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Home Culture A League of Their Own
by Don Harrison
The Virginia Squires, the Commonwealth's only professional sports franchise, will hold a reunion in Virginia Beach May 1 and 2. We take a look back at the team that produced Julius "Dr. J" Erving and other greats from the game.
Tyler Darden
Here, a Julius Erving / Virginia Squires replica uniform.
The ABA ball used in the final Virginia Squires game in1976
Coach Al Bianchi and trainer Bob "Chopper" Travaglini (with towel) at a Squires game.
Julius "Dr. J" Erving dunks the ball with authority
Squires owner Earl Foreman
From 1970 to 1976, Virginia had a professional sports franchise. The Virginia Squires, part of the renegade American Basketball Association, were beset with problems, but two of pro basketball's best players ever got their start with the star-crossed team and have fond memories of the experience.
When the City of Norfolk purchased the former Jewish Community Center complex near Wards Corner in 2005, it acquired an ideal space for a city-owned recreational facility … and a piece of professional sports history. This was where Virginia's first—and still only—professional sports team once practiced, and where two future superstars honed their skills with a strange red, white and blue basketball.
Julius Erving—who revolutionized pro ball by introducing the high-flying style that is prevalent in today's National Basketball Association—was one of them. Fans called him "Dr. J," or simply "the Doctor," for his miraculous skills on a basketball court. The other player was George Gervin, one of the greatest shooters of all time. Each got his start on a now-forgotten team known as the Virginia Squires, which barnstormed across the commonwealth for six roller coaster seasons in the 1970s as one of a dozen clubs in the now-defunct American Basketball Association, or ABA. "To this day, people don't know that we had Julius Erving and George Gervin on the same team," the coach of the Squires, Al Bianchi, once recalled. "That sounds like the foundation for a championship team, doesn't it?"
"It was August 1970 that Earl Foreman came marching across the Potomac and along with him came major league basketball in the state of Virginia." Notes from a Squires game program
That year, the Commonwealth of Virginia was on a coliseum building boom. One after another, a series of 10,000-seat arenas was planned and built in Hampton, Norfolk, Richmond and Roanoke. It couldn't have come at a better time for the ambitious owner of a struggling sports franchise that badly needed a home. "We were out of choices with ABA cities," recalls Earl Foreman, the Baltimore-born man who brought professional basketball to the Old Dominion. "I said, 'Well, if the markets in Virginia aren't big enough in the individual cities, we can do a franchise where we are everywhere.' So we started the first season in Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond and Roanoke." It was a unique, perhaps desperate idea, and as Foreman now says, "It didn't work, for so many different reasons."
Foreman had purchased the financially strapped Oakland Oaks team in 1969 from singer Pat Boone. "I got paid to take over the team, I didn't buy it," he asserts now. "It was a great business deal."
Foreman moved the ABA's Oaks across the country, renamed them the Washington Caps and endured a miserable season in a dumpy arena in a bad neighborhood in the nation's capital. Foreman, a real estate lawyer and investor, had previously been part owner of the Philadelphia Eagles, and one of the original partners who purchased the Chicago Zephyrs NBA franchise and brought it back to Baltimore as the Bullets. That franchise is now the Washington Wizards, still owned by a former partner, Abe Pollin.
Foreman says he wanted an ABA club for one reason only—so that eventually he could merge it into the more established National Basketball Association (NBA), just as the American Football League was at that time merging with the National Football League. "That's what we were all after," he says of the ABA, formed just two years before. The new league's first commissioner was basketball legend George Mikan, who had the genius to insist that the ABA use a revolutionary red, white and blue basketball instead of the traditional orange model.
Foreman's biggest asset was the talented but temperamental Rick Barry, a former NBA Rookie of the Year. Basketball experts often describe him as the purest "small forward" to ever play the game. Barry's defection from the NBA's San Francisco Warriors to the Oaks in 1968 had lent legitimacy to the fledging 11-team ABA, which introduced such "gimmicks" as the three-point shot into the pro game.
Foreman had been forced to take Barry to court to persuade him to play in Washington, but the player drew the line at living and playing in Dixie. "When Earl moved the team to Virginia," Barry recalled in Loose Balls, Terry Pluto's 1990 oral history of the ABA. "I thought, 'This is the end of the line.' I didn't want any part of Virginia and was going to do all I could to get back to the [NBA], or at least out of Virginia."
"Rick had been selected to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated," Foreman recalls. "And my PR man, on his own, took a Squires uniform with him to the shoot and, believe it or not, Barry wound up on the cover with an ABA basketball and in a Squires uniform." That was the good news. The bad news was the infamous Aug. 24, 1970 story itself, which summarized Barry's feelings about his new team in three words on the cover: "The Reluctant Virginian."
"My son Scooter is supposed to go to nursery school this year," Barry told SI reporter Peter Carry. "I hate to think of the complications that'll cause in Virginia. I don't want him to go down there to school and learn to speak with a Southern accent. He'll come home from school saying, 'Hi y'all, Daad.' I sure don't want that."
Foreman says that people in Virginia resented those words. "And they should have."
Barry was staking his position. "I figured [the comments] would force Earl's hand," he later admitted. "I knew that it would upset enough people [to] get me out of Virginia."
Barry got his wish. Foreman traded him to the New York Nets, ensuring that he'd stay in the ABA. "It seems like the only sellouts we'd have [in Virginia] is when Rick and the Nets played there," the former owner says today. "We didn't have to fuel the fire with the fans after what he said in Sports Illustrated."
Squires starter Jim Eakins, a 6'11" center from Brigham Young who had played for the Oaks and the Caps, remembers those Barry visits with his new team. "Ha! The Virginia crowds thought they were pretty ornery to Rick. But you know what? Virginians are nice Southern gentlemen compared to those guys in Philadelphia and New York, who knew how to say things that really needled you."
The 1970-71 Squires didn't need the Reluctant Virginian. That first team was deep. Along with Eakins, there were veterans such as Larry Brown, Doug Moe and Ray Scott, who would each go on to a successful head coaching career in the NBA. Two holdovers from the Caps season were Roland "Fatty" Taylor, a skilled defensive stopper, and Mike Barrett, who had played on the 1968 U.S. Olympic Team. The mutton-chopped Neil Johnson was picked up from the NBA Phoenix Suns and became the team's rough-and-tumble enforcer.
But it was a cocky 6'6" rookie who stole the show that first season. "Charlie Scott came from the university of North Carolina," Eakins remembers. "He didn't feel he was the star—he told you he was the star. When he came to Virginia, I think he felt he was stepping down in status, even if it was the pros."
Earl Foreman remembers Charlie Scott as a pain. "He considered himself a big city guy, and he said Norfolk was a rinky-tink town. He was just an unhappy person. Was he not the first black player at North Carolina? He led a charmed life."
Nobody questioned Scott's talent. In the Squires' first season, he averaged 27 points a game and shared Rookie of the Year honors with Dan Issel, of the Kentucky Colonels. "While he was on the Squires, Charlie was the leader, and he took that role seriously," says Eakins. "He would be willing to do whatever was necessary … as long as you didn't take his shots away from him."
The Squires won their first 12 games and went on to capture the league's Eastern Division title before losing to Kentucky in the second round of the playoffs. In the first round, the fast-breaking Squires had gotten their revenge on Barry, beating his Nets in six games. All in all, it was a hell of a debut season for a first-year team in a league only four years old. And the real show had yet to begin.
"Virginia was a wonderful, wonderful experience for me," says Julius Erving. "The two years I was there were wonderful. They set the stage for everything"—meaning his development into a superstar. "I was a single guy, and basketball was my life."
Today, the man who was the Baryshnikov of the backcourt, who turned the dunk shot into ballet, is a successful businessman living in the snowy climes of Utah. Erving is one of only five players to score more than 30,000 points in his pro career. "Dr. J" is also the figure who put Virginia—and the ABA—on the professional sports map for a brief but shining period in the early 1970s. "If I had to list the top five things that the American Basketball Association gave to pro basketball," Erving muses, "I'd say, first, the players—myself, George Gervin, Gilmore, Issel; second, the three-point shot; third, the extra referee; fourth, the emphasis on up-tempo basketball, which gives little guys like Steve Nash [a two-time winner of the NBA's Most Valuable Player award] a chance to play and … ah … number five, what would that be?"
How about drafting players before they finish or even enter college?
"Well, yes," the Doctor says. "The league is a younger sport right now in that regard. That's a good point … but that would be your number five, not mine."
Julius Winfield Erving grew up in Hempstead, Long Island, just outside of New York City, and earned the nickname "the Doctor" at Roosevelt High School. His teammates later changed it to "Dr. J." Later, at the University of Massachusetts, the graceful, small forward averaged more than 20 points and 20 rebounds a game in each of his first two seasons. The young athlete had a fast-breaking style that was more suited to the pros than to the rigid college game—and the new ABA offered him an early opportunity to play for pay. He passed up his last two years at UMass to join the Virginia Squires. Asked why he made the jump, he says, "There wouldn't be enough words in your article—I accomplished all I could in college."
Nowadays, nearly every star college player leaves school prematurely for the pros. Take the money and run. It was the ABA that, for better or worse, pioneered the idea. By signing Erving, the Squires opened the floodgates for other "hardship cases"—a term that came to be used to describe players who left college to earn money for themselves and their families. "The ABA's thing was to get the [college] underclassmen," says Clay Shampoe, a Norfolk-based sports historian who co-publishes a Virginia Squires tribute website. "The NBA didn't want to touch that. But the ABA had no qualms." (In 1974, the Utah Stars would take it to the next step, grabbing headlines by signing Virginia's Moses Malone soon after he graduated from Petersburg High School.) "The ABA set the tone for that era—the big hair, and the black athletes really coming into their own," says Shampoe. "It was the players saying, we're the outlaw league and we're going to do what we want."
Nobody would personify the ABA better than the Doctor. He arrived in Virginia in 1971, prior to the Squires' second season, and immediately impressed everyone. "Julius first played in a tryout camp in Richmond," Bianchi remembered in Loose Balls. "We had a few veterans there, but mostly it was guys just trying to make the team. Julius was running up and down the court, dunking on people, and I was thinking, 'Look at what we found.'"
To sign him quickly, Foreman endured what he calls a hellish day of contract negotiations at a Philadelphia hotel. The youngster was accompanied by a bevy of supporters, including his high school coach, all looking out for his well-being. "I had been going all day, it was late afternoon, getting dark," Foreman recalls. "I walked around and there's Julius, his long limbs sprawled on the hotel bed. He looked up and me and said, 'You tell me why I should come to your team.' And I was miffed that he had the audacity to say that to me. But I didn't blow up. I finally gave him an ultimatum, and he signed."
Julius got $500,000. Foreman got a workhorse. Swen Nater, a center from the fabled UCLA basketball program, was a fellow Squire rookie that year. "Doc was an inventor, as you know," Nater says. "And he never did anything in a game that he didn't practice first, that's what he told me. He said, 'When you see me doing something fancy, I would have practiced it 100, 200 times.'" Forward George Irvine, a longtime Squire fan favorite, once asked Erving about a backwards dunk he was practicing over and over. Erving told him he'd seen himself doing it in a dream.
Eakins remembers the moment when he realized what they had in Erving. In an exhibition game against the Kentucky Colonels, on one play, the Squires sprinted down the court. The ball was passed to Erving, who wanted to swoop in for a layup, only to have his path blocked by Colonel center Artis Gilmore, who was 7'4". No matter: Doc pulled the ball down, shifted it from his right hand to his left, then brought it back up and laid it in the basket. "He was in the air the whole time," Eakins recalls. "My jaw dropped. I remember saying, 'I don't believe what I just saw.'"
Dave Twardzik, the Old Dominion University star who played for Virginia, also watched in wonder. "My first year with the Squires was Doc's second year," he says. "I played probably 15-20 minutes a game, and I can remember sitting on the bench and being in awe of what he did. As good a player as Erving was, he was also a classy guy …. There was no condescension on his part."
Twardzik was first signed by NBA's Portland Trailblazers but elected to go with Virginia despite Portland's more lucrative offer. "One reason I decided to go to the ABA was that it was a more wide-open style than the NBA, and the guards were a little bit smaller. I was 6'1" and not big, and guards in the NBA were 6'3" or 6'5", so it was good for me. Plus I felt a real comfort zone staying in the Tidewater, Norfolk area. We loved it there."
One enduring myth about the Squires is that Virginia didn't support the team, even in the franchise's early years when it was winning. Squires historian Shampoe says the attendance figures tell a different story. "They did OK. It wasn't like empty arenas. The first year, the Squires played in the ODU Fieldhouse, which seats 5,000, and they drew good. Then the second year, the team moved to Scope, which doubled the size. But it's not like there were only 500 people in the stands."
In those first seasons, the Squires spread home games out across the state, to Norfolk, Hampton, Richmond and Roanoke. But Foreman met an unexpected roadblock. Sports reporters in Richmond weren't keen to embrace the franchise with Norfolk and Hampton, and he says the squad never felt welcome in Virginia's capital. (While waiting for the Coliseum to be built, the Squires first played in the old Richmond Arena.) "Their nose was stuck up because the team was only playing 10 games there," says Foreman. "The attitude was, Richmond was the big city and how dare we consider them to be second-rate to Norfolk. So the Norfolk papers considered us their team, and the Richmond papers didn't."
Jim Eakins remembers good crowds in Norfolk and Hampton. "But Richmond, we had about half full … . And attendance in Roanoke was fairly poor."
Playing in venues across the state drained the players, according to Twardzik. "Even a trip up to Richmond, 90 miles away, was almost like a road game. Playing 26 in Norfolk, 10 in Hampton, five in Richmond and two or three in Roanoke, it took us out of a normal routine."
But some players enjoyed those home trips. "I'd go for rides, exploring the countryside," Dr. J remembers. "The beautiful Virginia countryside."
In the locker room, things weren't so tranquil. According to Eakins, Charlie Scott was upset when Erving joined the Squires and decided he wanted to leave. "He did not like sharing the limelight with Doc. What a force they could have been together."
Scott's departure to the NBA Phoenix Suns came at a bad time—at the end of the regular season, right before the playoffs. At first, he wasn't missed as the Squires swept the Floridians in the first round. Dr. J dominated the series, averaging 37.7 points and scoring 53 in one game. Then came the second round and another match-up with hated Rick Barry and the New York Nets. Despite another stellar series by Erving—he led all post-season players in scoring and rebounds—the Squires lost a grueling seven-game brawl, conceding the final contest at Scope, 94-88.
That 1971-72 season was the closest the Virginia Squires would ever come to winning the championship title.
Even though the pro sports team was integrating well in the Tidewater community, Foreman was strapped for cash. "The population in Virginia was such, the market was such, that you couldn't support that team. All along, the ABA owners felt there's going to be a merger. The idea is that we would hang on long enough for that."
But things looked bad when new star Erving tried to bolt after his rookie year. Just before the 1972-73 season, he got into a contract dispute with Foreman. It was soon announced that Erving was considering a $1.4 million deal with NBA's Atlanta Hawks. "I said, 'No way,'" remembers Foreman. The ensuing legal battles were settled just before the season started. The deal was this: Dr. J would return to the Squires for one more season, after which he would be traded to the New York Nets for $1 million. Erving's best friend and sidekick, the late Willie Sojourner, would leave with him. In exchange, Virginia would get George Carter, a former Squire and fan favorite. "The arrangement kept Julius in the ABA, and he got more money. I thought it was a good deal," Foreman says.
For obvious reasons, Virginia fans didn't agree. For trading Erving, Foreman was vilified. Critics called him the "bandit" of the ABA. Squires historian Clay Shampoe says he recently found a used ABA All-star program with a picture of Foreman inside. "Sure enough, someone had scrawled 'crook' all over his face."
Erving went back to Norfolk, donned his Squires uniform for one more year and picked up right where he left off, leading the ABA in scoring. He also drew closer to Foreman. "The second year I was there," Erving says, "I shared a penthouse apartment with him and his wife. When they were out of town—which was a lot—I stayed there, and then I'd move over to the hotel [when they returned]. I got to know Phyllis Foreman and Earl Foreman very, very well."
Erving's mother, Callie Mae, would call Phyllis from New York and ask her to make sure her son was eating well. "I checked his cupboard and all I found was cans of SpaghettiOs," she laughs today.
"I had a bachelor pad," Erving says. "So who knows what was in my refrigerator at the time?"
Contract squabbles aside, Dr. J never forgot Earl Foreman. Says the former owner, "When Julius retired [in 1987], he had a party and held a candle lighting ceremony. He had 13 candles on a cake, signifying the 13 years he had spent in the ABA and NBA. He had 13 people lined up to light a candle on a cake. It's a tradition at a function called a bar mitzvah, you know. One of the proudest moments I've had in sports was when Julius asked me to light the first candle."
Although he didn't like the prospect of losing his star player at the end of the season, Al Bianchi kept the team focused. The Squires coach had won the respect of his players. "You'd run through a brick wall for Al Bianchi," says Twardzik.
Erving agrees, calling his two years with the coach "a wonderful experience for me. He let me play through the mistakes that young players make … I got the chance to become a complete player because [of him]."
Erving's second and final season with the Squires was bittersweet. The team lost in the second round of the playoffs again, but a new player had arrived in midseason who would brighten the prospects of a struggling franchise about to lose its star. But nobody knew that at first. "Just as we really didn't know what we had when we signed Julius," Bianchi recalled in 1990, "the same was true of George Gervin, maybe even more so."
The rail-thin Gervin was a rising star at Eastern Michigan University when he was suspended after hitting an opponent during a game. "George had a reputation for punching some guy," Foreman recalls. "Now, if you knew George … it seems unlikely. But there was a stigma about him, and we had the opportunity to sign him."
"Squires General Manager Johnny Kerr saw me play in the Continental League, in Pontiac [Michigan]," Gervin says today, calling from San Antonio. "I think I scored 45, 48. He told Earl Foreman and got me a contract."
At first, the shy 19-year-old didn't impress. Says Jim Eakins, "They told me he was another Julius Erving. I said, 'Really?' His first practice, he came out and was a skinny little kid, very unsure of himself."
Even Bianchi had reservations. "I got a little mad at him because he wouldn't play me," Gervin recalls. "This is where I have to point to the guidance of Dr. J and Fatty Taylor. They would say to me, 'Be patient, you'll get your turn.' Al actually turned out to be one of my favorite coaches. He just didn't like to play rookies, wasn't nothing against me."
"Gervin came in in the middle of the season and didn't have the chance to get into the groove," Eakins says. "But over time he started to relax and play basketball, and his game [emerged]."
Doc helped. "We developed a relationship real early," Gervin remembers of his mentor Erving. "We used to play one on one after practice, and it helped me out a great deal. I got schooled early on, and it helped build up my confidence. Of course, Julius used to win most of those games. But I got my jumper going, and I picked up a few."
Erving is fond of his former teammate. "I wish I had played my whole career with George Gervin, " he says. "We played the rest of that season together. It was great, and he became the mainstay of the Squires when I went to New York."
Fatty Taylor came up with the rookie's famous nickname. "I was only about 165 pounds and real skinny," Gervin remembers. "And we'd play and practice, and everybody would be soaking wet, and my practice jersey would barely have water on it. Fatty used to look at me and say, 'You did all that work and ain't sweating!' And he started calling me 'Ice. '"
Later in his career, the 6'8" Ice would become the leading scorer in the NBA, a nine-time all-star and the founder of the George Gervin Youth Center in San Antonio. But the ABA Virginia Squires was where he perfected his legendary finger-roll shot, flipping the ball over the rim with silky smoothness.
And in January 1974, he became the next ex-Virginia Squire.
Earl Foreman sold Gervin for the same reason he traded Erving. "It was money," the former owner says. "Angelo Drossos [of the San Antonio Spurs] had good financial backing in San Antonio, and he wanted him." He stops to measure his words. "You've got a payroll to meet, rent to pay, your budget. Owning a basketball team in those days, in either league, was a losing proposition. Even the Celtics didn't make money then—they made it in the playoffs. And what gets lost in the telling is that the ABA was born to merge with the NBA. The people that were in it, like myself, we weren't making money. We were funding it and waiting for a merger."
Twardzik, now an assistant general manager with the NBA's Orlando Magic, credits Foreman for having "the insight and vision to bring a professional team to the Tidewater area. And it was successful—we were a good team. Then, all of a sudden, I don't know why, his business plan changed and he ended up having to sell players."
Eakins remembers hearing about a possible Gervin trade at the ABA All-Star Game in Norfolk. "I knew it was true. And I was so mad at Earl Foreman."
Fans screamed obscenities at Earl and Phyllis at the game, and hung the owner in effigy outside Scope. A shaken Foreman then tried to reverse the deal. "I had remorse," he says. But money had already changed hands. Ice left the team.
"I did want to stay," Gervin confirms. "Think about it: I'm a young black kid from Detroit, and Virginia has three black colleges in the area. So I felt at home. I was a young guy, had all the girls, and I was real comfortable."
"How did I feel being vilified for selling the players?" asks Foreman. "I understand, because I have the heart of a fan."
Erving understands Foreman's predicament. "He did what he had to do," he says of his former boss. "He made deals designed to help secure his survival in a business that was very unpredictable and risky, and he's gone on to get involved in soccer [as the founding commissioner of the Major Indoor Soccer League]. He knows how things work."
"I had been mad at Charlie Scott, and Doc, for jumping," says Jim Eakins, now a high school teacher in Utah. "I didn't realize what was going on behind the scenes. At the All-Star Game, I realized that it wasn't about the players. It was the instability of the organization."
True. At the end of the Squires' fourth season, Earl Foreman couldn't hold on to his NBA merger dream any longer. With the ABA's help, he sold the team "to some guy in the sandwich business."
The last Squires seasons could be source material for a slapstick movie starring Will Farrell. The team's new owner was Van Cunningham, of the Virginia-based Stewart Sandwiches Company, who purchased the club along with a consortium of 56 local investors. They called the team the New Virginia Squires, but there wasn't anything new but losing—an ominous thing for a team whose financial condition had always been shaky. The team's record in 1974-75 was a dismal 15-69, the worst in ABA history. The team acquired, then lost, the rights to another North Carolina phenom, David Thompson. Then center David Vaughn was shot by a Chesapeake policeman after stealing $14 from a gas station.
The 1975-76 season, the club's last, was equally bad. The club opened 0-5, prompting Cunningham to fire the only coach the Virginia Squires ever had, Al Bianchi. The team would eventually go through five more coaches before posting a cellar-dwelling 15-68 record. "Some of the problems were just impossible," the Squires beloved trainer Chopper Travaglini later told a reporter.
Swen Nater was traded back from the Nets that final year. "You really had to love the game to play when your paychecks were bouncing," he says. Lacking money, new management tried to sell 100 corporate banners, at $5,000 apiece, to hang in the Scope. They didn't sell 50.
The entire league was imploding. "What did the ABA in?" asks Foreman. "One word: television. We could never get a network deal." By the final season, the league was down to 10, then six teams.
But excitement continued to surround Dr. J in New York, where he had won an ABA championship after leaving Virginia (he'd later grab an NBA crown with the Philadelphia 76ers). Doc's mass-media coming-out party occurred at the first-ever slam dunk competition, held at the final ABA All-Star game. He won the event with a gravity-defying dunk that remains one of the iconic images in the history of professional basketball. Erving ran forward and started his 15-foot leap toward the basket at the foul line. He seemed to hang in the air forever—his afro folded by the wind—holding the ball high in the air before stuffing it through the net. It was the symbolic first flight of the modern basketball era, and the debut of a new type of basketball player.
Fittingly, the Virginia Squires played their final game at Norfolk's Scope against Erving's Nets. They lost in front of 7,000 fans. Dr. J entertained Virginians one last time, scoring 38 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
When the 1975-76 season ended, four ABA teams—New York, Indiana, San Antonio and Denver—were admitted into the National Basketball Association. "We had enough talent in the ABA to force the NBA to pay attention," Erving says. "For economic and practical reasons, they merged the league." He and a host of other "outlaw" stars—from Dan Issel to James Silas to Moses Malone—soon began playing for the NBA.
And they forever changed the old league. According to Twardzik, who would go on to win the 1977 NBA title with Portland as one of the league's pioneering "small guards," the NBA was "very reluctant" to adopt any ABA ideas. "They thought the ABA was an inferior league and that its ideas were gimmickry. Turned out they weren't: The three-point shot is an integral part of our game now. The dunking contest and the three-point shooting contest"—NBA All-Star game staples—"those are all ABA ideas."
And, not surprisingly, the suits at the television networks liked the ABA's flashy brand of basketball. Gervin lauds the ABA owners, opportunistic as they were, for being innovators. "The ABA brought more than just players. It had its own vision of what the future of this game might be," he says. "The owners don't get enough credit for it."
But Virginia would never again be a part of pro basketball's big show. The Squires franchise was forced to close one month before the merger, on May 11, 1976, when it failed to make a $75,000 league assessment payment. "I think basketball was probably ill-fated in Virginia," Dr. J says. Except for minor league baseball and hockey, the Squires remain in the history books as Virginia's one and only foray into big-ticket professional sports.
Earl Foreman, the man who marched across the Potomac in 1970, waited a long time for a merger that he figured would boost his fortunes—and those of the Squires. He didn't wait long enough. "The people in charge of the Squires at the end didn't know what they were doing," he says. "They didn't know the game. If I had been in charge when the merger happened, Virginia would have an NBA franchise today. I would have made sure of it."
Sport History Longread Fitness Events


Built in 1907 as a resort, the seven-story tall Pagoda is an amazing site sitting on top of Mount Penn. Over the course of its history, the pagoda has been used as a signal beacon, been ravaged by wind, rain and fire, and has undergone major renovation. Recently, the pagoda has been restored to its former glory and is a popular tourist spot for visitors from around the world. Open daily, the building also houses the offices of the Berks Arts Council, two gift shops and an art gallery.


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Home/Soccer/FK Slutsk vs. Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 6/6/20 Belarus Vysshaya League Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction
FK Slutsk vs. Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino 6/6/20 Belarus Vysshaya League Soccer Pick, Odds, and Prediction
Goran KucarJune 4, 2020
FK Slutsk is hosting Torpedo-BelAZ Zhodino at Garadskoi Stadion in round 12 of the Belarus Vysshaya League.
Slutsk has been in a terrible form over the last few weeks, but despite that, Slutsk is still pretty high in the standings, in 5th place with 17 points. In their last four Vysshaya League games, Slutsk has conceded 7 goals, while scoring only 2 goals. Overall, Slutsk has been solid offensively with 16 scored goals, but with 16 conceded goals, Slutsk is amongst the worst team in the Vysshaya League. In their latest match in the Vysshaya League against FC Minsk on the road, Slutsk has had 61% of ball possession, 3 shots on goal, and 3 corner kicks. Despite having more ball possession, Slutsk has done nothing offensively and they have lost this match 1-0. Slutsk is 2-2-2 at home this season with 9 scored goals, and huge 8 conceded goals. Slutsk has barely avoided the relegation zone last season, so this 5th place is quite the surprise for Slutsk, but I don't think they will stay this high for much longer because Slutsk isn't a particularly high-quality team, and their soccer style isn't much different whether they play at home or on the road. Sure, Slutsk will avoid the relegation zone in my opinion, but that's about it.
Torpedo has been playing some of the best soccer in the Vysshaya League this season, and thanks to that, Torpedo is in 4th place in the standings with 21 points, just 4 points away from Bate Borisov at the top. Torpedo has been playing well on the defensive end and they have conceded only 9 goals, while their offense is decent, slightly above average in the Vysshaya League, with 15 scored goals in 11 games. In their most recent match against Smolevichi at home, Torpedo has had 48% of ball possession, 3 shots on goal, and 11 corner kicks. The first half ended in a 1-1 draw, but in 67th minute Smolevichi has scored an own goal, and Torpedo has won this game 2-1. With only 2 losses this season, Torpedo has been one of the most consistent teams in the Vysshaya League, and I think they can keep that up. In their last three games, Torpedo has scored 6 goals, while they conceded 5 goals. Not that good but wins and points are what matters here. Torpedo was pretty close to the Europa League last season as well, and I'm not that surprised by their performance this season, but Torpedo must stay consistent and focused if they want to keep their Europa League this season.
Slutsk has had some success against Torpedo at home, and normally I would take that into consideration, but Slutsk is playing terrible soccer on both ends, at home, and on the road. I think Torpedo gets another valuable three points here to stay close to the top.
Goran Kucar's Free Pick: Torpedo +140

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Submerged Vegetation Mirrors Coast's Health
Scientists say studying submerged aquatic vegetation can provide clues to the coast's overall health. Photo: APNEP
First of two parts. Updated with map link, boundary clarification.
The Albemarle-Pamlico estuary is one of the largest and most productive estuaries on the Atlantic Coast, with the second largest submerged aquatic vegetation, or SAV, resource in the continental U.S., said Jud Kenworthy, a research biologist who is currently adjunct faculty in the University of North Carolina Wilmington's department of biology and marine biology.
Researchers recently have begun tracking SAV trends on the state's coast and stress that it's best to maintain and preserve SAV, which are home to hundreds of thousands of fish and invertebrates, rather than try to replant and restore SAV once it's gone. This two-part series will examine the effort and its role in monitoring the health of the coast.
Bill Crowell
As Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership Director Bill Crowell said, "Understanding the status of our SAV habitats allows us to be better informed for the management of this resource and understand how our actions may affect its health," which is why APNEP has coordinated and published two maps of submerged aquatic vegetation in the Albemarle-Pamlico region.
APNEP works with citizens and organizations to identify, protect, and restore the resources of the Albemarle-Pamlico estuarine system.
With funding from APNEP and field and technical support from the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Beaufort Laboratory, digital data of coastal SAV was mapped for imagery years 2012-2014. This is the second effort led by APNEP to map the distribution, abundance and change of SAV in North Carolina, according to APNEP.
The SAV Team published the first map, a baseline map, of SAV in 2011 using data from aerial flights taken between 2006 and 2008 along the North Carolina and southern Virginia estuarine coastlines. This included the coastal zone that lies within the APNEP regional boundary, which is from Bogue Inlet north to Back Bay, as well as Bogue Inlet south to Masonboro Inlet.
Because the aerial surveys were conducted infrequently due to funding and could only monitor changes in large areas that did not have diminished visibility due to turbid waters, APNEP in 2014 began coordinating a SAV Sentinel Network that combines boat-based sonar and video technology with in-water observations to track SAV in the sounds, according to APNEP. The 2012-2014 map provides an update to the higher salinity areas of the 2006-2008 SAV map in the regional boundary.
Visitors to the online resource can compare the SAV extent and density on the map by clicking the check boxes in the "Layers" block on the right side of the map to toggle the 2013-2014 or 2006-2008 map data on and off. More information about how the data was collected, as well as the map data itself, is available on the DEQ ArcGIS Online website, Crowell said.
Illustration of common seagrass species from "Tropical Connections: South Florida's marine environment" (pg. 260), courtesy of the Integration and Application Network (ian.umces.edu), University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science
Crowell explained that the Albemarle-Pamlico region has more than 136,000 acres of submerged aquatic vegetation – putting it in the top three states in the country for SAV abundance. This estuarine system also contains half of the juvenile fish habitat from Maine to Florida, making the status of its SAV an issue of regional and perhaps national importance.
"SAV plays a crucial functional role within our coastal ecosystems. One study stated that a single acre of grasses may support as many as 40,000 fish and 50 million small invertebrates," he said. "Additionally, these grasses improve water quality by absorbing excess nutrients, generating oxygen, and reducing the sediment moving about in the water column. In some areas they help to protect shorelines from erosion, by decreasing wave energy."
Kenworthy, who retired in 2011 from the NOAA Beaufort Lab after 33 years of federal service, focused during his research career on the ecology, habitat utilization, conservation and restoration of seagrass and SAV habitat. After retiring, he continued to work with APNEP as co-lead of the SAV monitoring and assessment team.
Kenworthy explained that submerged aquatic vascular plants are that have adapted to live almost exclusively underwater in both seawater, more commonly called seagrasses, and lower-salinity brackish and freshwater environments, more commonly referred to as SAV.
"This is why we find two personalities of SAV throughout coastal North Carolina, SAV and seagrass, but we often refer to them all as SAV," he said. However, unlike their submerged counterparts, macroalgae, SAV have roots and rhizomes that anchor them in the substrate and a leaf canopy that slows currents and baffles wave energy.
Jud Kenworthy
"They function much like the grasses that live on your front lawn. SAV trap and stabilize the soil they grow on, as well as protect adjacent emergent shorelines," Kenworthy said. The productivity and biomass of SAV store large amounts of carbon and other nutrients and, along with the sediment stabilizing capabilities, they serve to maintain and promote superior water quality, benefiting the entire estuary.
"Ecologically, SAV provide shelter and food to an incredibly diverse community of animals, from tiny invertebrates to large fish, crabs, turtles, marine mammals, shorebirds and waterfowl. Seagrasses provide many important services to humans directly and indirectly, but many seagrass meadows have been impacted by human activities," he added.
Crowell explained that before APNEP started coordinating efforts to map and monitor the region's submerged aquatic vegetation, there were no long-term SAV-monitoring programs in the state that could provide reliable information about how this resource has been changing over time.
In 2001, APNEP established the Albemarle-Pamlico SAV partnership with various state and federal agencies to collaborate, with the long-term goal of determining where the region's underwater grasses are located and if their overall extent and density is changing over time, according to Crowell.
Additional partners from nongovernmental organizations and academic sectors joined to further the mission of the open-membership group. The effort was boosted with the development of Coastal Habitat Protection Plan, a document used by the state Department of Environmental Quality to guide habitat decisions as they relate to fisheries.
In 2004, APNEP created a memorandum of understanding to formalize partner interactions to move forward with the joint effort to address the identification, status and restoration of SAV habitat.
The memorandum was signed in 2006 by all participants, which includes nine state agencies, nine academic institutions, two nongovernmental organizations and four federal agencies, thus formally creating the "SAV Partnership."
Crowell explained that the initial priority has been mapping the region's SAV to determine if and where action needs to be taken.
"APNEP/SAV partnership released the first map in 2011 for images collected 2006-2008. Given the dynamic nature of the habitat, we are still trying to get a good understanding of its distribution and condition. We then want to document how things were and how its changing. Protecting the region's SAV is far less expensive that it is to replant and restore SAV once it has disappeared," he said.
Crowell said to protect estuarine water quality, "Avoiding overuse of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides makes a difference in water quality far downstream. Boaters can avoid tearing up shallow grass beds with boat props, avoid bottom-disturbing fishing gear that rips up SAV, and utilize the N.C. Clean Marina Program. State and local government efforts to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution, as well as stormwater runoff, also go a long way towards creating the conditions SAV needs to flourish."
The Clean Marina program is a nearly 20-year-old state effort to show that marina operators can help safeguard the environment by taking steps that go beyond regulatory requirements.
Crowell said that it should be noted that the SAV partnership was necessary to generate the funds and personnel necessary to start the mapping efforts.
Colington and Kill Devil Hills are visible in this image from the aerial mapping plane. Photo: NCDOT
"Today, we still rely on numerous partners to do this work. This spring, many volunteers provided daily water quality reading and weather reports to us so we could schedule the flights under the right conditions to capture the images," he said.
In addition to aerial mapping, Cowell said there has been an effort over the past decade to develop protocols for coordinating data collection across the region.
"Since 2014, researchers from East Carolina University and other SAV Team members have monitored SAV in the low-salinity waters of the sounds via boat-based surveys that use underwater sonar, cameras, and square quadrats to collect SAV data at 'sentinel sites' over time," he said. "In the long term, the goal is for the combination of semi decadal aerial surveys of the higher salinity waters near the barrier islands and more frequent boat-based surveys throughout the region to allow the SAV Team to obtain an ongoing assessment of how the state's submerged aquatic vegetation is changing over time."
Next: Canaries in the coal mine
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Biologist: Seagrass A 'Canary In Coal Mine'


text:
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Archivist of the US David Ferriero Announces Retirement
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Successfully Added Bluetooth Watch Foxwear - Pedometer, Calories Burned, Sleep Monitor, Call Reminder, Sync With Bluetooth Headset, 220mAh Battery to your Shopping Cart.
With this Bluetooth watch from Foxwear, you'll be able to enjoy your favorite songs anywhere you go. Simply pair it with your iOS or Android smartphone, and you'll be able to access your music library and more. Thanks to its Bluetooth 4.0 support, you'll be treated with ultra-fast transmission speeds. This will result in a smooth and lag free user experience that allows you to take the most out of the features this smart watch has to offer. With its 220mAh battery, your Bluetooth watch brings along plenty hours of usage time. Therefore, you'll be able to use it through multiple days without needing to worry about running out of juice.
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text:
The last five years were the hottest ever, NASA and NOAA declare
2018 was the hottest year yet behind 2015 2016 and 2017
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual report was released Wednesday, coming to the same conclusion that also was reached independently by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Temperatures for 2018 came in just behind the three years preceding it with 2016 ranking hottest year yet.
NASA and NOAA have announced that the global surface temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest since 1880.
The average global surface temperature has risen about 1 degree Celsius since 1880s, a clear signal that our planet is warming, according to NASA.
"This warming has been driven in large part by increased emissions into the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases caused by human activities", NASA said in a statement.
"We're no longer talking about a situation where global warming is something in the future", said Gavin A. Schmidt, who is the director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
NOAA and NASA each analyze temperature measurements from thousands of sites around the world, including weather stations on land and ships and buoys spread across the world's oceans.
"What kind of planet is a planet that's four or five degrees warmer than it is now?"
This line plot shows yearly temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2018, with respect to the 1951-1980 mean, as recorded by NASA, NOAA, the Japan Meteorological Agency, the Berkeley Earth research group, and the Met Office Hadley Centre (UK).
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"The 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years".
The records also show that the annual temperature of the Old Continent increased at an average rate of 0.12 Celsius degrees per decade since 1910, although it has nearly quadrupled to 0.43 Celsius since 1981. It's easy, if someone is skeptical to look at a hot year and say it's meaningless, we've been here before.
The Earth experienced its fourth-hottest year in more than 136 years in 2018.
This also means Toronto's temperature rose above the global average.
Arndt says 2018 "was an exclamation point, I think, on a trend that we're seeing toward more big rain, particularly in the eastern United States".
It appears highly likely, at least from today's perspective, that that line will be crossed, despite the fact that more than 190 countries have signed the Paris climate agreement, which sets targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
WMO also released a report on Wednesday that the globally averaged temperature in 2018 was about 0.38 degrees Celsius above the 1981 to 2010 long-term average.
The nation's $1 billion disasters included hurricanes Florence and Michael and western wildfires that unfolded over several months.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's annual report was released Wednesday, coming to the same conclusion that also was reached independently by the NASA Goddard Institute for Space St...
http:///2019/02/11/the-last-five-years-were-the-hottest-ever-nasa-and-noaa/
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text:
Q: Remove child element from a JSON array in PHP / codeigniter I am getting below json array as and i want to remove the child node "n":[] - when it is empty. (PHP)
INPUT:
[
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "101",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "102",
        "n": [

        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "103",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "104",
        "n": [

        ]
      },
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "105",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "106",
            "n": [

            ]
          },
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "107",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "108",
                "n": [
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "109",
                    "n": [

                    ]
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "110",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "111",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "112",
            "n": [

            ]
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "113",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "114",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "115",
                "n": [

                ]
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "116",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "117",
                "n": [

                ]
              },
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "118",
                "n": [
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "119",
                    "n": [

                    ]
                  },
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "120",
                    "n": [

                    ]
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

OUTPUT:
[
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "101",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "102"
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "103",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "104"
      },
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "105",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "106"
          },
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "107",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "108",
                "n": [
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "109"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  },
  {
    "level": 1,
    "id": "110",
    "n": [
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "111",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "112"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "level": 2,
        "id": "113",
        "n": [
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "114",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "115"
              }
            ]
          },
          {
            "level": 3,
            "id": "116",
            "n": [
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "117"
              },
              {
                "level": 4,
                "id": "118",
                "n": [
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "119"
                  },
                  {
                    "level": 5,
                    "id": "120"
                  }
                ]
              }
            ]
          }
        ]
      }
    ]
  }
]

All the  ,"n":[] removed from the json array.
Please help me with some PHP code to get the output from that above input.

A: Use the recursion, to recursively find the property n which has the value [] and delete them:

function removeEmptyNode(nodes) {
  if(!nodes || nodes.length === 0)
    return;

  nodes.forEach(function(node) {
    if(node.n.length === 0) {
     delete node.n;
    } else {
      removeEmptyNode(node.n);
    }
  });
}

var data = [{
  "level": 1,
  "id": "101",
  "n": [{
    "level": 2,
    "id": "102",
    "n": []
  }]
}, {
  "level": 1,
  "id": "103",
  "n": [{
    "level": 2,
    "id": "104",
    "n": []
  }, {
    "level": 2,
    "id": "105",
    "n": [{
      "level": 3,
      "id": "106",
      "n": []
    }, {
      "level": 3,
      "id": "107",
      "n": [{
        "level": 4,
        "id": "108",
        "n": [{
          "level": 5,
          "id": "109",
          "n": []
        }]
      }]
    }]
  }]
}, {
  "level": 1,
  "id": "110",
  "n": [{
    "level": 2,
    "id": "111",
    "n": [{
      "level": 3,
      "id": "112",
      "n": []
    }]
  }, {
    "level": 2,
    "id": "113",
    "n": [{
      "level": 3,
      "id": "114",
      "n": [{
        "level": 4,
        "id": "115",
        "n": []
      }]
    }, {
      "level": 3,
      "id": "116",
      "n": [{
        "level": 4,
        "id": "117",
        "n": []
      }, {
        "level": 4,
        "id": "118",
        "n": [{
          "level": 5,
          "id": "119",
          "n": []
        }, {
          "level": 5,
          "id": "120",
          "n": []
        }]
      }]
    }]
  }]
}];

removeEmptyNode(data);
console.log(data);

EDIT:
If you want to do this in PHP, you can convert the above code easily to PHP.
Assuming you have source object in JSON string, you could be able to use this code:
<?php

function removeEmptyNodes(&$nodes) {
    if(empty($nodes)) {
        return;
    }

    foreach($nodes as &$node) {
        if(empty($node['n'])) {
            unset($node['n']);
        } else {
            removeEmptyNodes($node['n']);
        }
    }
}

$json = '[{"level":1,"id":"101","n":[{"level":2,"id":"102","n":[]}]},{"level":1,"id":"103","n":[{"level":2,"id":"104","n":[]},{"level":2,"id":"105","n":[{"level":3,"id":"106","n":[]},{"level":3,"id":"107","n":[{"level":4,"id":"108","n":[{"level":5,"id":"109","n":[]}]}]}]}]},{"level":1,"id":"110","n":[{"level":2,"id":"111","n":[{"level":3,"id":"112","n":[]}]},{"level":2,"id":"113","n":[{"level":3,"id":"114","n":[{"level":4,"id":"115","n":[]}]},{"level":3,"id":"116","n":[{"level":4,"id":"117","n":[]},{"level":4,"id":"118","n":[{"level":5,"id":"119","n":[]},{"level":5,"id":"120","n":[]}]}]}]}]}]';

$data = json_decode($json, true);

removeEmptyNodes($data);
print_r(json_encode($data));
?>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


RICHMOND, VA (October 12, 2018) – This past weekend, SLSG-MO hosted the first ever Midwest Conference Showcase, bringing together eight ECNL Member Clubs in the Midwest Conference for a weekend of community service, great competition, and collegiate exposure.
This event was held at SLSG-MO's WWT Soccer Park, one of the premier facilities in the country, with friendly competition between the U15, U16 and U17 age groups. The event allowed great exposure to Midwest colleges for the players, and created a fantastic atmosphere of community between the players, coaches, and clubs.
The Midwest Showcase coincided with an event hosted weekly by SLSG-MO and the Special Needs Soccer Association (SPENSA). ECNL players from multiple Midwest clubs, along with numerous ECNL Alums currently at Saint Louis University and other St. Louis soccer programs, volunteered with the SPENSA event in an exceptional day of soccer fellowship. The experience participating in such a special event was impactful for all of the players.
The ECNL would like to thank St. Louis Scott Gallagher for hosting this new event at their wonderful facility, and to SPENSA for making the experience about more than a game.


The Home Office has come under fire yet again after it was revealed that 1,500 UK passports that should have been returned to their owners have gone missing.
The news, revealed in a parliamentary answer to the Scottish National party (SNP), comes the day after the department prompted outrage by admitting it did not know how many illegal immigrants remained in the UK.
In her response to Stewart Hosie MP, Home Office minister Joan Ryan admitted that 1,561 passports sent to members of the public between February 2004 and January 2006 were unaccounted for.
Of these, 308 were "known to have been lost as a consequence of robbery or theft, or lost while being delivered by secure mail services", while the remainder were "misposted by couriers and not subsequently recovered".
It has since been revealed that 646,323 passports have been lost or stolen since December 2003, when the identity and passport service was launched - figures Mr Hosie described as "incredible".
"The Home Office needs to review secure delivery methods for passports as a matter of urgency. It needs to be made far, far more robust and, maybe, without confirmation of their identity, they should not be delivered," he said.
"We can't have this level of losses of passports where identity fraud and theft is very real and where terrorism is a threat."
Shadow immigration minister Damian Green said the revelation was "just the latest in an ever growing list of serious Home Office blunders" - for example, it emerged yesterday that the the government had accidentally repealed the law making it illegal to obtain a forged passport.
Legal journal Criminal Law Week said the government had made a "spectacular error" by introducing the Identity Cards Act, which repealed existing laws on passport forgeries before new ones to replace them came into force.
The government rejected the claim, saying it was sure sufficient laws remained in place to protect against forgery, but following today's revelation, Mr Green said the system was in tatters.
He added: "A criminal who has obtained a genuine passport could well use it to obtain a genuine ID card under a fraudulent identity."
Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Nick Clegg also expressed concern about how the "worrying loophole in security" shown by the missing passport figures would affect plans for a national identity card scheme.
"Many of the 600,000 documents recorded as lost or stolen may have been mislaid by individuals, but many others will have fallen into the hands of criminals and even terrorists," he said.
"It is a worrying loophole in security, and a stark warning of the abuses we are likely to see with ID cards."


text:
Betsy DeVos releases her priorities for U.S. Education Department grants. Guess what's No. 1.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos speaks before President Trump signed a memorandum "Increasing Access to High-Quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education" in the Oval Office of the White House on Sept. 25. Standing behind her is Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter and adviser. (Joshua Roberts/Reuters)
October 12, 2017 at 4:56 PM EDT
The Education Department released a list of 11 priorities Thursday that Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to set for the agency's competitive grant program to fulfill her "vision for American education." Can you guess what her No. 1 priority is?
It's school choice, of course, given that DeVos has made it crystal clear that her chief priority as education secretary is to promote school choice (unlike every other education secretary before her). DeVos says she just wants to give parents a choice of schools for their children, while her critics say she is determined to push the privatization of public education.
The department released her proposed priorities for competitive grant programs, which annually dole out many hundreds of millions of dollars, starting the clock on a 30-day period in which the public can comment on the list. The Federal Register notice said the list being proposed reflects DeVos's "vision for American education." It says:
Specifically, the priorities are designed to encourage grantees to empower parents and educators; reduce red tape; utilize and build evidence of what works; and, most importantly, take strides toward ensuring equal access to the high-quality, affordable education every American student deserves in an educational environment that is safe and respectful of all viewpoints and backgrounds.
Who would argue that grantees build on evidence of strategies that "work"? Unfortunately, many of the programs that DeVos praises highly — such as those that use public money to pay for private and public school tuition — don't have any research base of actually helping students succeed in school.
Here are her priorities as proposed in the Federal Register:
*Empowering Families to Choose a High-Quality Education that Meets Their Child's Unique Needs.
*Promoting Innovation and Efficiency, Streamlining Education with an Increased Focus on Improving Student Outcomes, and Providing Increased Value to Students and Taxpayers.
*Fostering Flexible and Affordable Paths to Obtaining Knowledge and Skills.
*Fostering Knowledge and Promoting the Development of Skills that Prepare Students to be Informed, Thoughtful, and Productive Individuals and Citizens.
*Meeting the Unique Needs of Students And Children, including those with Disabilities and/or with Unique Gifts and Talents.
*Promoting Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education, With a Particular Focus on Computer Science.
*Promoting Literacy.
*Promoting Effective Instruction in Classrooms and Schools.
*Promoting Economic Opportunity.
*Encouraging Improved School Climate and Safer and More Respectful Interactions in a Positive and Safe Educational Environment.
*Ensuring that Service Members, Veterans, and Their Families Have Access to High-Quality Educational Choices.
The top proposed priority for the Obama administration, according to a 2014 list, was "Improving Early Learning and Development Outcomes."
The top-ranked Democratic members on the education committees in the House and Senate blasted the list. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said in a statement:
"Since her confirmation hearing, I have voiced concern that Secretary DeVos would abuse her position to prioritize privatization, and that's exactly what we're seeing. Instead of listening to the millions of students, parents, and teachers who stood up against her extreme ideological agenda, her proposal will allow her to prioritize applicants that would siphon taxpayer funds away from the public schools that serve the vast majority of students. This is shameful and I urge Secretary DeVos to implement laws and award federal funding as Congress intended — not as she sees fit."
Rep. Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-Va.), ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, said in a statement:
"The US Department of Education's top priority should be to support state and local education leaders in providing a quality public education, from pre-K through college, for all students — regardless of where they live, how much money their parents make, or how they learn. Despite the lack of evidence proving the effectiveness of vouchers, the Secretary is proposing to divert taxpayer dollars to private schools and for-profit interests through the use of supplemental priorities. This is not aligned with the will of Congress nor taxpayers. I urge the Secretary to heed the advice of the overwhelming majority of Americans and prioritize investment in public schools and the students they serve."


text:
Q: What is the Rails way to work with polymorphic associations? I have few models in my Rails application, which are:

*

*User

*Photo

*Album

*Comment

I need to make comments belog to either to Photo or Album, and obviously always belong to User. I'm going to use polymorphic associations for that.
# models/comment.rb

class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :commentable, :polymorphic => true
end

The question is, what is the Rails way to describe #create action for the new comment. I see two options for that.
1. Describe the comment creation in each controller
But ths is not a DRY solution. I can make one common partial view for displaying and creating comments but I will have to repeat myself writing comments logic for each controller. So It doesn't work
2. Create new CommentsController
This is the right way I guess, but as I aware:

To make this work, you need to declare both a foreign key column and a
  type column in the model that declares the polymorphic interface

Like this:
# schema.rb

  create_table "comments", force: :cascade do |t|
    t.text     "body"
    t.integer  "user_id"
    t.integer  "commentable_id"
    t.string   "commentable_type"
    t.datetime "created_at",       null: false
    t.datetime "updated_at",       null: false
  end

So, when I will be writing pretty simple controller, which will be accepting requests from the remote form:
# controllers/comments_controller.rb

class CommentsController < ApplicationController
  def new
    @comment = Comment.new
  end

  def create
    @commentable = ??? # How do I get commentable id and type?
    if @comment.save(comment_params)
      respond_to do |format|
        format.js {render js: nil, status: :ok}
      end
    end
  end

  private

  def comment_params
    defaults = {:user_id => current_user.id,
                :commentable_id => @commentable.id,
                :commentable_type => @commentable.type}
    params.require(:comment).permit(:body, :user_id, :commentable_id,
                                    :commentable_type).merge(defaults)
  end
end

How will I get commentable_id and commetable_type? I guess, commentable_type might be a model name.
Also, what is the best way to make a form_for @comment from other views?

A: I would use nested routes together with good old inheritance.
Rails.application.routes.draw do

  resources :comments, only: [:show, :edit, :update, :destroy] # chances are that you don't need all these actions...

  resources :album, shallow: true do
    resources :comments, only: [:new, :index, :create],  module: 'albums'
  end

  resources :photos, shallow: true do
    resources :comments, only: [:new, :index, :create],  module: 'photos'
  end
end

class CommentsController < ApplicationController
  before_action :set_commentable, only: [:new, :index, :create]

  def create
     @comment = @commentable.comments.new(comment_params) do |c|
       c.user = current_user
     end
     # ...
  end

  # ...
end

class Albums::CommentsController < ::CommentsController
  private
    def set_commentable
      @commentable = Album.find(param[:id])
    end
end

class Photos::CommentsController < ::CommentsController
  private
    def set_commentable
      @commentable = Photo.find(param[:id])
    end
end

While you could simply let CommentsController look at the parameters to determine what the "commentable" resource is I rather prefer this solution as CommentsController otherwise ends up dealing with far more than a single resource and can swell into a god class.
This really shines when you have index actions and need to perform joins based on the parent resource or when things just get complicated.
Making a reusable form is quite simple using partials:
# views/comments/_form.html.erb
<%= form_for([commentable, commentable.comment.new]) do |f| %>
  <%= f.label :body %>
  <%= f.text_field :body %>
<% end %>

You would then include it like so:
<%= render partial: 'comments/form', commentable: @album %>

A: You'll be best nesting it in the routes, then delegating from the parent class:
# config/routes.rb
resources :photos, :albums do
   resources :comments, only: :create #-> url.com/photos/:photo_id/comments
end

# app/controllers/comments_controller.rb
class CommentsController < ApplicationController
   def create
      @parent  = parent
      @comment = @parent.comments.new comment_params
      @comment.save
   end

   private

   def parent
      return Album.find params[:album_id] if params[:album_id]
      Photo.find params[:photo_id] if params[:photo_id]
   end

   def comment_params
      params.require(:comment).permit(:body).merge(user_id: current_user.id)
   end
end

This will fill it out automatically for you.

In order to give yourself a @comment object, you'll have to use:
#app/controllers/photos_controller.rb
class PhotosController < ApplicationController
   def show
      @photo = Photo.find params[:id]
      @comment = @photo.comments.new
   end
end

#app/views/photos/show.html.erb
<%= form_for [@photo, @comment] do |f| %>
  ...


text:
Q: MVVM // ViewModel event being fired on Activity rotation (recreated) Reading the Google docs I found (sort of) an example of using a selectedItem in order to propagate an event being fired to other observers, this is my current implementation:
ViewModel
public void onListItemClicked(Item item) {
    if (selectedItem.getValue() == item) {
        return;
    }
    selectedItem.postValue(item);
}

public LiveData<Item> getSelectedItem() {
    if (selectedItem == null) {
        selectedItem = new MutableLiveData<>();
    }

    return selectedItem;

}

View
ListViewModel viewModel = ViewModelProviders.of(this).get(ListViewModel.class);

viewModel.getSelectedItem().observe(this, new Observer<Item>() {
    @Override
    public void onChanged(@Nullable Item item) {
        if (item != null) {
            openDetailActivity(item);
        }
    }
});

And when the user clicks the list:
@Override
public void onItemClicked(Item item) {
    viewModel.onListItemClicked(item);
}

All good and all it works, the problem is when the user rotates the screen and the ListActivity is re-created detects a change and will open the DetailActivity when subscribing.
I found a workaround which is adding selectedItem.postValue(null); on the getSelectedItem() but it's a little hacky.
Ofc one could argue that the opening the details activity and propagating the even should be separate, but I was wondering if someone has a better implementation/suggestion.

A: EDIT
Using the SingleLiveEvent is the way to go. This makes sure your ViewModel only fires the event once.
Here's the reference article:

*

*LiveData with SnackBar, Navigation and other events (the SingleLiveEvent case)

*Java class can be found in the article
I've created a gist with the Kotlin class.
I've been using with success for these use-cases:

*

*Always up-to-date gist SingleLiveEvent.kt
I'll keep the gist up-to-date, but I'll leave the code here also
(FYI this might be outdated as I won't be editing this answer every time I make a change to the gist):

package YOUR_PACKAGE

import androidx.annotation.MainThread
import androidx.annotation.Nullable
import androidx.lifecycle.LifecycleOwner
import androidx.lifecycle.MutableLiveData
import androidx.lifecycle.Observer
import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicBoolean

/**
 * A lifecycle-aware observable that sends only new updates after subscription, used for events like
 * navigation and Snackbar messages.
 *

 * This avoids a common problem with events: on configuration change (like rotation) an update
 * can be emitted if the observer is active. This LiveData only calls the observable if there's an
 * explicit call to setValue() or call().
 *

 * Note that only one observer is going to be notified of changes.
 */
class SingleLiveEvent<T> : MutableLiveData<T>() {

    private val mPending = AtomicBoolean(false)

    @MainThread
    override fun observe(owner: LifecycleOwner, observer: Observer<in T>) {
        // Observe the internal MutableLiveData
        super.observe(owner, Observer<T> { t ->
            if (mPending.compareAndSet(true, false)) {
                observer.onChanged(t)
            }
        })
    }

    @MainThread
    override fun setValue(@Nullable t: T?) {
        mPending.set(true)
        super.setValue(t)
    }

    /**
     * Used for cases where T is Void, to make calls cleaner.
     */
    @MainThread
    fun call() {
        value = null
    }
}

Old answer:
So after researching quite a bit and getting with contact with a Google dev. the recommended solution is to have separate responsibilities.
Opening an activity should the response to the click event and not the actual change, this type of selectedItem scenarios is especially useful for decoupled communication to other listening Views.
e.g another fragment in the same activity


text:
GraniteRoots for John Edwards
This afternoon, two young women [probably in college] canvassed my neighborhood handing out "GraniteRoots for John Edwards" packets, complete with a white spruce sapling, instructions on how to plant the baby tree, and a note from the state campaign director, Beth Leonard.
In the note, she requests assistance for the campaign:
Change often starts with just one person. Growing a forest can start in a very similar way - with a single tree. With this gift of a seedling, I want to ask for your help in bringing about the change our country needs. Our campaign is planting the seeds of change in New Hampshire one neighborhood at a time.
Leonard calls on voters to plant the tree and "watch it grow strong and tall" and help the campaign create the change needed to build One America.
This is a very clever campaign promotion, especially in my relatively politically liberal city neighborhood. I've lost the exact count, but I think this is the fourth time the Edwards campaign has been by the house doorknocking or leafleting. Obama has been by twice and Clinton has been by once. None of the other candidates have been by ... and there are Republicans in my neighborhood, too!
The view from Capital Commons
A.G. Edwards & Sons, the financial firm with a slew of local offices worldwide, held an open house at their new Concord office on the top floor of the new multi-million dollar Capital Commons office complex. It was an all day affair, complete with munchies, soda and friendly conversation from those who bothered to stop by and check the place out. I took the opportunity to drop in and see my tax dollars at work, since tax increment financing, or TIF, helped fund the $14 million parking garage as well as the property tax waivers, set asides, and bargain basement price for the lot, which were given to the developer to construct the project.
Three quick things on the positive side: The building is beautiful, the views are spectacular [see more pictures and video online at OurConcord.com], and it is great to see the old hole that was there for years finally filled. It is also great to see the new movie theatre coming along.
The bad news? Well, according to the entrance ledger, at least two floors are empty. The restaurant space, a major component of the project, is also empty. The Concord Monitor has a story about the restaurant space here: ["At Commons, eatery still vacant"].
There were rumors that Tio Juan's Margarita's, currently housed on Warren Street in the old city jail, was going to move into the space. This reportedly irked the owners of Hermano's, another Mexican restaurant. The restaurant has had to bear the brunt of the construction project – dealing with the constant noise, having most of its parking lot consumed by construction equipment, etc. Hermano's has reportedly been barely hanging on, thanks mostly to the loyal clientele who have supported it through the inconvenience. A new Mexican restaurant just a block away would surely be the end of the long-time, local-owned and operated establishment. When the rumors began flying about Margarita's, it also ticked off taxpayers who were told that they would be getting a new food choice at the location - not an old one that would abandon an already shaky Bicentennial Square. Now they're talking about a food court? We're losing millions in set aside tax revenue for this? Hello, Eagle Square anyone? There used to be this fancy food court with small shops down at the Eagle Square plaza. During the recession of the late 1970s, early 1980s, the federal government pumped millions and millions into reconstructing old buildings like the Eagle Square plaza, in an effort to preserve all the old buildings. Everyone raved about how the project was going to be the salvation of downtown. Well, it wasn't. They did a great job on the construction and it was well-worth the money to preserve the buildings. But in typical Concord fashion, its eyes were bigger than its stomach. The downtown food court/mall concept was a complete disaster. The businesses quickly went under after the Legislative session ended in 1984. The spaces were quickly converted into a historical museum, a law firm, and a cluster of small offices and non-profits. So much for saving the downtown.
Speaking of TIFs for a moment, it is interesting to note that if one were to add up all the lost property tax revenue due to the current TIF bonds which are outstanding, they would find that it comes pretty close to the amount of a budget deficit the city had last year. Gee, I wonder why? Now, we have the Capital Commons project. Is this all going to turn out like one of those other failed promises of the past? As developer Michael Simchik said in the Concord Monitor article, it took him 16 months to fill up his last project. With a plummeting real estate and construction market, who knows what will happen now. We should probably all be patient and hope for the best. But, at the same time, the building might actually have been built too large for its size. It is a disappointment, for example, that the building blocks the gorgeous state Capital building, gateway to the city, while approaching the city from I-93 north. At night, it is unnerving. This is also, as Alan Hershlag noted before the building was constructed, a zoning violation. Scoff, who cares about the zoning laws. Whatever happens, our community really needs to learn to take those small steps first, instead of always taking the big grand ones. We might find that we will be more financially secure and just as happy. Here are the video and pictures:
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this post has been corrected.


text:
      © 2019
      Owen Derby, all rights reserved.

      Powered by Hugo.

{{ partial "js" . }}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Depression And Anxiety Double In Youth Compared To Pre-Pandemic
At the beginning of the pandemic, the CDC advised that children and adolescents were considered the lowest-risk group with regards to medical concerns and complications from Covid-19. As the pandemic rages on, we are seeing a rise in pediatric Covid-19 cases and hospitalizations and we are witnessing a global syndemic of mental health issues in young people.
I have written about the pandemic's profound mental health impact on young people in the past but a new study from the University of Calgary, showing that depression and anxiety symptoms have doubled in children and adolescents globally when compared to pre-pandemic times is more than cause to raise the alarm again. This study is further evidence that many different demographics will suffer from Covid-19 related post-traumatic stress disorder (CV-PTSD).
The University of Calgary study is a meta-analysis, which pools together data from 29 separate studies from around the world, including 80,879 youth globally. The meta-analysis includes 16 studies from East Asia, four from Europe, six from North America, two from Central and South America, and one from the Middle East. Prior to the pandemic, rates of clinically significant generalized anxiety and depressive symptoms in large youth cohorts were approximately 11.6% and 12.9%. The meta-analysis found that the pooled estimates of clinically elevated child and adolescent depression and anxiety were 25.2% and 20.5%, respectively, suggesting that both had likely doubled.
The most alarming finding was that mental health difficulties were more prevalent as the pandemic persisted. Indicating that as the pandemic continues, mental health issues are worsening and compounding among young people. A potential delay of 2-4 years is often observed between the traumatic event and the development of a mental health disorder, meaning that while we may be seeing some of the initial effects of the pandemic, we will continue to see more over the next 2-4 years.
Dr. Sheri Madigan, PhD, co-author of the paper and UCalgary clinical psychologist believes that the unpredictability of the pandemic is contributing to this increase. "We're continuing to see compounding effects of the pandemic," she says. "It's disjointing for kids because they can't predict what their environment is going to look like, and we know when their world lacks predictability and controllability, their mental health suffers."
The researchers also found that females and older youth were both at greater risk for both depression and anxiety difficulties. For many children and adolescents, life during the pandemic barely resembles a typical childhood. Critical developmental needs go unmet as children are isolated from friends, and miss out on typical school activities such as sporting teams and performing arts productions or milestones like prom and graduation. In particular, adolescent brains are wired for seeking out new social and romantic connections that allow them to achieve a sense of status and self worth, critical in managing symptoms of depression and anxiety. Family members cannot often fill the void left by decreased socialization with peers, leading to increasing rates of loneliness among youth.
Lead author of the study and clinical psychologist, Dr. Nicole Racine, PhD, believes that this could be a contributing factor to these dramatically rising rates of depression and anxiety. "Once you enter adolescence you begin differentiating from your family members and your peers can actually become your most important source of social support," says Racine. "That support has been greatly reduced, and in some cases absent altogether, during the pandemic."
Research shows that routines support healthy social-emotional development in early childhood, however, with the constant reopening and closing of schools, daycares, and after-school activities, this can be difficult to maintain. A structured and predictable home environment can also help children develop their self-regulation skills to identify and manage their feelings and not become overwhelmed. But with the financial impact of the pandemic and the increased psychological stress placed on parents and caregivers juggling work and childcare, it may be also not always be possible to provide such an environment. But rebuilding and maintaining routines with children around sleeping, eating, and taking care of their bodies will be critical in their recovery.
But the burden cannot be solely on parents and caregivers. As this issue continues to escalate, we need to be implementing a recovery plan now. Children's hospitals in Canada are reporting a 100% increase in mental-health-related admissions and McMaster Children's Hospital specifically has reported a 200% increase in pediatric suicide attempts. As a result, Canada's children's hospitals and advocacy organizations have united to create a #codePINK campaign. The term "Code Pink" is used to declare a pediatric emergency, and the campaign is calling on the federal and provincial/territorial governments to act immediately to address this emergency. We need a similar call to action both in the US and globally, a rapid expansion and increase in access to mental health services. Youth have some of the highest unmet needs in mental health care. The development of specialized services such as youth mental health hubs will go a long way in addressing that disparity.
Finally, the impact on youth mental health is yet another reason to ensure our schools and daycares are implementing vaccination, masking, physical distancing, testing and tracing policies, and using ventilation and wastewater surveillance to reopen safely. Only then can children begin to reclaim the experiences required for healthy social and emotional development.