text:
Did You Know: Harry Truman Was an Artilleryman During World War I
October 26, 2020 Topic: History Region: Europe Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: World War IWestern FrontArtilleryHarry TrumanTrench Warfare
Truman became the first combat veteran to take the office since the beginning of modern warfare.
by Warfare History Network
In the darkness and driving rain on August 29, 1918, German artillery shells smashed down on American artillerymen fighting on a fir-clad slope in the Vosges Mountains in Alsace. The rumor spread that this was a gas attack. The Americans, who should have been preparing to fire back, were confused and scared, donning gas masks and affixing equine gas respirators on the snouts of their horses. Some men panicked, turned, and ran amid the piercing roar of the barrage. Several horses, including those towing two artillery guns, ran off in the wrong direction.
The captain in command was up on his horse, trying to direct his soldiers in the chaos, darkness, and rain. A German shell ripped into the wet earth 15 feet from him. His horse collapsed and fell into a gaping shell hole, landing on top of the captain and pinning him down. After a soldier rushed over to help, the officer scrambled to his feet, gasping and shaking, just in time to see more of his men turning and running. In the black night, confusion everywhere, the officer stood tall, held his ground, and let loose with a stream of profanity. It was rough language his men had never before heard from the slim, bespectacled figure who was usually stiff and reserved.
Thus began World War I for Captain Harry S. Truman, a Missouri National Guardsman newly in charge of Battery D, 129th Field Artillery, 35th Division. Truman inherited an unruly, insubordinate band of men who had scared away a previous commander. They seemed incapable of working together.
Their first fight on that hilltop in the Vosges was not so much a failure as a fiasco, but it also was the last time Truman's battery performed poorly. At 34, Truman was more mature than the officers who had preceded him. He wielded a brand of leadership that combined stern guidance with a genuinely friendly nature. Creating a word play on the Civil War's First Battle of Bull Run, his men soon called the action in the Vosges the "Battle of Who Ran." Instead of sapping their morale, the event galvanized them. It filled them with a resolve never to turn and run again; it gave them an experience they would share for the rest of their lives. But their greatest test in combat was yet to come.
Truman Joins the National Guard
Just after the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt on April 12, 1945, his successor, Truman, delivered a radio address to the U.S. Armed Forces. He referred to the commander in chief's having fallen —many Americans had never known any president but Roosevelt—and then drew upon his experience to add:
"As a veteran of the First World War, I have seen death on the battlefield. When I fought in France with the 35th Division, I saw good officers and men fall and be replaced…. I know the strain, the mud, the misery [and] the utter weariness of the soldier in the field. And I know too his courage, his stamina, his faith in his comrades, his country and himself."
Truman was born in Missouri in 1884, had an unremarkable upbringing at a farm near Independence, and was prevented from attending a military service academy by his poor vision. Accounts differ on whether Truman applied and was rejected or simply never applied.
In the Army's Field Artillery Journal, Lt. Col. James B. Agnew described how George R. Collins of Kansas City, on his own volition early in the 20th century, organized a field artillery battalion as part of the local National Guard:
Collins "recruited, in addition to about 60 other 'fine fellows who worked in banks and stores around town [Agnew wrote],' the bespectacled Truman, then 21 years of age." The year was 1905. "Truman found himself in the lofty station of private soldier serving on a 3-inch gun, then the Army's standard field piece."
According to his memoir, Truman enjoyed Guard meetings and serving with men "who would pay a quarter for the privilege of drilling once a week." He learned the basics of artillery work as a member of Battery B, 2nd Missouri Field Artillery, a component of the Kansas City unit, during summer encampments at Camp Girardeau, Missouri. Among other skills, Truman learned to handle the spirited six-horse teams used to draw field guns and caissons. This was the kind of experience that would serve Truman well years later when the world's great powers went to war on July 28, 1914, and the United States joined in on April 6, 1917.
Truman left the National Guard in 1911. He worked at a succession of jobs. He donned the uniform again when the United States entered the Great War.
Truman's Introduction to the 75mm Gun
In keeping with custom in National Guard units, the men of Truman's mixed Kansas-Missouri outfit elected their leaders. Truman was always patting his pockets to confirm that he had extra pairs of eyeglasses with him, for he lived in fear of being unable to see. This prompted one of his fellow soldiers to dub him a worry wart. Still, Truman was both liked and respected. Not everyone believed his claim of surprise when the men elected him a lieutenant.
Already mature compared to his fellow artillerymen, Truman was toughened and made more mature when his unit—the 129th Field Artillery Regiment of the 60th Field Artillery Brigade, a component of the 35th Infantry Division—trained in 1917 at Camp Doniphan at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. Fellow artilleryman Nathan Serenko called Truman "a quiet dynamo." Fellow soldier and future political henchman Harry Vaughan called him "one tough son-of-a-bitch of a man…. And that," was part of the secret of understanding him."
After Fort Sill came France. According to a letter written to his future wife, Bess, First Lieutenant Harry Truman landed in Europe as a member of the Allied Expeditionary Force on April 14, 1918. Having debarked from the 36,000-ton Army transport ship George Washington after the journey from New York, Truman spent his first day overseas at the Hotel des Voyageurs in the French port city of Brest. He had gotten to France ahead of the bulk of the 35th Division and had time for artillery training in France, where he was introduced to the famous French 75mm artillery guns.
It was quite a contrast to the plain 3-inch gun Truman had used stateside—a relic of the era just after the American Civil War. Truman's regiment had six artillery batteries, each with four of the weapons officially dubbed the French 75mm Field Gun, Model 1897. The gun used an innovative recoil system consisting of two hydraulic cylinders, a floating piston, a connected piston, a head of gas, and a reservoir of oil. Troops said it never jammed and could be relied on for accuracy and smooth operation.
Once his men joined him and completed further training, Truman was designated commander of Battery D in his battalion of the 129th and promoted to captain without yet having received the paperwork or the pay. That meant the slight Missouri officer was in charge of 200 men, four French 75mm guns, 24 horses, and associated caissons and battery equipment.
A Long March
Following their baptism of fire in the Vosges, which had been a sleepy backwater before the Americans arrived, Truman and his entire division were given a difficult order by the Allied Supreme Command. They were to move from one end of the battle line to the other in dreadful weather in what artillery historian Agnew called "one of the most prodigious and exhausting road marches ever devised in modern warfare."
Uprooted from the low level of hostilities in Alsace, the division and much of the Army's I Corps were pointed north in driving rain on primitive roads east of Verdun. The men, horses, and field pieces slogged north, often within three to five miles of the front and thus within range of far-reaching 105mm German artillery. They encamped by day and moved by night, hoping to foil German aerial observers.
The long march by Truman and so many others—long disparaged by regular Army soldiers as mere Guardsmen who could not hack it—provided a brutal taste of war under conditions where each soldier must have felt helpless to influence his fate. A typical artilleryman in Truman's battery lugged 60 to 70 pounds of gear while each horse was burdened with extra harness, forage, a grooming kit, and an equine gas mask.
Truman had plenty of time to think during this ordeal and was undoubtedly focused on what lay ahead. He had to know that his battery's tactical mobility and fighting prowess was being eroded as the march claimed the one thing the artillerymen needed most: the horses. Throughout the 35th Division artillery, including Truman's unit, artillery commander Brig. Gen. Lucien Berry later said that roughly 20 percent of the horses succumbed to the terrible conditions of their abrupt and lengthy movement.
Truman must have wondered if his soldiers realized, by that point, that he possessed the technical skills to lead them and the horsemanship needed in an army utterly dependent on animal power for transportation. Did they feel themselves under good leadership each time they pulled the lanyard to send a round flying toward the foe?


Yesterday I was sitting on a sofa with a friend of mine called Lara. She was using her iPod Touch to fill in a survey about her spending habits. Her only real motivation was the points it would give her towards getting an Andrex Puppy*.
Nothing wrong with that - most online surveys need some kind of motivator or nobody would complete them. The problem was, Lara is twelve years old.
She was thinking out loud as she completed the survey (without any prompting from me) and actually did an admirable job of completing it truthfully. Even the question about her age, which she entered as "under 25." After she was done, I talked more with Lara about her behavior. One of the things she said was "all my friends do it." She was very aware that she wasn't part of the target audience for the survey, but she had few other ways of getting the "puppy points" she needed for her reward.
Sure, lots of household discretionary spending is controlled by kids, but if the marketers behind the survey make decisions based on how Lara told them her family spends, they'll be in big trouble.
So, when you run your next online survey or usability test, think carefully about the recruitment mechanism you (or the survey site) use to qualify participants. One of the reasons that in-person usability tests can get away with using smaller sample sizes is because they don't have to deal with the noise caused by people like Lara.
*For readers outside the UK, Andrex is a brand of toilet tissue, marketed by adorable puppies.
Jonathan was link spamming for - wait for it - an online survey tool.


text:
Q: get XML file from third party with no access We are trying to get encrypted XML file from third party on daily basis. How can we get this file from third party without access to our network? There is a middle layer(server) between us and third party to access this file without using the FTP transfer. So we came up with this idea of using WCF to input this file by third party and consume this service in middle layer.  We do not have direct access to this folder from our network becuase of security reasons we are putting this file in MSMQ queue. We wrote a small program to transfer this file from Queue. Is this right way of doing it? I am sure there is a better way of doing this. Could you please suggest any other methods? I appreciate any suggestions.
Thank you.

A: The biggest risk is that MSMQ has a message size limit of 4MB - if the file that is sent even exceeds this size the MSMQ approach will fail and there will be no chance of recovery.
It sounds like you can't get the file and it can't be sent to you, both serious problems and the middleware is problematic at best because you don't have access to any other means other than MSMQ.
If there is no possibility of ever reaching say a 3MB limit (remember, messages contain overhead data) then there is a chance that this will be a workable solution. But you may want to see if it's possible to break up the message/file in smaller segments.
Another possibility, is to have the middleware send the file through other means - I'm thinking of perhaps using an email account that is hidden and only used for this purpose. When the middleware detects a new file it could send the file by email and then also send an MSMQ message to prevent polling the POP/Mail account constantly but that's not really a big deal either.
Hope this helps,

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel.DataAnnotations;
using System.Linq;
using System.Web;

namespace MvcApplication1.Models
{
    public class UserDataModel
    {
        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Поле Логи обязательно для заполнения")]
        [Display(Name="Имя")]
        [MinLength(3,ErrorMessage = "Минимальная длинна поля Логин 3")]
        [MaxLength(50, ErrorMessage = "Максимальная длинна поля Логин 50")]
        [RegularExpression(@"\A[1-9a-zA-zа-яА-я\ ]+\z",ErrorMessage = "Введены недопустимые символы")]
        public string UserName { get; set; }
        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Поле Пароль обязательно для заполнения")]
        [Display(Name = "Пароль")]
        [MinLength(6, ErrorMessage = "Минимальная длинна поля Пароль 6")]
        [MaxLength(50, ErrorMessage = "Максимальная длинна поля Пароль 50")]
        public string Password { get; set; }
        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Поле Подтвердите пароль обязательно для заполнения")]
        [Display(Name = "Пароль")]
        [MinLength(6, ErrorMessage = "Минимальная длинна Подтвердите пароль 6")]
        [MaxLength(50, ErrorMessage = "Максимальная длинна поля Подтвердите пароль 50")]
        public string PasswordCoppy { get; set; }
        [Required(ErrorMessage = "Поле Email обязательно для заполнения")]
        [MinLength(6, ErrorMessage = "Минимальная длинна Email 6")]
        [MaxLength(50, ErrorMessage = "Максимальная длинна поля Email 256")]
        [RegularExpression(@"\A[^@]+@([^@\.]+\.)+[^@\.]+\z", ErrorMessage = "Неверно введено поле Email. Пример: login@gmail.com")]
        public string Email { get; set; }
        public HttpPostedFileWrapper Avatar { get; set; }
    }
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
California wildfires as 'new normal' baseless to climate scientists
Story TOpics
Disaster_Accident
Cliff Mass
Roger A. Pielke Sr.
In this photo provided by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, county fire hand crew member Nikolas Abele keeps an eye on a hillside for any stray embers during a firing operation in Santa Monica Canyon in Carpinteria, Calif., Monday, ... more >
By Valerie Richardson - The Washington Times - Monday, December 11, 2017
California Gov. Jerry Brown and former Vice President Al Gore lead the list of those blaming climate change for Southern California's devastating wildfires, calling them "the new normal," but others insist the science just isn't there.
That includes climate scientists such as University of Washington meteorologist Cliff Mass, who moved to extinguish the "now normal" narrative by arguing that the data "strongly suggests there is no credible evidence" that global warming is fueling this fall's California coastal wildfires, and that claims to the contrary are "baseless, if not outright wrong."
"The bottom line of all this is that observations and the best scientific reasoning do NOT suggest that global warming is enhancing CA coastal wildfires through effects on temperature and precipitation," Mr. Mass said Monday in a post on his weather and climate blog.
He and others have pointed to the heavy precipitation earlier this year in California after five years of drought, which resulted in high vegetation growth that feeds the flames.
"The destructive fires in California are not unexpected given the wet winter last year and resultant plant growth, followed by hot and dry weather since then in which the vegetation dried out," University of Colorado Boulder meteorologist Roger A. Pielke Sr. said in an email.
Then there is the human variable. Just as people are responsible for emitting carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, they also are known for setting fires.
"An important issue is the extent humans have deliberately or inadvertently started the fires," Mr. Pielke said. "If these were not started by people (including sparks from power lines), how many fires would there have been naturally? Probably none."
Scientists are rejecting arguments by a rash of politicians and media outlets linking climate change to blazes that have charred more than 256,000 acres so far in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Diego and Ventura counties, according to reports from the National Interagency Fire Center.
The largest of the five active wildfires, the Thomas Fire north of Santa Paula, has burned 230,500 acres and destroyed nearly 800 structures as gusty Santa Ana winds push the flames farther west into Santa Barbara County and threaten the towns of Montecito and Summerland, according to state firefighting agency Cal Fire.
Mr. Brown declared Saturday that Californians should expect winter wildfires because of the effects of drought and climate change.
"This is the new normal," Mr. Brown said at a news conference after surveying damage in Ventura County. "We're about ready to have firefighting at Christmas. This is very odd and unusual."
Mr. Gore conveyed the same message last week during his Climate Reality Project's "24 Hours of Reality," listing "more destructive and widespread wildfires" as one of the consequences of climate change and specifically the damage caused by the Southern California blazes.
"You know, events like this are now reported daily on the news with a terrifying drumbeat of regularity, the so-called 'new normal,' but it's not normal at all, and we have to speak up and act," said Mr. Gore.
Fueling the narrative are stories such as those in The New York Times, headlined "In a Warming California, a Future of More Fire," while InsideClimate News reported "As 'Epic Winds' Drive California Fires, Climate Change Fuels the Risk."
"Southern California fires are destructive and unprecedented — and a sign of things to come," said an article in the Palm Springs Desert Sun.
"We've seen really wet falls and winters lately too, and then we've seen really dry ones. And that's the hallmark pattern you expect to see with climate change," University of California-Merced fire ecologist LeRoy Westerling told the Desert Sun. "We had a much longer season of high fire risk [this year] because we haven't gotten the rain."
The articles cite California's record summer heat, but Mr. Mass argued that hot weather driven by greenhouses gases would not have made a difference because "grasses, shrubs and other fuels will be dry by the end of summer and during fall, no matter what."
"So even if the summer/fall temperatures rose and the conditions dried further under global warming, IT WOULD NOT MATTER," he said. "Without any additional warming, the fuels in late summer and fall are dry enough to burn over coastal California and always have been."
John Abatzoglou, associate professor of geography and climate at the University of Idaho, said the prolonged Santa Ana winds whipping up the wildfires would not have made news if the rain came first.
Did global warming play a role? "We don't have any mature science [that I'm aware of] that would implicate climate change as being behind the delay in the autumn rains," Mr. Abatzoglou said in an email.
"However, the warmer temperatures (including a bump tied to climate change) would play some role in drying fuels out," he said. "There is some research that suggests that Santa Ana winds events under climate change may bring more extreme drops in humidity, which aid in fire growth."
Mr. Abatzoglou cited "documented increases in fire activity and the length of the fire season across the western U.S. (and globally) over the past 3-4 decades, with some of this tied to climate change," which is consistent with the National Climate Assessment's finding of more large forest fires since the 1980s.
Is that because of climate change? Not according to House and Senate Republicans who blame the uptick on the increasingly hands-off approach to tree-cutting on federal lands and have sponsored legislation to push more aggressive forest management.
One such bill, the Resilient Federal Forests Act, passed the House on Nov. 1 by a vote of 232-188.
At the same time, evidence suggests that wildfires were worse before World War II.
Bjorn Lomborg, president of the Copenhagen Consensus Center, compiled data from 1926-2017 showing that the acreage burned by U.S. wildfires has dropped fourfold since peaking in the 1930s, which was posted on the skeptics' website Climate Depot.
David B. South, emeritus forestry professor at Auburn University, told the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in 2014 that eight of 10 "extreme megafires" in the lower 48 states since 1850 occurred during cooler-than-average decades.
"These data suggest that extremely large megafires were 4-times more common before 1940 (back when carbon dioxide concentrations were lower than 310 ppmv)," Mr. South said in his written testimony. "What these graphs suggest is that we cannot reasonably say that anthropogenic global warming causes extremely large wildfires."
Mr. Mass pointed to a 2014 research paper in the American Geophysical Union journal showing that major coastal California wildfires have declined since 1984.
"Totally consistent with everything I have described above," Mr. Mass said. "Totally inconsistent with the claims of Governor Brown, some climate activists, and too many media outlets."
If there is any point on which there may be a scientific consensus, it's that the relationship between Western wildfires and rising greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere is nothing if not complicated.
"As to whether this is a 'new normal,' it is easy (and inaccurate) to blame climate change just from added CO₂," said Mr. Pielke, "when in reality the reasons for the fires and the damage they are causing are more complex."
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Copyright © 2022 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Maria Ann Conelli
Maria Ann Conelli, formerly executive director of the American Folk Art Museum in New York, has been appointed dean of the School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, City University of New York.
Marc Gerstein, professor of art history at the University of Toledo in Ohio, will retire at the end of the fall 2011 semester. Gerstein spent thirty-one years in Toledo, first with the Toledo Museum of Art and, since 1987, with the University of Toledo.
Martha Langford
Martha Langford has been appointed research chair and director of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art at Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec. She began her five-year term on July 1, 2011.
Sandra Maxa, a graphic designer and educator, has become a faculty member at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore. She will teach during academic year 2011–12.
Aaron McIntosh has been appointed to the faculty of the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore for the 2011–12 school year.
Gunalan Nadarajan
Gunalan Nadarajan, vice provost of research at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, has been appointed to a new position at his school: vice provost of research and graduate studies.
Mark Sanders, a graphic designer and educator, has joined the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore as a faculty member for academic year 2011–12.
Greg Shelnutt (photograph provided by Clemson University)
Greg Shelnutt, professor of sculpture at Clemson University in South Carolina, has been appointed chairman of the Department of Art at his school. He succeeds Michael Vatalaro, who retired after thirty-five years.
James Peck, most recently Robert S. and Grace B. Kerr Fellow at the University of Oklahoma's Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art and the American West, has become curator of collections at the Rockwell Museum of Western Art in Corning, New York.
Will South, formerly chief curator of the Dayton Art Institute in Ohio, has been appointed chief curator of the Columbia Museum of Art in Columbia, South Carolina.
Marcia E. Vetrocq, editor-in-chief of Art in America from 2008 to 2011, has joined the editorial team at Art + Auction.


text:
The MCHC 3400 hemp harvester from HANF FARM, Germany, is a major advancement in the field.
German harvester is major hemp advancement
December 12, 2016 April 18, 2021 / Europe, Farming, News, Technology
Rafael Dulon has been involved in nearly all aspects of the hemp value chain since 1997, after Germany resumed legalization of hemp as an agricultural crop the year before.
Now Dulon's firm, Berlin-based Hanf Farm GmbH, which he serves as CEO, has extended its industry footprint with the rollout of an industrial-grade harvesting system, the Multi-Combine HC 3400 — a major technological step forward that can help hemp farmers realize the full promise of the plant on a massive scale.
Solution for mid- and big-scale farms
"Our goal is the production of innovative and sustainable products with respect for ecological, social and economic aspects of agriculture and food production." — Rafael Dulon, CEO, Hanf Farm
"Harvesting hemp on a large scale has always been complicated," Dulon said. "We believe our harvester is a major advancement addressing this issue — which has been an ongoing challenge for the industry."
To give birth to the MC HC 3400, Hanf Farm started working with a range of contractors and suppliers in 2014 to develop a prototype. By August 2015 the company completed its initial working model which was employed during harvests last year and in 2016.
Dulon has spent a lot of time on the road since, introducing the machine in what Hanf Farm sees as promising markets — as the the demand for hemp raw materials shifts to focus on effective collection of the plant's flowers and leaves — a process that was only possible by hand in the past. The new MC HC 3400 system allows for the lopping off of the plant tops several times during the yearly vegetation.
In his talks with farmers thus far, Dulon has also heard from smaller growers about their equipment needs in the field. In that light Hanf Farm has already started work on a Multi-Combine Light Version — a smaller harvesting system that can be hooked up to existing tractors.
20-year hemp odyssey
For Dulon, the harvester project is just the next logical step in his 20-year hemp odyssey.
As soon as Germany freed up hemp again at the end of last century, Dulon began cultivating seeds in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, processing them into organic, high quality edible oils. Down through the years Hanf Farm has expanded operations — first by working closely with local farmers to expand its growing area; the company's reach now extends to fields in eastern Germany and some Central European countries.
Along the way, the company also has expanded its product offerings, moving beyond edible oils into a wide range of teas, flour, protein powders, biscuits and hemp-seed chocolate bars, and raw materials for CBD production ground leaves, pellets and CBD-powder. Hanf Farm has extensive distribution around Europe and in several non-European countries, Dulon said.
Focus on the environment
The fields from which Hanf Farm gets raw plant material are primarily in ecologically managed areas that produce organically grown crops — an environmentally friendly process that Hanf Farm takes seriously: The company was the first European hemp processor to receive certification for hemp seeds, leaves and flowers under the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC-PLUS) regime, which it was granted in January 2016. The designation guarantees that the biomass is not produced on land with high biodiversity and high carbon storage.
"Our goal is the production of innovative and sustainable products with respect for ecological, social and economic aspects of agriculture and food production," says Dulon. "It was a logical step forward to have our products certified, as we are totally dedicated to agricultural good practices that demonstrate our commitment to the environment and to humanity in general."
Hanf Farm GmbH
Chief Executive Officer: Rafael Dulon
Headquarters: Berlin
Profile: Vertically integrated industrial hemp grower; developer of hemp harvesting and processing technology; producer of a wide range of hemp food and other derivatives
Asian Summit signs on HempConsult and Hempro as sponsors
Leading global industry players HempConsult GmbH and Hempro International GmbH & Co. KG, both of Germany, have signed on as sponsors of the inaugural Asian…
Hemp initiative in Ecuador is first to focus on fiber and food
The Ecuadorian government has greenlighted the country's first hemp crop under a cooperative initiative among two companies and the Latin-American Industrial Hemp Association (LAIHA). LAIHA…


Game Link is a feature of Grid Cartographer to assist with creating maps for games. It pulls the position of the player from inside the game's memory and applies it to the 'avatar marker' cursor in the Grid Cartographer viewport.
No, Game Link is not the same thing as an auto-map. An auto-map would read (or otherwise access) environmental data from a game. A more accurate description of Game Link would be "auto-tracking". You will still need to draw your own map and describe the world around you while you play.
The benefit of auto-tracking is that you no longer have to 'count steps' when drawing the map, or manually move the cursor around yourself. It doesn't take away the fun of exploring the environment for yourself!
Not yet. Support for each game has to be hand-crafted to cater to the particular way the original game was coded.
Over 30 games are supported across a number of platforms and more are being added. The full list includes most of the games from the Wizardry and Might & Magic series as well as Eye of the Beholder and Pool of Radiance.
More games are being added and will be listed in future updates as they are developed!


On-loan full back Tony McMahon has suffered an injury blow, after it was announced the defender would be missing for 'several weeks' with a hamstring injury.
The 33-year-old has become a favourite among fans for his passion, fight and effort during his loan stint in North Lincolnshire – something of a rare commodity amongst the majority of this season's squad. Passion, what the f*ck is that?
McMahon had been keen to leave Oxford in January to move back North, where he would be closer to his family.
The move suited all parties, and McMahon has been a mainstay in the Iron squad ever since he arrived on January 3.
Sadly, McMahon may have played his last game for United with the club revealing he is set to be missing for several weeks, via BBC Humberside.
Caretaker manager Andy Dawson did go on to say he would not rule out the possibility of him playing again before the end of the season, but realistically, McMahon's season is over.
Does that mean we have seen the last of him?
In my opinion, no. McMahon will head back to Oxford in the summer, and although he remains under contract there, I expect him to be allowed to move on in the summer on a free – and I'd hope we would be quick on swooping in to make him club captain.
If this is the last time we ever see him play for the famous claret and blue – thank you, Tony. For showing passion in a season where laying over to die without a care for the club has become the norm for far too many Scunthorpe players.
Dawson says James Perch, Levi Sutton & Harrison McGahey are all being considered to replace McMahon this weekend, with natural right back Jordan Clarke still not ready.
Previous postWhich League One teams do the EFL pundits predict relegation for?


text:
Brötchentütennavigation (auch Bäckernavigation genannt, in Anlehnung an die nicht mehr gebräuchliche Decca-Navigation) ist ein scherzhafter Begriff aus der Sportschifffahrt und bezeichnet die Navigation in unbekannten Gewässern auf Sportbooten ohne Kompass, Sextant, Radar, Funknavigation, GPS und dergleichen. Der Begriff entstand unter Seglern in der dänischen Südsee und rührt von der Vorstellung (bzw. dem Erleben) her, dass man – oft etwas angetrunken – abends in irgendeinen kleinen Hafen einläuft und erst am nächsten Morgen beim einheimischen Bäcker anhand des Aufdrucks auf der Brötchentüte erfährt, wo man sich befindet. Zusätzlich wird oft eine Seekarte verwendet, um festzustellen, wo dieser Ort genau lokalisiert ist. Dies ist insbesondere notwendig, da an Hafeneinfahrten normalerweise keine Ortstafel angebracht ist.

Diese Art der Navigation ist – zumindest bei stabilen Großwetterlagen und den in der westlichen Ostsee sehr dicht platzierten Seezeichen – durchaus möglich. Im Hochsommer sind in bestimmten Abschnitten so viele Sportboote unterwegs, dass ein Hinterherfahren reicht, um den nächsten Hafen zu erreichen.

Gebräuchlich ist dieser Begriff in seiner französischen Übersetzung navigation à la boulangerie bei scheinfreien Bootswanderern auf den Binnenwasserstraßen in Frankreich. Dort wird dann aber meist eine Straßenkarte zu Hilfe genommen.

Etwas Ähnliches gab es bei den Flugzeugpiloten zur Zeit des Ersten Weltkrieges. Wenn diese nicht mehr wussten, wo sie waren, flogen sie zu einem kleinen, nicht überdachten Bahnhof und lasen dort die Ortsnamen. Von Hubschrauberpiloten, ob zivil oder militärisch, wurde diese Art der Positionsfeststellung auch noch in jüngster Vergangenheit berichtet, allerdings vermehrt mit dem Ablesen von Ortstafeln oder Autobahnwegweisern.

Der Begriff steht allegorisch für sich treiben lassen ("Der Weg ist das Ziel").

Literatur

Navigation (Schifffahrt)
Sportschifffahrt
Moderne Sage

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Modified deep sclerectomy for the surgical treatment of glaucoma
Farideh Sharifipour1 , Shahin Yazdani2, Mona Asadi3, Azadeh Saki4, Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi5
1 Department of Ophthalmology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz; Ophthalmic Research Center, Labbafinejad Medical Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
2 Ophthalmic Research Center, Labbafinejad Medical Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
3 Department of Ophthalmology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
4 Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
5 Glaucoma Division, Stein Eye Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, California, United States, United States
Date of Submission 27-Oct-2017
Date of Web Publication 19-Apr-2019
Farideh Sharifipour
Ophthalmic Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, No. 23, Paidarfard St., Boostan 9 St., Pasdaran Ave., Tehran 16666
DOI: 10.4103/jovr.jovr_228_17
Purpose: To report the short-term outcomes of modified deep sclerectomy (MDS) in the management of open angle glaucoma.
Methods: This prospective, non-randomized, controlled study included 105 eyes (105 patients) with open angle glaucoma. Eyes were categorized as follows: trabeculectomy (30 eyes), MDS (27 eyes), phacotrabeculectomy (28 eyes), and phaco-MDS (20 eyes). The MDS technique involved removal of a third scleral flap to expose the suprachoroidal space and excision of a trabecular block. A two-site approach was used for combined surgeries. Main outcome measures included intraocular pressure (IOP), number of glaucoma medications, and complications. Treatment success was defined as an IOP of 6–15 mmHg and/or a 30% reduction in IOP.
Results: All groups showed significant decrease in IOP and number of medications (both P s < 0.001). The MDS group had a higher IOP (13.9 ± 3.8 vs. 12.4 ± 2.5 mmHg, P = 0.080) and required more medications (P = 0.001) than the trabeculectomy group at 1 year. The MDS group had a higher baseline IOP than the trabeculectomy group (P = 0.004) and both the groups showed similar IOP reductions (33.3% vs. 25.7%, P = 0.391). The phaco-MDS and phacotrabeculectomy groups had comparable IOP (13.3 ± 3.1 vs. 12.4 ± 3.1 mmHg, P = 0.354), number of medications (P = 0.594), and IOP reduction (P = 0.509) at 1-year follow-up visit. The trabeculectomy and phacotrabeculectomy groups developed more wound leaks (P = 0.043) and required more bleb needling during the early postoperative period (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: The MDS technique seems to be slightly inferior to trabeculectomy, but when combined with phacoemulsification, is safer and results in similar IOP outcomes.
Keywords: Glaucoma; Glaucoma Surgery; Modified Deep Sclerectomy; Trabeculectomy
Sharifipour F, Yazdani S, Asadi M, Saki A, Nouri-Mahdavi K. Modified deep sclerectomy for the surgical treatment of glaucoma. J Ophthalmic Vis Res 2019;14:144-50
Sharifipour F, Yazdani S, Asadi M, Saki A, Nouri-Mahdavi K. Modified deep sclerectomy for the surgical treatment of glaucoma. J Ophthalmic Vis Res [serial online] 2019 [cited 2019 Jul 17];14:144-50. Available from: http://www.jovr.org/text.asp?2019/14/2/144/256548
Since the first description of trabeculectomy in 1968 by Cairns,[1] this technique has become the gold standard for the surgical management of glaucoma. Therefore, the success rates of other procedures are compared to that of trabeculectomy. However, despite its efficacy in reducing intraocular pressure (IOP), trabeculectomy is far from ideal because of high complication rates and a low safety profile.[2] Glaucoma drainage devices (GDDs) have been shown to be effective and have low complication rates.[3] However, they have not replaced trabeculectomy [4] and are generally used in eyes with conjunctival scars or a history of failed trabeculectomy.[5]
Nonpenetrating glaucoma surgery (NPGS) was introduced in 1984 as a potentially safe and effective method for lowering IOP and was associated with fewer complications than was trabeculectomy.[6] Deep sclerectomy (DS), viscocanalostomy and, more recently, canaloplasty are commonly performed NPGS procedures.[6] Studies have shown IOP reduction provided by these procedures is equivalent to or slightly lower than that provided by trabeculectomy, but they have significantly lower rate of complications such as hypotony, cataract, wound leak, choroidal effusion, and late endophthalmitis.[7] However, these techniques have not gained widespread popularity as replacements for trabeculectomy. Additionally, NPGS is time consuming, technically more challenging, and has a steeper learning curve. The inadvertent rupture of trabeculo-Descemet's membrane during surgery may necessitate conversion to a trabeculectomy.[7]
All NPGS procedures aim to augment the natural drainage pathway through Schlemm's canal, and to a lesser extent, through conjunctival and choroidal vessels.[7] The suprachoroidal space is a virtual space into which a portion of the aqueous humor normally drains via uveoscleral outflow.[8] Choroidal effusions can build up in this space and spontaneously resolve, indicating the high resorptive capacity of this space. There has been great interest in diverting aqueous humor to this space with the aim of reducing IOP using a procedure that has a low complication rate. Surgical techniques, including cyclodialysis, gold microshunts (GMS), and the Cypass suprachoroidal shunt, have been used to augment suprachoroidal outflow.[9],[10] Additionally, modifications in trabeculectomy and NPGS have been efficacy of a modified deep sclerectomy (MDS) procedure and trabeculectomy performed with and without cataract surgery.
This prospective, non-randomized, controlled study was performed at a tertiary eye center was performed at the Department of Ophthalmology, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences and adhered to the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. Patients with open angle glaucoma scheduled for glaucoma surgery alone or combined with cataract surgery were considered for study enrollment. Preoperative diagnoses included primary open angle and pseudoexfoliative glaucoma. Patients with neovascular glaucoma, uveitic glaucoma, angle closure glaucoma (ACG), monocular glaucoma, or a history of ocular surgery were excluded from the study. Only eyes with a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) <20/200 were considered for MDS or phaco-MDS. All patients underwent a complete ocular examination and ultrasound pachymetry (Pachymeter SP 3000, Tomey, Nagoya, Japan) to measure central corneal thickness. IOP was also measured twice using a calibrated Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT BQ 900, Haag-Streit, Konitz, Switzerland). The average of the two measurements was used in analyses if they were within 2 mmHg of each other, otherwise a third reading was obtained.
Patients were categorized into the following study groups: trabeculectomy, MDS, phacotrabeculectomy, and phaco-MDS. All surgeries were performed by a single surgeon. Trabeculectomy was performed as follows: corneal traction suture (7-0 silk) placement, fornix-based conjunctival flap creation, 3.5 × 3.0 mm half-thickness scleral flap dissection, and 0.02% mitomycin C application. Mitomycin C was applied for 2-3 minutes on surgical sponges based on conjunctival and Tenon's capsule thickness and degree of vascularity. Finally, a 1.0 × 1.5 mm trabecular block was excised before performing peripheral iridectomy. The scleral flap was secured using two 10-0 nylon releasable sutures, and the conjunctiva was reapproximated with 10-0 nylon sutures. Following the completion of the procedure, the surgeon verified the absence of wound leaks.
Modifications were made to the standard DS technique for patients in the MDS groups. After creating a fornix based conjunctival flap, a 5 × 5 mm parabolic 1/3 thickness scleral flap was created. Next, a 4 × 4 mm deep scleral flap was fashioned and removed. A trabeculo-Descemet's membrane was not created. Paracentesis was then performed to decompress the eye and a 3 × 3 mm window was created into the suprachoroidal space by removing a thin layer of sclera overlying uveal tissue. More specifically, a small scleral incision was made and ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD; Visicrome, Croma Pharma GmbH, Leobendorf, Austria) was injected under the sclera to push back the uveal tissue and protect it from inadvertent damage. Next, a thin layer of sclera was removed using Vannas scissors or a 15-degree blade with the cutting edge facing upward. A 1.0 × 1.5 mm trabecular block was removed, and peripheral iridectomy was performed in a manner similar to trabeculectomy. The iris attachment to the scleral spur was left intact so that aqueous humor drainage into the suprachoroidal space would only occur via the uveal window and not a cyclodialysis cleft. A small amount of OVD was injected into the suprachoroidal space to maintain space and facilitate subsequent aqueous humor drainage. The superficial scleral flap was then repositioned and sutured (10-0 nylon watertight sutures) in a shoelace fashion to the cut edge of the deep scleral flap. This created more space for the intrascleral lake. The anterior chamber (AC) was reformed, the conjunctival wound was closed (10-0 nylon sutures), and the wound was checked for leakage [Figure 1]a, [Figure 1]b, [Figure 1]c, [Figure 1]d, [Figure 1]e, [Figure 1]f, [Figure 1]g, [Figure 1]h. All combined procedures were 2-site surgeries that included temporal clear corneal phacoemulsification, which was performed before glaucoma surgery.
Figure 1. Surgical steps of modified deep sclerectomy. (a) A fornix based conjunctival flap was created. (b) A 5 × 5 mm parabolic 1/3 thickness scleral flap was created. (c) A 4 × 4 mm deep scleral flap was created and removed. (d) After paracentesis, a 3 × 3 mm window into the suprachoroidal space was created by removing a thin layer of sclera over the uveal tissue. This step was aided by the injection of ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) under the sclera. (e) A 1.0 × 1.5 mm trabecular block was removed, and a peripheral iridectomy was performed. (f) A small amount of OVD was injected into the suprachoroidal space. (g) The superficial scleral flap was repositioned and sutured with 10-0 nylon. (h) The conjunctival wound was closed with 10-0 nylon sutures.
All the patients received chloramphenicol eye drops 4 times a day for 1 week following surgery and betamethasone eye drops every 3 hours with a gradual taper over 4-6 weeks. Cycloplegic medications were used in eyes with a shallow AC. Postoperative eye examinations were performed at 1 and 3 days; 1 and 2 weeks; and 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery. At each examination, the wound was checked for leakage using fluorescein strips. Leaks were first managed conservatively with therapeutic contact lens and decreasing the frequency of topical steroids. Re-suturing was performed for sustained leaks. Patients were specifically monitored for choroidal effusions if the pupil remained dilated 1 week after surgery, if IOP was low (<6 mmHg), or if the AC was shallow. In the trabeculectomy and phacotrabeculectomy groups, releasable sutures were removed depending on bleb morphology. Needling and a 5-fluorouracil (5 mg) subconjunctival injection were performed on eyes with failing blebs. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT; Topcon 3D OCT-1000, Topcon Corp, Tokyo, Japan) was used to postoperatively evaluate intrascleral blebs. Main outcome measures included intraocular pressure (IOP), number of glaucoma medications, and complications. Power calculations with an α error of 0.05 revealed that 16 eyes were needed in each group to obtain 80% power for detecting a between group IOP difference of 1 mmHg. Assuming 20% dropout during the follow-up period, a sample size of 20 eyes was chosen for each group. However, recruitment was continued until enrollment of the last group was complete.
Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS software version 17 (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). Data are presented as mean ± standard deviation and 95% confidence intervals (CI). To compare within and between group differences, paired sample and independent samples t-tests, respectively, and Mann-Whitney U test for non-normally distributed parameters were used. Kaplan–Meier curves were created for cumulative failure rates. Success was defined as an IOP between 6 and 15 mmHg and/or a 30% reduction in IOP. Failure was defined as an IOP >15 mmHg (with glaucoma medication use) or <6 mmHg or a visual acuity decline to no light perception that was attributable to glaucoma or surgical complications. The log-rank test was used to compare success rates between groups. P values <0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.
Overall, 105 eyes of 105 patients were included in this study. Patients were assigned to intervention groups as follows: trabeculectomy (n = 30 eyes), MDS (n = 27 eyes), phacotrabeculectomy (n = 28 eyes) and phaco-MDS (n = 20 eyes). Baseline characteristics of the study groups are presented in [Table 1]. Preoperatively, the MDS and trabeculectomy groups were similar in terms of age, sex, central corneal thickness (CCT), and number of glaucoma medications. However, the MDS group had a higher preoperative IOP (P = 0.004) and a lower BCVA (P = 0.001). At baseline, the phaco-MDS group used more medications (P = 0.031) and had a lower BCVA (P = 0.012) than the phacotrabeculectomy group, but age, sex, IOP, and CCT were similar between groups [Table 1]. After surgery, IOP and the number of glaucoma medications significantly decreased in all study groups (all P s < 0.001; [Table 2] and [Figure 2]a and [Figure 2]b). Although the MDS group had higher pre- and postoperative IOP values than the trabeculectomy group, (P = 0.004 and 0.080, respectively) both groups had a similar percent reduction in IOP from baseline (P = 0.381). The MDS group required more medications at 1 year than the trabeculectomy group (P = 0.001, [Table 2]). The phaco-MDS group required significantly more medications at baseline than the phaco-trabeculectomy group (P = 0.031), but mean IOP (P = 0.324) at baseline, mean IOP at 1 year (P = 0.354), the number of medications at 1 year (P = 0.594), and IOP reduction (P = 0.509) were similar between groups.
Table 1. Baseline characteristics of the study groups
Table 2. Inter- and intra-group comparisons of the study parameters
Figure 2. Line graph showing intraocular pressure (IOP) values before and after glaucoma surgery in the trabeculectomy and modified deep sclerectomy (MDS) groups (a) and the phacotrabeculectomy and phaco-modified deep sclerectomy (Phaco-MDS) groups (b).
The trabeculectomy and phacotrabeculectomy groups had higher rates of needling bleb revision than the MDS and phaco-MDS groups, respectively (both P s < 0.001), in the early postoperative period because of more wound leaks and choroidal effusions [Table 3]. These complications were managed medically. The BCVA was significantly lower in the MDS and phaco-MDS groups before surgery because of the inclusion criteria. The BCVA remained unchanged in the MDS and trabeculectomy groups but significantly improved in both the phaco-MDS and phacotrabeculectomy groups. No patient experienced loss of BCVA. Anterior segment OCT revealed an intrascleral lake in the eyes in the MDS group [Figure 3], which had a lower success rate than the trabeculectomy group (64.6% vs. 71.5%, respectively, P = 0.131; [Figure 4]a). However, the phaco-MDS and phacotrabeculectomy groups had similar success rates (61.9% vs. 60.4%, respectively, P = 0.581; [Figure 4]b and [Table 4]).
Table 3. Postoperative complications/interventions during one year of follow-up in the study groups
Figure 3. Representative anterior segment optical coherence tomography image in a subject that underwent modified deep sclerectomy. An intrascleral lake (arrow) is readily visible.
Figure 4. Kaplan–Meier curves showing cumulative success rates. Surgical success was defined as an IOP between 6 and 15 mmHg and/or a 30% reduction in IOP. Higher cumulative failure rates occurred in the modified deep sclerectomy (MDS, a) and phaco-modified deep sclerectomy (phaco-MDS, b) groups than in their respective trabeculectomy counterparts.
Table 4. Treatment outcomes after one year of follow up in the study groups
The current study demonstrated that our new MDS technique, which also targets the suprachoroidal space for aqueous humor drainage, results in a percent reduction in IOP similar to that of trabeculectomy and has a higher safety profile when combined with cataract surgery. Reducing IOP is currently the main therapeutic approach for the treatment of glaucoma. Surgery for glaucoma is usually performed to prevent disease progression or when medical and/or laser therapies fail to control IOP or prevent disease progression. Even though newer surgical techniques have been developed,[9] trabeculectomy has remained the gold standard surgical treatment for more than 40 years. Even though it has a reasonable efficacy, trabeculectomy is not an ideal procedure because of high complication rates and a low safety profile. Early and late complications associated with trabeculectomy included hypotony, overfiltration, bleb leaks, bleb fibrosis and encapsulation, overhanging blebs, corneal endothelial cell loss, dellen, aqueous humor misdirection, cataract, blebitis, and bleb related endophthalmitis.[11]
Various surgical procedures have been developed to augment normal outflow pathways (i.e., conventional and uveoscleral) in an effort to improve the safety of glaucoma surgery. Laser goniopuncture [12] and newer goniosurgical procedures [e.g., trabecular microbypass (iStent),[13] trabectome microelectrocautery,[14] the Eyepass implant,[15] and canaloplasty [16] have been used to enhance conventional outflow pathways. Surgical procedures to augment suprachoroidal outflow include cyclodialysis,[17] suprachoroidal implants,[18],[19],[20] seton devices,[21] and GMS placement in the suprachoroidal space.[10],[22] Studies have shown better safety profiles and similar short-term efficacy with these techniques. However, some studies have shown that fibrosis can cause suprachoroidal devices to gradually fail.[23],[24] Although there has been some success with suprachoroidal tube implantation,[18],[19],[20],[21],[25] a gradual loss of efficacy may occur.[18],[19] In one study, ultrasound biomicroscopy revealed that some cases of shunt failure were caused by fibrotic obstruction of the posterior tube lumen.[18] In fact, fibrotic reactions and scarring are most likely the main cause of failure of glaucoma surgeries that divert aqueous humor to the suprachoroidal space.
Non-penetrating glaucoma surgery (NPGS) was introduced approximately 30 years ago as a new filtering surgery that did not require globe penetration and had a better safety profile than trabeculectomy.[6] Modifications to this technique include the use of antimetabolites,[26] placement of various implant types to improve surgical success,[7],[27] viscocanalostomy, and canaloplasty.[28],[29] While most studies show lower complication rates with NPGS than with trabeculectomy, procedural efficacy remains somewhat controversial, especially the complete success rate.[7] Additionally, NPGS is technically difficult, has a long learning curve, and has a high conversion rate to trabeculectomy, particularly when inexperienced surgeons rupture the trabeculo-Descemet's membrane. Furthermore, NPGS has more contraindications than trabeculectomy and the technique is not recommended for eyes with ACG unless it is combined with cataract surgery.[7]
The current study examined novel modifications in the DS technique in an attempt to negate some NPGS limitations. This new technique makes surgery easier to perform because the difficult part of DS is creating a trabeculo-Descemet's membrane. Our technique changes this to a block excision, as in trabeculectomy, which also makes it an option for treating ACG. Our results showed a similar percent reduction in IOP between MDS and trabeculectomy (P = 0.381) and between phaco-MDS and phacotrabeculectomy (P = 0.509). However, survival curves showed higher failure rates in the MDS group, which also had a greater need for medication. This finding was likely due to fibrous tissue formation in the suprachoroidal space. However, the technique had fewer early postoperative complications than the trabeculectomy and phacotrabeculectomy groups, which resulted in fewer postoperative visits and the need for further intervention (e.g., needling bleb revision). Patients also had greater comfort, less bleb dysesthesia, and fewer bleb related complications. Antimetabolites are not used in this technique and aqueous humor can only access the suprachoroidal space via the fistula and not a cyclodialysis cleft. The technique does not use an implant or shunt, making it less expensive. The modified technique presented here has many common procedural steps with DS, trabeculectomy, and suprachoroidal drainage. It is also easy to perform and was associated with few complications. Neither intraoperative uveal damage nor hemorrhage was observed in any of the patients. However, vigorous control of inflammation at the suprachoroidal level may increase technique efficacy.
This study showed promising results for glaucoma surgeries that target the suprachoroidal space, although suprachoroidal space inflammation and scarring is a concern. In summary, the proposed deep sclerectomy modification was safer and had comparable efficacy to trabeculectomy, especially when combined with phacoemulsification. However, longer follow up is needed to evaluate intermediate- and long-term results and potential complications.
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Ang GS, Varga Z, Shaarawy T. Postoperative infection in penetrating versus non-penetrating glaucoma surgery. Br J Ophthalmol 2010;94:1571-1576.
Gedde SJ, Schiffman JC, Feuer WJ, Herndon LW, Brandt JD, Budenz DL; Tube Versus Trabeculectomy Study Group. Three year follow-up of the tube versus trabeculectomy study. Am J Ophthalmol 2009;148:670-684.
Caprioli J. The tube versus trabeculectomy study: Why its findings may not change clinical practice? Am J Ophthalmol 2011;151:742-744.
Minckler DS, Francis BA, Hodapp EA, Jampel HD, Lin SC, Samples JR, et al. Aqueous shunts in glaucoma: A report by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. Ophthalmology 2008;115:1089-1098.
Zimmerman TJ, Kooner KS, Ford VJ, Olander KW, Mandlekorn RM, Rawlings EF, et al. Trabeculectomy vs. nonpenetrating trabeculectomy: A retrospective study of two procedures in phakic patients with glaucoma. Ophthalmic Surg 1984;15:734-740.
Mendrinos E, Mermoud A, Shaarawy T. Nonpenetrating glaucoma surgery. Surv Ophthalmol 2008;53:592-630.
Krohn J, Bertelsen T. Corrosion casts of the suprachoroidal space and uveoscleral drainage routes in the human eye. Acta Ophthalmol Scand 1997;75:32-35.
Richter GM, Coleman AL. Minimally invasive glaucoma surgery: Current status and future prospects. Clin Ophthalmol 2016;10:189-206.
Melamed S, Ben Simon GJ, Goldenfeld M, Simon G. Efficacy and safety of gold micro shunt implantation to the supraciliary space in patients with glaucoma: A pilot study. Arch Ophthalmol 2009;127:264-269.
Borisuth, NS, Phillips, B, Krupin T. The risk profile of glaucoma filtration surgery. Curr Opin Ophthalmol 1999;10:112-116.
Epstein DL, Melamed S, Puliafto CA, Steinert RF. Neodymium: YAG laser trabeculopuncture in open-angle glaucoma. Ophthalmology 1985;92:931-937.
Samuelson TW, Katz LJ, Wells JM, Wells JM, Duh YJ, Giamporcaro JE. US iStent Study Group. Randomized evaluation of the trabecular micro-bypass stent with phacoemulsification in patients with glaucoma and cataract. Ophthalmology 2010;118:459-467.
Minckler DS, Mosaed S, Dustin L, Ms BF; Trabectome Study Group. Trabectome (trabeculectomy-internal approach): Additional experience and extended follow-up. Trans Am Ophthalmol Soc 2008;106:149-159.
Dietlein TS, Jordan JF, Schild A, Konen W, Jünemann A, Lüke C, et al. Combined cataract-glaucoma surgery using the intracanalicular Eyepass glaucoma implant:First clinical results of a prospective pilot study. J Cataract Refract Surg 2008;34:247-252.
Khaimi MA. Canaloplasty using iTrack 250 Microcatheter with suture tensioning on Schlemm's Canal. Middle East Afr J Ophthalmol 2009;16:127-129.
Pinnas G, Boniuk M. Cyclodialysis with teflon tube implants. Am J Ophthalmol 1969;68:879-83.
Jordan JF, Engels BF, Dinslage S, Dietlein TS, Ayertey HD, Roters, S, et al. A novel approach to suprachoroidal drainage for the surgical treatment of intractable glaucoma. J Glaucoma 2006;15:200-205.
Unal M, Kocak Altintas AG, Koklu G, Tuna T. Early results of suprachoroidal drainage tube implantation for the surgical treatment of glaucoma. J Glaucoma 2011;20:307-314.
Palamar M, Ates H, Oztas Z, Yusifov E. Suprachoroidal implant surgery in intractable glaucoma. Jpn J Ophthalmol 2011;55:351-355.
Ozdamar A, Aras C, Karacorlu M. Suprachoroidal seton implantation in refractory glaucoma: A novel surgical technique. J Glaucoma 2003;12:354-359.
Agnifili L, Costagliola C, Figus M, Iezzi G, Piattelli A, Carpineto P, et al. Histological findings of failed gold micro shunts in primary open-angle glaucoma. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 2012;250:143-149.
Hueber A, Roters S, Jordan JF, Konen W. Retrospective analysis of the success and safety of Gold Micro Shunt Implantation in glaucoma. BMC Ophthalmol 2013;13:35.
Portney GL. Silicone elastomer implantation cyclodialysis. A negative report. Arch Ophthalmol 1973;89:10-12.
Yablonski ME. Trabeculectomy with internal tube shunt: A novel glaucoma surgery. J Glaucoma 2005;14:91-97.
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Jehn AB, Bohnke M, Mojon DS. Deep sclerectomy with collagen implant: Initial experience. Ophthalmologica 2002;216:235-238.
Grieshaber MC. Ab externo Schlemm's canal surgery: Viscocanalostomy and canaloplasty. Dev Ophthalmol 2012;50:109-124.
Koerber NJ. Canaloplasty in one eye compared with viscocanalostomy in the contralateral eye in patients with bilateral open-angle glaucoma. J Glaucoma 2012;21:129-134.
[Figure 1], [Figure 2], [Figure 3], [Figure 4]
[Table 1], [Table 2], [Table 3], [Table 4]
Sharifipour F
Yazdani S
Asadi M
Saki A
Nouri-Mahdavi K
Glaucoma; Glaucoma Surgery; Modified Deep Sclerectomy; Trabeculectomy


BENGHAZI: One person was killed and 75 wounded by a twin bombing inside a mosque in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi on Friday, medics said.
The blasts took place during Friday prayers, residents said. The devices appear to have been activated remotely using a mobile phone, one military source said.
Two weeks ago, around 35 people were killed by a twin bombing at a mosque in the same city.
Benghazi, Libya's second-largest city, is controlled by the Libyan National Army (LNA), led by eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar. The LNA was battling Islamists, including some linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda, as well as other opponents until late last year in the Mediterranean port city.
Haftar, a possible contender in national elections that could be held by the end of 2018, has built his reputation on delivering stability in Benghazi and beyond, promising to halt the chaos that developed after a NATO-backed uprising ended Muammar Gaddafi's long rule nearly seven years ago.
Haftar launched his military campaign in Benghazi in May 2014, in response to a series of bombings and assassinations blamed on Islamist militants.


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La Atari XG-1 es la pistola de luz que viene de serie con el Atari XEGS. Lanzado en 1987, el XEGS (abreviatura de "XE Game System"), era básicamente un ordenador doméstico Atari 65XE en una carcasa para que pareciera una videoconsola. La pistola se incluyó para competir con la Nintendo Entertainment System. El XEGS incluye un juego para la pistola, llamado Bug Hunt. La XG-1 es compatible con las videoconsolas Atari 7800 y Atari 2600, pues se desarrolló inicialmente como prototipo para la 7800. Atari lazó cuatro juegos para la 7800 que usaban al pistola : Alien Brigade, Barnyard Blaster, Crossbow, y Meltdown.

La XG-1 es simplemente un lápiz óptico especializado. El soporte de lápiz óptico va incluido en los primeros ordenadores Atari, pero nunca fue realmente utilizado. De hecho, todos los juegos para pistola de luz puede jugarse con un lápiz óptico y viceversa. Muchos usuarios se quejaron de la falta de precisión del dispositivo, sobre todo comparado con la Nintendo Zapper. Algunos usuarios preferían recablear la Sega Light Phaser.

Precisión
El Atari 400/800 Hardware Technical Reference recomienda un "procedimiento de calibración" cada vez que se utilice la pistola, para que el software pueda compensar desviaciones. Un procedimiento de calibración mejora el rendimiento de la pistola de luz. Pero los juegos Bug Hunt y Barnyard Blaster para el XEGS tienen "hard-coded" los valores, diferentes en cada juego. Mientras que Bug Hunt parece desviarse ligeramente a la izquierda, Barnyard Blaster parece disparar ligeramente a la derecha. La lectura del eje Y parece ser más predecible, igual que la mitad del número de la scan line visualizada en ese momento.

La pistola no devuelve lecturas fiables si la intensidad de la pantalla es muy baja. Por ello las pantallas de los juegos para al pistola de Aatri deben de tener más brillo del normal. La pantalla del juego destella cuando se pulsa el gatillo de la pistola en Bug Hunt o Barnyard Blaster. Mientras que la pantalla está toda blanca, el software lee al posición de la pistola y establece la posición de la mayoría de los valores exactos.

Juegos diseñados para la XG-1
 Alien Brigade (7800)
 Bug Hunt (XEGS)
 Barnyard Blaster (7800/XEGS)
 Crossbow (7800/XEGS)
 Crime Buster (XEGS)
 Meltdown (7800)
 Operation Blood disk (XEGS)
 Operation Blood II - Special Forces (XEGS)
 Gangsterville (XEGS)
 Sentinel (2600/7800)
 Shooting Gallery (2600, inédito)

Enlaces externos
 Como usar una XG-1 y un joystick simultáneamente en el XEGS
 Atari XEGS Information – Matthew Ratcliff
 The Atari 8-Bit FAQ

Atari
Pistolas de luz


As of December 31, 2017 the Company's authorized capital was nominally DKK 31.064,180 divided into 3,106,418 shares of DKK 10 each. All shares have the same rights and are not divided into classes. No voting restrictions exist.


LOVE this Instructable! GREAT job Susan... really nice detail, photos, documentation, etc. Bet you are having a blast in that cute little teardrop romping around the country :-) Hope we get to meet on our travels some day! Peace, Luv, & Tiny On Sista!


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Directed by Peter Sohn
Starring Raymond Ochoa, Jeffrey Wright, and Jack Bright
Animation champ Pixar has seen its reign threatened by competing animation studios, but in 2015, they shored up their position as producers of sophisticated fare for the whole family. Their summer release, Inside Out, was a critical and commercial hit, while their fall release, The Good Dinosaur, received modest reviews and was the lowest performing film in their history. Despite the let-down, The Good Dinosaur does a simple thing well. It's nowhere near the most novel plot Pixar's ever been responsible for, but its familiar story utterly entranced this viewer. There's room in cinema for bald rehashes, especially when they are done as well as they are in Peter Sohn's film.
Operating on the premise that the asteroid responsible for wiping out the dinosaurs missed the earth, The Good Dinosaur catches up to the terrible lizards eons later, still the masters of the planet but with the added benefits of language and agriculture. The central farming family of apatosaurs, led by father Henry (Jeffrey Wright) and mother Ida (Frances McDormand), grow corn and three children, a jocular son, a nimble daughter, and the runt, Arlo (Raymond Ochoa). Knobby-kneed and timid, Arlo is out-paced by his siblings in work output, but remains equal to them in their parents' affections. Henry understands that his son will likely never measure up to his physical prowess, so he gives Arlo less intensive tasks, like figuring out what's been stealing their corn. Arlo discovers a tiny feral human is the culprit, and in giving chase, he falls into a river and is swept away from the family farm. Arlo struggles to survive in the wilderness, but the human, who Arlo names Spot (Jack Bright), helps him find his way home.
This film isn't aiming higher than Homeward Bound, but the visceral thrills of The Good Dinosaur more than paper over the shallow plot. It's unclear why this film needed five writers, because the film is neither complex nor verbose. What it is, is captivating and melancholy and occasionally joyous. The unbelievable visuals help here, as Pixar is getting closer and closer to verisimilitude in the natural vistas on display. Even a small touch like the squish of Arlo's feet as he takes a step is impressive. Once the journey gets going, what's been done to establish the characters meshes with the world-building in a series of travel vignettes. A hunt for berries becomes reptilian 127 Hours. A strange drug trip caused by hallucinogenic nuts gives way to a ranching sequence with T. Rex's as cowboys, the lead here voiced, of course, by Sam Elliott. A short sequence of running up a mountain is a beautiful merging of awe and animation, played out on a non-verbal proto-human's face. Even as Elliott's T. Rex is spouting the most overused bromide about fear and courage, I'm too anxious for the next sequence to roll my eyes.
The Good Dinosaur is so elemental that it doesn't even have to be about dinosaurs. Any inter-species companionship on a dangerous trek would've worked with minimal alterations. This is one instance, however, where the film convinces me to turn my brain off and submit to the visuals. The Good Dinosaur worked on me, even as I'm being reminded of how derivative the story is, and that's coming from a studio that at its peak, is anything but, and therefore is at a higher standard. The animation and the simple emotion overwhelmed my critical faculties, making this film a success in spite of itself. B+


May 29th, what else can be said. I have seen so many tornadoes in the past 20 years on this date. It is like the holy grail for tornadoes. This year would be no different either. We sat near Fairview, Ok watching a cluster of towers go up in a great environment. Good shear, good moisture, great instability and the triple point play. What could go wrong? A storm eventually emerged from the cluster of towers and became an intense supercell. We stayed in front of it from Okeene to Kingfisher and all the way to Yukon. The structure steadily got better and it became tornado warned near Kingfisher. Finally, with help from a left moving cell from the south, our storm produced a weak tornado north of the Yukon/Piedmont area. The best thing about this supercell was definitely its structure!
May 25th had tremendous potential. A warm front lay across central Kansas with a dryline intersecting it southwest of LaCrosse. By late afternoon, a supercell formed and moved along the warm front. It quickly became severe and tornado warned. Although reports of a tornado came in, we were directly under the circulation and only experienced RFD and TONS of dirt being kicked up. The storm moved northeast and became very high based and eventually died. By this time, we saw the tail end storm rapidly intensify and nearly anchor, so we blasted back southwest and arrived as the tail end supercell became intensely tornadic.
The structure was top notch with numerous inflow feeder bands wrapping around the north side of the updraft and a block shaped wall cloud with insane rising motion on the northeast side. I figured it was only a matter time before this storm produced and that was certainly an understatement. Just before dark and tapered cone tornado formed between LaCrosse and Hargrave and moved slowly east/northeast over the next 54 minutes! Frequent lightning constantly illuminated the tornado and allowed for some pretty decent photography. The tornado roped out northeast of LaCrosse where another tornado formed from the new mesocyclone. At one time there were actually 3 tornadoes on the ground, with the 3rd to our south actually going through LaCrosse. Fortunately no serious injuries or fatalities occurred from this tornadic supercell.
May 19th had some decent hopes of structured supercells. SPC highlighted the southern Nebraska area for higher tornado threat, but we chose to play further south along the dryline. Late afternoon, a line of towers rapidly formed and back built south as the boundary drifted southeast. A couple of these storms exhibited supercellular features, but it wouldn't be until late afternoon that the boundary rapidly built south with each tower stretching the vorticity along the boundary and producing numerous non-supercell tornadoes. What a crazy day! We saw 5 tornadoes, with the final one being a strong EF3.
May 18th continued the trend of decent shear and little low level moisture. We started the day in southwest South Dakota and drifted southeast towards central Nebraska. By the end of the day we would have a high based supercell, which was severe warned, that produced copious amounts of CG strikes, many quite photogenic.
After a long break in the action, May 4th provided a high based supercell with decent structure near Walters, OK. This storm produced hail baseball sized and maintained a nice striated appearance for a couple hours before dissipating. I don't have a lot of shots from it due to a malfunctioning CF card. Here's the two I was able to grab.


Our delegation to Washington DC could have introduced a law over the last 20 years to force Exxon to pick up their bar tab and pay for their crime. They were woefully silent. Instead, they debated things like gay marriage, vaginal rights, Bill Clinton's impeachment over extra-presidential activities, steroids in baseball, and Terry Schiavo. Meanwhile, dozens of Alaskans, displaced from their identity, committed suicide while waiting for justice.
This post is from Shannyn Moore's Blog and republished here with permission.


Andrew Heyward is a nationally known news executive, award-winning producer, and expert on the changing media landscape. He helps media companies develop innovative online ventures and profitable digital strategies; create new content and services; and transform their businesses to drive growth and revenue in an age of rapid evolution.
Heyward was President, CBS News, from January 1996-November 2005. Before that, Heyward was executive producer of The CBS Evening News. Heyward was also responsible for developing and launching 48 Hours, the primetime CBS News hour that premiered in January 1988. He began his career working in local news at WNEW-TV and WCBS-TV in New York.
Heyward has won 12 national Emmy Awards.


Windsor Medical Centre is a fast-growing GP practice serving the Asian community in Albany. We have an excellent working environment and a supportive team.
We are looking for a full time practice nurse with negotiable fixed hours and a minimum of 2 years GP clinic experience.


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Q: a method to calculate a specific combinatorics problem in java there is a factory that produces strings with the letter g u a and r. the probability for each letter that the factory produces is:

*

*g: 0.3

*u: 0.25

*a: 0.2

*r: 0.25

I need to calculate the approximate amount of times we will get the sequence "g-u-u-a" in a given string length n (n is the parameter that the method gets as an input from user). for example- the method should  calculate the approximate amount of times we will se this sequence in a string with the length of 100 letters (the string is produced by this "factory", which means it has only the letters g, u, a, r).
can someone explain the combinatorics calculation behind it? I'm not sure I'm doing it right.
I tried to calculate the probability of this sequence * the string length, but I have a gut feeling that it is not accurate
Thanks,
Saar

A: There are $97$ possible substrings of length $4$, since the initial index can be anywhere between $0$ and $96$. For each of these substrings, the probability the substring equals GUUA is equal to $0.3\cdot 0.25\cdot 0.25\cdot 0.2$. Therefore, the expected number of substrings equal to GUUA is equal to
$$
97\cdot 0.3\cdot 0.25^2\cdot 0.2=0.36375
$$
Therefore, more than $63.626\%$ of the time, you would expect there to be zero occurrences of GUUA.
The number of occurrences should be well approximated by a Poisson random variable. Using this approximation, we get

Number of occurrences of GUUA
0
1
2
3
$\dots$

Approximate probability (using Poisson)
$0.695$
$0.253$
$0.046$
$0.006$
$\dots$


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Reviewers were able to obtain 84%of the referenced documents in the ads. However, researchers could only obtain 20% of the data-on-file documents, despite repeated requests to the pharmaceutical companies. The companies responded to 37 out of 88 requests for data-on-file, but over half of the responses indicated that the information would not be provided due to company policy or because it was proprietary.
"We found that almost one-third of the pharmaceutical ads offered no references at all to support medical claims. In addition, most of the data-on-file documents in support of the medical claims were not available from the drug companies." said Dr. David Schriger, study author and professor of Emergency Medicine at UCLA.
In comparison, out of the 400 journal articles, the most commonly cited sources of references included journal articles (88%) and books (8%). When reviewers tried to obtain the reference documents, 99 percent were available.
UCLA researchers also checked the funding sources of the original research cited in all the ads and of a random sample of 100 journal articles. Out of 294 ad references citing original research, 58% had research sponsored by a pharmaceutical company or had affiliated authors, 19% was funded by government or charitable sources and 23% had no funding statement at all.
In comparison, 8% of the original research reported in these journal issues was funded by a pharmaceutical company or had an author affiliated with the company, and 44% was funded by a government or charitable organization.
Journals included in the study: American Journal of Psychiatry, Annals of Emergency Medicine, Annals of Internal Medicine, Annals of Surgery, Hospital Practice, Journal of the American Medical Association, New England Journal of Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics.
Contact: Rachel Champeau
1. The Whole Truth From Five-Year-Olds
2. Research gets to heart of advertising gender bias
3. Novelty-seeking teens more receptive to tobacco advertising, new study shows
4. Survey shows benefits of prescription drug advertising, few adverse effects
5. Tobacco industry strategies for influencing European community tobacco advertising legislation
6. Does direct to consumer drug advertising medicalise normal human conditions?
7. Depressed teens receptive to tobacco advertising more likely to experiment with smoking
8. US direct-to-consumer advertising ambiguous in communication of drug benefits


I'll try to sleep by midnight. - Dreams are what you wake up from.
I'll try to sleep by midnight.
..rock a by baby on the tree top..when the wind blows, the cradle will rock..zzzZzZZZzZz..
..rock a by baby on the tree top..when the wind blows, the cradle will rock..
me too got home at 1am. Can't imagine my friend got me to stay back with him to work out till 11pm !? And I followed him thru the gym-circuit and my fingers are dying even just by tapping on the keyboard. Ouch! Pass the deepheat please.


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Writer/director Katherine Dieckmann on 'Strange Weather,' surviving grief
Strange Weather feels like a perfect title to be both evocative and descriptive of Katherine Dieckmann's new feature. Focusing on parents of suicide victims and the suffering they experience in the aftermath, Dieckmann has also made a frequently funny and warm film about surviving grief.
In the role of grieving mother Darcy, Dieckmann has written a memorable leading role for Holly Hunter, bringing out the fearless and fierce qualities which have been a hallmark of the actress' extensive career.
Speaking with the wonderfully frank and funny Dieckmann about her career, you can see how she moved from the strange and absurd (with music videos for REM and episodes of The Adventures of Pete and Pete), to more grounded, personal films such as A Good Baby, Diggers, Motherhood and now Strange Weather.
Lesley Coffin: I heard Holly Hunter discuss the film at a film festival and she mentioned that the two things that first appealed to her about the script are its humor and the decision to focus on youth suicide and the impact it has on parents. What inspired you to write the script and deal with that issue?
Katherine Dieckmann: I had a scene in my head a woman like Holly sitting outside a bar, with a hat on and smoking, and I had that image in my head for a long time. And I was listening to a lot of Lucinda Williams and just knew that the character I'd imagined had lost her son. But I didn't know how. I had a close girlfriend who got pregnant the first time she had sex, and because her parents were Catholic they forced her to have it and then forced her to give that child up for adoption. And that was a trauma that really haunted her, she was always trying to find that boy. But then I realized that wouldn't be right, and I've also had friends who lost children to suicide, and I felt like that was really the loss I wanted to explore. Suicide is so painful, especially for parents, because you're left with these questions "what did I do wrong" and "what could I have done to stop it." So it created an agency for that character, she was a woman looking for these impossible answers. I wanted to explore how grief is a very circuitous process.
Lesley Coffin: Was it important to the story or character that she lost her son rather than a daughter?
Katherine Dieckmann: It was, I'm not sure why exactly though. I think mothers and daughters have very different relationships from mothers and sons. I have a son and a daughter, and I'm extremely close to both but in wildly different ways. My daughter's very similar to me, and when we fight it's almost always because we're so similar. My son's very different, but very tender towards me. There is a sweetness that can happen between mothers and sons that's probably harder for mothers and daughters.
Lesley Coffin: The location seemed to play a major role, because you see how the weather and the temperature really have a direct impact on how she reacts to things. She's a little more relaxed at night, as opposed to the heated, tense conversations that happen during the day. How important was it during filming to select the right time of day to drive Holly's behavior?
Katherine Dieckmann: It was incredibly important. It wasn't as hot as I wanted it to be, because we shot it in the fall rather than the summer. But it was still warm enough, and I wanted that feeling that the temperature's driving the scene. You see that in the scene with Holly and her boyfriend Kim Coates in the garden, it had to take place during a late summer night. We really need to think about how the temperature affects how people act. When are people going inside just for air conditioning? When do they get a little relief from the heat at night and can kind of relax?
Lesley Coffin: And a lot of those night scenes are between Holly and Carrie Coon, who are two actresses you would never realize how much you wanted to see them act together until you match them up. They are so perfectly matched as scene partners. How did you select them for the roles?
Katherine Dieckmann: Holly came on board first, and because she's Holly we gave her a significant role in figuring out the rest of the cast. But the credit for casting Carrie really goes to our casting directing. She really advocated for Carrie and I didn't really know her know her work that well. I'd seen her in Gone Girl but hadn't seen The Leftovers, and I wrote the part for someone maybe 10 years older that would be closer in age to Holly. Carrie's almost 20 years younger than Holly, but then I thought about the fact that I have female friends who are different ages. I have a friend who's 84 and friends who were my students. So I really liked the idea that they could be best friends but at very different stages in their lives. It was really refreshing to me. But Cindy kept telling me to consider Carrie, and Holly had seen Carrie on Broadway in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. And Holly was really excited to work with Carrie because she knew that she was a really great dramatic actress.
Lesley Coffin: Did they mention that the project was a draw because so many of the big meaty scenes would between two women?
Katherine Dieckmann: It was a huge allure for both of them. People don't realize that Carrie didn't take a movie between Gone Girl and this film, and she told me that the reason was she hated the way women were being written. She had her TV and her theater work, so she didn't need to take a movie unless she liked the role. Both Holly and Carrie are pretty fierce feminist, and their beliefs strongly aligned with my views and my producer Rachel Cohen. And we four spent a lot of time discussing feminist issues and women in Hollywood, and their frustrations with the lack of well written roles for women.
Lesley Coffin: One of the biggest debates we're hearing now is the idea that strong women and complicated women are mutually exclusive. Hollywood seems to think that when women say they want to see more female protagonist they exclusively want them to honorable or good role models. I would call Holly's character strong and a survivor, but she's very complicated and flawed.
Katherine Dieckmann: Darcy is extremely flawed, and Holly dove into that aspect of her character. She can be willful and childish at times, almost pigheaded and unable to see other's pain. But at other times we see her capacity to be incredibly kind and loving, and very funny. I wrote the part in a very prismatic way, but Holly brought even more dimensions to the role. She'd play things more comically than I initially thought, but I loved those choices.
Lesley Coffin: I spoke with her a few weeks ago about The Big Sick, and seeing her in person you really notice how important her stature and physicality is to how she plays roles. She's so short and petite that she almost seems to be jumping up and on people to get their attention in the film, and it helps that you cast her opposite an actor like Kim Coates who's a pretty big guy. Were those aspects of the character she added or did you write them into the screenplay?
Katherine Dieckmann: She's just an actor who's very in her own body and uses it to get into character. She runs on a treadmill every day, she'll jump up and down before filming a scene, she's just very attuned to her body and how to channel energy through a character. And that's also why I love watching her play scenes when she has to be really still, because you know she has all that energy running through her body and she's trying to contain it. But Carrie has a wonderful sense of her own body too, it's just a very different approach, and I loved seeing them side by side?
Lesley Coffin: Because of the heaviness of the subject matter, were you thinking of how and when to add humor to script?
Katherine Dieckmann: I never felt like I was adding humor, it's just the way I write and the relationships I have with women in my life, specifically my female southern friends. I have a lot of friends from the South and I know how they talk. And even when they're discussing something they're incredibly upset over, there's usually a bit of humor. And I've written some of their terms and sayings down. I'd be on the phone and one of my girlfriends said "he's sitting right on top of my last available nerve" and I'd just scribble it down. So I just included that language in the script. And I also know that when they get together, it will turn out like that scene with Glenn Headly, three very loud, funny women cackling and throwing down brilliant lines. It wasn't about adding humor, it was about being true to how they talk in real life, especially how they talk when alone with other women.
Lesley Coffin: When you first started working on the script did you know it would be set in the south?
Katherine Dieckmann: I did, because I wanted to explore that kind of female friendship and language, and I don't think that particular female friendship exists among northern women. My kids always tease me because they can always tell when I'm on the phone with my southern girlfriends. I start adopting their language and speaking in a kind of twang. But there's just a different language. In the south, women were raised with a coated form of public behavior. Holly really liked this scene she tells one of her son's friends "will you remember me to her" about his mother. That's what a southern woman would say, but you then realize when you meet that woman that she's horrible and looked down on Darcy. In public there's is a graciousness, but in private there is a kind of emotional abandon. And that felt so right for the suicide story, comparing how Darcy has to function in the public space but has to deal with this private pain.
Lesley Coffin: Other films might show flashbacks of her son when Darcy is remembering him. Did you ever consider including them?
Katherine Dieckmann: People often suggested having them, but I thought that would be a terrible idea because it would become too sentimental. But the challenge I faced by choosing not to include flashbacks was how to make Walker feel like a character that had been alive. There are pictures and artifacts in the closet, and the things other characters said about him. I just had to hope that by the time we were at the end there was a sense of the person she was mourning. And avoid having dialogue that felt too expositional. But I never wanted flashbacks because the story isn't about remembering him, but figuring out how Darcy can remember him. How she can process what happened to him, come to terms with it, and still be able to remember her son.
Lesley Coffin: The film takes place seven years after his death, how did you select that passage of time?
Katherine Dieckmann: I think people think people get over things, but you don't. Seven years later, people think Darcy should be moving on, but she can't. I know someone who lost her son 25 years ago, and she'll never be over it. If it were more recent people would be a little more accepting of that, but seven years later people are starting to move on with their lives and want the same for her. This is a journey about accepting that she won't get over this kind of grief, she just has to find a way to live with it.
Lesley Coffin: What are the biggest challenges of doing a road movie in 20 days?
Katherine Dieckmann: Figuring out the economy of how to shoot a moving car and finding locations. I picked Jackson because there are a number of locations which feel like different parts of the south that are just half an hour away from each other. I loved filming in Jackson, Mississippi and the people were great. But you have to select the scenes you'll shoot on a process trailer, which are expensive and time consuming, but allow you to film big chunks of dialogue. We shot other scenes with my cameraman on the floor of the truck and through windows. So we really had to map out in advance how we would shoot those driving scenes, the process and angles for each one.
Lesley Coffin: Was it nerve-wracking for Holly to have to do those big emotional scenes while driving?
Katherine Dieckmann: Two of the best things about Holly for an indie director like myself are, she can nail a scene in like two takes, and she can drive and act at the same time. Holly loves to drive, and especially loved driving that big truck. She loved backing that thing up.
Lesley Coffin: Glenn Headly has one of the smaller roles in the film, but she has such a big, warm presence on screen. What's it been like watching her performance since her death earlier this year?
Katherine Dieckmann: She's great in the film, and I love her scenes. But I loved her work before she died of course, but it just makes me sad that'll I won't be seeing her again. She was incredibly dedicated to her son, and thinking about him going on without her makes me very said. Holly, Carrie and I all felt that way because we saw how dedicated she was to him and how often she talked about him. That's the saddest part, sadder than the fact that the public won't get to see her act again. But I feel so incredibly lucky that I had this opportunity to work with her. She was a force, she brought very interesting things to the table. Her wig being one of those things. She didn't tell me she wanted to wear a wig, she just showed up and said "I just threw this in my bag, what do you think?" and I thought it was great. We talked on the phone a lot before she arrived in Jackson, and she asked a lot of questions about her backstory and her relationship with Holly.
Lesley Coffin: When you transition from a writer whose lived with the story for years to a director with a budget and time frame and actors bringing their own interpretations, is there an period of adjustment?
Katherine Dieckmann: I am so willing to throw the writer in me out the window when I direct. I was trained in journalism and I'm use to writing to deadline and length, so I am one writer who is not precious. More often an editor will argue with me to keep something I think we don't need. I'll cling to some things stubbornly, but I'm pretty good at seeing the big picture.
Lesley Coffin: Do you consider run times?
Katherine Dieckmann: I cut seven minutes out of the movie after Toronto. I was really impatient during that screening and cut it again to keep the film right at 90 minutes. There is a version that could have been 110 minutes, but I wanted to cut a lot out. Madeline, our editor, was wonderful in her ruthlessness. She agreed that this had to stay focused on Holly's emotional journey. There is a beautiful scene with Holly and her ex-husband that went on really long, and features brilliant work from Holly. But it just didn't work within this movie, and it just felt like too much. We could never get it to work within the film, and I probably knew that when I wrote it because there was a time when I dropped that at the end of the film and that didn't work either. I love the writing, I love Holly's work in it, but I just couldn't make it work within this film. So it was painful but I had to let it go. And cutting stuff like that gives the film an energy and drive that I just love.
Lesley Coffin: We always hear that advice that artists have to be willing to let those things go, but does that kind of self-awareness as a filmmaker have to come from experience?
Katherine Dieckmann: Oh, definitely. We all hang onto things for too long, but you have to learn that everything is to serve the whole. And if something's bringing that whole down, it's got to go. And you need to be open to the fact that you will write more than you film, and film more than you keep, but you need to allow the film to tell you what it is. This is a film that was probably written to be a little slower, but once I'd filmed it and saw what we had, the film wanted to be a little faster paced. The thing you have to remember is the more you extract from a film the more room you leave for the audience to be surprised.
Top Photos: Holly Hunter as Darcy Baylor
Middle Photo: Holly Hunter as Darcy Baylor and Carrie Coon as Byrd Ritt
Bottom Photo: Holly Hunter as Darcy Baylor and Kim Coates as Clayton Watson
Credit: Brainstorm Media
by Lesley Coffin July 31, 2017