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The PJSC Lukoil Oil Company ( stylized as LUKOIL or ЛУКОЙЛ in Cyrillic script) is a Russian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Moscow, specializing in the business of extraction, production, transport, and sale of petroleum, natural gas, petroleum products, and electricity. It was formed in 1991 when three state-run, western Siberian companies named after the respective town in Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug that each was based in, Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, merged. Its name is the combination of the acronym LUK (initials of the oil-producing cities of Langepas, Uray, Kogalym) and the English word "oil".

Lukoil is the second largest company in Russia after Gazprom, and the country's largest non-state enterprise in terms of revenue, with ₽4,744 billion in 2018. In the 2020 Forbes Global 2000, Lukoil was ranked as the 99th-largest public company in the world. Internationally, it is one of the largest global producers of crude oil. In 2019, the company produced 87.488 million metric tons of oil (1.639 million barrels per day) and 35.046 billion cubic meters of natural gas. , the company had operations and subsidiaries in more than 30 countries around the world.

History

Origins

"Langepas, Uray, and Kogalym" oil (Lukoil) was established by the USSR Council of Ministers Decree No. 18 on November 25, 1991, as a state-owned enterprise. In the new company, three oil production companies, Langepasneftegaz, Uraineftegaz, and Kogalymneftegaz, processing company Permnefteorgsintez, and the Volgograd and Novosibirsk refineries, were merged (the latter soon came under the control of the authorities of Bashkortostan).

The central figure in the company's founding was the Soviet deputy minister of oil production Vagit Alekperov. He came to believe the only way Russians could compete against western companies was to copy their business model. That meant vertically integrating the three branches of the industry—exploration, refining, and distribution—that were strictly separate under the old Soviet system.

On April 5, 1993, Lukoil transformed itself from a state-owned enterprise to a private open joint-stock company based on Presidential Decree No. 1403 of November 17, 1992.

1990s
In 1994, Lukoil became the first company to begin offering shares of stock on the new Russian Trading System.

In 1995, Lukoil controlled the stakes of nine oil-producing, marketing and service enterprises in Western Siberia, the Urals, and Volgograd Oblast in order to abide by Government Decree No. 861 of September 1, 1995. In the same year, a 5% stake of Lukoil was sold by the state with a minimum excess of the starting price in an auction. In November 1995, Lukoil filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to issue American depositary receipts on Western stock markets. This allowed United States investors for the first time, to be able to buy shares in a Russian company.

In 1997, Lukoil signed a contract with the Iraqi Ministry of Oil for the development and production of the second stage of the West Qurna-2 oil field. After Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown, the project was suspended and later terminated.

In 1999, Lukoil acquired numerous enterprises such as the Odessa Oil Refinery in Ukraine, the Burgas Oil Refinery in Bulgaria, and KomiTEK.

2000s

In 2000, Lukoil acquired the distribution and marketing operations of American oil company Getty Oil. This resulted in the control of a network of gas stations in the United States as well as the first time Lukoil enters the American oil market.

In September 2004, ConocoPhillips purchased a 7.6% stake in Lukoil for about $2 billion. According to some commentators, the sale of this deal was planned before in a personal meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and ConocoPhillips' president and CEO, James Mulva. After the auction, Lukoil and ConocoPhillips announced the creation of a strategic alliance. Later, the American company increased its stake to 20% in Lukoil and sold to the Russian company part of its network of gas stations in the United States and Western Europe. The two oil companies also agreed to jointly develop an oil and gas field in the northern Timan-Pechora area of Russia (Komi Republic) and intended to secure the rights to develop the West Qurna Field in Iraq, one of the country's largest.

Uzbekistan's deputy prime minister Ergash Shaismatov announced on 30 August 2006 that the Uzbek government and an international consortium consisting of state-run Uzbekneftegaz, Lukoil Overseas, Petronas, Korea National Oil Corporation, and China National Petroleum Corporation signed a production sharing agreement to explore and develop oil and gas fields in the Aral Sea, stating "The Aral Sea is largely unknown, but it holds a lot of promise in terms of finding oil and gas. There is risk of course but we believe in the success of this unique project". In December 2006, Lukoil announced the acquisition of 376 filling stations in six European countries: Belgium, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia, from ConocoPhillips.

In 2007, Lukoil established a joint-venture with Gazprom and in 2008, established a joint-venture as well with Italian oil company ERG S.p.A. In 2009, Lukoil and Norwegian oil company Statoil won a tender offer for the development of the West Qurna Field in Iraq. However, in early 2012, Statoil withdrew from the project, resulting in Lukoil consolidating 75% of development of the oil field.

2010s
From 2010 to February 2011, ConocoPhillips sold its whole 20% stake in Lukoil due to its difficult financial situation.

In September 2012, Lukoil created a shared service centre in the Czech Republic to provide accounting services to its subsidiaries in Belgium, Poland, and Bulgaria. In December 2012, Lukoil bought the Imilor field for ₽50.8 billion in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug to explore and develop the hydrocarbon deposits located there.

In February 2013, Lukoil sold the Odessa Oil Refinery to the Ukrainian "East European Fuel and Energy Company" (VETEK). For Lukoil, the oil refinery was unprofitable when production was stopped as early as October 2010 and the refinery finally closed in the summer of 2013. In April 2013, Lukoil agreed to buy Hess Corporation's Russian unit for $2.05 billion.

In 2014, the company faced a sharp decline in retail sales in Ukraine by 42%, caused by Russian intervention in Ukraine. As a result, the management of Lukoil agreed to sell 100% of its subsidiary Lukoil Ukraine to the Austrian company AMIC Energy Management, which was announced at the end of July 2014.

In 2014, Lukoil sold its service stations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary.

In 2015, it sold its service stations in Estonia and Ukraine, and in 2016, it sold its service stations in Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Cyprus.

2020s
In March 2022, Lukoil's market stock price dropped 95 percent, as a result of international sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

On 21 April 2022, Lukoil issued a statement saying that president Vagit Alekperov had stepped down and resigned from the board of directors after 29 years.

The Norway state-owned oil company Equinor exited the last of their joint ventures in Russia by withdrawing the joint venture with Lukoil and exiting the Kharyaga project on 2 September 2022.

Operations

Oil and gas production

Hydrocarbon reserves
The company's proved hydrocarbon reserves as of January 1, 2011 amounted to 17.255 billion barrels of oil equivalent, including 13.319 billion barrels of petroleum and 0.67 trillion cubic meters of natural gas. In terms of proved oil reserves, Lukoil, according to its own information, was the sixth-largest private oil company in the world at the time.

In addition, probable hydrocarbon reserves as of January 1, 2011 were 8.46 billion barrels of oil equivalent (including oil 6.47 billion barrels of petroleum and 0.34 trillion cubic meters of natural gas). Possible reserves were 3.17 billion barrels of oil equivalent (including 2.78 billion barrels of petroleum and 65.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas).

Major oil fields

Since 2016, Lukoil has been trying to get a development license for Nadezhda field in Baltic field, situated in Kaliningrad region aside of Continental shelf, which is booked for state companies only. In October 2021, due to ecology risks, the Russian government withdrew the decision to provide the license for geological exploration at Nadezhda field.

Domestic projects
In December 2011, Lukoil established a joint venture with Bashneft to develop the Trebs and Titov oil fields. Total recoverable reserves and oil resources from these fields are 89.73 million tons in C1 category, 50.33 million tons in C2 category and 59.29 million tons in category C3.

Foreign projects
The operator of Lukoil's foreign projects in the exploration and production sector is its subsidiary, Lukoil Overseas.

Lukoil is involved in the implementation of 16 projects for the exploration and development of structures and deposits in the following countries:
 Azerbaijan (D-222 (Yalama), Shah-Deniz)
 Kazakhstan (Tengiz, Karachaganak, Kumkol, Karakuduk, Northern Buzachi, Alibekmola, Kozhasai, Arman, Zhambai South, Atash, Tyub-Karagan);
 Uzbekistan (Kandym-Khauzak-Shady-Kungrad, Aral, Kungrad, South-West Gissar)
 Egypt (Meleiha, West Esh-El-Mallah, West Geisum, Northeast Geisum)
 Iraq (West Qurna-2)
 Iran (Anaran);
 Colombia (the Condor project in conjunction with the Colombian state company Ecopetrol)
 Ivory Coast (production sharing agreement on the offshore block CI-205 in the Gulf of Guinea)
 Venezuela (Junin Block 3)
 Saudi Arabia
 Ghana (Cape Three Points Deepwater)
 Romania
Cameroon (Etinde floating LNG project)

The extraction of hydrocarbons from all the above projects is carried out only in Kazakhstan (5.5 million tons of oil and 1.9 billion cubic meters in 2006) and Egypt (0.2 million tons).

Oil and gas processing

Lukoil owns seven oil-processing companies in Eastern Europe with total capacity of 82.1 million tons per year. In Russia it owns large refineries in Volgograd, Perm, Nizhny Novgorod, and Ukhta refineries and mini-refineries in Uray and Kogalym. It also owns refineries in Bulgaria, Romania, and Italy, and has a 45%-stake in an oil refining complex in the Netherlands. In 2020, the company was also in talks to reconstruct a refinery plant in Cameroon, which belongs to Cameroon's national refining company, Sonara.

* – 49% and 45% shares respectively

Speaking at a press conference in New York on October 18, 2006, the company's CEO Vagit Alekperov said Lukoil is refusing to build a new refinery in Russia. According to him, "at this stage it is inexpedient and economically inefficient." At the same time, Lukoil planned to build a large complex in Kalmykia for the processing of natural gas from the North Caspian fields worth over $3 billion. The work was supposed to start in the spring of 2008. Also in March 2007, Lukoil announced it would expand the capacity in the Lukoil Neftochim Burgas refinery in Burgas, Bulgaria from 7.5 million tons to 10 million tons of oil per year.

Petrochemistry

The subsidiary company Lukoil-Neftekhim specializes in petrochemistry, and operates the Stavrolen (Budyonnovsk), Saratovorgsintez, and the Karpatneftekhim (Kalush, Ukraine) petrochemical plants. Petrochemical facilities are also part of the Neftochim Burgas Combine in Bulgaria. "Lukoil" is the largest producer of alkene and acrylonitrile in Eastern Europe. Together with Sibur, Lukoil-Neftekhim owns a controlling stake in the Polief plant.

Transportation
Transportation of oil produced by Lukoil in Russia is carried out for the most part by the pipelines of Transneft, as well as by rail and water transport. Oil produced at the company's fields in Kazakhstan is transported through pipelines such as the Caspian Pipeline Consortium.

Lukoil owns a number of oil and oil products terminals used for the export of oil and oil products:
 The terminal near Varandey off of the Barents Sea with a capacity of 12.5 million tons of oil a year is used for shipment of oil produced in the Timan-Pechora Basin.

Sales
Lukoil sells petrol in 59 regions of Russia and in 17 other countries, both CIS and Western: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium (through its subsidiary Jet until late 2008, since rebranded to Lukoil), Bulgaria, Croatia (operated by Lukoil Croatia, but under the brand name "Europa-Mil"), Finland (Teboil), Georgia, Italy, Luxembourg, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Turkey and the United States. , it had 166 tank farms and 5,867 filling stations.

Power generation
Lukoil has the aggregate power generation capacity of 5,800 MW, of which 73% is for commercial use. Lukoil generates about 99% of electrical power of the Astrakhan Oblast and 62% of the Krasnodar Krai. Its main power generation subsidiaries are Lukoil-Volgogradenergo, Lukoil-Rostovenergo, Luikoil-Kubanenergo, Lukoil-Astrakhanenergo, and Lukoil-Stavropolenergo.

Lukoil operates two solar power plants at its own refineries in Romania and Bulgaria with respective capacity of 9 MW and 1.3 MW.  A 10-MW solar plant is under construction at the Volgograd Refinery.  It also owns an 84-MW wind farm in Topolog, Romania.

Sponsorship

Lukoil has been titular sponsor of FC Spartak Moscow since 2000. In August 2022, the company acquired ownership of the club (100% of the shares) along with the Otkritie Arena stadium.

In particular, the company sponsors the Volgograd water polo club Lukoil-Spartak. Lukoil also sponsors the Russian Olympic Committee and is one of the founders of the Russian Olympians Support Fund. In February 2014, Lukoil signed an agreement with the government of Arkhangelsk Oblast about supporting Vodnik.

Corporate affairs

Shareholders
In July 2010, the top managers of the company owned the largest stake (more than 30%) of the company's shares: CEO Vagit Alekperov owning 20.6% and vice-president Leonid Fedun owning 9.8%. The American oil company ConocoPhillips owned 19.21% but due to financial difficulties, completely withdrew from the shareholders of Lukoil, selling its shares, and in part to Lukoil itself by February 2011. The remaining shares were freely traded on the London Stock Exchange, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, the Russian Trading System, and the Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange. Market capitalization of the company was $60.4 billion as of June 2018.

Management

Chief executive officer
 1993–2022: Vagit Alekperov
 2022–present: Vadim Vorobyev

Board of Directors
List of directors that were elected on June 21, 2018:
Vagit Alekperov - CEO
Ravil Maganov, Chairman of the Board
Victor Blazheev
Lyubov Khoba
Leonid Fedun
 Sergey Shatalov
 Pavel Teplukhin
 Boris Porfiryev

Invasion in Ukraine 2022

In March 2022, Toby Gati, Roger Munnings and Wolfgang Schüssel left the board of directors due to International sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War.

During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ravil Maganov criticised the Russian attack on Ukraine.  September 1, 2022 he was found dead outside his hospital window the day that President Putin visited the hospital. Nearby video cameras had been turned off.  The company has acknowledged the death in a statement saying that Ravil Maganov: "passed away following a severe illness".

Subsidiaries

The company "Lukoil" owns controlling stakes or otherwise controls the following main organizations:

 Lukoil-Western Siberia
 Lukoil Centernefteproduct
 Lukoil-Volganefteproduct
 Lukoil-KaliningradMorneft (Kaliningrad)
 Lukoil-Komi
 Lukoil Neftechim
 Lukoil-Nizhnevartsk milling factory
 Lukoil Chernozemchenefteproduct
 Lukoil-Nizhnevarq Neft
 Lukoil Overseas Holding Ltd. (Perm)
 Lucoil-Permeagnophosphoretic Acid
 Lukoil-Permnefteproduct
 Lukoil-Perm
 Lukoil-Severo-Zapadnefteproduct
 Lukoil-Severnefteproduct
 Lukoil-Ukraine
 Lukoil-Energogas
 Lukoil-Yugnefteproduct
 Lukoil Americas Corporation
 LITASCO
 Lukoil Bulgaria ЕООД
 Lukoil Macedonia Ltd.
 Lukoil Croatia
 Lukoil Serbia AD
 Lukoil-Engineering
 Lukoil-Inform
 Lukoil-Energosethy
 Lukoil-Uralnefteproduct
 Lukoil-Uhtanepoparerepotka
 Lukoil-Ecoenergo
 Lukoil-Rostovenergo
 Lukoil-Energoinjing
 Lukoil-TsUR
 Lukoil-Astrakhanenergo
 Lukoil-Kubanenergo
 Lukoil-Volgogradenergo
 Lukoil-TTK
 RITEK
 Trade house "Lukoil"
 Lukoil-Inter-Card
 Lukoil Czech Republic s. r. o (Prague, Czech Republic),
 Lukoil-Belorussia (Minsk, Belarus),
 Lukoil-Baltija (Lithuania)
 Lukoil-Belgium N.V. (Belgium)
 Lukoil-Reservnnefteproduct
 Arkhangelskgeolaspredka (Arkhangelsk)

Environmental record
According to Lukoil, their numbers in 2007 recorded a drop of 7.8% in the volume of pollutant effects and a drop of 3.8% in the area of contaminated lands compared to 2006. These numbers came after an appeal from EMERCON, the Ministry of the Russian Federation for Civil Defense, Emergencies and Natural Disaster Recovery, which proposed that Lukoil participate in the development of monitoring, prevention, and emergency recovery systems.

In an effort to increase productivity, Lukoil organized a contract to begin an oil pumping block in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea. It arranged an Environmental Impact Assessment of the drill site in order to organize a second exploration drill. This block, D-222, was the largest prospective structure in the north-east section of the Caspian Sea as of 2008. The key issue was to assess how much damage the oil block would inflict on local fish populations. Taking into account the depth of the operation, around 700 meters, the amount of harm was projected to be minimal, with the majority of the damaged marine life being plankton and benthos. A rescue and salvage ship would be stationed there to mitigate the environmental effects on the area. Lukoil would develop contingency plans for oil spills and implement an environmental monitoring system.

At the same time, Lukoil faces criticism from various environmental organizations. In particular, the company's oil production in the Baltic Sea near Kaliningrad Oblast was criticized as it is 22 kilometers away from the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

According to a number of critics, Lukoil inherited the worst standards of the Soviet oil industry with respect to the environment, not taking enough responsibility to minimize pollution in its oil fields and refineries.

Lukoil has been ranked as among the 14th best of 92 oil, gas, and mining companies on indigenous rights and resource extraction in the Arctic.

In the Arctic Environmental Responsibility Index (AERI) Lukoil is ranked no. 37 out of 120 oil, gas, and mining companies involved in resource extraction north of the Arctic Circle.

Controversies

Environmental incidents
On one of the storage ponds of JSC "Lukoil-Volgograd-neftepererabotka" during the period from July 25 to August 8, 1996, the oil sludge was ignited due to the unacceptable conduct of welding operations. The surface layer of oil products was formed during the last two decades, and a similar ignition in this area was already noted in 1972. As a result of the 1996 fire, about 50,000 tons of oil products were burned, since even the soil was saturated with volatile fractions at this site. Where the fire was first lit, the concentration of carbon monoxide exceeded the permissible standards by almost 28 times, nitrogen dioxide tripled, hydrogen sulfide and phenol more than 1.5 times. In the residential areas of the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd, located 7 km from the fire, as well as in the nearby settlements - B. and M. Chapurnik, Dubov Gully, Chervlen, Tingut - the content of combustion products in the air also exceeded the maximum permissible concentration. In the liquidation of this major technogenic emergency situation with severe environmental consequences, the divisions of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia took part.

In the fall of 2003, the Russian Emergencies Ministry revealed the oil spill as a result of the depressurization of the interfacial oil pipeline belonging to the TPP Lukoil-Usinskneftegaz on the territory of the Komi Republic near the city of Usinsk. The area of oil pollution in one case was about 1.8 thousand m2, in the second - 377 m2.

On January 25, 2011 at about 10:00 (local time), as a result of oil leakage in the engine room LGPZ (CCI "Langepasneftegaz"), there was a fire. Fire extinguished more than 50 fighter. The plant suspended its work.

On April 20, 2012, at the Trebs field, developed jointly by Lukoil and Bashneft, there was an accident that caused significant damage to the natural environment: over a day, continued flowing of oil from the re-opened well, which led to large-scale contamination of the territory. According to the press service of the administration of the Nenets Autonomous District, the contamination area exceeded 5 thousand square meters, the volume of spilled oil, according to Bashneft, was 600 tonnes (in independent sources numbers were up to 2.2 thousand tonnes).

On May 11, 2021, a leakage was identified in a pipeline connected to Lukoil's Oshkoye field. The spill was estimated at 100 tons of oil, yet environmentalists argued that 100 tons is an underestimate. The spill had infiltrated the Kolva river and traveled upstream, affecting the river habitats. Russia's Northwest Komi Republic declared emergency. The damage was estimated at $4.1 billion.

Ukrainian investigation
In January 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine announced an investigation into whether Lukoil had financed separatists in Donbas.

Antitrust law violations
In November 2009, the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia (FAS) imposed a record fine of ₽6.54 billion on the company for violating antitrust legislation. The fine was imposed for the abuse of the company's dominant position in the wholesale market of petroleum products in the first half of 2009, expressed in "the seizure of goods from circulation" and the creation of "discriminatory conditions for the sale of petroleum products to individual counterparties". As FAS has calculated, these actions led to an increase in prices in the wholesale markets of motor gasoline, diesel fuel, and aviation kerosene in the first half of 2009.

Cambridge Analytica
In March 2018, the data firm Cambridge Analytica, tied to the 2016 Trump Campaign, was accused of discussing "political targeting" of American voters with representatives of Lukoil. "Cambridge Analytica sought to identify mental and emotional characteristics in certain subsets of the American population and worked to exploit them by designing them to activate some of the worst vulnerabilities in people, such as neuroticism, paranoia and racial biases," whistleblower Christopher Wylie told the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2018. With Lukoil, the consulting firm shared election disruption strategies, which included videos and posters intended to demoralise and alarm voters. Lukoil is on the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications list, has been linked to Russian influence in the past, and CEO Vagit Alekperov, a former oil minister, had made statements suggesting that he considers helping Russia to be a strong political ambition.

VP driving accident
On February 25, 2011, Lukoil's vice president Anatoliy Barkov crashed his Mercedes S500 into a Citroën C3 car with doctor Olga Alexandrina and famous obstetrician Vera M. Sidelnikova inside; both women died in the collision. The General Administration for Traffic Safety blamed the driver of the Citroën but it was suggested the administration was covering up that the real culprit of the accident was the driver of the Mercedes, who, according to eyewitnesses, was driving around a traffic jam and went into the oncoming lane. There is also some speculation that the driver of the Mercedes was the vice-president of Lukoil himself. A few days after the accident, the Head of the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate of Moscow issued a notice of misconduct to the commander of the Traffic Police battalion who registered the accident on Leninsky Avenue because he had prematurely called the driver of the Citroën, Olga Alexandrin, the culprit of the accident. The incident caused a public reaction, in particular, a boycott of this company's gas stations was organized. Blogger Andrei Bocharov announced a mock advertisement of Lukoil based on this accident, and rapper Noize MC wrote the song "Mercedes S666 (Make Way for the Chariot)".

Bulgarian license
In July 2011, Lukoil had a conflict with Bulgarian authorities. According to the latter, the company's Bourgas refinery did not have timely installed meters for the manufactured fuel (used to determine the amount of excises paid), which, according to officials, Lukoil allegedly underpaid about €250 million to the country's budget. As a result, the company lost its license and was stopped, but in early August 2011 the plant was re-launched.

Sanctions
On 11 September 2014, US President Obama said that the United States would join the EU in imposing tougher sanctions on Russia's financial, energy and defence sectors, following the escalation of Russo-Ukrainian War. The U.S. added Lukoil to the Sectoral Sanctions Identifications list on September 12, 2014.

The effect of sanctions in 2022 against shipped Russian oil has had a detrimental effect on the Priolo Gargallo ISAB refinery in Sicily with an inability to bring in oil from Russia and related cash flow finance problems. This has resulted in the refinery being put under Italian trusteeship with a buyer being sought.

Sanctioned by New Zealand.

Criticism
 The Association of Small and Medium-Sized Oil Production Enterprises, also known as Assoneft, criticized Lukoil and the authorities of the Komi Republic for providing tax breaks to the oil companies of the region, which are obliged to extract at least 7 million tons of oil per year and (or) recycle at least 3 million tons. Only two enterprises–Lukoil-Komi and Lukoil-Ukhtaneftepererabotka–correspond to these conditions in the region. In March 2007, the Federal Antimonopoly Service initiated a case against the State Council of the Komi on the grounds of violation of Part 1 of Art. 15 of the Law "On Protection of Competition" with regard to restricting competition in the oil production and refining markets.
 In October 2005, then-prime minister of Lithuania, Algirdas Brazauskas, was in the center of the scandal involving Lukoil. The opposition of the Lithuanian parliament, Homeland Union, began collecting signatures for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate the entrepreneurial activity of Brazauskas' wife, Christina Butrimene-Brazauskiene, in particular with the acquisition of a 38% stake in the elite Vilnius Crowne Plaza hotel from the wife of the head of the Lukoil-Baltija company. The charges were related to Lukoil's contention at that time for a stake in one of the largest enterprises in Lithuania, the oil refinery ORLEN Lietuva, part of Polish energy company ORLEN. Brazauskas rejected allegations of corruption, but admitted his wife owns 51% of the hotel shares, and another 48% belong to his son. On November 22, at the insistence of the country's president Valdas Adamkus, Algirdas Brazauskas spoke on television, saying he was not involved in the privatization of the hotel, and that all charges should be considered by law enforcement bodies, not by the parliamentary commission.
 On September 14, 2012, more than fifty Lukoil gas station owners in New Jersey and Pennsylvania temporarily raised their prices to over $8 a gallon to protest Lukoil's wholesale gas pricing. The owners are typically charged a wholesale price that is 5 to 10 cents a gallon more than their competitors and some are assessed an additional 25 to 30 cents per gallon based on their location. According to the station owners this makes it difficult to be competitive with stations that sell more established brands for lower prices.
 In March 2016, there were accusations by the press of the company not acquiring rights to part of the Massandra vineyards in Crimea.

See also

 List of companies of Russia
 Petroleum industry of Russia
 Companies of comparable role
 Exxon-Mobil
 Shell plc
 2022 Russian businessmen suspicious deaths

References

External links

Oil companies of Russia
Natural gas companies of Russia
Companies based in Moscow
Retail companies established in 1991
Energy companies established in 1991
Non-renewable resource companies established in 1991
1991 establishments in Russia
Multinational companies headquartered in Russia
Companies listed on the Moscow Exchange
Automotive fuel retailers
Russian brands

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Upon starting out in karate, your curriculum consists of seven basic strikes, five basic blocks, four basic kicks and four basic stances. In fact, while you learn these at White belt, a student continues to work on these basic techniques right through to Black belt and beyond.
Of course, numerous other techniques and training exercises are added along the way, but it is these basic techniques that create the foundation, or platform, from which a karate student develops their skill and principles.
During class, it is common to hear Japanese terminology being used, predominantly with the names of techniques practised and counting. With beginners, both the English and Japanese terms are used. For example, an Instructor might tell the class to prepare for a Chudan Tsuki Stomach Level Punch. As you proceed up the grades, less and less English is used.
Click here to download the Japanese and English Terminology of all your Strikes, Blocks, Kicks and Stances.


text:
Current | Past
S&T Policy
Democracy in fashion
Brazilian platform that provides patterns for tailor-made clothing wins Microsoft's ImagineCup competition
Fabrício Marques
Issue # 235
sep. 2015
Eduardo CesarHanging area with clothing that will be a part of the book on period costumes, produced in raw cotton using patterns produced by using the platformEduardo Cesar
The scene took place on the evening of July 31, 2015 in front of an audience of 5,000 people at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, and it lasted only three minutes. Before a trio of judges the eFitFashion team, composed of three researchers and three students from the undergraduate and graduate programs of the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH) at the University of São Paulo (USP), presented the coordinates for an on-line platform capable of automatically producing customized dress patterns, requiring only that the client's measurements be entered to place the order. Since they had so little time, they let the images speak for themselves. One of the students, Juliana Pirani, 26, wore a version of the dress used by the daughter of the Emperor Pedro II, Princess Isabel (1846-1921), the pattern for which was produced by the software developed by the group, christened Clothes for me.
The other members of the team, Professors Luciano Vieira de Araújo, Isabel Italiano and Fausto Viana, and the students Bianca Letti, 21, and Daniel Freire Tsuha, 24, wore light blue shirts also produced by the computer program. The panel of judges consisted of the Swede Jens Bergensten, one of the inventors of the game Minecraft, Brazilian Alex Kipman, creator of Kinect, a movement sensor developed for Xbox consoles by Microsoft, and Thomas Middleditch, star of the HBO series Silicon Valley. The judges asked a few questions, and the EACH group quickly exited the stage, opening the way for presentations by other finalists in the 2015 ImagineCup, a global information technology innovation competition sponsored every year by Microsoft.
Later, the president of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, announced the winners. The innovative nature and potential social impact of the Brazilian project had prevailed. It is focused on people who need clothing made-to-measure and has the potential to grow the market for seamstresses and tailors in addition to serving as a platform for designers interested in selling their creations. Clothes for Me enjoyed a unique victory: it won for the Innovation category, for which it was competing, and it also took first place in the general competition, defeating winners in the two other categories: a team from Russia (in the Games category) and a team from Australia (in the World Citizenship category). "You represent the passion to dream the impossible and make it possible. It's such a pleasure for me to see the passion and the innovation you have demonstrated today," said Nadella in her announcement. In addition to the trophy, the team won $50,000 and a place in Microsoft Ventures, a bootcamp program for startups that trains young entrepreneurs and will take them back to Seattle for four weeks in October. They will also have a mentoring session with Nadella. "The purpose of the Microsoft competition is to recognize solutions that have a global impact, and we believed our project aligned with that goal. It was really gratifying to know that we were right," says Luciano Vieira de Araújo, EACH Professor of Information Systems and a member of the interdisciplinary research group that brings together Professor Isabel Italiano from the area of fashion and Professor Fausto Viana from set design.
The research project that produced the platform got underway in 2010, when students and professors from the school's fashion and information systems programs began to work together on developing software to produce customized patterns. "Professor Italiano sought me out and then proposed that we create a program that could improve the working conditions for seamstresses by enabling them to easily obtain patterns by simply keying in the client's measurements," says Araújo. "A seamstress knows how to take measurements and sew the item, but she usually depends on someone else to make the pattern," according to Professor Italiano.
Eduardo CesarA replica of Princess Isabel's child-sized dressEduardo Cesar
The group's first step was to analyze professional software programs used by the fashion industry. "Existing programs required that users get technical training, and the seamstresses and tailors didn't have access to that training," says Juliana Pirani, who completed her fashion degree at EACH in 2013 and is enrolled in a master's program there today. The team from the information systems class took on the task of developing an algorithm that could adapt patterns to a client's measurements. "The task was not just to create a pattern that could be sized up or down depending on the client's measurements — we also had to come up with an algorithm for redesigning the pattern in accordance with the measurements obtained," says master's candidate Daniel Tsuha. "The creation of a pattern, with its curves and derivations, is a very complex process. We had to consider issues related to anatomy as well as how to produce a two-dimensional pattern using a three-dimensional model," adds Luciano Araújo. "It wasn't enough to produce clothing that was the right size. This wasn't just an academic exercise. We wanted high quality clothing that fit well."
It took some time to develop the algorithm. The team had to learn to represent a pattern and index its data in such a way that they could be restored and adapted to the user's measurements. "Patterns are dynamic. Shirts have short sleeves, long sleeves or no sleeves. Each item has a different set of measurements and rules. The challenge was to find the best way to represent this complexity," explains Araújo.
Another challenge was to create a user-friendly interface. "We began by creating a system in which the designer could easily enter and register the pattern so that a seamstress could obtain a model tailored to the client based on her measurements, and then print it in sections, using even a home printer," says Bianca Letti, an undergraduate student in the information systems program in charge of creating the virtual environment in which the patterns are marketed and sold. Letti also checked databases for startups. She did not find any similar initiatives.
The next step was to test the software. Initially, the program was tested with basic items, like shirts and skirts. The real test came in 2013. Isabel Italiano spent two days holed up in a room at the Instituto Feminino da Bahia, in Salvador, copying the model of an intricately designed dress used originally by Princess Isabel stored in the organization's archives. The dress was recreated in white cotton, a necessary step to troubleshoot the pattern, which is then registered by the software. EACH's Center for Stage Costumes, Fashion History and Technology, directed by researcher Fausto Viana, then laid down a challenge for fashion and set designers: recreate the princess' clothing in different sizes, in a color or fabric of their choosing that differed from the original, as long as they used the software to generate the patterns. It was a success, and five dresses based on the original gown, including one made in a doll's size, were displayed at Senac in São Paulo in early 2015. The winning entry in the competition, created by set designer José Alfredo Beirão, which was a recreation that took the green and yellow model and transformed it into an evening gown of crimson and black, was worn by Juliana Pirani in the finals of the ImagineCup in Seattle. "We asked Beirão what he thought of the software. He told us that it was simple and easy to use, and that the program saved him at least one day of work, which was time he used to make another dress," says Isabel Italiano.
Eduardo CesarFrom left to right, students Bianca, Daniel and Juliana (wearing a version of Princess Isabel's dress), Professor Isabel Italiano and, in the back, Professors Viana and AraújoEduardo Cesar
The group also has plans for the software to be used in set design, where it could be involved in recreating period costumes for stage productions, and in museum studies, owing to the popularity of clothing items taken from museum collections and created using patterns available over the Internet. The team of professors spent some time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Costume Museum in Lisbon studying old clothing styles. The outcome of their research will be published in a book that analyzes the history of pattern making in the 19th century, to be released in late 2015. It will have links to the online platform where users can obtain patterns for specific clothing items.
The software has many possible uses. A researcher in India who evaluated Clothes for me in Seattle the week before the prize was awarded suggested that the software could be used in his country to manufacture typical clothing traditionally used during popular festivals. During the validation phase of the program, the EACH group produced patterns for typical costumes, such as dresses for Brazil's traditional June celebrations and Bahian festivities, which Professor Viana subsequently took to a pattern-making course he was giving in 2014 at a school for theater and fashion in Hong Kong.
During the four weeks in which the group will be participating in the bootcamp in Seattle, their goal will be to come up with a business plan that determines which software applications would be most appropriate for a rapid scaling up of the platform. A successful business plan will help the project in its next decisive step, which is to attract investors for a startup.
There were some risks identified during ImagineCup, such as the danger of the platform's including pirated patterns, which are copied from couture designs without the authorization of their designers or payment of copyright fees. "Depending on the approach to the issue of intellectual property, the idea may be viable or not in commercial terms," warned Thomas Middleditch, a panel member.
The group is planning to bring together diverse partners, including dressmaking cooperatives, stylists and even fashion magazines to support the startup project. "Our software has the potential to generate income for different kinds of professionals," says Luciano Araújo. "A dressmaker who works 10 hours a day to produce multiple items for a manufacturer could use our system to make custom-designed clothing for clients and increase her income just as a stylist could offer her designs and charge royalties each time someone downloads a pattern she created. In the same way, state school uniforms could be manufactured in each city, using the workforce from local cooperatives," says Juliana Pirani. "The idea is not to exclude anyone from fashion's production chain — on the contrary, we want to create new opportunities for those already in the chain and anyone who wants to enter it."

This work first appeared on Pesquisa FAPESP under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Read the original here.

Eduardo CesarHanging area with clothing that will be a part of the book on period costumes, produced in raw cotton using patterns produced by using the platformEduardo Cesar The scene took place on the evening of July 31, 2015 in front of an audience of 5,000 people at the Washington State Convention Center in Seattle, and it lasted only three minutes. Before a trio of judges the eFitFashion team, composed of three researchers and three students from the undergraduate and graduate programs of the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities (EACH) at the University of São Paulo (USP), presented the coordinates for an on-line platform capable of automatically producing customized dress patterns, requiring only that the client's measurements be entered to place the order. Since they had so little time, they let the images speak for themselves. One of the students, Juliana Pirani, 26, wore a version of the dress used by the daughter of the Emperor Pedro II, Princess Isabel (1846-1921), the pattern for which was produced by the software developed by the group, christened Clothes for me. The other members of the team, Professors Luciano Vieira de Araújo, Isabel Italiano and Fausto Viana, and the students Bianca Letti, 21, and Daniel Freire Tsuha, 24, wore light blue shirts also produced by the computer program. The panel of judges consisted of the Swede Jens Bergensten, one of the inventors of the game Minecraft, Brazilian Alex Kipman, creator of Kinect, a movement sensor developed for Xbox consoles by Microsoft, and Thomas Middleditch, star of the HBO series Silicon Valley. The judges asked a few questions, and the EACH group quickly exited the stage, opening the way for presentations by other finalists in the 2015 ImagineCup, a global information technology innovation competition sponsored every year by Microsoft. Later, the president of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, announced the winners. The innovative nature and potential social impact of the Brazilian project had prevailed. It is focused on people who need clothing made-to-measure and has the potential to grow the market for seamstresses and tailors in addition to serving as a platform for designers interested in selling their creations. Clothes for Me enjoyed a unique victory: it won for the Innovation category, for which it was competing, and it also took first place in the general competition, defeating winners in the two other categories: a team from Russia (in the Games category) and a team from Australia (in the World Citizenship category). "You represent the passion to dream the impossible and make it possible. It's such a pleasure for me to see the passion and the innovation you have demonstrated today," said Nadella in her announcement. In addition to the trophy, the team won $50,000 and a place in Microsoft Ventures, a bootcamp program for startups that trains young entrepreneurs and will take them back to Seattle for four weeks in October. They will also have a mentoring session with Nadella. "The purpose of the Microsoft competition is to recognize solutions that have a global impact, and we believed our project aligned with that goal. It was really gratifying to know that we were right," says Luciano Vieira de Araújo, EACH Professor of Information Systems and a member of the interdisciplinary research group that brings together Professor Isabel Italiano from the area of fashion and Professor Fausto Viana from set design. The research project that produced the platform got underway in 2010, when students and professors from the school's fashion and information systems programs began to work together on developing software to produce customized patterns. "Professor Italiano sought me out and then proposed that we create a program that could improve the working conditions for seamstresses by enabling them to easily obtain patterns by simply keying in the client's measurements," says Araújo. "A seamstress knows how to take measurements and sew the item, but she usually depends on someone else to make the pattern," according to Professor Italiano. Eduardo CesarA replica of Princess Isabel's child-sized dressEduardo Cesar The group's first step was to analyze professional software programs used by the fashion industry. "Existing programs required that users get technical training, and the seamstresses and tailors didn't have access to that training," says Juliana Pirani, who completed her fashion degree at EACH in 2013 and is enrolled in a master's program there today. The team from the information systems class took on the task of developing an algorithm that could adapt patterns to a client's measurements. "The task was not just to create a pattern that could be sized up or down depending on the client's measurements — we also had to come up with an algorithm for redesigning the pattern in accordance with the measurements obtained," says master's candidate Daniel Tsuha. "The creation of a pattern, with its curves and derivations, is a very complex process. We had to consider issues related to anatomy as well as how to produce a two-dimensional pattern using a three-dimensional model," adds Luciano Araújo. "It wasn't enough to produce clothing that was the right size. This wasn't just an academic exercise. We wanted high quality clothing that fit well." It took some time to develop the algorithm. The team had to learn to represent a pattern and index its data in such a way that they could be restored and adapted to the user's measurements. "Patterns are dynamic. Shirts have short sleeves, long sleeves or no sleeves. Each item has a different set of measurements and rules. The challenge was to find the best way to represent this complexity," explains Araújo. Another challenge was to create a user-friendly interface. "We began by creating a system in which the designer could easily enter and register the pattern so that a seamstress could obtain a model tailored to the client based on her measurements, and then print it in sections, using even a home printer," says Bianca Letti, an undergraduate student in the information systems program in charge of creating the virtual environment in which the patterns are marketed and sold. Letti also checked databases for startups. She did not find any similar initiatives. The next step was to test the software. Initially, the program was tested with basic items, like shirts and skirts. The real test came in 2013. Isabel Italiano spent two days holed up in a room at the Instituto Feminino da Bahia, in Salvador, copying the model of an intricately designed dress used originally by Princess Isabel stored in the organization's archives. The dress was recreated in white cotton, a necessary step to troubleshoot the pattern, which is then registered by the software. EACH's Center for Stage Costumes, Fashion History and Technology, directed by researcher Fausto Viana, then laid down a challenge for fashion and set designers: recreate the princess' clothing in different sizes, in a color or fabric of their choosing that differed from the original, as long as they used the software to generate the patterns. It was a success, and five dresses based on the original gown, including one made in a doll's size, were displayed at Senac in São Paulo in early 2015. The winning entry in the competition, created by set designer José Alfredo Beirão, which was a recreation that took the green and yellow model and transformed it into an evening gown of crimson and black, was worn by Juliana Pirani in the finals of the ImagineCup in Seattle. "We asked Beirão what he thought of the software. He told us that it was simple and easy to use, and that the program saved him at least one day of work, which was time he used to make another dress," says Isabel Italiano. Eduardo CesarFrom left to right, students Bianca, Daniel and Juliana (wearing a version of Princess Isabel's dress), Professor Isabel Italiano and, in the back, Professors Viana and AraújoEduardo Cesar The group also has plans for the software to be used in set design, where it could be involved in recreating period costumes for stage productions, and in museum studies, owing to the popularity of clothing items taken from museum collections and created using patterns available over the Internet. The team of professors spent some time at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the National Costume Museum in Lisbon studying old clothing styles. The outcome of their research will be published in a book that analyzes the history of pattern making in the 19th century, to be released in late 2015. It will have links to the online platform where users can obtain patterns for specific clothing items. The software has many possible uses. A researcher in India who evaluated Clothes for me in Seattle the week before the prize was awarded suggested that the software could be used in his country to manufacture typical clothing traditionally used during popular festivals. During the validation phase of the program, the EACH group produced patterns for typical costumes, such as dresses for Brazil's traditional June celebrations and Bahian festivities, which Professor Viana subsequently took to a pattern-making course he was giving in 2014 at a school for theater and fashion in Hong Kong. During the four weeks in which the group will be participating in the bootcamp in Seattle, their goal will be to come up with a business plan that determines which software applications would be most appropriate for a rapid scaling up of the platform. A successful business plan will help the project in its next decisive step, which is to attract investors for a startup. There were some risks identified during ImagineCup, such as the danger of the platform's including pirated patterns, which are copied from couture designs without the authorization of their designers or payment of copyright fees. "Depending on the approach to the issue of intellectual property, the idea may be viable or not in commercial terms," warned Thomas Middleditch, a panel member. The group is planning to bring together diverse partners, including dressmaking cooperatives, stylists and even fashion magazines to support the startup project. "Our software has the potential to generate income for different kinds of professionals," says Luciano Araújo. "A dressmaker who works 10 hours a day to produce multiple items for a manufacturer could use our system to make custom-designed clothing for clients and increase her income just as a stylist could offer her designs and charge royalties each time someone downloads a pattern she created. In the same way, state school uniforms could be manufactured in each city, using the workforce from local cooperatives," says Juliana Pirani. "The idea is not to exclude anyone from fashion's production chain — on the contrary, we want to create new opportunities for those already in the chain and anyone who wants to enter it."
© Revista Pesquisa FAPESP - All rights reserved.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: Howto get page ancestors in WagtailAdminPageForm for unsaved page instances? I would like to get the ancestor pages of the current page in my customized admin form:
# models.py
class TopicPage(Page):

    def get_topic_path(self):
        return (
            self
            .get_ancestors(inclusive=True)
            .filter(depth__gt=3)
            .values_list('title', flat=True)
        )

    base_form_class = TopicPageForm

# forms.py
class TopicPageForm(WagtailAdminPageForm):

    def save(self, commit=True):
        page = super().save(commit=False)

        page.get_topic_path()

        if commit:
            page.save()
        return page

But with new TopicPage instances, get_ancestors do not return anything until the page is saved:

*

*Add new TopicPage object

*Publish this page: get_ancestors returns empty queryset

*Publish this page again: get_ancestors returns the expected queryset

How can I get the ancestor pages of the current page in the WagtailAdminPageForm save() method, even for new (unsaved) pages?

A: When WagtailAdminPageForm is instantiated by Wagtail's page add/edit views, it is passed the parent page; this is then available on the form object as self.parent_page. Wagtail uses this to validate the uniqueness of the page slug, but you can use it in your custom save method too - in this case, you could replicate get_topic_path by calling .get_ancestors(inclusive=True) on the parent page, and appending page.title to the result.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


The windows have to stop the adverse climate impacts to meet our requirements for comfort, to protect us from the cold and keep heat inside that we get from the heating system. They also need to protect us from the summer heat. Which means we need a window as thermal insulator in summer.
Basically according to the material they are made ,windows can be divided into several main groups: wooden windows, PVC windows, aluminum windows (aluminum alloy), wood-aluminum windows. Otherwise there are various metal windows, windows stainless steel, and PVC / ALU windows etc..
There are also bi-fold windows with wide sash frames with bulky hinges and hardware. If you want to provide access between kitchens and patios, or as a corner window to allow increased ventilation, bi-fold window will give you unobstructed panoramic views. This window system is ideal for opening one living area to another. Quality craftsmanship and hardware will provide years of quality use. So if you want to make something new in your home, this is ideal solution. See the following exapmles and get inspiration.


text:
TRIBUTE: ELMORE LEONARD, THE ROGUE MALES INTERVIEW
The following is the interview I conducted with Elmore Leonard in 2007. The interview originally appeared in my second collection of author interviews, ROGUE MALES.
ELMORE LEONARD: TEN RULES
Elmore "Dutch" Leonard was born on October 11, 1925 in New Orleans. During World War II, Leonard served in the U.S. Naval Reserve from 1943-46. (Vision problems kept Leonard out of the marines, with whom he'd tried to enlist.)
Following his military service, Leonard studied at the University of Detroit, graduating in 1950 and launching a 17-year career in advertising.
Leonard published his first piece of fiction — a Western short story — in Argosy in 1953 (he scored a $1,250 advance for his 1961 Western novel, Hombre; so he was a long while quitting his day job to write fiction fulltime).
After a long run writing Western novels and short stories — and faced with the decline of the genre he'd made his name in — Leonard shifted to crime fiction in 1969 with the release of the paperback original The Big Bounce. That novel's publication followed a reported 84 rejections.
His crime novels drew critical praise for their taught, clean prose and ear-true dialogue, but his audience didn't really begin to grow until the 1980s. Leonard's '83 release, LaBrava, earned an Edgar Award. In 1985, Newsweek published a cover story on Leonard, declaring him "the best American writer of crime fiction alive."
On his way to that success, Leonard quit drinking in the 1977. He endured the break-up of his long, first marriage to his college sweetheart (the couple wed in 1949) and struggled with a middling screenwriting career (among his screen credits is an ill-advised TV-movie sequel to High Noon that starred Lee Majors).
In the late 1970s, "Dutch" (the nickname is a nod to a Washington Senators' pitcher) began to hit his stride with Detroit- and Miami-based crime novels such as Stick, Swag and The Switch.
Leonard's 1985 novel, Glitz, hit the best-seller lists and sat there for sixteen weeks — Leonard's breakout book had finally arrived after 32 years as a published author.
Elmore Leonard was interviewed in conjunction with the publication of a slim little book entitled, Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing. The interview was conducted the day after Leonard celebrated his 82nd birthday.
Let me start off by wishing you a happy birthday.
Oh, thanks, that was yesterday. I got a lot of calls, too.
Did you do anything grand for the day?
I tried to work, but I don't think I wrote anything down. Maybe a line. The phone would ring. So then my family — we all went out to dinner last night and that was it.
Are you one of these writers who feels a driven need to write every day?
No, I don't feel driven, but when I'm writing a book I definitely want to write every day, because if you miss a day, you forget. You've got to keep it with you. You've got to keep it going all the time in your head.
There are writers who claim they get knocked off stride for a week or so, and then the book dies on them.
Oh yeah. If you are away from it for a week it will take more than a week to get back to it.
Do you practice the Hemingway technique of re-reading what you've written every day to kick-start the writing process?
Yeah, or in the morning, before I'll start out, I'll read from an older book. One that I like. I like 'em all, but I'll read something just to get the sound back that I want. The attitude. Then I'm off. Once I start to write, then I'm into it. I get lost and the time just flies by. That's the beauty of this work. I look at the clock and it's three o'clock in the afternoon and I say, "Good, I've got three more hours." You know — after fifty years.
Is there still an excitement for you when a book comes out? You've had this extraordinary run. Not to say you'd be jaded about it, but…
My last two or three books, I've gone back into the 1930s or 1940s, beginning with the serial in the New York Times. That was a different pace. I was experiencing different things then in the research. Memories. I was in the service at that time — in the forties. So many things came back to me, like food rationing…gas rationing. That kind of stuff. That was interesting. I'm glad to get back to the contemporary. I like to keep my books fresh — references to what's going on today.
I interviewed a lot of crime writers immediately after September 11, 2001 and the terrorist attacks. They all said they were having a hard time writing anything contemporary or relevant in the wake of those events. It swamped their ability to write and seemed to shrink the importance of what they were writing. Several subsequently began to write books set in pre-911 eras. Was any of that sentiment factoring into your decision for your own writing trips back into the 1930s or '40s?
No, no I hadn't thought of that. There are writers of course who have used it — working it (the attacks) into a plot.
The novel you're writing now is going to bring back Foley from Out of Sight?
Yeah. In fact, I'm bringing back three characters from three different books. Right away, I thought well, "Foley, definitely. I'm going to do Foley because George Clooney likes Foley."
That's a compelling reason to do it…
And Foley is easy to write for me because I know him pretty well, now. So then I brought another character in, Dawn Navarro, who is a psychic. I brought her in out of Riding the Rap and then Cundo Rey. Cundo Rey is a character in LaBrava. He was a very smalltime hustler and a Go-Go dancer. He was just a hip little guy. I was hoping that he was still alive. I didn't remember.
So you had to go back and revisit your own book?
Yes, I had to look it up. He got shot, three times, in the chest. And I thought, "Oh my God." But Joe LaBrava shot him and then immediately left. He knows he's dead. But he wasn't.
You had some wiggle room…
Yes, the emergency guys picked him up and see, "My God, he's bleeding, he's bleeding." He's still alive. So they rush him to the hospital and he's in a coma. He extends the coma — pretends to be in a coma longer than he is — to find out where he is and what's going on. Then he has one of the guys working in the hospital who was also Cuban, also in the boatlift — the Mariel boatlift — sneak him out. Then he goes to L.A. and gets into dealing drugs to people in the movie business. He makes a lot of money, but then he's arrested but they're not sure they can convict him in California. So they send him back to Florida where there's a detainer on him on a homicide. He gets a very good lawyer and he's out in seven-and-a-half years.
Now Foley, he's back in prison, so he's talking to Cundo Rey. Foley is facing thirty years. He doesn't think he's going to make it — this is terrible. Cundo Rey says, "Hey, I'll get you my lawyer," who is a young woman — very very savvy…knows what she's doing. She gets Foley's conviction reduced from thirty years to thirty months. And so they both get out about the same time and go out to Venice, California where the story then will take place.
And that will be an '08 release. Let's talk about the book coming out now — Elmore Leonard's 10 Rules of Writing. The rules have been around for a while. What was the catalyst to put them out in book form now?
My researcher is the one who kept pushing me.
Greg Sutter?
Greg Sutter. Yeah. He's been getting stuff for me for, say, 25 years. He said, "It's time to have these rules published because people are using them all the time…referring to them.
They are all over the Internet…
Yeah. We proposed it my editor at HarperCollins and she thought it was a great idea so we did it. We have it illustrated (by Joe Ciardiello).
It's a slim little book. Were you under pressure to throw in another ten rules?
(Laughing) No, we got 95 pages out of 10 rules.
That's impressive…
That's not bad at all. You see, this started in the year 2000. I was guest of honor at Bouchercon. That afternoon in the hotel in Denver, I wrote up these 10 rules. They're in much different form. Then, when I came down off the stage, a guy approached me and said, "Can I have those?" These two pieces of yellow paper… I said, "Sure, here," and handed them to him.
Hell of a collectible…
Well then, a few years later, The New York Times asked me if I would do something for their column Writers on Writing. I made up the 10 rules again and put them in an order that I thought was right. I also made reference to different writers who wouldn't need my rules. For example the rule about don't describe your characters in detail. I said, "Hell, Margaret Atwood can do it all she wants because she's good at it."
It's funny, because the two sheets of paper all of the sudden appeared for sale at a bookstore on the Internet. My researcher who was just looking around happened to see them the day that they were offered. A friend of his was a lawyer in L.A. and he told him about it and bought them immediately. Then Greg said to the lawyer, "I was going to get them." The lawyer said, "We'll both put in to buy them." They got this page-and-a-half, at most, for six-hundred bucks. If the guy had waited until the rules book came out…
He'd have had a five-figure collectible…
I know! My researcher has for years been trying to get me to save all my papers because I write everything in longhand.
I would think universities would be all over you to donate those manuscripts.
I tried saving the longhand sheets but it's not a perfect sheet. It's mostly just crossed out. There's more crossed out than is there. That's why I started doing it longhand because it's so hard to x-out things on a typewriter.
This might be too precious a question, but I'm wondering if the rules and your instinctive commitment to them — even if you hadn't formalized them or written them down — shape you as a writer? I'm trying to chicken and egg it a little…
When I started out, I thought they're kind of tongue-in-cheek. But then the more I looked at them I realized "No, they're not."
A lot of people certainly don't read them that way.
The way I wrote the rules seven years ago, I say, "Forty-nine years ago last month, I sold my first story. Since then I've come up with 10 rules for success and happiness in writing fiction. One: try to leave out the passages that readers tend to skip. It's the ones you spend the most time on. Number two: Never open a book with weather." That is number one, now.
You mention exclamation points and that you only get to use two for about every 100,000 words. I think it's a great rule.
Two or three.
Two or three. I was at a book conference recently and I picked up the paperback Three-Ten to Yuma and other stories. I started reading the very first story, "Calvary Boots." By my count, you've got about 11 exclamation points in that story which can't be more than four or five thousand words long.
Don't tell anybody! When those stories came out again, ones that I wrote in the 1950s, I hadn't read them in more than 50 years.
I wondered if you have a real strong temptation to go through and kind of massage 'em.
No. No, I had to leave them alone because this is what they sounded like.
I also wondered if editors had inserted some of those exclamation points.
Maybe. I had adverbs in there, too… "ly"-adverbs. That's the worst sin of all.
You praise some contemporary writers in the book, but also, obviously, Steinbeck and Hemingway are prominently mentioned. Are there writers working today whom you admire for having tight, clean economical prose?
There was one I learned a lot from in the fifties and that was Richard Bissell. He's probably very hard to find right now, but I loved his books set on the Mississippi River. He was a pilot. "7 1/2 Cents" became The Pajama Game. Then he wrote a book, Say Darling, about the making of the play. I learned more from him than I did from Hemingway. Because Hemingway I learned a lot from, I know. But he didn't have a sense of humor.
I've seen you remark on that before, and I've heard a lot of people say that, I see some humor in some of the early stories and novels. A Moveable Feast is funny in places, though it's a nasty kind of funny…very mean humor in that one.
I was giving a talk and someone said, "What do you mean he doesn't have a sense of humor?" I said, "What are you going to tell me about? Sordo's stand on the hill (in For Whom the Bell Tolls)? Because that's very ironic what he's yelling at and so on.
Which of Hemingway's works do you admire? In terms of the novels I'd guess For Whom the Bell Tolls.
Yeah. And of course I couldn't wait to read The Old Man and the Sea when that came out. I was working at an ad agency and I remember getting the issue of Life Magazine at the cigar store downstairs in the General Motors Building and running back up to my office and starting to read it right then. I was really in love with his prose at that time. I still have his Forty-Nine short stories on my desk. And I can look at those at any time. Some of those are really terrific.
I notice there are no Faulkner references in the 10 Rules of Writing.
No, I've never been able to read him.
Hemingway remarked, "Writing is architecture, not interior design." That sounds like something you would subscribe to as an axiom. You say in the Rules that if something reads like "writing" you have to strike it. It sounds from your description of your hand-written drafts that's still something you do quite a lot of.
Oh yeah. If it sounds like writing, re-write it. Someone will ask me, "What do you mean by that?" And I say, "Upon entering the room…"
There you go. Knocks you right out to the story.
That's it. It's the way we were taught to write in school, with the dependent clause first.
I guess what you're saying is a key to good writing is unlearning formal writing, first.
You wrote an introduction to George V. Higgins The Friends of Eddie Coyle a few years back. In that introduction, you quote Higgins as saying "Writing can't be taught." Do you subscribe to that notion? Is it an innate skill?
My son just got a two-book deal at St. Martin's. He started writing fiction two or three years ago, maybe. He started out writing screenplays because he figured that would be the fast buck. I said, "You're crazy — you've got to be out there if you're going to be a screenwriter. You should be out there because all of the people who went to film school, that the screenwriter went to film school with, they're studio executives and they're buying the stuff." Then he started to write a book. All of his friends and his sons loved it. They told him, "This is great. This is bound to sell."
Then I read it, and I said, "Who's the main character?" He said, so-and-so is. The woman." I said, "Well, she doesn't come off as the main character to me." So he sent it to my agent in New York, Wylie, and they gave it to eight different publishers and they all said the same thing: "Who's the main character?" So now he listens to me. He's really into it. He's older — he's in his fifties. I said, "Why didn't you start earlier?" He said, "I didn't want to."
Is he going to publish under the name "Leonard?"
Oh yeah, Peter Leonard. Sure. They just made a deal for him in England with Faber. He's really into it now. He's got his own company — an ad agency. He's got two partners and he's just trying to write his way out of it the same way I did back in '61.
There's much said now of the death of midlist authors, and the death of book reviewing, and the computer monitoring of sales and the effect of that on writers who don't sell great numbers of books. What would your advice be to someone just going out into the market as a beginning author? I mean, you're above and outside much of this because of your level of prominence and your readership…
But I don't sell nearly as many books as…
…As I would think?
(Laughing) Yeah. If I sell 100,000 hardcover, that's good.
That is a hell of a lot, still.
It is, it is, but there are people who their first printing is 800,000 copies or two-million.
That guy, James Patterson, he'll have three books sometimes on the list. But you know that the other guy whose name is printed much smaller on the cover than his (Patterson's) is doing all the work.
Patterson has more or less become his own corporate brand now.
And his chapters are never more than three pages.
If that. Do you still regard The Friends of Eddie Coyle as the best crime novel ever written?
You've had this extraordinarily long career…do you think a career like yours can be replicated in today's market?
I think the reason that I'm still going is that I didn't really hit the big time until the mid-eighties. But I started in the 1950s.
You more than paid your dues.
Yes. By the time I got on the Times list, boy, I had a backlist, you know? And that was great. Then the backlist gets bought by whomever is publishing me.
You finally get your money back on those early works?
That's right — everything…everything. Even the short stories that I got two-cents a word for. Like Three-Ten to Yuma I got ninety bucks. I sold the screen rights for $4,000. The publisher of Dime Western could take twenty-five percent of a film sale and he did because the pulps were starting to go out of business then.
All the magazines…there were so many magazines that would publish short stories in the 1950s. You'd aim for the Saturay Evening Post and Colliers. Then you'd come down through Argosy, and then the pulps. There were a couple of dozen pulps, at least.
What'd you think of the new Yuma film?
I liked it. It looked good. The ending made no sense at all… But on the whole, the reviews have been good.
Ever get the itch to write another western novel?
If they were to pay as much as crime novels do, yeah, I could do one.
I was Googling you earlier today and I came across an item that for the first time in years, Halloween costume rentals of western outfits are up. They attribute the spike to the new Yuma film.
There's another use of Yuma in Cuba, where they call America "La Yuma." And individuals from the United States are referred to as "Yuma." And this is because of that movie that was released in the 1970s in Havana, because Castro wouldn't allow the picture to show originally.
Did you find yourself watching Deadwood on HBO?
No, I never got into that. The language amazed me.
You've often cited movies as an early influence on your writing. Do you still find films you can enjoy? So many seem to be put together by committee and test-audience…
As many as I've sold and have been made from my work, there have only been a few good films. I think it's mostly luck that good movies are made because there seem to be so many people in the business, studio people, who are just trying to wreck things. There's that joke about the two agents who are out in the desert. They're dying of thirst. Finally, they come to this well. "Oh, here's water we can drink." And the one says, "Wait, let's piss in it, first."
Are you comfortable with gauging or trying to characterize your own influence on crime writing?
I really don't know what that is. I hear good things from George Pelecanos and some others. My editor will tell me more and more books are sounding like mine and that I've opened the door for a certain type of writers. It's funny though, because when I'm sent a manuscript by the publishers, there'll be a reference to the fact that this guy supposedly sounds like me. I don't see it at all.
Labels: Elmore Leonard, Rogue Males
SITTING ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE INTERVIEW TABLE
I more or less first planted my flag in the crime novel world as an interviewer, having conducted discussions with a wide range of authors that eventually resulted in two interview collections focused on the craft of writing and gathered under the titles ART IN THE BLOOD and ROGUE MALES.
In recent years, I've mostly found myself on the other side of the interview process.
In addition to all of the interviews I've been engaging in on radio and in newspapers in Mexico in recent weeks, a couple of other interviews Stateside are now available in eBook or paperback format.
A few years back, I participated in a Q&A with Jean Henry Mead for her site that has since been collected along with interviews by Lawrence Block, Sue Grafton and J.A. Jance, among many others, in Mead's THE MYSTERY WRITERS: INTERVIEWS AND ADVICE.
My discussion with Ms. Mead focuses largely on Hemingway and my third novel, PRINT THE LEGEND, about Papa's death and entanglements with the FBI during his latter years...about Hemingway's legacy to present-day writers and so forth.
In addition to the interview, I also contributed an original essay on the craft of writing that is only available in Ms. Mead's book.
You can find it on Amazon.com for Kindle here or in trade paperback here or visit Ms. Mead's site for newer interviews here.
Casting farther back in time, when HEAD GAMES, my debut was fairly new, fellow novelist Tony Black interviewed me from his base in Scotland.
That interview, along with others by Ian Rankin, Ken Bruen, Andrew Vachss and a number of other crime novelists is now available in Black's HARD TRUTHS: CROSS-EXAMINING CRIME WRITERS.
Labels: Art in the Blood, Craig McDonald, Hard Truths: Cross-Examining Crime Writers, Head Games, Jean Henry Mead, Print the Legend, Rogue Males, The Mystery Writers, Tony Black
TRIBUTE: ELMORE LEONARD, THE ROGUE MALES INTERVIEW...


text:
Кора́че (, ) — река на юге Италии, впадает в Ионическое море, протекает по территории провинций Козенца и Катандзаро в Калабрии. Длинна реки составляет 48 км. Площадь водосборного бассейна — 294,69 км².

Кораче начинается на высоте около 1300 м над уровнем моря между вершинами Брутто (высотой 1267 м) и Оспедале (высотой 1436 м) в горном массиве Ла-Сила Калабрийских Апеннин, на территории коммуны Бьянки. Генеральным направлением течения реки является юго-восток. На границе коммун Катандзаро и Борджа впадает в залив Скуиллаче Ионического моря.

Примечания

Реки, впадающие в Ионическое море
Реки Калабрии
Катандзаро (провинция)
Козенца (провинция)


Cecil Castellucci who is the Eisner nominated New York Times best-selling author of novels and comic books including Don't Cosplay With My Heart, Moving Target: Princess Leia, Soupy Leaves Home, Shade The Changing Girl, and Plain Janes.
And Meghan Kearney who is the creator of the award-winning webcomic http://BATB.thecomicseries.com , manager of Toronto's own Comic Book Embassy and is currently writing for Disney Princess.
Promoted as a "a roundtable discussion showcasing the different ways to make media in Canada", the panel event definitely educated attendees at San Diego Comic Con 2018 about Canada and the comic book industry. In the second part of this two-part special, the panelists talked about the ups and downs of working in the Canadian media creation market, the complexities of Canadian dollar and the benefits of 'home town' support.
I want to especially thank Sonya for kindly allowing me to post the audio of this panel. Sonya recorded the event for her upcoming documentary entitled "Cree Super Girl" directed by Sage and produced by her film company Code Breaker Films. Keep an eye out of Sonya's documentary that's expected later this year.


To the relief of many South Africans, Day Zero has been pushed back to 2019. Day Zero is the date on which Cape Town will run out of water, and its four million residents will begin to collect daily water rations of about seven gallons per person per day from specific collection points. Day Zero will make complying with current water restrictions, which limit use to 13 gallons per person per day, seem positively extravagant.
Thirteen gallons isn't much water. "That's enough for a 90-second shower, a half-gallon of drinking water, a sinkful to handwash dishes or laundry, one cooked meal, two hand washings, two teeth brushings, and one toilet flush. I figured I could save an extra couple of gallons by forgoing the daily flush in favor of a dry composting toilet," wrote a Cape Town resident in an article for Time.
By way of comparison, the U.S. Department of Interior estimates the average person in the United States uses 80 to 100 gallons of water each day.
Fresh water is rapidly becoming a scarce resource. During the past 50 years, as populations have expanded and economies have grown, water consumption has tripled globally. Experts say the demand shows no signs of slowing.
Most of the fresh water on our planet is not on the surface. Icecaps and glaciers hold about 68 percent of our fresh water supply, ground water accounts for about 30 percent, and surface water – found in lakes, rivers, and swamps – is just 0.3 percent.
While personal conservation efforts can help, individuals don't consume most of the water used in the world. They are, however, beneficiaries of many of the processes and products that require water. In the United States, 77 percent of fresh water is used for crop irrigation and electric power generation. Cities and businesses account for another 20 percent of water demand, while livestock and aquaculture account for 3 percent.
One of the side effects of pumping too much groundwater from aquifers is places are sinking. It's a condition is known as subsidence. For example, the Central Valley in California, which produces more than one-third of our country's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruit and nuts,8 pulls a lot of groundwater to grow crops. As a result, the area has been sinking.
The Central Valley area suffered a five-year drought through 2016. Farmers addressed the lack of water by drilling deeper wells, up to 2,000 feet deep, and tapping into previously untouched aquifers. As groundwater has been extracted, the region has been sinking by about two feet per year. These changes are affecting the integrity of roads, bridges, canals, and other infrastructure, reported BBC, creating expensive issues for residents.
Tokyo had a similar problem. In 1968, it was sinking by nine inches a year. The government solved the problem by passing laws limiting groundwater pumping and subsidence slowed. In early 2000, the city was sinking less than one-half inch a year, reported BBC.
Governments will also have an important role to play by establishing regulations that shape the market and adopting practices that limit water waste. For instance, the Hampton Roads Sanitation District in Virginia is testing a new process designed to replenish aquifers. It treats 150 million gallons of wastewater each day so the water meets drinking water standards and has the same profile as groundwater. The treated wastewater is then pumped back into the aquifer.


text:
Rihanna Rated R Top 10 'Manifesto' at PEOPLE
by Singersroom December 21, 2009 January 2, 2016
Rihanna's "Rated R" might have just been released. According to PEOPLE, however, the album is well deserving of a spot on its Top 10 albums of 2009. Calling the album Rihanna's "coming-of-age manifesto" and her "Control" (sans Janet Jackson), PEOPLE says "It's deeper and darker, harder and heavier than anything you would have expected from the girl who gave us "Umbrella". Released November 23, "Rated R" has spawned the hit singles "Wait Your Turn (The Wait Is Ova)," "Russian Roulette," and "Hard" (feat. Young Jeezy). "Rated R" is Rihanna's fourth studio album and follow up to the mega hit album "Good Girl Gone Bad".
TaggedRihanna
Rihanna Live! For Daly Feat. Jay Z
Leona Lewis – I See You
Tamar Braxton's 'Love & War' Lands 7th Week Atop Urban AC Chart
Ludacris Premieres New Video, Whitney Houston Wins at MTV EMAs
Toni Braxton On Memoir's Release: 'I Have At Last Found The Courage'
Stylist Claims Jamie Foxx Intentionally Inflicted Emotional Distress
July 24, 2007 January 1, 2016
Amy Winehouse Ordered To Rest After Holiday Collapse
Christina Aguilera Rocks Flirty Pink Dress, Talks Shakira At 'The Voice' Event


text:
Question: What Is A Good Sentence For Transportation?
When should Among be used?
What is a function in your own words?
Should a simple sentence?
What is function used for?
What is transport simple?
Is amoung a word?
How do you use transport in a sentence?
What is the importance of transport?
What are the 4 means of transport?
IS function and purpose the same?
What are the 5 types of transportation?
What is transportation and example?
What is a good sentence for among?
What is a good sentence for function?
What is transportation simple words?
Between is typically used when referring to two things, like "between a rock and a hard place," while among is used for a greater number..
A function is a relation that maps a set of inputs, or the domain, to the set of outputs, or the range. Note that for a function, one input cannot map to more than one output, but one output may be mapped to more than one input.
[M] [T] She agreed with him that I should go to the meeting. [M] [T] Parents should spend quality time with their children. … [M] [T] We should start getting Christmas gifts for the children. [M] [T] You should have told me that you wanted me to come alone.
Functions are "self contained" modules of code that accomplish a specific task. Functions usually "take in" data, process it, and "return" a result. Once a function is written, it can be used over and over and over again. Functions can be "called" from the inside of other functions.
Transportation, the movement of goods and persons from place to place and the various means by which such movement is accomplished. …
Amongst and among mean the same thing, but among is more common, particularly in American English. Both words are prepositions that mean "into, surrounded by; in the midst of, so as to influence; with a share for each of; in the number, class, or group of; mutually; or by all or with the whole of."
Transport sentence examplesHow are we going to transport thirty pumpkins? … A useful wagon for agricultural transport on a 24 in path. … They need trucks to transport their goods and roads to drive the trucks on. … Howie was as excited as us once we could transport him more precisely.More items…
Transport is important because it enables communication, trade and other forms of exchange between people, that in turn establishes civilizations. Transport plays an important part in economic growth and globalization, but most types cause air pollution and use large amounts of land.
The different modes of transport are air, water, and land transport, which includes Rails or railways, road and off-road transport. Other modes also exist, including pipelines, cable transport, and space transport.
Function: The function of a tool, is the tasks that a particular role is assigned to accomplish. … Purpose is very simply, the "why" behind our function.
Five Major Modes of TransportationRoad transport.Railway transport.Water transport.Air transport.Pipeline transport.
Transport is defined as a way to move things from one place to another. An example of transport is a city bus. An example of transport is a cargo ship. … The vehicles, such as buses and trains, used in such a system.
The bees were buzzing among the flowers. He smiled, revealing fangs among the neat row of white teeth. Iliana has been a favorite among them. The sailors divided his money among themselves; and the ship sailed on.
His bad health has prevented him from being able to function effectively in recent weeks. Her heart now seems to be functioning normally. The computer network is not yet fully functioning. These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'function.
Transport, or transportation, is moving people or things from one place to another place. Transport can be divided into infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Infrastructure includes roads, railways, airports, canals and pipelines. The infrastructure is the network where things are carried.


Our 13thirty members take a humorous look back at the shared experiences which brought them together at 13thirty. Special guests, the hilarious sketch and improv comedy group, Polite Ink. (politeink.com) add to the fun!


The Construction Citizen team wishes everyone a very Safe and Merry Christmas!
Prayers for all the Harvey victims, survivors, and volunteers!
Prayers for all the Harvey victims, survivors, and volunteers! God bless you all!
Best wishes for a year of positive change. Happy New Year!
Joy, happiness, and peace to all of our readers!


text:
Q: Insert date-time from c# in sql server without parametrized query's I am working on a quite old application in which there were no parametrized query's that were used at that time.
I have to insert date time value in an column of sql table with date-time as data type, null value is not allowed in this column.
My code.
var expires = dtpExpires.Enabled ? dtpExpires.Value.ToString() : "'1/1/1900 12:00:00 AM'";
string query = "INSERT INTO route (expires) Values ("+ expires +")";

The problem with this is, When the date picker is disabled then a default value must be passed since null are not allowed. So for that I have to include an extra ''  to wrap around the date and it works correctly.
But when date picker is enabled and valid date time is trying to get inserted into database it fails due to lack of '' this wrapped around the expires variable.
Is there any clean approach to do this without parametrized query. the same problem will come while updating the code. Can there be clean approach for this to work on both the cases rather than adding just if-else clause .

A: EDIT
To avoid "Type of conditional expression cannot be determined because there is no implicit conversion between 'string' and 'System.DBNull'"
SqlCommand command = new SqlCommand("INSERT INTO route (expires)
                                   Values (@dtpExpires)", connections);
SqlParameter dtpExpires= new SqlParameter("@dtpExpires", SqlDbType.DateTime, 10);
dtpExpires.Value = dtpExpires.Enabled ? dtpExpires.Value : DBNull.Value;
command.Parameters.Add(dtpExpires);

For you info OP@ankur
Benefits of use parameters instead of concatenation

*

*Safety. Concatenation opens you up to SQL-injection, especially when TB stands for Textbox.  (Obligatory XKCD cartoon)

*Type safety. You solve a lot of DateTime and number formatting issues.

*Speed. The query does not change all the time, the system(s) may be able to re-use a query handle.

Note
It's better you make use of pram query to avoid sql Injection attack.

A: since you send both datetime and null data as string, let the convertion from string to datetime handle by the sql server by using CONVERT function
  var expires = dtpExpires.Enabled ? "'" + tpExpires.Value.ToString() + "'" : "null";

  string query = "INSERT INTO route (expires) Values (CONVERT(datetime, " + expires + "))";


With the World Cup moving ever closer which English players pushed their claims this week?
Man of the match as West Ham pulled six points clear of the Premier League trapdoor, Hart made two stunning late saves as West Ham grimly held on for a point at Stamford Bridge. There's still a lot to do for Hart to haul in Butland & Pickford for the England number 1 jersey but Nick Pope can probably book his holidays for June.
This hasn't been the season as advertised for Hughes who was supposed to form a young English midfield pairing with Nat Chalobah but the two have instead been spending time together in the Watford treatment room. But Hughes has been excellent in recent weeks and was again commanding in midfield. A deep midfielder who looks to get forward with a good passing range feels like a fit for England and Southgate is familiar with what Hughes can bring from the Under 21s- if he can continue his progress he's in with a shout.
A strange game for the Welbler, 2 goals a man of the match award but an astounding miss. Even though he was picked for the recent friendlies Welbeck needs goals and games to make the plane to Russia simply because England are stacked with better options in similar deep forward positions (Sterling, Rashford, Lingard, Ox) and have 2 natural number 9s in Kane and Vardy.
Poor against City last week but excellent against Liverpool. Pickford made a brilliant first half save to keep out Solanke and showed progress in commanding his box. Still favourite to start in goal against Tunisia.
Apparently was the weak link City were going to exploit in the Champions League, ho hmm. Alexander-Arnold is showing maturity in defence to go with his crossing but has the misfortune to play in England's strongest position where Walker & Trippier have already booked their slots for the summer.
Finally got a game for Chelsea and duly cost them 2 points! Cahill's chances of playing for England again are receding by the week.
Got his first Premier League start and did OK in a Liverpool team with one eye on the Champions League but really should have buried his first half chance. Solanke is a fine prospect who will get more chances but with Liverpool's front 3 he needs to take them when they come. It's hard to escape the feeling he realises that and is trying a little too hard and perhaps needs another pre-season with Klopp.
Not currently injured but not even amongst in Manchester United's match day squad- worrying!


A family workshop at WWT Welney making Christmas Decorations.
Grandchildren, parents and grandparent each made their own and learned a lot, shared ideas and discovered that sometimes the grown ups are not the best learners. They had lots of fun doing it.
This stays together by weaving, its amazing!
What's your Christmas style this year?
Decorations made with natural and recycled materials. People always add their own character to the willow shapes, balls, stars, hearts, trees etc.


The Supply Chain Management Principles certification track is a great place to start and is considered to be a 'launch pad' to begin your supply chain educational and certification process. It provides a high-level overview of each of the functions in a supply chain.
After you complete this track, you will have a broad appreciation for how each of the individual supply chain functions operate and how they are 'linked' in a chain to enable organizations to plan and execute product and service delivery to achieve customer satisfaction. Since all of the remaining seven certification tracks are introduced at a high level in Principles, this might spark your interest, enthusiasm, and choice for your next track enrollment.