the new legislation.
Another factor favoring the state was that the Governor Robert F. McDonnell ordered Board of Elections to send every registered voter a new voter card upon signing the bill.
The DOJ decision means the new rules would have to be obeyed in November presidential elections. South Carolina and Texas are still waiting for DOJ clearance.


It will take a while to get through all this but so far it's a fantastic thread. Lots of good info. Thanks Sonreir.
" The weight of the bike and rider both have an effect on acceleration. If you are able to cut the weight of both yourself and your bike in half, you have just doubled your acceleration."
Anybody else haunted by the knowledge that the real "low hanging fruit" of performance is your own body mass? Really, I sometimes think that I might get better performance out of my bike if I saved the money I blow on parts and devote it to paying a babysitter so I could work out more regularly.
Now thats a thread .. Thanks Matt,teazer,kop for the knowledge !!!!
As a bicycle racer this is a fight I wage every day. Currently at the end of the racing season I'm at 145lb with about 8% body fat. For my A races I get to around 142 and 7%..at 50 I'm pretty happy with those numbers. I've cut a lot fat from the bike as well (both the one I power the one with Honda in it) Next big expenditure will be aluminum wheels.
Diet+MY Fatass=Faster bike. It's a great way to get me to lose a couple pounds. I recently lost 40lbs and I've hit the ton 4 times since. I want to drop another 25.
I race and ride bicycles as well, my job is athletic trainer. So I'm in total agreement on the body weight issue. Lower your own weight and you'll be faster and braking will be more effective as well, plus it's cheap! I'm 170# and 5% to 6% body fat, the recommended for a healthy male is 15% to 18% sadly most are not. For the record the recommended for healthy female is 18% to 22% Not preaching just saying for the info.


Teaming up with Seattle Children's, Microsoft, and Metro to support employee shuttles.
Employer shuttle shared stops. Say that three times fast!
Transit is popular. Sometimes, a little too popular for us to keep pace with. And sometimes, folks aren't well enough served by the current system (we're working on that, thanks to investments supported by Seattle voters and King County Metro). It's going to take a varied approach to meet the needs of Seattle's growth and growing mobility appetite.
That's where employer shuttles come in. They can help fill gaps in the public transit network, support travel between worksites, and provide another option to commuters (because really, who wants to drive alone to work?).
We've been working on a pilot with King County Metro, Seattle Children's, and Microsoft, to share specific existing public transit stops with employer-based transportation shuttles, because sharing is caring. Actually, sharing is critical when it comes to curb space (that's transpo-nerd speak for the space between the sidewalk and travel lanes, or what most people would think of as parking spaces). Anyway, it's a highly sought-after resource.
Until this pilot started April 2017, employer-provided shuttle services weren't allowed to legally pick up or drop off at bus stops in Seattle. Instead, they used loading zones, which weren't always available. Creating new, special zones for this purpose would impact (read: remove) existing parking and loading spaces which generally isn't a popular move. So we've turned toward testing the feasibility of allowing employer shuttles to use public transit stops without impeding public transit operations.
Safety first. Provide a safe and reliable place for people to get on and off of shuttles. By providing a reliable and consistent pickup and drop off location, shuttle drivers won't succumb to dropping off passengers in traffic, which creates safety issues and adds to congestion.
Maximize public and private transit ridership. Allowing employer-provided shuttles to use public transit stops will provide a reliable option for people who might otherwise drive to work, which means fewer single-occupancy cars on the road.
Limit the amount of curb space used for loading. By using existing transit spaces, we're looking to minimize impacts to other parking and loading spaces. If the pilot is deemed successful and employer-provided shuttles are allowed to use select public transit stops on an ongoing basis, we might be able to get rid of some existing shuttle loading zones, freeing up space for other uses.
We're working closely with King County Metro to monitor the use of pilot bus stops through field observations, rider comments, public comments, feedback from public transit and private shuttle operators, and any records of citations or traffic incidents associated with this pilot. We've also been collecting and analyzing data to see whether this effort has caused any significant delays or operational challenges for Metro. So far, we haven't observed any major issues. And thanks to close communication with our partners, we've been able to resolve any known issues quickly.
Within the pilot, we've carefully selected bus stops that have the capacity to accommodate shared use by employer-provided shuttles. To date, two independent research efforts have shown Metro bus service has been impacted very little by sharing stops with employer-provided shuttles at the selected locations. We also haven't seen an increase in shuttle traffic in Seattle neighborhoods.
Next week, at the request of Seattle Children's, we'll be adding in a new stop along Sand Point Way NE to one of their existing routes starting on Monday, November 5. We'll work with them and Metro to monitor performance and operations thereafter shuttles begin using this additional stop.
You can share your comments or get in touch with questions by connecting with us at sharedstoppilot@seattle.gov or 206.684.4209. Participating employers will also collect and share feedback they receive from employees.
Learn more about this pilot on our website.


text:
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Christmas Presents (by Becky)
wwbarchivist	Bonanza	 March 22, 2018 September 3, 2018
Category: Bonanza
Ben Cartwright walked softly up the stairs, a cup of coffee in each hand. It was a cold winter morning, and in spite of the fire now blazing merrily in the downstairs fireplace, visible steam rose from the surface of both cups. He reached the upstairs landing and shifted the right-hand cup to his left, balancing them easily as he tapped softly on the first door on the left.
He didn't hear any response, but chose to enter anyway. His eyes adjusted to the darkened room, and he discovered why the man in the bed hadn't heard him: uncharacteristically, he was sleeping on his stomach, his black hair almost completely covered by the comforter. The bedclothes were in a disarray more typical of his youngest, and one night-shirted arm was draped over the side of the bed, the long fingers nearly touching the floor.
Ben set the cups on the nightstand, careful not to knock them against the music box and framed picture that had occupied that space for the last twenty years, minus the time his eldest had spent in Boston at school. With the hard-won wisdom of later years, he was glad he'd lost the fight to keep Adam on the ranch — he knew now that if he hadn't let his son go back then, Adam would simply have left later and quite possibly never returned. Four years' absence had been hard to endure, but it was better than losing him completely.
As he almost had yesterday.
With small, gentle tugs, Ben pulled at the comforter to bring it down to his son's shoulders, needing to reassure himself that Adam was, basically, all right. He'd be hurting today, sore and bruised and stiff, but bruises healed and the painful, stiff muscles would loosen with rest and moderate use.
Adam's face came into view, a map of all he'd endured yesterday.
The long, dark lashes rested on wind-chapped skin, and fatigue still gave his eyes a bruised look. The gash on his right cheek was a long, swollen weal, and fresh blood crusted the corner of his mouth where he'd apparently broken open his damaged lip again in the night. The red and purple scrape on his forehead was angry-looking, but close inspection didn't reveal any sign of infection. It would soon turn a glorious rainbow of colors, though.
Ben hadn't found any broken ribs or seen any indication of internal damage when examining his son after he'd collapsed on entering the house last night, but he was still glad to note that Adam's breathing this morning was regular and deep.
What a nightmare.
What was supposed to have been one of the most joyous evenings of the year had been fraught with tension and outright fear when a winter storm had blown in unexpectedly before his sons returned from their last-minute Christmas errands in town. Hoss and Joe had staggered in not long before dusk, propping each other up across the yard from the barn and through the door. Ben had ushered them to sit on the hearth near the fire while Hop Sing sped to the kitchen and back for warm bowls of stew and hot coffee.
Hoss had practically inhaled his meal, but Joe couldn't manage the spoon until he'd held the warm mug in his hands for several minutes. Ben helped them out of their jackets and simply tossed the garments on the floor, a breach of house rules that brought a spark of humor to Joe's eyes. He was too cold to say anything coherent, but Ben knew he'd hear about it later. He rubbed their backs, assuring himself that they were warming up, and that they'd be all right.
Then he'd asked the question. Two words that brought the room to devastating silence. "Where's Adam?"
Hoss dropped his spoon into his bowl with a clatter. "He's not here? His horse is still in the barn…"
Ben sank into the red chair. "He took the gray. Sport picked up a stone and he wanted to give him a rest. He said he wanted to treat you both to lunch at the International House — a sort of an early Christmas present."
Joe's eyes widened with bewilderment and fear. "We didn't see him, Pa. Not at all." He traded a look with Hoss. "If he's out in that storm…"
Hoss rubbed at his face in grief-stricken defeat and finished what his brother couldn't say. "Ain't no way we're gonna find him," he whispered.
Joe wrapped his arms around his stomach as if it hurt, and when he looked up at his father, a solitary tear slid down his cheek.
Ben stared at them in shock. It was Christmas Eve – he couldn't lose his son on Christmas Eve…
Ben rose suddenly and strode to the table by the front door, grabbed a muffler and wound it around his neck, then slid into his coat.
"Pa!" Hoss lumbered to his side, still stiff from the cold. "You cain't go out there, Pa; you'll freeze to death!"
"I'm warmer and likely better fed than your brother," Ben retorted. "You two stay here."
Joe crossed to his side in a few swift steps. He grabbed at his father's arm and began, "You can't go out there alone…"
Ben jerked his arm away. "Neither one of you is going anywhere. You're half-frozen as it is, and you wouldn't last another ten minutes in this weather."
"You won't neither," Hoss said. "It's one of the worst storms we've had. You go out there, and we're gonna be huntin' more than a brother tomorrow."
Ben scowled in fury. "So you're telling me to forget Adam? To let him die out there in the snow so I can stay here warm and comfortable? I can't believe I'm hearing this." He pulled his gloves on with fierce tugs.
"It ain't like that at all," Hoss said, his voice gravelly with pain. "Don't 'cha see, Pa? You know if there was any chance of findin' him, I'd be first on the trail. But you ain't been out there. You cain't see more'n a few feet in front of you, and that wind'll blow you right off o' your horse."
Joe had dropped his head in his hands, and when he spoke, his voice was muffled. "Hoss is right, Pa. We didn't see a sign of Adam on the way home. We've already lost him. You go out there now, and we'll lose you, too."
"You two don't seem to understand," Ben said furiously as he jammed his hat on his head. "I can't not go. I can't leave Adam out there and not do everything within my power to find him. I couldn't leave any of you out there." He twisted the knob on the door and jerked it open. "Even if it kills me."
And then he'd seen a terrifying, wonderful shape approach the doorway through the storm. Snow-caked and staggering, his eldest fell into his arms.
The gray was dead, ironically saving Adam's life in the process. They'd fallen into a small, hidden gully not a half-hour out from the house. Adam had been wedged between an overhang and his horse. The overhang protected him from the wind and snow, and the horse's warm body had kept him from freezing to death as he lay unconscious. He'd woken several hours later, but it was another hour before he could dig his leg free from where it was trapped between the frozen ground and the horse. He climbed out of the gully, staggered to his feet, and headed home through the worsening wind. The storm didn't really hit, he'd told his father in a brief moment of lucidity, until he was within a mile of the house, but it arrived with such bone-shaking strength that it had taken him long hours to complete what was normally a twenty-minute stroll.
Ben had allowed Hoss and Joe to help their brother upstairs, but after that he chased them from the room, insisting that he only needed Hop Sing. He tried to make it sound like he was concerned for their welfare — that they both needed rest after their own battle with the storm — but the truth was that he was furious with them. How could they abandon their brother? How could they believe he would abandon one of his sons? The questions tormented him all night, alternating with the nightmares. In reality, they'd laid Adam on the settee which Joe had quickly pushed in front of the fire, and it hadn't taken too long for him to wake, though he'd fallen into exhausted sleep again almost immediately. In Ben's dreams, though, they hadn't been able to get the brandy down his throat, his hazel eyes had never opened, and he'd drifted soundlessly from unconsciousness to permanent slumber.
Ben gazed down at the man who slept so peacefully before him. It was Christmas morning, and he wished desperately for some of that peace for himself. He knew he was tired, irritable and probably unfairly critical, but he still wondered if he'd somehow failed to pass on to Hoss and Joe that most important of all lessons, the love of family.
Ben sighed deeply, then was faintly amused to hear the sigh echoed by his son. "Adam?" He waved one of the cups of coffee near his son's nose.
It twitched, and the black eyebrows drew together in a sleepy frown. "Pa?" came the muffled answer. "S'that coffee?"
Ben set the cup aside for a moment. "Sure is, son. Hop Sing fixed it up just the way you like it."
A slow smile spread across Adam's face, and he blinked his eyes open. He looked around, not moving, and raised an eyebrow in question. "Where'd it go?"
"Just set it on the table for a minute while we get you turned around and a bit more organized."
"Huh?" But then Adam tried to turn over, and his next words were lost in a groan.
Ben helped him ease onto his back and added several pillows to prop him up, then pulled up a nearby chair for himself. "A bit sore this morning?" he asked.
That earned him another raised eyebrow, this one with a slightly more sarcastic tilt. "Yeah, a little. I think I'll just lie here a while until my arms and legs decide they belong to me." Adam reached out eagerly for the coffee as soon as Ben brought it into view. He sipped cautiously, but once he determined it wasn't blisteringly hot, drank deeply. "Ahh," he sighed. "Thanks. All the way home, I kept thinking about a hot cup of Hop Sing's coffee, how good it would taste."
Ben smiled. "Glad I could bring you one, then."
Adam sipped again. "I wondered if I'd make it, but somehow I just kept putting one foot in front of the other…" He grinned suddenly. "Maybe all that time on the trail. Kinda got to be a habit."
Ben's smile abruptly seemed forced. Adam set his cup in his lap and studied his father. With an instinct born of the years of hardship they'd shared, he suddenly knew that something was very wrong. "What is it, Pa?" he asked softly.
His father didn't answer for long minutes, but he held still and silent, patient in his waiting.
Finally, Ben spoke, his voice harsh and cracked. "I almost lost you."
There was more, there had to be. Adam raised the coffee for another sip. "Not the first time," he commented over the rim of his cup, and breathed in the rich aroma with fresh appreciation. His tone was casual, encouraging his father to continue.
"Hoss and Joe," Ben began, but then stood suddenly and strode to the window to stare out at the snow.
In sudden alarm, Adam set the cup down on the nightstand and raised himself up higher in the bed. "They're all right? They got home, didn't they? I saw them riding to the house, called out, but the wind… I slipped, and by the time I got up again, they were gone. Then I thought I remembered them from downstairs…"
"They're fine," Ben assured him, then went on sarcastically. "A fine pair, indeed."
Adam settled back into the pillows a bit. And his father thought he was hard to pry information out of; he'd learned from a master, after all. He had to get to the crux of whatever was tearing his father apart. "What happened?"
Ben shook his head and returned to his chair. "Nothing. Nothing for you to worry about. You just rest up."
"Pa," Adam said, a clear warning in his voice.
Ben sighed, not at all sure he was about to do the right thing. As angry as he was, he didn't want to cause trouble between his boys. He knew his eldest well enough, though, to be sure Adam wouldn't let go until he knew all the details. "They tried to keep me from going after you."
"Of course they did."
Ben's head jerked up. "I can't believe I'm hearing that from you of all people, Adam! I raised you boys to care about each other!"
Adam reached out, placed his hand on his father's knee. "You did, and we do," he answered. "But we care about you, too, Pa, and I can understand that, believing I had to already be dead, they couldn't face losing you, too."
"How could they have known that it was too late? It obviously wasn't, yet they gave up on you anyway." Ben rubbed his hands over his face. "I'm not trying to set you against them, son. I'm just deeply disappointed."
"Don't be, Pa." Adam took a deep breath, trying to find the words that would help his father. "You weren't out there — we were. They knew how bad the storm was. They knew that if I was still alive, I'd likely found some place to hole up until the storm blew itself out. And if I hadn't, then chasing after me wouldn't have done any good, and would have gotten you killed as well."
Ben stared at him, unbelieving. "Are you trying to tell me that you wouldn't have been the first one out the door to search for one of your brothers?"
Adam laughed, a rich deep chuckle. "Of course I would have. Just because I understand their perspective doesn't mean I'd do the same thing." Then the smile faded from his face, and he shook his head. "I'd have been wrong, though, Pa. I was headed for the Ophir Canyon cutoff."
Ben sat back in his chair. The route to the cutoff was in the opposite direction from the road to town. He never would have found Adam.
"And you would have died, looking." Adam's gaze was steady, unyielding.
"I couldn't have stayed home, son. I just couldn't have…"
"I know." A touch of a grin raised the uninjured corner of his mouth and a slight, teasing dimple appeared. "There's something different in the way you feel about someone you've diapered."
Ben stared at him, then started to laugh. The knot in his gut eased, and he realized his son was right. Hoss and Joe couldn't understand, wouldn't understand until they were fathers themselves. God willing, they'd never have to understand that gut-wrenching fear… "Let's just be grateful you found your way home when you did."
"Punctuality pays off." Adam grinned.
They were still smiling when they heard a hesitant knock on the door.
"Come in," Adam called.
Hoss and Joe sidled through the door, obviously sizing up their father's mood before speaking. Adam saw a couple of guilty glances his direction, too.
"Uh," Hoss started, "you feelin' better today, big brother?"
"A few sore muscles," Adam reassured them, "but I'll be all right."
Joe snuck a look at Ben, and whatever he saw must have eased his mind because he asked, "Well enough to come downstairs?"
Adam traded looks with his father. "What's downstairs?"
Even Hoss snorted at that. "Christmas, that's what! Durned if all that cold didn't freeze your brain. It's Christmas morning…"
"Nearly afternoon, actually," Joe interrupted.
"…an' Hop Sing has dinner almost ready…"
Joe jumped in again, "And we haven't opened our stockings or any of our presents…"
"That's enough!" Ben roared. "Your brother was almost killed last night, he can barely move this morning, and all you can think about is your presents?"
Hoss and Joe glanced at each other, then down at the floor.
"It's not the presents," Hoss began uncomfortably. He fiddled with the strings on his vest and shot quick glances at his father. "See, we've been sittin' downstairs starin' at the tree an' all them boxes and things all morning and thinking…" he glanced at his oldest brother, but couldn't find the words to explain. He looked at Joe again.
Joe's eyes glimmered with unshed tears. "We were talkin' about what it would've been like if Adam hadn't come home. How bad it would be if he died in that storm."
"We figured we'd never want Christmas again," Hoss said.
Joe nodded. "But he's here, and he's gonna be okay…" He raised questioning eyebrows at Adam.
Voice deep with emotion, Adam reassured them, "I'll be fine."
Hoss broke in with a smile that brought sunshine right into the room. "That's the best present we could get, an' we want to celebrate." He looked dubiously at his older brother. "If you're up to it, that is."
Adam grinned. "Oh, I'm up for it. I may need a little help getting out of this bed…"
He immediately had two aides at his side. Joe pulled down the covers and got him sitting up. Adam tried to swallow a groan, but Joe knew him well and stayed at his side a moment, hand resting on his shoulder, eyes shadowed with concern. Once he was sure his brother was all right, though, he turned to the dresser to dig out pants and a warm shirt.
Adam reached for Hoss, who took his arm to help him to his feet, steadying him until he caught his balance. He winced at the various aches and pains, but managed a wink over his shoulder at his father along with a single soft word, "Diapers."
Ben moved out of the way and watched his two younger sons helping — no, coddling — his eldest. He smiled at how Adam, the most independent and self-sufficient of them all, allowed it. Adam — the bridge between them. Part father, part brother, seeing both sides because he'd lived both roles all his life.
The best present… No, he hadn't failed at all.
Return to Becky's homepage
Published March 22, 2018 September 3, 2018
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Q: Efficiently label each row in a large dataframe I have a file containing dates from June 2015 + 365 days. I am using this as a lookup table because there are custom business dates (only certain holidays are observed and there are some no-work dates because of internal reasons). Using the customer business date offsets was just so slow with 3.5 million records.
initial_date | day_1      | day_2      | day_3      | ... | day_365
2015-06-01     2015-06-02   2015-06-03   2015-06-04
2015-06-02     2015-06-03   2015-06-04   2015-06-05

The idea is to 'tag' each row in the data based on the number of (custom) business dates since specific entries. Is there a better way to do this?
For example, if a new entry happens on 2016-06-28 then this is labeled as 'initial_date'. day_1 is tomorrow, day_2 is the next day, day_3 is Friday, and day_4 is next Monday.
My naive way of doing this is to create a loop which basically does this:
 df.day_1_label = np.where(df.date == df.day_1, 'Day 1', '')
 df.day_2_label = np.where(df.date == df.day_2, 'Day 2', '')

df.day_label = (df.day_1_label + df.day_2_label + ...).replace('', regex=True, inplace=True)

This would result in one label per row which I could then aggregate or plot. Eventually this would be used for forecasting. initial_date + the subset of customers from previous dates = total customers
Also, depending on what events happen, a subset of the customers would have a certain event occur in the future. I want to know on what business date from the initial_date this happens on, on average. So if we have 100 customers today, a certain percent will have an event next July 15th or whatever it might be.
Edit- pastebin with some sample data:
http://pastebin.com/ZuE1Q2KJ
So the output I am looking for is the day_label. This basically checks if the date == each date from day_0 - day_n. Is there a better way to fill that in? I am just trying to match the date of each row with a value in one of the day_ columns.

A: I think this can be made more efficiently if your data looks as I think it looks.
Say you have a calendar of dates (June 2015 + 365 days) and a data frame as for example:
cal = ['2015-06-01', '2015-06-02', '2015-06-03', '2015-06-04', '2015-06-08',
       '2015-06-09']

df = pd.DataFrame({'date': ['2015-06-04', '2015-06-09', '2015-06-09'],
                   'initial_date': ['2015-06-02', '2015-06-02', '2015-06-01']})

Keeping dates in numpy.datetime types is more efficient, so I convert:
df['date'] = df['date'].astype(np.datetime64)
df['initial_date'] = df['initial_date'].astype(np.datetime64)

Now, let's turn cal into a fast lookup table:
# converting types:
cal = np.asarray(cal, dtype=np.datetime64)

# lookup series
s_cal = pd.Series(range(len(cal)), index=cal)

# a convenience lookup function
def lookup(dates):
    return s_cal[dates].reset_index(drop=True)

EDIT:
The above lookup returns a series with a RangeIndex, which may be different from the index of df (this causes problems when assigning the result to a column). So it's probably better to rewrite this lookup so that it returns a plain numpy array:
def lookup2(dates):
    return s_cal[dates].values

It's possible to set the correct index in lookup (taken from the input dates). But such a solution would be less flexible (would require that the input be a Series) or unnecessarily complicated.

The series:
s_cal
Out[220]:
2015-06-01    0
2015-06-02    1
2015-06-03    2
2015-06-04    3
2015-06-08    4
2015-06-09    5
dtype: int64

and how it works:
lookup(df.date)
Out[221]:
0    3
1    5
2    5
dtype: int64

lookup2(df.date)
Out[36]: array([3, 5, 5])

The rest is straightforward. This adds a column of integers (day differences) to the data frame:
df['day_label'] = lookup2(df.date) - lookup2(df.initial_date)

and if you want to convert it to labels:
df['day_label'] = 'day ' + df['day_label'].astype(str)

df
Out[225]:
        date initial_date day_label
0 2015-06-04   2015-06-02     day 2
1 2015-06-09   2015-06-02     day 4
2 2015-06-09   2015-06-01     day 5

Hope this is what you wanted.


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Home»Books»Shelf Life»The Law is an Ass: Legal Thrillers and Court-room Dramas
The Law is an Ass: Legal Thrillers and Court-room Dramas
By Vineeth Abraham December 4, 2022
Raymond Burr as Perry Manson
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Movies based on books are mostly disappointing but legal thrillers are an exception.
The literary sub genre called the ' Legal Thriller' probably began to be recognized as such in the late eighties and nineties with the success of Scott Turow's ' Presumed Innocent' and John Grisham's 'The Firm' followed by a string of bestsellers by both featuring lawyer heroes and pacy plots highlighted by a climax lighted up by pyrotechnics in the courtroom. Their success inspired a whole raft of writers including John Lescroart, Steve Martini, Lisa Scottoline , Philip Margolin and Michael Connelly whose works regularly featured on the bestseller lists.
Legal thrillers, however, have been around for decades before this with the best known proponent probably being the prolific Erle Stanley Gardner whose creation Perry Mason is now synonymous with lawyer heroes in popular fiction. Other than Gardner there have been other books featuring lawyer heroes including Craig Rice's books featuring John J. Malone and several other seminal novels in the field. A short listing of some of my favourites follows .
Erle Stanley Gardner
Gardner got his start in the pulp magazines and wrote in a variety of genres including mysteries and westerns before he found his niche. The first Perry Mason novel 'The Case of the Velvet Claws' was published in 1933 and he further wrote 84 books about the character. Gardner did not waste much time or effort in character delineation and most of his characters are pasteboard . He was a solid plotter though and his encyclopedic legal knowledge led to his using several little known points of law in his books .
The success of the series led to Perry Mason, his secretary and girl friend Della Street, his friend the laconic Private Detective Paul Drake and friendly rival Lieutenant Tragg of the police becoming household names along with his main antagonist in the courtroom District Attorney Hamilton Burger. The success of the series led to the stories being featured on radio , numerous feature films and a long running CBS TV Show which made Raymond Burr a star for his portrayal of Perry Mason.
Other than the Mason books Gardner also wrote the excellent Bertha Cool and Donald Lam mysteries. Cool and Lam were Private Detectives and not lawyers but again the plots hinged around points of law. Gardner also wrote a series where the hero Doug Selby was the District Attorney who came out on top for a change, the antithesis of Hamilton Burger in the Perry Mason books.
One of the best courtroom novels I have read is ' Anatomy of a Murder' by Robert Traver. This bestseller from 1958 is the story of Army Lieutenant Frederic Manion who confesses to killing an inn-keeper who, he says, raped his wife. He however has no memory of pulling the trigger and this is used as the basis for his defence by lawyer Paul Biegler. A riveting novel, it was filmed in 1959 by Otto Preminger and starred James Stewart and Lee Remick.
I usually find movies based on books disappointing and nowhere near as good as the original but this is one genre, probably due to the dramatic atmosphere of a courtroom and the scope it allows the actors to parade their talent, where most movies are almost as good as the books they are based on. Anatomy of a Murder is a terrific book and the film is just as good.
Science Vs superstition
An all time classic and a coming of age novel with a courtroom trial as it's centre point is Harper Lee's much loved ' To Kill a Mockingbird'(1960). Lawyer Atticus Finch ( a riveting performance in the 1962 movie version by Gregory Peck) defends his coloured client Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white woman in the deeply racially divided American South of the first half of the Twentieth Century. This is a must read book, even for those who have no interest in legal matters, and in Atticus Finch Lee has created a character who is the embodiment of what a good lawyer should be, unbiased, honest and willing to stand up for what he believes is right.
'Inherit the Wind' (1955) a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee is a fictionalized account of the Scopes 'Monkey' trial of 1925 wherein John T. Scopes was convicted for teaching Darwin's 'Theory of Evolution' in a High School science class contrary to the provisions of Tennessee State Law. Famed attorneys William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow were on opposite sides of the fence during the trial which is an allegory on the 'science versus superstition' debate as also a thinly veiled attack on the McCarthy era when intellectual freedom came under threat.
This brilliant play is a must read especially in current times when these issues have become relevant again. It was filmed in 1960 with Spencer Tracy and Frederic March going hammer and tongs at each other in the courtroom. It was remade three time for television with Ed Begley and Melvyn Douglas (1965) , Jason Robards and Kirk Douglas (1988) and Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott (1999). The film version from 1960 and the 1999 TV version are my favourites which I have watched several times over.
The Herman Wouk classic 'The Caine Mutiny' (1951) concerns the Court Martial arising out of the mutiny by the crew of destroyer minesweeper USS Caine, against their Commander the seemingly inept martinet Philip Francis Queeg. The novel is a riveting account of men at war and the difficult decisions they have to make . It provides no easy answers and all the characters are portrayed in shades of grey. The film version from 1954 boasts a standout performance from Humphrey Bogart as Commander Queeg and an equally good one from Fred Mac Murray ( a favourite of mine) as Lt. Tom Keefer.
A classic courtroom mystery was Agatha Christie's short story ' Witness For The Prosecution' originally titled 'Traitor's Hands' (1925)which then became a long running and successful play. It was also filmed in 1957 with Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich and Charles Laughton and has also been produced on TV several times. The story features the trial of Leonard Vole who is accused of murdering an older woman, Emily French. When Leonard's wife Romaine agrees to testify, she does not do so to defend her husband but as a witness for the prosecution. All is not as it seems on the surface, however, as you would expect in a story from the Queen of Crime.
John Mortimer and Henry Cecil
One of the finest series of courtroom based books is John Mortimer's Rumpole of the Bailey series. First scripted for a very successful TV series, Mortimer later rewrote the scripts in a series of short stories and novels. The middle aged curmudgeonly Rumpole usually defends the underdogs, those often looked down upon by his fellow barristers. Rumpole has an unwavering faith in the inherent good in people and is willing to stand up to and even cock a snook at the awful majesty of the law.
The despair of the various long suffering Magistrates and Judges he comes up against, there is only one person he holds in awe, his wife Hilda who he refers to as She Who Must Be Obeyed ( those who have read H. Rider Haggard will get the reference). This is the closest you'll get to a Wodehousian legal series and it's a must read. Leo McKern starred as Horace Rumpole in the TV series which is also a must watch.
Henry Cecil Leon was a Judge who wrote a series of light hearted books gently lampooning the British Legal System. His books feature white collar criminals seeking to exploit the loopholes in the legal system. Though not a series some of his books featured recurring characters . Some of the books were also made into feature films. Cecil is a fine writer, one ripe for rediscovery.
The above are just a few of the books in the genre I have enjoyed. In almost all the cases the film / TV adaptations have been terrific too. For those wanting to dip a toe into the genre for the first time, any of the above books / movies will do for a start. Three more movies that come to mind are 'Twelve Angry Men' (1957) with an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Martin Balsam and Ed Begley, ' A Few Good Men' (1992) with an absolute knockout of a performance by Jack Nicholson and my all time favourite comedy ' My Cousin Vinny'(1992) with Joe Pesci , the delicious Marisa Tomei who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role and , last but not least, Fred Gwynne ( Herman Munster from the classic TV sitcom 'The Munsters') as the long suffering Judge.
books Hamilton Burger Legal Thrillers Perry Manson vineeth abraham
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Vineeth Abraham
Vineeth Abraham calls himself a "complete, utter and unapologetic bibliophile". He owns a large personal library and resides in Irinjalakuda, Kerala. In Shelf Life, Abraham writes about reading, books, and beyond.
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Joga rao on December 5, 2022 1:29 am
My favourites include, Grisham s Rain Maker featuring a lawyer s very first case and , as yu pointed out, Nicholson s riveting performance in A few good men and, marisa tomei s lovely style of talking in my cousin Vinny
Gazaljeet: Remembering the Ghazal Journey of Jagjit Singh
Vasanthakokilam from Irinjalakuda, MS Subbulakshmi and ML Vasanthakumari


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The 50 best Christmas movies of all time
By Cheryl McCollum on November 22, 2018 in News 0
Rotten Tomatoes has created a list of the Top 50 Best Christmas Movies of all Time.
Decorate the house, and then watch one of these classic holiday movies. These films will definitely put you in the holiday spirit. Check out where Frosty the Snowman, Home Alone, Elf and It's a Wonderful Life appear on the Top 50 list. Christmas is either the movie's central theme or mentioned in the film.
Here are the top 15:
15. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Christmastime is here for the Peanuts gang in this classic film.
14. Edward Scissorhands (1990) This film is a magical fairy tale with gothic overtones and a sweet tone.
13. A Christmas Story (1983) 9-year-old Ralphie wants one thing for Christmas — A Red Ryder BB gun.
12. Arthur Christmas (2011) The 3D, animated family comedy reveals how Santa delivers all those presents in one night.
11. Die Hard (1988) The employee Christmas party comes to a violent end in this holiday action classic.
10. Remember the Night (1940) When a woman (Barbara Stanwyck) is caught stealing a bracelet, the judge decides to postpone the case, leaving her to spend the season in jail.
9. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1967) – An animated version of the classic Dr. Seuss book.
8. The Apartment (1960) – Jack Lemmon plays C.C. Baxter who loans his apartment to his philandering superiors for their romantic trysts.
7. Babes in Toyland (1934)
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)
5. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
4. Holiday Inn (1942)
3. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
2. Meet Me in St. Louis (1934)
1. It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
About Cheryl McCollum
Cheryl McCollum is a blogger for TDS.
View all posts by Cheryl McCollum →
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