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Adventures in Wrimonia, Part Thirty-Six: The Enemies Revisited
Posted on February 26, 2010 by Sushi
Three more days, the clock at Wrimo Hall said as Mia sat down to type. The yellow metal pencil, once sitting in her bag for the entire month, now sat next to her as a writing totem. Chris Baty mentioned this once. His was a golden viking helmet, and he even wore one while giving one of the pep talks.
Mia had one hand on the pencil and the other hand on her keyboard. She glanced at her screen and saw the end of the scene she had just written. No, Amy would never do that, she told herself as she backspaced an entire paragraph and thinking that she really shouldn't be doing it. Sure, Amy would never do it, but Mia needed the words. Twenty-seven hundred words a day didn't come easily. Mia looked at the calendar in her bag where she kept track of her word count by day. She had written twenty-five hundred words the day before, and those words actually came much more easily after discovering that NaNoWriMo was in her very name.
Or was it? If NaNoWriMo were in her name, wouldn't she already have a purple bar? Wouldn't she have had a green bar a long time ago? Wouldn't NaNo be, dare she say it, easy? She looked around Wrimonia and saw the Wrimos with purple bars walk past without a worry in the world. Some of them stopped past to cheer on Wrimos who were still writing, just like the marathon runners did the day before.
Mia didn't need any interruptions, so she tried to look busy and write. It was very hard to look busy, though, as the sky turned dark and two very familiar figures appeared. No one would find her in these conditions anyway, especially anyone who wanted to give her a pep talk like the marathon runner did the day before. Mia kept typing, hoping that the noise of her keyboard would scare them away, but when she saw someone with long curly locks and the accompanying figure with a tight bun in her hair enter the scene, she knew that there was no hope.
She kept typing and backspacing and finally stopped. There was nothing left to write about, and then she looked up.
"Not you," she whispered.
"Oh yes, us again," Writer's Block said. "Who thought again that NaNoWriMo was in her name?"
Mia stood up and held the pencil in her hand, facing Writer's Block and Inner Editor. "The marathon runner told me yesterday," Mia said. "You cannot stop me from winning NaNoWriMo. The purple bar will be mine."
Writer's Block laughed. "No it won't," Writer's Block said. "You haven't written anything worthy since you were a wee lass, and even then it only got hung on the fridge because it's your mother and your mother's supposed to do those things."
"Oh please, Mia," Inner Editor said, cackling. "Look at this." Inner Editor leaned toward the laptop and read the latest passage that Mia had written. "Amy walked hand in hand with Keith? They walked in the park together? Is this all you're making them do, Mia?" Inner Editor asked her. "Come on, you've been on dates. What did you do on dates?"
"I haven't been on too many dates," Mia replied.
"Lies," Inner Editor said. "Think of dates you've been on. Surely you can make this more realistic than a bunch of walks in the park. Surely the parents with children will find this darling young couple a little disturbing after awhile."
"But they're just on a date," Mia said. "Besides, all my dates were… nontraditional," she said, pausing and neglecting the fact that most of her dates involved movies and friends. Sometimes food was involved, but never traditional dinner and a movie dates that most people went on. Those were for people who weren't poor college kids.
"Then use one of your dates," Inner Editor said. "You've had enough dates that you can write them well, as uptight as you are. Hey, you haven't gone on any of those this November."
"Shut up!" Mia said. "This isn't about me. It's about you and about how you're trying to get in the way of my novel." Mia pushed Inner Editor back as Writer's Block began blowing big black bubbles around them.
"I destroyed those bubbles once, and I can destroy them again," Mia said as the bubble surrounded them.
"Oh, how?" Writer's Block said. "These bubbles are storyproof. They're even museproof, not that yours has been around in days. She's been enjoying her vacation, by the way." Writer's Block walked around Mia. "I've had her tied up and gagged, and she's been calling to you with ideas all this time. Shame you can't hear her."
Mia fumed. Has Writer's Block really been doing this all this time? Was he really out to get her? And enjoying her vacation?
"And you!" Inner Editor exclaimed, pointing at Mia. "I've been out to get you all month. I've been reading first drafts of novels, trying to show you how every other Wrimo has written a first draft better than yours, but no, you won't even listen. You just keep on plugging as if you won't even think about giving up."
"That's because I won't," Mia said. She had already pushed Inner Editor back once to no effect. Surely she wouldn't do it again. "And you, Writer's Block. You've been a figment of my imagination the entire month, teasing me and making me believe that there's nothing to write about when in fact there's plenty to write about."
"Then let's see you catch up now!" Inner Editor said. She turned to Writer's Block. "You know what to do." Writer's Block blew more small bubbles. Mia's laptop floated out of her bag, and the bubbles sucked words from the laptop and into the bubbles, and Mia ran around, popping bubbles with the pencil, but she wasn't fast enough. A few minutes later the bubbles that had popped once were being reformed by Writer's Block and were sucking in the words again. Inner Editor ran toward Mia and whispered in her ear.
"Don't pop those bubbles," Inner Editor said. "Those are all crappy words anyway. It wouldn't hurt to get rid of all of them."
"But those are forty-two thousand words!" Mia exclaimed as she popped the word bubbles too slowly for them to return to her laptop.
"Loser," Inner Editor whispered. "Terrible writer. You'll never become a great writer. You'll never even be a NaNoWriMo winner."
Mia dropped the metal pencil for a minute. Was it true? Was Inner Editor right?
Then Mia heard the sound that lifted her spirit more than any other since Writer's Block had trapped her inside the bubble. Footsteps. A figure with brown shoulder-length hair stepped in, followed by a shaggily handsome man. They were holding hands, and the woman was holding a young boy. Brenda followed them in, followed by the rest of the coffee shop staff and some of the other customers. Even the ghostly couple Mia hadn't seen in weeks, Cole, the preschool staff, the children at the preschool, and people Mia didn't even recognize stepped into the bubble.
"Good afternoon," Amy said, facing Mia. She turned to Writer's Block. "Your bubble isn't characterproof, I hope you know."
Writer's Block turned pale. He had never thought of that when devising his evil plan.
Mia turned to her characters. "You know what to do," she said, hoping they did because there was no way she was going to tell them what to do in front of her nemeses. The characters certainly did know what to do, and they popped those bubbles with gusto. Keith was particularly good at popping bubbles; he ran around popping bubbles with his X-Acto knife, while Amy popped bubbles with the traveling shovel of death, which she somehow rescued from the burial site. Mia didn't even bother asking her how that had happened and in fact didn't even get a chance, for Inner Editor was rounding on her.
"Terrible. Worthless. Useless prose. No one writes worse than you," Inner Editor said. "Your words are better off here, you know. They can live a life in their best condition, never being exposed to the light of day. No one will have to suffer deaths from exposure to Mia's words. The world will be much better off without your words."
"Lies!" Mia yelled, trying to convince herself that it was a lie because it would keep her going and help her finish NaNo–that is, if it were even possible.
"Truth," Inner Editor said, and with that Mia could take no more. She held the pencil up to her and heard the voice that filled her heart with joy, except this time she could hear what it said, and she listened to it as her characters ran around destroying word bubbles and setting Mia's words and their own story free. Only a few more bubbles remained.
"If ever Mia shall decide
To give up NaNo–oh, she tried!
Then she should know there's no debate
That NaNoWriMo's in her fate."
The voices sang Mia's name followed by NaNoWriMo several times before resuming the rhyme. Mia smiled and turned back to the inner editor.
"I'm going to finish NaNo whether you like it or not," Mia said, holding the point of the pencil closer to Inner Editor than was healthy.
"No," Inner Editor said. "You can't. Your novel is terrible."
"Just watch me," Mia said, and she stabbed Inner Editor in the heart with the pencil. The song played out loud as the characters popped the last two word bubbles, and Inner Editor writhed.
"NaNoWriMo… in your fate…" Inner Editor mumbled as her bun fell apart and her face fell flat, her glasses falling to the floor. Inner Editor fell to the floor in a crumpled heap as Writer's Block writhed at the other end of the bubble, pinned to the bubble by Amy and the traveling shovel of death.
"How'd you like that?" Amy asked. Mia watched as all the words floated back to Mia's laptop and arranged themselves in the right order.
"I can't believe it," Writer's Block mumbled. "You did it."
"Oh, not only did we do it," Amy said. "But we know what's going to happen next. You're only in Mia's imagination, after all."
Mia sat back, letting Amy take control. Amy's hair sat in place, her eyes blazing and the traveling shovel of death in hand.
"What?" Writer's Block asked. "What do you mean you know?"
"Oh, we know," Amy said. "Remember when Keith and I went to the art gallery I work at because I was working their next event?" Writer's Block nodded. "Guess who happens to be there?"
Writer's Block gulped. Cole stepped forward, and Amy held the pawn in her hand. Cole reached for it, but Amy didn't hand it over. "Oh no," Amy said. "You're not supposed to get this back yet."
"What do you mean, I don't get it back?" Cole asked. "That's been missing for weeks and I've had to make up this crazy postmodern explanation as to why a pawn was missing from a chess set. Most of them have bought it, but others, not so much."
"And what did you tell them?" Amy asked.
"That it represented… something. I don't remember what now," Cole said. To tell the truth, he didn't want to remember.
"You're not supposed to get this back yet," Amy said. She watched as Writer's Block writhed in place. Mia suddenly realized what Amy was about to do and then remembered what Alaina told her way back when.
"Amy, no!" Mia said. "You can't do that to him."
Amy turned to Mia. "Why not?" Amy asked. "It's the traveling shovel of death. It's supposed to kill people."
"But you don't get it," Mia said. "Too many people have tried that. He likes getting bopped on the head by it now. It only encourages his crime of robbing people of the ability to write." Mia looked around and noticed that the bubble around them was fading. Fading, but not disappearing entirely."
"Then what am I supposed to do, stab him with the pencil?" Amy asked.
Mia thought. She never actually killed Writer's Block; in fact, Alaina told her that Writer's Block would always be back. Amy wanted to try, though, so Mia walked to Inner Editor and yanked the pencil out of her. Surprisingly, it was clean, probably because Inner Editor didn't have a heart. Mia grinned and handed it to Amy.
"Go for it," Mia said. Writer's Block writhed as Mia and her characters surrounded him, telling him what they were doing next in the story, and when Amy stood right in front of him, Amy said, "You're a monster, Writer's Block. You deserve to die," and she stabbed him in the heart.
"I'll be back!" Writer's Block yelled as his writhing slowed to a dull stop, and he writhed no more.
"I'll be back?" Amy asked Mia.
The bubble faded, and someone else entered, someone Mia hadn't seen in a long time. Alaina wrapped her arms around Mia. "Welcome back," Mia said.
"How's the writing going?" Alaina asked.
"It's going well," Mia said. "Could be better." Alaina turned toward Amy, who had now pulled the pencil out of Writer's Block's chest; it too came out clean. These villains really were heartless. "What have you been up to?"
"I've been on a little vacation," Alaina said. "It's what happens during this time of the month."
Mia shook her head. "No, really, what have you been up to?" Mia asked. "I could have used you during the last few weeks."
"Don't worry, I'm back now," Alaina replied. "It's time to make this happen." Amy handed the pencil back to Mia, and Mia stashed it back in her bag as they settled on the trusty eraser bench to write. Eight thousand more words to go, Mia told herself as she began to write.
Have the enemies been vanquished? Will Mia finish NaNoWriMo with three days and 8000 words to go? I am a cruel human being for making you wait until Monday.
Feel free to link this on your blog, Twitter, whatever. Just don't pass this off as your own, and we're cool.
I highly encourage you to donate to the Office of Letters and Light, the nonprofit organization that runs NaNoWriMo, if you enjoy this tale of noveling madness. If you donate in the new year, your donor goodies will appear in the month before the event you donate to (NaNoWriMo or Script Frenzy).
If for some strange reason you're really into giving money to Internet strangers who write somewhat humorous things, I won't complain. You can do that at the link below.
This entry was posted in Wrimonia and tagged fiction, Wrimonia by Sushi. Bookmark the permalink.


We're all familiar with film noir—those dark, brooding, cynical tales of intrigue, passion, betrayal, and revenge—great films like Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, Night and the City, The Big Heat, Gun Crazy, Nightmare Alley, and Touch of Evil . There are hundreds of them and they flourished from the post-World War II years through the 1950s. Do a web search for "film noir" and get scores of results; the field is well documented.
This site exists to recognize those films that represent the opposite in style and values of film noir, and some have described that category as film blanc, or "white film".
Admittedly, this site works from a somewhat broader definition of the term "film blanc" than that described by Peter Valenti and others (below). In addition to films about the afterlife, it includes such related themes as time travel, reincarnation, dreams, ghosts, and alternate realities. Many of the films found here are often labeled as "romantic fantasies".
Peter Valenti, PhD, coined the term in his 1978 article in the Journal of Popular Film, The "Film Blanc": Suggestions for a Variety of Fantasy, 1940-45, reprinted here by permission.
On his DVD/Blu-ray review website, CineSavant, film authority Glenn Erickson defines films blanc as "fantasies, whimsical visions of life that deal with the great beyond, the afterlife, heaven and hell. They are usually romances or light morality plays, sometimes satirical, often sentimental." He specifically discusses film blanc in his review of the Criterion Collection Blu-ray release of Here Comes Mr. Jordan.
In her book, Celluloid Saviors: Angels and Reform Politics in Hollywood Films (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010), Dr. Emily Caston expands the definition of films blanc when she says they "...are films in which a saviour with extraordinary powers suspends the ordinary, known, laws of time and space in order to allow one or more ordinary human characters to reform themselves in life-changing ways. Almost always, these reforms result in a liberation to love and form true relationships within an authentic community. These films do not begin with the phrase 'once upon a time, ' but the question 'what if?'. Film blanc has as strong a presence in Hollywood cinema as its alter ego, film noir. ...Films blanc emphasize the endless positive potential of humans and resist the notion of evil as an immutable force. They celebrate tolerance, and reject tragedy or revenge, preferring to opt for forgiveness and acceptance as the resolution to human conflict."
In their writings, Lyn and Tom Davis Genelli discuss Peter Valenti's designation of film blanc, and introduce their term "transit films" as a genre identifier, "the better to acknowledge the wealth of Eastern spiritual wisdom, particularly Tibetan Buddhism, that added to our Western culture's understanding and attitude toward death and the beyond." Their book, Death At The Movies: Hollywood's Guide to the Hereafter, tells the story of the resurrection of the film blanc genre. The attached article (pdf), Fantasies of Death & Beyond, offers an introduction to their ideas and writings.
Lyn and Tom discuss spirituality and movies in this YouTube video.
The film synopses on this site are, by design, brief. In his book, Supernatural Romance in Film, Richard Striner offers thorough and insightful analyses of twenty-two motion pictures, most of which are listed on this site. Included are such films as Death Takes a Holiday, Topper, On Borrowed Time, Here Comes Mr. Jordan, Cabin in the Sky, A Guy Named Joe, Blithe Spirit, Stairway to Heaven, It's a Wonderful Life, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Portrait of Jennie, Brigadoon, Vertigo, Solaris, Somewhere in Time, Sliding Doors, and What Dreams May Come. Dr. Striner has graciously provided for our readers a new chapter for his book, about the film Berkeley Square. Recently, Dr. Striner authored a new book, Love in the Afterlife: Underground Religion in the Movies. It is a study of films that have been built around the themes of love, death, and the afterlife—films about lovers who meet again (and love again) in heaven, via reincarnation, or through other kinds of after-death encounters.
In her book,Giving Up the Ghost: Spirits, Ghosts and Angels in Mainstream Comedy Films(1998, Wayne State University Press), Katherine A. Fowkes states, "Peter Valenti coined the term 'film blanc' to describe some of the ghost films of the 1930s and 1940s. Contrasting these films to film noir, Valenti argues that these sentimental ghost films became popular during World War II because they provided reassurance that deceased loved ones were going to a better place and that they were dying for a higher cause."
In In Glorious Technicolor (2011, Chatto & Windus, London), author Francine Stock noted, "The afterlife is a popular location for 1940s cinema, so well visited in fact, that in the 1970s critic Peter L. Valenti coined the term film blanc for what he identified as a sub-genre." Stock cites It's a Wonderful Life, Between Two Worlds and A Guy Named Joe as notable examples of film blanc titles, and offers that "The greatest film blanc, of all, however, has to be Powell and Pressburger's masterpiece, A Matter of Life and Death (1946)... ."
The Internet Movie Database has recently added "film blanc" as a search keyword for titles on the site.
Made in direct contrast to film noir, film blanc -- literally white film -- most often depicts some aspect of the afterlife and promulgates the idea that earth is not as bad as people make it out to be. These films were quite popular in the late 1940s, post World War II, and have occasional resurgencies during times of renewed hope. Most often these films are comedic in orientation. "Its a Wonderful Life" (1946) is perhaps one of the best known examples of film blanc and "Heaven Can Wait" (1979) and "Always" (1989) are recent entries into this film category.
The Wiki-based open content dictionary, YourDictionary, gives a simple definition for film blanc: "A film characterized by an optimistic outlook, contrasting with film noir." The exact same definition appears in Wiktionary, which is a "sister project" of Wikipedia.
On Letterboxd, the "social network for film lovers," a member has posted a nice graphical list of classical and "neo-blanc" film blanc movies, based on Glenn Erickson's definition.
In any event, the field is not highly documented and the term, while apt, is not widely used. That is the purpose of this site— to raise awareness and appreciation of film blanc, as well as to identify and describe those motion pictures that fall under this category.
Film blanc movies typically involve themes of the afterlife, heaven and angels, hell and the devil, reincarnation, time travel and magic, as well as romantic love—and the stories are often presented whimsically and lighthearted. And with a strong sense of life affirming optimism, unlike the cynical pessimism of film noir.
The subtitle on this site, "The Cinema of Feel-Good Fantasies" refers to two other qualities of film blanc—successful ones often give the viewer a cheerfully sentimental state of "good feeling"; virtually all have strong fantasy elements, again in contrast to the hard realism of film noir.
Another term that is relevant to many of the themes of film blanc movies is "spirituality" in the broad, not necessarily religious, sense of the word. Stephen Simon who produced two of the films found on this site, Somewhere in Time and What Dreams May Come, and who founded the Spiritual Cinema Circle, wrote about the subject in his book, The Force Is With You: Mystical Movie Messages That Inspire Our Lives. One of his main criteria in defining spiritual cinema is helpful to describing film blanc, "...films that make you feel good about being human."
As in film noir, designating a film as a blanc is often subjective. While many of the titles here meet all or most of the criteria for such designation, some are only marginally blanc, but contain sufficient romantic interest, fantasy elements and "feel-good" qualities to warrant inclusion.
If you have a favorite film blanc movie that should be included here, send me an email.


Hi everyone! We've been getting lots of questions on our new Simplified Planners coming out this year, so I thought I'd gather them all here and give you the rundown.
Academic Daily Edition: This edition runs from August to the following July in a daily format (12 months). The contents of this Simplified Planner are the same as the others. $58 | Available for purchase May 6 at 10am EST in our shop and with our retailers worldwide. To view the page layout of the Daily editions, click here.
Calendar Daily Edition: This edition runs from January to the following December in a daily format (12 months). The contents of this Simplified Planner are the same as the others. $58 | Available for purchase September 9 at 10am EST in our shop and with our retailers worldwide. To view the page layout of the Daily editions, click here. *** We will have more stock of this specific edition than any other this year. So if the others sell out fast, fear not!! September 9 is the big day for this one.
17 Month Weekly: This edition runs from August to the following December in a weekly format (17 months). This will replace the current twelve month weekly format some of you are using now. We'll have a batch available with our Fall and Spring release this year. We created this 17 month format because we realized some women prefer to start their weekly planners in August with the school year and some preferred to start theirs in January with the calendar year. This way you can start it whenever you're ready and still use it for an entire year. The contents of this Simplified Planner are the same as the others. $58 | Available for purchase May 6 at 10am EST in our shop and with our retailers worldwide. To view the page layout of the weekly editions, click here.
We can't wait for you to see our three covers for this year on April 29 on Instagram! I'll also be posting a video that day outlining all the new features of the new Simplified Planners!


The mailings below will be deposited in the near future. Offices should honor the requested home delivery dates. Mailers wishing to participate in these alerts, for mailings of 1 million pieces or more, should contact Business Service Network Integration at 202-268-3258 at least 1 month preceding the requested delivery dates. The Postal Service™ also offers electronic Mail Alerts via ADVANCE. For more information, see the ADVANCE Notification & Tracking System Technical Guide on the Internet at http://ribbs.usps.gov/advance/documents/tech_guides/advtech.pdf or contact the National Customer Support Center at 800-238-3150.


I had Thursday and Friday off of work for the 4th of July, and my wife only had Friday, so Thursday was a "free" day for me. Free after I took the car to get smogged and took my son to a doctor's appointment, that is… So I decided to try some portable ops at the beach. My ATS-4 setup was at work, but it was so windy I was planning to stay in the car anyway, so I just took the Field Day setup – K2, tuner, battery, end-fed antenna, key, and mic. I drove 20 minutes to the spot I had in mind, parked the car… and realized I had left my antenna support pole at home. So 40 minutes later I was back and ready to set up.
I lashed the pole to a fence post in the parking area and rigged the antenna as an inverted V again, as I had on Field Day. But when I checked it on the antenna analyzer (without the tuner), it showed pretty terrible (over 7:1) SWR on every band except 10 and 17. This isn't what I remember Rob seeing when we tested the same setup before Field Day, although then we ran the wire as a sloper up to the top of the pole. Anyway, I decided to try 17m, but when I turned on the radio it came up on 15 and, even without tuning, I heard CW. So that was promising. But I switched to 17, tuned the antenna, and then scanned the phone subband to see what I could find. The first signal I came across was S57DX, Slavko, in Slovenia. Easily a 57 to 59, and working a modest pileup.
I tried repeatedly to QSO with him, but he never heard me. I tuned elsewhere around the band and tried to work some other stations but had similar lack of luck. Over the course of about three hours I heard several Brazilian stations (with World Cup special event calls), Cayman Islands, North Carolina, and Massachusetts (the latter two working the 13 Colonies special event). I tried numerous times to QSO with all of these, but didn't get so much as a QRZ. I also spent 20-30 minutes calling CQ in between other stations, but got no takers. All of this was on phone. When it was almost time for me to pack up and go home I switched to CW just to see if I could get spotted on the Reverse Beacon Network, but even that turned up nothing on both 15 and 17m.
Just before I shut down I tuned around and came back to S57DX in Slovenia. I heard him say he was going to go QRT soon and just work a few more stations, his pileup was trailing off. So I tried again to work him, and even at the end when he had no other callers, he just couldn't hear me at all.
After the enjoyment I had making a decent stack of contacts on Field Day, I was pretty disappointed to have nothing to show for three hours of operating on my day off. I did look at dxmaps.com and there were not very many spots showing at all. So by that metric, the bands did not seem very open. Maybe all the stations I was hearing were QRO. I'm also curious about why the antenna seemed to look so poor on the analyzer. I think I need to look into modifying the end-fed matchbox to use a counterpoise. As designed, it uses the coax braid for that and recommends a 25′ length. I only use a 10′ piece normally, and don't really want to cart around extra coax and have to set up the matchbox farther from my rig just to make the antenna more efficient. I'm not really sold on the idea of an antenna system that requires a tuner. I'm always operating at QRP power, so if the tuner is just giving me a nice match but the actual antenna SWR is 5:1 or 7:1, that seems kind of a waste of time. Perhaps instead I should try constructing some band-specific matchboxes that don't require the tuner.
About the only other thing I can mention is that I noticed an interesting variety of ignition noises from cars passing my operating position. There was a multilane road just behind where I was parked. Most cars generated a mild buzz. Junky old pickup trucks generated a nasty hash. And electric cars generated a unique steady hiss as they passed.
All my careful preparation paid off. On Saturday morning I was up and out the door only a few minutes later than I hoped to be. I backed out of the garage and tuned the radio to our pre-arranged repeater just in time to hear Wil and Rob making first contact. Wil was already en route, and Rob was just leaving his house. Fortunately my run across the bay was free of traffic, and my phone navigated me to the parking area flawlessly. Wil was a few minutes ahead of us up the trail, I met Rob in the parking lot and we set off. I was able to fasten my antenna pole to the side of my pack, and I brought my trekking poles for the trail, which I was really glad of because the first third of it was littered with loose hunks of rock. I wish I had a picture of myself on the trail because I'm pleased with how compact my setup was.
The hike to our chosen site took 20-30 minutes and was modest on the arduousness scale, in my opinion. Wil was waiting for us at the top, so we got to work setting up our gear. Wil and Rob set up the sun shelter and I cabled up my radios, then got to work putting up the end-fed antenna. I lashed my support pole to a nearby bench, tied one end of the radiator to it, and extended the pole, but it quickly became apparent that it wasn't far enough from our operating position; the wire was going to trail on the ground too much. After consulting with Rob, we decided to run the wire as an inverted V. I attached the 9:1 un-un to the top of our sun shelter and ran the radiator through the eyelet at the tip of the pole, then extended it up. After some adjustments it looked great, with the loose end tied off to a nearby bush. A 20′ length of coax to the rig completed the setup.
I was amazed at how perfect our site was. The view west was of the San Francisco bay and skyline, Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate bridge. To the east we could see reservoirs, and then rolling hills stretching away to the horizon. The ridge we were on was at about 1500′ of elevation and dropped away steeply to either side, so I expected good takeoff angles for our antennas.
Pretty soon we were all set up, and I think we were on the air by 11:30am, 30 minutes after the official start. I took 15m CW, Wil took 20m phone and Rob took 40m PSK31. I made my first CW contact after a few minutes, but it was tough. I'm rusty after a few weeks off, and even though the other station was slow and patient, I was flustered and could hardly even ask them for repeats correctly. I'm lucky they just sent them anyway a couple of times, eventually I got it nailed down. But it sapped my confidence a bit, and I spent the next few minutes playing around with recording a CW macro to call CQ for me, and calling a few times with no takers. I decided to test out the new mic setup for the K2, so I went up to the phone band and found a loud station calling CQ. I called back, and after a couple of tries I worked them. Success! I continued up the band working stations that I heard calling, and racked up 10-15 contacts while running 10 watts. I was impressed.
Once the stations petered out near the top of the band, I tuned back down among them, found an open frequency, and decided to try calling CQ a bit. It didn't take long before someone came back to me, so I kept at it, holding the frequency for awhile and making another 10 or so contacts that way. I called nonstop with just a short pause to listen for people coming back, and it seemed to work.
Wil seemed to be having OK luck on 20m, but it was challenging because it was wall to wall stations, many of them really loud, and he was just running 35 watts. He tried 10m but it was dead, and Rob was hearing no PSK31 on 40m, so they switched – Rob went to 20m and Wil went to 40. On 20 Rob heard massive amounts of PSK31, but struggled to work any of it using his Nexus 7 tablet and DroidPSK app. The touch interface of the app made it hard to select signals to QSO with, and it was easy to tap the wrong place and exit the app entirely, which happened once in the middle of a QSO. This despite the fact that he had a bluetooth physical keyboard attached. If the app had had a keyboard shortcut mode that removed the need for touch input he might have had better luck.
Wil left around 2:30pm having made 10 contacts or so. Rob and I stuck around until 4, with him only making 2, and me making 30+. Our gear packed away pretty easily and soon we were back at the trail head and on our way home.
I'm really pleased with how Field Day went this year, speaking for myself at least. Last year I think we spent more time setting up and breaking down our gear than we actually spent on the air, and we didn't make many contacts. Obviously I'm pleased to have made a decent haul myself this year, maybe Rob and Wil would say they were more disappointed not to get very many. But you couldn't beat the location or the weather, that's for sure. It was nice being in a public spot, and we had quite a few hikers ask us what we were up to, and everyone was interested. Rob had a good spiel to explain briefly what it was all about, he was great for PR!
I'm also really happy that I put in the effort to perfect a simple portable station with power and antennas that could be set up very easily. As my friend Majdi, N0RMZ, pointed out, "You live in a fault zone." I've made other earthquake preparations of course, but HF capability could come in handy should there be a "big one" while I'm living here. In thinking about it, now I understand more clearly why the ARRL terms Field Day a "preparedness exercise," and awards bonus points if you pass message traffic. Practicing the act of communicating, including speaking clearly, confirming a message and writing it down, is fundamental to being useful in a disaster scenario.
For next year, about the only thing I would do differently is bring only one battery and also leave the extra 20′ length of RG-8X coax I brought at home. The battery was a significant extra weight in my bag, and I only brought it in case Wil needed it for his phone station. For almost 5 hours of use my battery only drained a little over 1/4 of a volt.
So that's a wrap until 2015! Now here are some photos.
San Francisco, Alcatraz and the Golden Gate bridge to the west, and… the rest of America to the east.
On the air! Rob's Buddistick to the left, my end-fed wire coming down in the middle, Wil's Buddipole in the background/right.
The whole site. My end-fed in an inverted V configuration to the left.
Public information flyers for a 100 point bonus.
For my previous two Field Days I set up on the roof deck at my rowing club on San Francisco bay with Rob, AK6L. But the site has some drawbacks: it can be incredibly windy, we have sometimes had bad QRM from local electrical sources, and the physical act of setting up and breaking down gear (hauling it up three flights of stairs and clamoring around on a roof) is very arduous. Last year we spent more time setting up and breaking down than we spent on the air, with precious few contacts to show for it.
This year there was some talk that Rob's dad would fly out from Minnesota for the event, and my co-worker Wil, W6FU (yes, really), was also interested in joining us. He and Rob both live in the East Bay, so it seemed like picking a site there would be more fair to them from a travel perspective. After a bit of Google Maps research we homed in on the Sea View trail inside Tilden Park in Berkeley. It seemed to afford great elevation for signals from the east, good distance from any household electronics that could cause QRM, and reasonably easy access. Rob agreed to scout the area on foot ahead of time, and reported that there was a prime spot at the top of the ridge with great views and a picnic table and benches we could make use of. His attempted hiking route was pretty arduous, but after further research he found another that looked a little easier, so we settled on this for our site.
Rob pointed out that this operation would be really in the spirit of Field Day, as we would be, "In an actual field!" We would also be using battery power and portable radios and antennas. The plan was for each of us to bring his own self-contained station. Rob would bring his KX3 and Buddistick and work PSK31, Wil would bring his FT-857D and Buddipole and work voice, and I would bring my K2 and an end-fed half wave wire and telescoping pole for an antenna, and work CW.
I didn't have a battery suitable for running my K2 for long periods of time, I thought, so I invested in two 7Ah SLA batteries. Both together would be way more power than I needed, but I got them on Amazon for $22 each and free 2 day Amazon Prime shipping. Wil only had one SLA, and since his rig can put out 100 watts, I thought having a spare he could use could come in handy. I bought spade connectors and made up some spade to PowerPole cables, and also bought a PowerPole splitter so I could power my K2 and my LDG autotuner. But I realized that if I wanted to run the two batteries in parallel, the easiest way would be to use some spade T connectors. I ordered some from Amazon Supply, but for once Prime shipping let me down and they did not arrive in time.
I built a matching transformer for an end-fed antenna recently, and tried using it at home with a ~30 foot long wire running up the back of my apartment building to the roof. But SWR with it was poor on all bands (though it is intended to be used with a tuner) and it just seemed deaf. I heard little and only received one or two spots over numerous operating sessions. I was worried that it wasn't going to be suitable for Field Day. It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago so I took the day off work, and Rob offered to help me set up the EFHW out in the open and see if we got better results. I read on W2LJ's blog that a 53′ radiator for it is one of the optimum lengths, so we went to the beach at Crissy Field on San Francisco bay and set up with that. My antenna analyzer showed SWR below 2:1 on most bands, except for 20m. We didn't make any contacts on that outing, but it seemed like proof that the antenna would work. Just in case, I also brought my 20m dipole setup to Field Day.
I packed all my gear on Friday night so that on Saturday morning I could just get up and go. Into my big frame pack went the batteries, log book, K2, tuner, HT, various coax lengths (mostly RG-316, which I am now a big fan of for portable ops), power cables, antenna wires, headphones, mic, key, sunscreen, and two 750ml bottles of water. I also packed a sandwich and a bag of cherries for fuel.
I bought the Elecraft hand mic kit for my K2 a couple of years ago but never got around to using it. Doing so involves opening up the radio and soldering a bias resistor across two pins on the microphone jack. I impulsively decided to do this at 9pm Friday night, in case I wanted to operate voice during FD. I pulled the K2's front panel off easily, but then I noticed that one of the screws that holds the control panel board onto the housing was loose. I went to tighten it, and it wouldn't. Investigation revealed that it threads into a standoff with two lock washers on top. Visions of these falling off and shorting things when I was operating would not allow me to just leave it alone, but fixing it was going to require removing all the front panel knobs so I could put pliers to the spacer while tightening the screw. Thus a five minute soldering job ended up taking me an hour. I didn't get to bed until midnight.
Recently I went to Boston to visit my parents for 10 days. I like to get on the air from different locations, especially the east coast of the US because I can hear Europe much better there. On one previous trip I brought almost my entire home station with me – it was pretty ridiculous. Other times I have borrowed a friend's Norcal 40A CW transceiver, but my CW skill was much too weak to make much use of it. But a few months ago I finished building a KD1JV ATS-4a transceiver, and I started using it at lunch time on work days, trying to practice CW regularly. I've gotten good enough, and come up with a portable station compact enough, that I was looking forward to getting on the air on this trip.
My portable station now consists of the ATS-4a, a no-name 3Ah LiPo battery, 10 feet of RG-316 coax, a simple plastic dipole interface thingy, and an American Morse Equipment Porta-Paddle. With a properly tuned dipole this setup works really nicely and is very light. I also had been thinking about buying an antenna analyzer, so before this trip I finally pulled the trigger and bought a YouKits FG-01A.
Last time I visited my parents I brought some wire and cut a 40 meter dipole, and since I had some left over I went ahead and made up 20m and 15m ones as well, and left them tucked away for a future trip. So this time I thought I would try an antenna design I've always been interested in, the fan dipole.
My parents have a 3 story house with a small porch facing the back yard on the middle floor. They have a large yard, with a tall tree on one side and a garage on the other. I thought I would try to hang the dipole using the tree and garage as supports, with the feedpoint near the porch, so I could sit there or in the living room to operate. After measuring things out and rummaging in the garage for useful items, my dad and I took a trip to Lowes and bought 100′ of clothesline rope, a ball of twine, a package of small zip ties, some heavy steel washers, and some $5 wire strippers.
My dad helped me rig everything up, which was cool. I explained antenna resonance and why the lengths of the wires mattered. One problem we had was that there is a smaller tree in between the porch and the garage, which was going to make lowering and raising the antenna repeatedly infeasible. This also led me to give up on the 15m wire because there wasn't enough vertical space for it. Jason, NT7S, pointed out that the 40m wire should also work on 15m because 15m is a harmonic of 40.
In the end I took all the rope up to the garage roof, heaved it over the small tree, and dad pulled it up to the porch. He attached one leg of the 40m wire to the rope with zip ties, then tied the end of one leg of the 20m wire to the rope with 12″ of twine, using washers to weight it down. Then I pulled all that back across to the garage. Then we attached the other wire legs to the remaining rope, I climbed the pine tree, dragging the rope up behind me, and tied it off. My dad lashed a pole to the porch to hold the antenna up a few feet above the railing, I hooked up the coax, and turned on the new antenna analyzer.
The analyzer showed pronounced dips in SWR at about 6.400 MHz and 13.500 MHz. Not bad, just a little too long! I climbed back up on the garage roof and up the pine tree and cut off 6″ from each end of the 40m wire. Checked it again and it was better, but still too long. 7″ more removed, and the dip was right at 7.000! Shortening the 20m wire was easier because it was only attached to the rope at the end. I just cut 12″ off at the feedpoint and it matched up nicely. The antenna did look OK on 15m too, though the SWR was a bit higher, in the 2.5:1 range instead of below 2.
Performance on the air proved that the antenna was working nicely. Over the next few days I made contacts with WA4HHC (FL), WE4G (KY), VE2ZA (Montreal), LZ2RS (Bulgaria), 9A2AJ (Croatia), SM7ZDI (Sweden), HA8WZ (Hungary), RA6AN (Russia), K1USN (Braintree, MA, the next town over!), and K3RNC (MD). Most of these were on 20m, a couple on 40m. I heard many other stations but couldn't work them, sometimes because they couldn't hear me, other times they were just going too fast and working a pileup. I made good use of the Reverse Beacon Network, though sometimes I think I spent too much time staring at that and jumping to a spot frequency hoping to hear someone, instead of just calling CQ or tuning listening for callers. Also I had much better luck at night than during the day for some reason, even on the weekends.
It was good to get some more CW practice, and I was really pleased with how well the antenna worked. I would definitely try that design again in the future. It was also cool to see the antenna analyzer in action. Of course there are always things you would try or do differently next time. Because of the layout of things in the yard, the legs of the dipole were not perfectly straight. I ended up with a horizontal V shape, with maybe a 120 deg. opening instead of 180 deg. If I'd had a longer feedline I could probably have made it straight, and I wonder how much difference that would have made.
Also, my parents' house is built into the side of a small slope. The antenna was probably about 20′ off the ground directly below it, but just on the other side of the house it would only have been maybe 6′ off the ground. I don't see many options for getting it up higher, although it did occur to me that I could try to hang it up in their attic. That would probably get it more than 30′ off the ground. Could be interesting to try.
Here are some pictures of the setup. First, the SWR plots before adjustment. The frequency shown is where the SWR is lowest.
Then, the plots after adjustment. Center frequency is set to my desired target, I was still a little long but close enough.
Finally, some pictures of the antenna itself. It's always hard to photograph wire in the air, though. Note what looks like (and is) an old car rearview mirror on top of the center support pole. My parents are avid bird watchers, and use this contraption to look into bird nests to see if there are any eggs!
My first Field Day has come and gone, and with the benefit of a day's reflection I can offer this account of the fun. But first, take a look at my pictures here.
After finalizing our preparations, Rob (AK6L) and I agreed that we would aim to arrive at the rowing club at 10am and plan to be there potentially until 8pm. Field Day started at 11am, but we weren't expecting to break any records or haul in a huge number of points (though I didn't know what to expect really). Rob took Friday off to finish the bandpass filters and also to build an interface that would let him use his aircraft intercom headset with his FT-950. Unfortunately the filters took longer than expected, and the headset interface needed some further tweaking, and Rob was also bringing 3/4 of the gear. As a result he ended up running late, and we didn't get to start setting up until a bit after 12pm.
I made a valiant attempt to string up the shade tarp on my own, but we had winds gusting up to 26mph, and on the third floor of a building on the waterfront it just wasn't going to happen. It wasn't until Nick arrived that we got that under control – it took the loan of 100 lbs of barbell weights to hold the windward corner down.
Once Rob got there we unloaded all the gear from his car, he went and parked, and then came back and started setting up the Buddipole. Nick and I finally got the tarp sorted out, and then I helped Rob roll out the wire for our second dipole antenna (around 100' perpendicular to the Buddipole) and secure the guy lines. We used water-filled patio umbrella bases for weight, a clever idea credited to Rob's girlfriend Denise, who originally suggested it when I was looking for a way to support a free-standing dipole on my old apartment's roof.
Once we got the antennas up we were pretty hungry, so Nick went and picked up some food for us. Rob and I worked on getting all the radios, tuners, power supplies, and amplifiers going. Rob had to make a couple of PowerPole pigtails, and I had to get familiar with his FT-817. We didn't make our first contacts until around 4pm.
Rob used his FT-950 and focused on making phone contacts, mostly on 40m. Just as we got started he encountered heavy QRM across the band. I set up his FT-817 with his Tokyo Hy-Power HL-45b amplifier and focused on making PSK31 contacts. I started out on 15m, but there wasn't too much action there, so I switched to 20m and found a lot more. I made a few contacts, but I was only able to get about 10 watts out of the amp, which made it hard to get through when people were calling CQ, and made it pointless to call CQ myself. Eventually there was someone calling CQ with quite a bit of power, right in the middle of the PSK31 window. Even with AGC turned off, which is how I always operate PSK31, the strength of the other signal attenuated the rest of the band and made decoding difficult. I made a comment about it, and Nick said, "That's what inferior dynamic range looks like."
I had brought my Elecraft K2 with the thought that we would set it up as a GOTA station, to earn a few extra points. In the end, since we were so behind schedule and we weren't sure what antenna we should set up with it, we punted on that idea. Fortunately, I decided to grab the external amp keying circuit that I built for it when I was packing, so we decided to try using it with the HL-45b amp. It turned out that this setup worked much better – I was able to get 40 watts out of the amp, and the dynamic range of the K2 handled the strong signals much better. That was an interesting experience, because I've never had a chance to compare the K2 with any other rig side by side like that.
At one point in the afternoon, we watched a destroyer sail into the bay. When it got close enough that we could read the number on her bow, we looked it up: the USS Dewey, DDG-105, and Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer. Pretty neat!
KPH, the historic RCA coast station that Nick and I volunteer at, is also the west coast outlet for the Field Day bulletin. Copying it earns you 100 extra points, so I made sure to do that at 6:30pm. I found them broadcasting RTTY on 20m and managed to capture the whole message. At 7:30pm the sun was starting to set, the wind was picking up again, and I remembered that I had told Catherine I would be home around 8. After polling the guys, we decided to knock off. It took a solid hour to break everything down, and that was it for this Field Day.
In spite of our meager haul of points, I had a lot of fun, and I think Nick and Rob did too. We had glorious weather, other than the high winds, and you really can't ask for a more beautiful spot than the San Francisco waterfront, with the Golden Gate bridge and Alcatraz right in front of you. Still, there are definitely some things that we would do differently next year. For one thing, get there earlier! Of course, next time Rob won't have to custom-build a bunch of filters and and a headset interface ahead of time, and now we know how to set up the antennas. Still, setup definitely took a lot longer than we expected. We also could drop some gear off the day before, to save ourselves some unloading time.
I also think next time we won't set up the tarp. There's a small, empty storage room off the roof deck, where we got power for our setup. We could have just set up in there, except when we first scoped out the building I didn't have access to it, and even when we did, we didn't have enough coax to reach. Operating from there would have saved us a lot of time.
Now I know that my K2 can outperform Rob's FT-817, at least in contest conditions; that's really what the K2 was made for, whereas the 817 is made to be a great portable all-mode rig. Next time I'll probably just use the K2 from the get-go. The other upshot of this is that I know its controls instinctively now. Not only is the 817 new to me, but because of its small size the control interface is very, very menu-driven which just makes it harder.
As Rob said, this Field Day was in large part just a proof of concept for operating from the rowing club. It's obviously an excellent location, weather-permitting, so we're definitely going to try and operate more contests from there. I may even look into operating there just in general, on weekend days, because I'll be able to set up a much better antenna than I have at home. I'm already thinking about what simple antenna system I could keep in my locker for easy setup!
Rob (AK6L) and I decided to go for it and work at least some of Field Day this year from my rowing club on San Francisco bay. We met down there last Sunday so that we could scout possible locations to set up. There are several good spots, but in the end we decided to use the top floor roof deck. Although the second floor lounge room with balcony might be somewhat more comfortable, we would probably only be able to set up one antenna, and it would have to run over the patio and down the dock, potentially attracting more attention than I would like. Also taking over a chunk of the lounge room for a day of "CQ FIELD DAY, CQ FIELD DAY" seemed like it would not likely be appreciated by everyone.
Although the roof deck is out in the open rather than indoors, it gives us access to the very large, flat roof, perfect for antennas. After measuring things out, it looks like we can easily set up two wire dipoles at 90 degrees to each other and tune them with our respective LDG autotuners. We're also going to set up a "Get On The Air" station, since we'll be in a visible spot. Rowing club members are likely to drop by and see what we're up to, and having a GOTA table earns us some extra points. If people make enough contacts with it, the bonus is bigger.
I'm going to bring my K2, and Rob is going to bring his FT-950 and FT-817. He just fixed the external amp he has which goes with the 817 (which I fried…), so we'll have a maximum of 15 watts with the K2, 100 watts with the 950, and 45 watts with the 817. Rob is also going to bring his Buddipole portable antenna.
The plan is for me to operate mostly digital, with Rob mostly on phone. Nick says he's up for hanging out and possibly operating a bit as well – at least he'll probably be handy for helping Rob log phone contacts and overseeing the GOTA station if anyone actually wants to use it. I'm not sure if I'll use the FT-817 for digital, in order to get some more power out, or the K2. I'm more familiar with the K2, but it is limited to 5w for full duty cycle modes like PSK31.
I'm going to bring all my portable antenna gear, and Rob is currently working on building a set of five bandpass filters (necessary for operating two or more stations in close proximity). We'll have mains power on hand, and I'm bringing a big tarp to give us some shade. Basically, although I'm sure we're going to forget some things, we should be able to run a pretty nice setup there. I'll be curious to see how well our signals get out from there, given our proximity to San Francisco bay, and also if we experience any QRM. We should have an excellent takeoff angle to the east, but there's a hill just west of us that might cut down our trans-Pacific DX. We'll see.
Here are a couple of shots of the amp mounted on the heatsink. I was right that the PA transistors are sitting too high at the moment, so I'll need to remount them so they sit flush with the heatsink.
I finally realized a few weeks ago that I have way too many ongoing projects in my life. I've taken on various volunteer responsibilities at the rowing club (ironic since I almost never get down there to row), I have 3-4 repair projects to finish on the scooter, not to mention washing it, and I now have two ham radio projects on my plate. In addition to the amplifier, I have the ATS-4a kit which I bought in January, still sitting unbuilt. If you're reading closely, you may recall that I had posted that I bought an ATS-4b. Upon closer inspection of the kit recently, it turns out that what I have is a 4a. The seller was mistaken about it, but it's OK. The differences are very minor – the 4b seems to have a slightly better screen and an updated AGC circuit, neither of which is critical to me.
I've resolved to focus on one project at a time and try to clear this backlog of stuff, because in 4 months I'm going to become a dad, and then I suspect I will have almost NO free time! So 2 weeks ago Nick and I went to the rowing club to use the drill press there and try to do some of the metalwork needed to make progress on the amp. First I spent probably over an hour laboriously cutting a hole in the top of my steel enclosure for the amp PCB to attach through. By the time I was done I was firmly reminded of why an all-aluminum box would have been a lot better. I also managed to cut the hole slightly too wide on the ends, so the heatsink can't cover it completely. $#%#$%! It's not too big of a deal, I'll just have to cover it with some tape.
Next we marked and drilled all the holes in the heatsink, using a center punch to get us started. It would have been better to do this before assembling the amp for two reasons. First, I could have marked the holes more accurately with the PCB sitting flat on the board. Second, when finished I could have physically mounted the transistors and THEN soldered them to the board, thus ensuring that they sat flush on the heatsink. Now I'm probably going to have to rework or even remove them when I mount the board to make sure everything mates up properly.
With the holes drilled we started the process of tapping them for the 4-40 screws. I've never tapped holes before, so Nick showed me how and we did two of them, and then called it a day. I planned to do the rest on my own. There are a total of 12 holes to tap in the aluminum heatsink. I worked on the rest over a couple of evenings this past week, did two more this morning, and I have four to go. It has taken me a bit to get the hang of tapping, but I think I've got it down now. I just work the tap forward and backward a bit at a time, stop and go in reverse a few turns every now and then, and after 4-5 full turns I remove it and clean out the chips. I'm able to do a hole in about 20 minutes now I think, where it was taking me 45 when I started.
Once this is done I should be able to mount the amp to the heatsink, and then Nick and I can test it more and try to get it tuned and dialed in. After that, we'll need to integrate the LPF board and band select knob, and then whip up a keying relay.
Rob (AK6L) and I are talking about working field day together this year, possibly from the rowing club since it's right on San Francisco bay. Nick might join us as well. It would be great to have the amp in usable condition by then, but I'm not sure it's feasible given how much more work we have to do.
I've continued to try and practice morse code, focusing mostly on numbers since that's the main group of characters that I don't know well. It feels like it has gotten harder though, working with close to 40 chars. It's a real struggle to keep up and have any kind of accuracy, even at an effective speed of only 4wpm (20wpm character speed). I just need to keep practicing. Part of me feels like maybe I should just get on the air and start making CW QSOs, but I'd really have to rely on the computer to copy for me, so I'm not sure it would help me get better. Once the amp is done though, I'll want to get my ATS-4a built, and that rig can only do CW. If I can learn it, I'll be able to operate remotely from almost anywhere, with minimal accessories, and that really does appeal to me.
Once I make more physical progress on the amp I'll post some pictures!
Here are a few pictures of the amplifier parts I have so far.
First, the enclosure with heatsink resting on top.
The amplifier resting on the heatsink.
The low pass filter board.


text:
Матеуш Моравецький (пол. Mateusz Jakub Morawiecki; нар. 20 червня 1968, Вроцлав) — польський державний діяч, віцепрем'єр уряду, міністр розвитку і фінансів. Прем'єр-міністр Польщі з 8 грудня 2017.
 Корнель Моравецький, Корнель Анджей Моравецький (пол. Kornel Andrzej Morawiecki; нар. 3 травня 1941 — 30 вересня 2019, Варшава) — польський політик і державний діяч.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


text:
Q: ServiceNow - create custom JSON web service I'm developing a mobile app that displays a list of projects, tasks and subtasks. It is important that I can get all the records in one call to SN
for example:
{"records":[
  {  ....
    "name": "Project One",
    "parent_tasks": [....
      "short_description": "Parent task 1"
      "subtasks": [
         "short_description":"Subtask 1.1"
      ]
    ]
  }

]}

so I decided to build my own web service that will generate a JSON response. As far as I know scripted web services can produce only WSDL, is there any way to get data in JSON format?
I also tried to create Database View, but it seems like it is not possible to get all the info I need in one view.
What would be the best approach generate required data in JSON format?

A: You will want to consider creating a processor. The following post offers some guidance. http://www.john-james-andersen.com/blog/service-now/create-your-own-rest-based-servicenow-web-service.html
Currently scripted web services in ServiceNow only support SOAP.
Curious about your requirement that "It is important that I can get all the records in one call to SN for example". Why do you need all this data returned in a single response?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
Q: IntelliJ IDEA Code Folding I started using IntelliJ IDEA to write Java, and one thing kinda annoys me.
When I fold a one-line method, it looks like this:
.
Is there any way to make it look like this?

A: Settings -> Editor -> General -> Code Folding. There is an entry 'One-line methods', which is marked by default. You can uncheck this checkbox to get rid of inconvenient code folding. There are shortcuts for folding/unfolding single method by combination Ctrl + '-'/Ctrl + '+', or all methods in a file by combinations Ctrl + Shift + '-'/Ctrl + Shift + '+'

A: Select the text when the code is "folded" and press CTRL +  .

A: Its the behavior for short one-liners
for more complex methods this will show as screenshot 2


Time to take a spin around Idol genre and see what we can find.
As you can see from this video they are an interesting group with a cute look.
Cheeky Parade's debut single BUNBUN NINE9 has sold 23,522 copies! I'm so proud of the girls! After an awesome indie single, I really expected Cheeky Parade to come back strong with a good single, and they really reached my expectations. SUPER☆GiRLS has been in a slump lately (in song quality, bot sales), and if they don't step it up, Cheeky Parade could become iDOL Street's best group. Congratulations Cheeky Parade!
Also, Shiritsu Ebisu's third single, Ume has sold 41,423 copies, landing third on the weekly oricon charts! This a huge jump from their last single, which sold around 20k. I think that ebichu is getting some attention, because momoclo has gotten really popular. I think that this is a good thing because I want them to be popular with the international fanbase, like momoclo is. They have so much talent and craziness. Let's hope they keep aiming higher!
Palet, PASSPO☆'s sister group will be releasing their second mini album, SEVEN DESTINY. I haven't really seen any performances from then, except Mune no Button, which was off of their first mini album, Hello, Palet. It's scary how radically different Palet is from their sister group! Hopefully, the girls debut soon with a single of their own!
Recently I conducted an E-Mail interview with the J-Pop Inspired Chile cover group Battle no Jidai .This was an interesting interview as there was issues with language differences and Pure Idol Heart still learning about the group .However despite all the issues we somehow made it work .
At the start I asked that one member of their choosing please give a brief history and talk about their CD campaign. Following that the members as best they could conducted the remaining interview. Because it is their words that have meaning ,I have left the interview the way they explained things. It may not all translate well in English , but it does give it extra charm points for trying.
We are a "Battle no Jidai" group of four girls we do covers of Jpop Idols influences.
We are girls that we conquer hearts from the most remote in the world, we live far away from Japan, from South America in the city of Santiago of Chile., each one has mysterious powers, each represent colors and very entertaining features!
How did Battle no Jidai start? Who came up with the name?
It all started at the beginning of 2012, there were four girls who we actively go in a group dance, but with the passage of time we wanted to perform singing also! To be a band with solid foundations and professional, we resort to a producer call EXP Chile, who helped us to achieve a concept and our great name "Warrior's day, artists at night!".
Please tell us about your CD funding campaign?
It is a website at the global level of financing collective calling Independiente, which focuses on music, art and education projects that focuses on LatinoAmerica as a pioneer project. Very popular in USA, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and Francia.
About the CD, can you tell readers a little about the songs you will do for the CD?
Yes, we will make a compilation of songs that we've played so far, we have a weakness with the groups indies and classics of the Jpop. But we will have Momoiro Clover, AKB48, Tanpopo, Watarirouka Hashiritai, Athena no Rokibetsu, versions soloists and adaptations by us to the Spanish.
If your successful in your CD funding campaign, will fans be able to buy the CD if they do not live in Chile?
Although we can not reach to complete the financing we will fight by having the CD this 2013. As the CD will be digital, will be on sale through our page web via downloads online, so everyone can have it!
Aiko: At first I got very nervous, but with each presentation we make me relax more and more while on the stage. I think that however you thrill me much do to the public interact more with us and make more wotagei!
ChibiChan: Mmmm. ..me I put nervous and I touch me and I think about that I am going to mistake or was forgot me something!
Maichan : I am very detailed, so I get very anxious a week before any event. My mission is to give much encouragement to girls so they are quiet and with much encouragement! On stage I'm another person!
Reitan: Wow when I'm onstage I'm happy, I transformed and I forget everything, of course, that before uploading I'm almost dying in nerves... but stop being faced with the public makes everything that you forget me.
How did you get interested in Japanese Idol Music? What Idol groups inspire you?
Aiko: The music Idol interested me because turns out to be very positive and raises the spirit when one needs it. Many groups indie they inspire me since its effort is appreciated and its coolness in the setting, but the one that but defines is me Momoiro Clover! I believe their concerts and music they have defined a new generation of entertainment in the kind Idol.
ChibiChan: The groups that I inspire is me in Momoiro Clover and Affilia Saga East, because happiness gives me and emotion, I knew the Jpop and the idols by the openings and endings to encourage, the first one was AKB48.
Maichan: Since very small i have liked the Jpop, when I knew all the kinds, the one that has inspired me to be like I am is the music idol, is so clear in its messages, positive and gives me forces to continue listening it. I know many groups, but the ones that but I emphasize for my influence as the artist in BnoJ they are: AKB48, Dempagumi.inc, Tanpopo, Momoiro Clover Z and some groups Indies.
Being an Idol group in Chile performing Japanese Idol songs, how have the crowd reactions been at your concerts?
Aiko: Me do not I consider an Idol, neither I believe that deserve that title, but is amused to be able to have the opportunity to interpret themes Idol that fascinate me next to people as valuable as Mai, Chibi and Rei and of course EXP Productions. The best is that we have passed it very well.
ChibiChan: At the beginning they think that alone we dance or that we double the songs or we are cosplayers, but is not thus, in the end them likes a lot and they dance next to we, i like!
Maichan: I am very happy, always I have imposed me goals to comply and to be with the girls, as to be able to interpret and to adapt songs of my artists preferred is the best than I can have and to deliver. The idols alone can exist in Japan, but does not mean that we can transmit his music and the essence that we want to deliver! When we present us always I try to look at to the eyes and to deliver a great smile! With applauses or alone that look at the show, already I is a polite one! We want to diffuse the wotagei!
Reitan: To the majority of the people charms them, is pretty to see all singing with nostras, and if not... smiling and after each show an applause is the reward... that does me very happy.
In our greeting conversations, Battle no Jidai said that one of your goals was to spread your fan base to many countries.
Have you been able to perform outside of Chile?
Aiko: My dream is that they know us but in Mexico; for my represents a critical public and that knows a lot of the world Idol, therefore is a challenge for BnoJ. We expect of all ways the support of other Latin-American countries and I hope to be able to travel to many places and to diffuse the culture Idol and Wota.
ChibiChan: If! I want to go to Mexico, Peru and to arrive some day to arrive at Japan next to the girls. Also diffuse the Jpop idol in every Chile and later to travel to nearby places.
Maichan: I would like a lot of to be able to go to Argentina, Peru or Colombia. But a great dream is to go to Mexico, always I have seen that there is Wotas very impassioned and desirous of but groups covers of its artists preferred, as also to go with every BnoJ to sing to Akihabara! We will try to negotiate some Tour and also to continue travelling by every Chile.
Reitan: Serious magnificent to go out of Chile and that all to know what we do... so if we have the opportunity we will go where be! hahahaha!
Aiko: Improving my quality in dance, to succeed in which propose me and to deliver all the spirit and passion next to Battle not Jidai!
ChibiChan: Heeem, many trials, presentations and events! Having but you brought and to perfect us but as group.
Maichan: Being very successful and professional! It is very difficult what we carry out, all have university careers and works that to fight. We want to achieve a Cd and suits each time but beautiful!
Reitan: The idea is to record our digital CD, and to improve in every environment to present a better show each time.
Closing comments from the group.
We want to thank to all for its support and comprehension, lacks us a lot by learning!
I am not one who really likes to write about my life ,while my friends say that I should be proud of things that take place in it and with my daughter's music careers and be more open.
For some time now my two daughters have been preparing for their music career debuts ,something that is important to me to see them follow my career path.
This made me think of how they can one day be someone`s oshimen. Well that`s not completely right as the oldest is entering rock music ,while the younger is walking the Idol group road ,so I guess really one can be an oshimen. While both are on different roads of Independent music ,it`s the oshimen road in Independents that I want to discuss.
I have made it no secret that when it comes to Idol genre or music in general ,I love supporting Independent small known groups, it`s just something special about these little known ,a challenge to follow groups that make makes them more exciting to me.
When I think about how my youngest could now become someone`s oshimen ,I end up thinking about the whole Idol-wota dynamic ,and how fans will be buying her merchandise and collecting Idol memories.
You know ,to this day I still remember the smiling face that was Okada Yukiko more than I do that tragic last day of her life. That is the memory I hold on to.
If Idol fans are memory collectors , then surely that makes oshimen ,Idols the memory creators, yet it is much deeper than that in many ways.
The road to fame for Independent artists can often be difficult , if you were not successful first and then decided to go back to your Independent roots. One only has to look at this recent show with Steamgirls to see the road can have many difficulties along the way. Yet you can`t judge every group by this example or the reasons they face difficulties by it.
When you're supporting a group such as Steamgirls or any Independent ,the system is designed so that you feel that you're directly helping their success. You're asked at the door which group your tickets is for , after lives the groups sell their merchandise themselves ,not some merchandise company or agency staffers as the Idols leave the arena by some backdoor. So you're buying CDs ,shirts ,towels and so on from the members you support, from their own hands ,allowing you to create better friendships, while respecting that magical border between Idol and fan. Your voice , your actions have meaning to these groups.
The Idols become our little or in some cases big sisters . Independent Idols and fans are banded together like rampaging armies for Idol microstates moving from venue to venue in a meaningful ballet march as one .With our Idols leading the way ,the memories they create that night and the memories we collect are treasures to claim at journeys end.
Every Idol microstate has its own story to tell and its own tribe of followers and in some ways that hurts the overall growth of Independents as a genre, but that is a story for another time.
I don`t know the outcome of the road that my daughters will take on their music careers or anyone`s daughter entering music . Both are talented and whatever their career results, their experiences will be something special to both of them and the fans that decide to support them.
How do I know that ? well it`s simple , where there are oshimen and Idols the memory creators ,there will be the fans ,the battle scarred knights collecting those memories ,until the final curtain call, and there is no more memories to create.
Kikkawa Yuu has released the videos for her seventh single on YouTube. Kikka's seventh single is a triple a-side: Chocolate Damashii/ Sekaijuu ni Kimi wa Hitori Dake/ Valentine's RADIO. The single will be released January 16.
Chocolate Damashii is a cover song of Matsuura Aya. I haven't actually heard the original song yet, despite being an ayaya fan. Chocolate Damashii is more upbeat. As all Ayaya songs are, It's really catchy! Kikka does a good job covering it. The PV is beautiful! Kikka looks mature and classy. This is my second favorite song.
Valentine's RADIO is originally by Matsutoya Yumi. I also have not heard the original song. Valentine's RADIO is also my favorite song out of the three. It's such a soft sounding song, and it's very catchy. Kikka's voice sounds lovely. The PV is very creative, and cute. It features Kikka as an andriod made, who is trying to make Chocolate.
Sekaijuu ni Kimi wa Hitori Dake is the only original song. It's a slow, love song. Kikka's voice has a slight auto tune tone to it, but it's not too bad. The PV is very beautiful. It features a lovely outdoor scene, Kikka's outfit is really cute. The PV is nice, but the song will have to grow on me.
Palet has released part two of their new program. You remember this program ,the one where they are in the kitchen ,yet not a single food item has been cooked.
In my introduction post ,there was not enough room for all the videos .As Mind Pierce follows Pure Idol Heart Twitter and ended up retweeting the first post we made of them and readership was good ,we have decided to do a follow up and add more of the live show.
Previews for some songs off of Tokyo Girls' Style 3rd album, Yakusoku have been released on YouTube. Futarikiri is a catchy upbeat song, Suki to Sayonara is more slow and has an interesting instrumental, and Yakusoku is very interesting, and unique. All of the songs make me really excited for the album. Release date is January 30.
Also, Mano Erina has released the track list for her last album, Best Friends. Best Friends is a best of album that features many old favorites, plus a new songs. The covers are simple, and Mano looks mature.
I'm late, especially for a group I love, and follow, but PASSPO☆ has released the PV for their 7th single Sakura Komachi.
Sakura Komachi means cherry blossom town, and it follows the popular idol trend of having "sakura" in the name. The b-sides are NO. 1 Boy, and Wish on a Star. PASSPO stated that this single is supposed to be a sad love song, and I agree! Next to their thrid single, Kimi wa Boku wo Suki ni naru, this is as idol-ish as PASSPO☆ has ever gotten. But I don't really mind because Sakura Komachi isn't bad at all!
The beginning of the song features a really cute instrumental, then the rest of the instrumental reminds me of an AKB song. The chorus is catchy. And whats amazing about this song is that even though it is idol music, it still contains some classic PASSPO☆ rock. The PV is beautiful. I like how, instead of the classic pink/white, PASSPO☆ went sort of original and did a blue theme instead. All of the girls look so pretty and lovely.
Sakura Komachi is a nice, and simple PV, and it really stands out amongst all of the idol graduation songs. Will be released February 13!
Sometimes it pays off to have nearly 100 Indie Idols following you on twitter as they pass around groups that you might want to look into. Mind Pierce was one of those groups that came across my desk as a group to check out and I did. Their web site is funny in a way as immediately you notice the name spelled as Mind Pirece ,yet their own schedule it`s listed as Mind Pierce .
Mind Pierce is a new face Idol duo Yukari and Nagisa who describe themselves as Rock`n Idol .
Like all Indie Idols there is a lot to like and a lot of potential to grow stronger.
Here is Mind Pierce in action in a typical live house, with so-so quality sound quality.


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Pathlight School
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Introduction to School
Logo, Vision, Mission and Values
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Co-Curricular Activities (CCA)
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The school organises an Open House four times a year. As the Open House is always over-subscribed, priority is given to parents and para-professionals in mainstream schools, social service agencies and hospitals who are directly working with students on the autism spectrum. The Open House will give an overview of Pathlight School's programmes and curriculum as well as a tour of the school so that parents can make well-informed decisions on the education for their children.
We apologise if we are not able to accommodate everyone for the Open House.
2020 Open House will take place on the following dates:
13 February 2020, Thursday (Registration will open 20 Jan, 9am)
23 April 2020, Thursday
13 August 2020, Thursday
As this Open House is strictly 'By Invitation' only, registration is required. Please click on the link below to register:
N/B: Due to overwhelming requests that we regularly receive, we apologise that we do not accommodate ad-hoc requests to visit our school.
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Pathlight School is the first autism-focused school in Singapore that offers Singapore's mainstream academic curriculum together with life readiness skills. It caters to students on the autism spectrum and related conditions, aged 7 to 18 years, who are cognitively able to access mainstream academic curriculum but require additional support such as smaller class sizes, special accommodations and teaching staff trained in autism.
Pathlight School Campus 1
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text:
Sermon for May 29, 2016 (Lectionary 9 C)
Sermon for Lectionary 9 C
1After Jesus had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. 2A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death. 3When he heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and heal his slave. 4When they came to Jesus, they appealed to him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy of having you do this for him, 5for he loves our people, and it is he who built our synagogue for us." 6And Jesus went with them, but when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof; 7therefore I did not presume to come to you. But only speak the word, and let my servant be healed. 8For I also am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my slave, 'Do this,' and the slave does it." 9When Jesus heard this he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, he said, "I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith." 10When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.
I wonder a lot lately
if there aren't a lot of groups that could never come together.
I like to think that we can someday
find reconciliation and harmony and peace and unity
among the disparate political, social, religious, philosophical groups.
But really, come on,
it looks pretty bad right now.
I mean, it's so bad right now
that even in our nation's two major political parties
people can hardly agree on how to be united and accomplish anything.
So I read with wonder and amazement
this week's Gospel text about the centurion.
In fact, this text is so filled with amazing claims
and unbelievable interactions, which we probably mostly miss,
that we have to review some details to make sure we hear it.
Jesus is in Capernaum, an area outside of Jewish territory.
He's among foreigners and non-believers.
A centurion was a soldier employed by the Roman empire
to enforce laws and taxation,
and keep people from rising up against Rome.
He was part of the oppressive system.
But he also has a slave, an indentured servant,
whom he cares enough about to seek help for him when he is sick.
He is a man of compassion and heart.
The centurion has power and authority,
but he defers to Jesus' power and authority.
He sends intermediaries, Jewish elders,
who love this guy because he treats them so well. That's weird.
Then as Jesus approaches, the centurion completely humbles himself,
and says he is unworthy to be seen by him.
At the same time, he trusts Jesus' power and authority
and begs him to heal his servant.
Jesus is wowed by this man,
and apparently sends healing power to his servant.
Jesus welcomes and accepts the faith of a centurion,
a man caught up in the system of power, control, oppression,
a man whose job and employer
is opposed to the very kingdom that Jesus is preaching and making.
Jesus also has deep compassion on a slave, a servant,
someone of no account in anyone's system of accounting.
Everything in this story says:
None of these people should be getting along,
seeking a common goal,
helping each other,
or doing anything except fighting and working against each other.
But everything in this story says:
All of these folks are brought together as one.
In this story filled with compassion, humility,
faith, openness to the stranger and the enemy,
healing, power and authority compared and contrasted,
the good news of God in Christ breaks through:
Christ brings us together around our common need
and God's universal mercy.
Christ brings us together around our common humanity
and God's uncommon grace.
This is the good news as Luke's Gospel tells it:
Everyone is being united through God's mercy
to be one, new community of mutual care.
Call me naïve. Call me a dreamer.
Call me something I probably can't say in public.
But in our world of growing division,
ideological walls, self-righteous religion on the right and the left,
I still think the good news of Jesus
has the power to unite and create a new kind of community,
and it does it over and over again, even among us.
In our divided and polarized world,
the church is not one side or the other in human conflict,
it is the place where all sides come together
to create a new community of love and service
in the name of Jesus who welcomes us all,
challenges us all, forgives us all,
renews us all, and makes us something more than we were
when we were content to be in our little club
of like-minded and easy to get along with friends.
Because the church is where Jesus is proclaimed,
graciously makes himself available for renewal and healing,
generously forgives, and lifts up all who are falling down.
Now, I admit,
not everyone wants to play that game.
Not everyone wants to hang out with Jesus
when he welcomes everyone into the new community.
Not everyone wants to be at the same table
with people whose politics or lifestyle or blatant sinfulness
are less appealing than your own politics, lifestyle, and blatant sinfulness.
But there it is. That's what we are because of Jesus.
I've been watching the new CNN program
"United Shades of America" with W. Kamau Bell,
and from the first episode, I thought it was terrific.
Kamau Bell is an African American comedian
who through comedy and commentary addresses
all the issues that divide us in American culture.
In the first episode, he did something so startling
and unexpected that it was hard to believe:
He hung out with members of the Ku Klux Klan.
He interviewed them, had dinner with them,
attended a cross burning (or cross lighting as they call it),
and listened to how they expressed themselves
with anxiety and disbelief,
but also with humanity and openness,
not openness to their racism and bigotry,
but openness to them as people.
This very act of people getting together
people who have no business getting together
and at least being open to one another's legitimate existence
is the only beginning point for some kind of transformation.
And in the church, we trust that doing that
in the name and Spirit of Jesus,
does in fact transform us all because of God's mercy for all.
We start by seeing everyone as a person
who has wounds that need healing,
even people who don't or can't see their own woundedness.
We start by seeing everyone as worthy of God's mercy
because God is the holy and merciful one.
We start by assuming that we do not possess, control,
own, or manage the truth of God,
but only participate in it through the good news of Christ
and the living presence of the Spirit that animates us to love.
One primary thing we do as church
is we gather together around the table of Jesus' self-giving love,
and share the ritual meal of table fellowship in Christ.
When we come together around the table,
we come like the centurion, utterly humbled and awed,
we come thankful for each other person
who is here sharing the same grace with us,
we come grounded in the hard truth
that we all have mortal, frail lives to live,
with pride undone by the grace that God nourishes us with
beyond our worth,
and we leave encouraged to love more and judge less.
New York photographer Richard Rinaldi
has been doing a photography experiment.
He gathers strangers he finds on the streets
or in train stations or other public places.
He takes strangers who would most likely never interact
in a personal or meaningful way,
and poses them together in positions that evoke friendship,
or family, or love, or intimacy of relationship.
And what is awkward for these strangers for the first few minutes,
ends up being transformative.
They end up caring for each other,
expressing compassion and connection to each other.
The article I read says:
Even when the subjects seem eager, their body language often concedes a certain hesitance, at least at first. Ten minutes later, though, it's like Thanksgiving at Aunt Margret's.
And that's the really weird thing. Yes, Richard puts the people in these poses, but the sentiment that seems to shine through is real -- at least so say the subjects.
At first, Brian Sneeden, a poetry teacher, saw no rhyme or reason for posing with 95-year-old retried fashion designer Reiko Ehrman, but eventually he, too, felt a change. "I felt like I cared for her," Brian says. "I felt like it brought down a lot of barriers."
This is how the Gospel works, how the church works.
It is this experiment being done by the Spirit through Christ
to bring people together around word, font, and table,
and creating a shared humanity through God's grace,
bringing down barriers, and stirring up compassion and love.
The Gospel is not about one side of human thinking being right
and the other wrong,
and somehow the church has to be on the right side.
It is about all sides being drawn into a new reality in God's mercy.
No other movement or way or approach
will lead to a community of peaceful reconciliation
and life-giving mutual care and love.
It is about a favorite word of mine: magnanimity.
To be magnanimous is to have greatness of mind and soul,
or as one definition puts it:
Greatness of mind; that elevation or dignity of soul, which encounters danger and trouble with tranquility and firmness, which raises the possessor above revenge, and makes her delight in acts of benevolence, which makes him disdain injustice and meanness, and prompts her to sacrifice personal ease, interest and safety for the accomplishment of useful and noble objects.
Aristotle thought magnanimity was the crowning virtue to have.
The opposite is also a great word: pusillanimity, having a puny mind.
Not so great.
Jesus is not only the one who acts with divine magnanimity in all his life,
but also the one who creates a community of his own body and blood,
a community that is his own crucified and risen self
to act in the world with the same greatness of mind and spirit,
rising above our small minded ways,
and living for the bigger picture of bringing people together
through our common humanity and God's uncommon mercy.


text:
Kevin Carmichael
The Globe and Mail: How committed is India to fiscal prudence?
It is difficult to overstate global investors' enthusiasm for India's Narendra Modi. "For the first time in 67 years, this country has a prime minister who is pro-business," Canada's Prem Watsa said after meeting Mr. Modi in November. Brian Moynihan, the chief executive of Bank of America Corp.,said a short conversation with India's leader earlier this month was all he needed to "see why people see the optimism." Masayoshi Son, founder of Japan's Softbank Corp., met Mr. Modi in Tokyo in September and a month later came to India to announce investments of more than $800-million (U.S.). "He gave us more confidence that India is going to be more transparent and deregulated with a lot of focus and passion to improve India as the environment for investment," Mr. Son told the Economic Times in an interview. Mr. Modi has accumulated this vast reserve of trust without having to implement any major policy changes. International investors seem encouraged simply by the presence of an Indian leader who openly has embraced the economic orthodoxy of fiscal prudence, low inflation, free trade and investment, and minimal regulation. It will be interesting, therefore, to observe the reaction of Mr. Modi's foreign disciples as he continues to adapt that orthodoxy to fit his purposes.
Continue reading (paywall) ...


text:
Maybe (please, please, please) COVID-19 will change our cities for the better
by David Brooks | May 21, 2020 | Blog, Newsletter | 1 comment
(Here is my column in this week's Monitor. Space constraints in print meant I didn't include the biggest-context part of the conversation: Toderian pointed out that climate change is making pandemics more likely, so changing cities to limit future climate change is part of how we limit future disease. Also, I later found this database about coronavirus-related changes made by cities around the world to limit cars.)
The COVID-19 pandemic is a tragedy for people but there's a chance – not a big one, but a real one – that it might be a benefit for cities.
In particular, it might finally change a century of thinking that says the goal of urban spaces is to make life easier for people in cars and trucks regardless of the effect on everybody else.
"I think there is transformation happening around the world during the pandemic. The more interesting conversation is what should stay when the pandemic is over," said Brent Toderian.
Toderian is an urban planner from Vancouver, Canada, who has become an international expert much sought after by media folks like me looking for context. You may have seen here in 2018 when he gave some talks in New Hampshire. His much-followed Twitter account praised Concord's downtown signage as a good example of "wayfinding" for pedestrians.
For years, Toderian's basic urban argument has been summed in a statement he often makes: "When you design a city for cars it fails everyone, including drivers."
Lots and lots of parking spaces, wide lanes allowing drivers to zoom without thinking much, few interruptions like stoplights or, heaven forbid, pedestrian crosswalks – those have long been the central design element of urban areas. They create traffic jams and pollution and noise, and give us ugly car-holding boxes instead of places you want to see or visit, the Storrs Street Garage being a classic example.
Things have changed tentatively over the past decade or so, as the slightly-less-car-centric redo of Concord's Main Street showed, but suddenly that trickle of change has become a deluge.
Big cities from Paris to Sydney have closed streets to cars or hugely expanded bicycling and walking areas to let people maintain social distance while getting outdoors, although it inconveniences drivers. Even Edmonton, which is Canada's version of Dallas, is getting in on the act with a "green streets" project that boots out vehicles.
"Cities are making more safe space for walking, biking, eating and enjoying outdoor seating to help restaurants recover. These are the users that were fighting for the leftover space after we surrendered most of the space between buildings to cars," said Toderian. "We know there wasn't much space left over … and it's been a challenge even before we had to stay six feet apart. With physcial distancing, that has been more obvious."
Closer to home, there's a petition to close Manchester's Elm Street to cars, which would be brilliant in many ways although inconvenient in many others. As for Concord, it's tiptoeing around this concept by letting restaurants set up outside tables on their own parking lots to draw more customers in the social-distancing era.
The fact that this last idea is startling says a lot about our priorities. It took a global pandemic for us to let human beings use 180 square feet of pavement (an average parking space) instead of reserving it exclusively for short-term auto storage.
The city hasn't taken the obvious next step of allowing restaurants to take over adjacent street parking spots for tables, but that might happen if downtown business collapses.
And that's the point. All this change is fueled not by sudden spasms of tree-hugging but by fear of downtown streets lined with boarded-up windows.
"Cities that are reluctant to give up space for pedestrians and bicyclists seem less reluctant to give up space for business," said Toderian. Happily for his point of view, right now helping business means helping pedestrians, bicyclists, walkers, strollers and people playing Pokemon Go, instead of those same people when they're behind the wheel.
The question is whether it's going to stick. I'm afraid I'm dubious.
I fear COVID-19 will only lead to more car driving and more sprawl development because they're isolated, will speed up Amazon's destruction of local stores, will strangle movie theaters and clubs and other gathering spots that make life interesting and leave us nothing but Netflix and social-media rants.
Toderian, who has been wrestling with these trends for decades, is more hopeful.
"Things that we considered a few months ago unlikely or impossible are already happening – and a very good chance they will be permanent because we need them and they will prove to be possible," he said. "If people cry for them to be permanent, insist they be permanent, they will be."
Deb Boisvert	on May 21, 2020 at 1:57 pm
Changes for the Better would be a great topic for a Remote Science Cafe. I think that we will change our thinking on a lot of things after this is over