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Learning & Values Jewish History Essays on Jewish History
Who Were Amalek and the Amalekites?
By Boruch Altein
The Amalekites, descendants of Amalek, were an ancient biblical nation living near the land of Canaan. They were the first nation to attack the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt, and they are seen as the archetypal enemy of the Jews. The nation of Amalek is long gone, but they live on as the internal enemies that we each battle on a daily basis.
Who Was Amalek
Eliphaz, son of Esau (the patriarch Jacob's brother and sworn enemy), and his concubine Timna had a child named Amalek.1 Amalek grew up in Esau's household, imbibing Esau's pathological hatred of Jacob's descendants along the way. His offspring became the nation of Amalek, and they lived to the south of the Land of Israel, in what is now known as the Negev Desert.2
Read about the significance of Amalek's genealogy here: A Lesson from Timna
The Amalekites Attack
After the Jewish people crossed the Red Sea, they encamped in Rephidim, a barren location in the Sinai Desert. The people thirsted for water, and G‑d provided a miraculous well of water to accompany them on their journeys.
While the Jews were still at Rephidim, recuperating from their escape from Egypt,3 the nation of Amalek launched a vicious surprise attack on them—though the Jews had no designs on Amalekite territory and were not even headed in that direction.
Moses commanded his disciple Joshua to take an elite troop of soldiers into battle the next day. Moses himself ascended a nearby mountain to pray for G‑d's salvation.4
The Jews defeated Amalek in battle, killing their strongest warriors while allowing the others to return home.5
Following the battle, G‑d commanded Moses to record the story of Amalek's treacherous attack for posterity, and to enjoin Moses' future successor, Joshua, to remember the attack as well. G‑d promised to completely wipe out the memory of Amalek from the earth, and to wage an eternal war with Amalek in every generation. G‑d swore that His name and throne would not be complete until Amalek was destroyed.6
Forty years later, as the Jews stood poised to enter the Land of Israel, Moses reminded the Jews of the command to combat Amalek.7
Read more about Amalek's attack here: Amalek's Attack
The King of Arad
In the fortieth year of the Jews' wandering in the desert, Aaron, the high priest, passed on. The protective clouds of glory that surrounded the Jewish camp disappeared, as they were present only in Aaron's merit. Seeing the exposed encampment, the Canaanite king of Arad launched a savage attack against the Jews.
The sages explain that the king of Arad and his army were actually Amalekites who had merely disguised themselves as Canaanites before entering battle. They wanted to confuse the Jews about their attackers' identity. While the Jews would pray to G‑d for salvation from Canaanites, the Amalekites would be free to do whatever they pleased.
The plan backfired. The Jews were victorious, and went on to enter the Land of Israel unimpeded by the Amalekites.8
Read more about the attack here: Aaron and Miriam
To Remember and Destroy
The Torah lists two mitzvahs regarding Amalek:
To obliterate the nation of Amalek (timcheh et zecher Amalek).
To never forget the evil deeds Amalek did (zechor al tishkach).9
To Wipe Out Amalek
The mitzvah to destroy Amalek implies that no trace of Amalek's existence could be left.10 "Nothing," explain the sages, "could serve as a reminder of Amalek's name—not even an animal about which it could be said, 'This animal belonged to Amalek.'"11
The first Jewish king, Saul, was commanded by the prophet Samuel to finally wipe out Amalek. Saul was victorious against the Amalekites, but spared the choicest of their flocks and the Amalekite king, Agag.
When Samuel found out about Saul's disobedience, Saul lost his right to kingship. Samuel then killed Agag himself.12
However, before he was killed, Agag sired a child who would keep Amalek's lineage alive. Some 500 years later, one of this child's descendants was Haman the Agagite, of Purim fame.13
Read about destroying Amalek's property: How to Lose Your Memory
Read about Saul's war with Amalek: War With Amalek
Killing an entire nation is harsh stuff. Read how to make sense of it all here:
Does Torah Promote Genocide?
Torah and Genocide FAQ
To Remember—Parshat Zachor
The Torah commands us to always remember what Amalek did. The sages understand from this that once a year we must read the verses of the Torah where Moses reminds the Jews of Amalek's actions.
Indeed, each year on the Shabbat before the holiday of Purim we read the section of the Torah in Deuteronomy recounting Amalek's action. On Purim the Jews were saved from the evil designs of the wicked Haman, a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag—a perfect time to celebrate the destruction of Amalek.14
Read more about Parshat Zachor here:
The Chassidic Dimension
Zachor Haftarah Companion
The First in Line
Amalek represents the worst form of evil. The prophet Balaam refers to Amalek in the following passage: "Amalek was the first of the nations, and his fate shall be everlasting destruction."15
The sages compare Amalek's attack to a bathtub of boiling water, too hot for any living creature to handle. A fool came along and jumped in; though he scalded himself, the water's heat seemed less intense to onlookers. So too, the Jews seemed invincible after their exodus from mighty Egypt. Amalek was the first to attack them; though the Jews were victorious, their aura of security was shattered.16
Amalek Today
The command to destroy Amalek cannot be fulfilled today, since the identity of Amalek has been lost over the millennia. However, the command to "remember Amalek" still holds true in the spiritual realms.
Read: Wipe Out Amalek, Today?
The Scoffer
Chassidic philosophy explains that Amalek represents the pinnacle of evil, the ability to "know G‑d and intentionally rebel." Most evil can be combated by arguments of reason; not so Amalek. He cynically scoffs at every reason to do good, sowing doubt and confusion.
Irrational doubt neutralizes the most convincing arguments or inspiring experiences. Amalek is the constant doubter, brazenly rushing to any sign of passion for holiness and cooling things down.
In fact, the numerical value of the Hebrew letters of Amalek (עמלק) is 240—the same as the value of the Hebrew word for "doubt" (ספק).
The only response to Amalek is to be supra-rationally good, calling forth the essential connection to G‑d that is hidden in the essence of our souls, and rooted in the essence of G‑d. This connection is above logic or feelings, and Amalek cannot oppose it—and so loses his brazen power, allowing the individual to grow and develop.
When we do good despite our self-doubts or feelings of hypocrisy, we shatter the very citadel of evil, completing G‑d's name and revealing His rulership to all.
Amalek—Nemesis of G‑dliness
The Everlasting Battle
Battles with Amalek
Genesis 36:12 and Rashi ad loc.
Numbers 13:29.
Deuteronomy 25:18.
Exodus 17:8–12.
Ibid. 17:13 and Rashi ad loc.
Ibid. 17:14–16 and Rashi ad loc.
Deuteronomy 25:17–19.
Numbers 21:1–3 and Rashi ad loc.
I Samuel 15:3.
Rashi, Deuteronomy 25:19.
I Samuel 15.
Esther Rabbah, Petichta 7.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 685.
Tanchuma, Ki Teitzei 9.
Art by Sefira Ross, a freelance designer and illustrator whose original creations grace many Chabad.org pages. Residing in Seattle, Washington, her days are spent between multitasking illustrations and being a mom.
More from Boruch Altein | RSS
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Nemesis of G‑dliness
War with Amalek
The Power of Memory
Parshat Zachor
Anonymous Dothan January 13, 2020
today's Amalek Who is "Amalek" today?? Reply
Catherine Chubbuck May 3, 2019
Thank you for this exposition of the Amalekites! This is a big help in my Scripture reading and understanding! Reply
K. A. Olam March 2, 2019
Interesting article about the Amalekites. Just wanted to bring to notice a footnote, of sorts, about the people/culture in question, as they are featured in an "Arabian Nights/Thousand and One NIghts"-fairy tale (of all sources), namely a tale called "The City of Brass" - check out this story or google it, if you please!
What's your (or any reader's) opinion of this story/fairy tale (assuming you read it)? Reply
clayton Carlson Kelowna February 18, 2019
Hi. I was doing some research on haman and found your blog. Thanks for the insight from a Biblical perspective. God bless. Reply
Paul England February 22, 2018
Amalekites against G-d's people. Hi. Thanks for the article about the Amalekites. I knew the connection of the Agagites with the Amalekites, and that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekite king Agag but have also learnt that the name Khomeini (as in the Ayatollahs of Iran) is directly continued on from Haman. (Haman = khomein when spoken). If correct, that certainly explains why Iran seems to speak so vehemently against Israel, saying they want to totally destroy Israel, without any apparent reason, except that Jews are G-d's special people while Iran are on the other side! Any thoughts on this? Reply
Anonymous Mackinac Island, MI February 21, 2018
Wrong. Please read the article I wrote in the online Detroit Jewish News years ago. The interpretation of the paradox "destroy the memory of Amalek, do not forget" is explained by my drash. Reply
Anonymous Florida April 2, 2019
in response to Anonymous:
Please include your article if you would like us to read it. I am conscientious of biblical truths and misinterpretation so therefore would like To know more about what what it is that you are in disagreement with Reply
the on line article (newspaper) seems to have disappeared Reply
Dennis Okpalaojiego Harish Israel February 21, 2018
Amalek Wow! I am happy to read this and to understand everything about Amalek. Baruch HaShem. Reply
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Experiment Three: Bus, Bus
The third installment in the series.
Today's trip to and from Stars for Life was on the bus in both directions: I caught the 3:45 p.m. Route № 2 bus in front of the Polyclinic and rode out to the corner of Maypoint Road and Beach Grove Road, picked up Oliver, and then we rode back downtown on the 4:28 pm. Route № 3 bus.
Bus Fares: $6.00
Bus Distance: 11 km
Convenient bus connection, almost door-to-door in both directions.
Bus shelter on Beach Grove Road, in the shade, made for a pleasant place to wait.
Watching almost every single vehicle turning right from Beach Grove Road onto Maypoint Road roll right through the stop sign without even touching the brakes was disquieting.
A 4:15 p.m. bus back on Route № 3 would have shaved 15 minutes off the trip and made it essentially identical, time-wise, to taking the car.
The bus back was crowded, so the only place for us to sit, with Ethan the Dog, was in the three seats at the front, meaning that the only place for Ethan was in the aisle, blocking everyone who got off and on the bus during the trip (we were able to move back to more self-contained rear seats about halfway through the trip as the crowd thinned out).
Short of a more robust cycling solution that might present itself in the future, this experiment is the clear winner so far.
Because we beta-tested this routing last month with Olle, we call this "The Olle Routing."
Getting Home from Stars for Life
Written July 8, 2019 at 6:12 p.m. by Peter Rukavina
Pocket Casts Import and Export
Given what I wrote about Spotify being a prison for podcasts, it might be helpful to point out that Pocket Casts (acquired last year by NPR et al), my podcast player of choice, supports export and import of podcast subscriptions using the open OPML format.
This isn't supported by their web player, but both their iOS and Android apps support both exporting your list of podcasts for use elsewhere, and importing a subscription list from elsewhere:
OPML Export for Android
OPML Export for iOS
OPML Import
Oliver's slowly migrating his podcasts, curating as he's going along to reduce the number, from Spotify to Pocket Casts; it's nice to know that he'll be able to get his subscriptions out if he ever wants to.
Here's my OPML for the podcasts that I subscribe to.
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"Just remember to put your phone down sometimes"
About a decade ago, I went out to lunch with several friends in Berlin at La Bonne Franquette, a French restaurant near the Nokia office where they all worked.
Beyond the good company and the good food, the meal was remarkable in that it was the first time I witnessed a group of familiars simultaneously remove their mobile phones from their pockets, check in on Foursquare, and then leave their phones on the table beside them.
In that simple action, mobile phones went from being private objects to being public objects, and everything that's happened since that point has only moved us farther down that road. To the point where, sitting in Kettle Black Marché the other day, I was witness to someone watching a YouTube video on their mobile, without earphones, as though it was a completely normal thing.
In light of this trajectory toward the complete breakdown of the social contract, I was heartened to come across some buffeting winds in the past week.
First, a colleague who's just started a a new position messaged me about his new working conditions:
They have a strict "no mobile devices" in the main house, if you are in a conversation with a group.
I would vote for that as a universal rule, if given the opportunity.
On the same day, CBC's Q aired an interview with the musician Sara Bareilles where
Tom Power: Why did you take it upon yourself to write the jingle for turning off your cell phone at your musical?
Sara Bareilles: Phones are such a problem in the theatre at this point… oh my gosh, it's extraordinarily bad. People videoing… just forgetting that they're not engaging in an experience that's a normal… I mean concert goers alone are so glued to their phones… that's something I've noticed over the years, is that more and more people are watching us through the screens on their phones, standing in front of you, but they're paying attention to what they're getting on a video, which is a strange kind of phenomenon to have evolved. But the theatre, for all intents and purposes, is still a sacred space that way. So we thought maybe we could do it in a kind of cheeky, funny way, to remind people that phones are not allowed.
TP: That's kinda nice.
SB: It doesn't work. People still bring out their phones all the time. It's annoying.
TP: I went to a Jack White concert not that long ago, and he does that thing where you gotta put your phone in a pouch. You put your phone in a pouch and it locks. You get to take it with you, and then you get to unlock it on the way out. And that's when you get your phone back. Dave Chappelle does it too. What's cool about it is that, I was kind of "Give me a break, I'm an adult…" But when I went to the show, it was like 17,000 people, and every single person was looking at the stage. Now I know that sounds–if you're listening to this at home–"of course they are Tom, it was a concert."
SB: No, but they're not. They're usually not.
TP: It was amazing.
SB: Yeah. I'll tell you what I noticed: I just did a little promo tour, I have a new record that just came out and I'll be going on tour in the fall, but I did a little four-show promo tour, and because people weren't familiar with the material yet, nobody took their phones out. Which I thought was amazing. I haven't looked out at an audience in a long time and not have them be holding up their phones. So I thought that was really interesting. Just remember to put your phone down sometimes.
A couple of days later, reading Inside the Cultish Dreamworld of Augusta National in The New Yorker, I learned that phones are not allowed at the Masters Tournament:
Each member of the media has a work station with a brass nameplate, a leather swivel chair, a pair of computer monitors, and a surfeit of real-time tournament footage and information—far more data than one would be able to gather out on the golf course, especially because, outside the press building, reporters are not allowed to carry cell phones. (The phone ban, strictly enforced and punishable by immediate removal from the grounds, applies to patrons and members, too. One morning during the tournament this year, a story went around that the club had done a spot inspection of staff headquarters and found that an employee had hidden a cell phone between two slices of bread.) The golfers and the tournament officials appear dutifully for press conferences; why bother heading out to the clubhouse to hound them for quotes? No phones are allowed at the press conferences, either. The club wants control over sounds and pictures—the content.
These are all hopeful signs that the tide might be turning in the other direction.
One of the unanticipated consequences of arranging our chairs in a circle at the Crafting {:} a Life unconference last month is that the architecture of the arrangement made using mobile phones socially unacceptable: we didn't need to even bring it up, as it would have been simply too noticeable (and shameful) to disengage so obviously. Of course we also tried to create an engaging situation–"new material," in the Bareilles construction–where the opportunity to interact with present humans was more alluring that whatever the digital universe might offer.
I have a good friend who, when we first got to know each other was, if not a Luddite, at least disinclined to bring technology out into public. Since that time, though, he's moved up the career ladder to the point where it's a job requirement that he not only carry a phone, but that he respond to text messages and emails immediately (if only because, if he doesn't, the backlog will become untenable). As a result of this transformation, going to lunch with him has become a period punctuated by long and uncomfortable silences while he does business at the table.
Would it be too much to bring a locking pouch to our next meal out?
The Altruistic Smart Grid. Or "how to charge your mobile phone only when we're generating green electricity"
At the last meeting of the PEI Electric Vehicle Association there was talk of how, at some point in the future, we'll have a "smart grid" on Prince Edward Island, with electricity rates adjusted to match supply and demand, so that, for example, our electric vehicles can charge themselves when demand is low and we're generating "green" electricity.
There are innumerable things that have to happen before our electricity grid can support this, both regulatory and technical. The electricity meters in our houses, for example, are "dumb" meters and would have to be replaced with "smart" ones that could communicate in real time with the utility.
A lot of the talk about smart grids is based on the assumption that we need price signals to modify our behaviour; while that may be true, it ignores the fact that some people will seek greener opportunities simply from altruism.
And, it turns out, we have all the tools we need right now to build an "altruistic smart grid" ourselves.
Here's what it might look like.
This is a computer program (technically a "Node-RED flow"), running on a tiny, inexpensive Raspberry Pi computer, that turns a Wemo power outlet on or off, depending on whether we're generating "green" electricity on Prince Edward Island. I built it so that I could charge my mobile phone only when we're generating green electricity.
It works by doing the following every 15 minutes:
First, it looks to see if the electrical outlet is on or off, and remembers this for later.
Next, it looks up the current state of PEI's electricity load and generation from a system I created that returns a chunk of data that looks like this:
"on-island-load": "181.66",
"on-island-wind": "4.83",
"on-island-fossil": "0.00",
"wind-local": "4.83",
"wind-export": "0.00",
"percentage-wind": "2.66",
"updatetime": 1562592600,
"updatetime_human": "2019-07-08 10:30:00"
The "percentage-wind" figure is the percentage of PEI's current electricity load–"how much electricity we're all using right now"–that's being generated from wind power.
I arbitrarily decided to call "more than 50%" green electricity.
If we're generating more than 50% of our electricity from the wind, and the electrical outlet is off, then it gets turned on.
If we're generating less than 50% of our electricity from the wind, and the electrical outlet is on, then it gets turned off.
The parts to assemble this–a Raspberry Pi, a Wemo outlet–cost less than $100.
Because the "smart" in this DIY altruistic smart grid are programmable, this is only the simplest version of how such a system might work: I could, for example, enhance the system to look at the current state of my phone's battery and to override the green energy requirement if it dips too low. Or turn off the switch when the phone's battery is fully charged.
Here's the complete flow, ready for import into Node-RED, should you wish to try this at home.
Written July 8, 2019 at 11:16 a.m. by Peter Rukavina
Midwifery Shouldn't Be "User Pay"
During Question Period in the PEI Legislative Assembly on Friday came this exchange between the Leader of the Opposition, Peter Bevan-Baker, and the Minister of Health and Wellness, Hon. James Aylward:
Leader of the Opposition: Although the official opposition has stated vigorously and repeatedly that we are disappointed in the amount of money pledged in the budget to the priorities that we have brought to government, one item I personally was glad to see receive some funding was for midwifery. Many people have been advocating for the establishment of midwifery services on PEI for decades, and I believe that this is actually the first time that dedicated funding has found its way into a budget. For that, I am indeed grateful. According to the budget, this year's allocation of $150,000 is and I quote: "to allow these services to be appropriately established consistent with current and anticipated demand." A question to the Minister of Health and Wellness: Could you tell the House exactly what that statement means?
Mr. Aylward: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. As I've spoken several times during this session with regards to midwifery services and in the past when I was in opposition, I'm certainly looking forward to having this service provided here on Prince Edward Island. There is a process that needs to be followed. We need to ensure that when midwifery is fully operational and introduced here on Prince Edward Island that it's just not done haphazardly. There's consultation to be taken with, obviously, the college of physicians, the PEI Medical Society, we have to determine how it's going to be introduced, if there's going to be employees of Health PEI, if it's going to be user pay. So there's many issues around the introduction of midwifery here on Prince Edward Island. But as the Minister of Health and Wellness, I'm extremely proud that I'm going to be the minister that will finally be able to make this happen here on Prince Edward Island.
A satisfying answer. Until you get to the "if it's going to be user pay" tucked in at the end.
The Leader of the Opposition noticed this too, and returned to address it at the end of several more questions about the details of the plans for the introduction of midwifery:
Leader of the Opposition: One of the statements made, again, in the answer I loved so much, I'm starting to love it a little bit less now – was you mentioned user-pay, could you elaborate a little bit on what you might mean by that? A user-pay for midwifery services seems like an odd statement for a health minister to say.
Mr. Aylward: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Once again, as I said, we have to still go through this whole consultation process with our current health care providers. Currently on Prince Edward Island there is approximately 1,400 births annually here on Prince Edward Island and currently, as well, our compliment of health care professionals, OBGYN's etc cetera, are more than capable of handling that number of births. Yes there is a request to have midwifery here on PEI, I'm extremely supportive of this service, I always have been and I will continue to be. But until we have all the details around how midwifery will be introduced, integrated in our health care system, it's impossible for me to answer specifically, precisely today on how that will be rolled out. It's a process and we're working through that.
Leader of the Opposition: Thank you. Can I just get a confirmation though from the minister that when he used the word user-pay he's not suggesting that for Island women to access midwifery services that they will themselves have to actually pay for that?
Mr. Aylward: Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Again, as I've said, we are working through a process currently right now and until we have all the details and we've had all the consultation with all the health care providers here on Prince Edward Island in, addition to the midwifery association, I can't specifically answer that question. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker.
Leader of the Opposition: Wow.
Wow indeed.
Later in the day the CBC reported about the exchange, under the headline P.E.I. targets early 2020 for midwifery, but Islanders may have to pay out of pocket, in part:
Among the considerations, Aylward said, is whether the services would be "user-pay" — something Bevan-Baker said he was "a little horrified" to hear.
"We have a public health service and midwifery is absolutely, in all other jurisdictions, a part of the public health service," Bevan-Baker said.
"So even the suggestion that this would become a user-pay system where … families out-of-pocket, would have to pay for this, is quite an extraordinary thing."
I share Bevan-Baker's shock at the suggestion that midwifery would be even considered as a "user pay" service, both for the fact itself, and for what this suggests about how midwifery is conceived of by the government.
Midwifery is not an upgrade to business class, it's basic health care.
There is no rationale whatsoever for classifying it as anything other than this, and to fly a trial balloon that positions it otherwise is an insult to those who have worked so tirelessly for so long to reintroduce a practice that was standard and accepted during our grandparents' day.
I trust that the opposition will continue to make this point clear to government.
Spotify is a Prison for Podcasts
I have been a happy customer of Spotify for several years now, after flirting back and forth with Apple Music, Google Play Music and the late Rdio for several years before that. We have a family subscription, which we all three use extensively, no more so than Oliver who, for many months now has been making nightly playlists to go to sleep listening to.
Spotify has recently been promoting itself as much a podcast player as a streaming music service, and Oliver has followed the lead and has accumulated a subscription list of 1500+ podcasts in Spotify.
Last night, though, he was thinking about migrating to something else for his podcast listening: he didn't like the fact that, although the Android Spotify app sports an "episodes" tab, the desktop player for the Mac does not, which makes tracking recently-released episodes on his Mac more challenging.
Having found a possible alternative, Oliver set out to move his list of podcasts from Spotify to a new app, and was immediately faced with a task that would have extended for several days: for each of the podcasts in Spotify he was taking the title, copying and pasting it into the new app, and subscribing there. Over and over and over. When this job threatened to take over his Friday, to the exclusion of other activities, I interceded and told him that we should simply export his list of podcasts from Spotify and import it into the new app.
How naive I was.
Spotify, it turns out, is a prison for podcasts.
Spotify takes podcasting, a system that is a marvel of decentralized openness, built on the strong and flexible (and open) foundation of RSS, and locks it inside a closed, proprietary system with no way of getting data in or out. You can't import lists of podcasts. You can't export lists of podcasts. You can't add your own podcasts.
Surely, I thought, given the GDPR, there must be a way of getting Oliver's personal information–including his podcasts–out of Spotify.
And there is, in theory: if you visit your Account page in Spotify, and then navigate to Privacy, and scroll down to the bottom, you will see a section called Download your data, full of promise.
Until you read the fine print and learn that "This can take up to 30 days to complete":
How it's possible to create a system that takes 30 days to assemble digital data boggles the mind, and while it may live up to the letter of the GDPR, it surely defies the spirit.
What about using the Spotify API?
Although it's not documented, there is and endpoint that exposes the list of podcasts for a user.
Here's how you can get at it (with the caveat, detailed below, that you are wasting your time).
Go to the Web API Console for the "Get User's Profile" endpoint and click Get Token and then copy the cURL command on the right side (I've redacted Oliver's token):
If you simply paste this cURL into the Mac command line, you'll get back your basic account information:
"birthdate" : "XXXX-XX-XX",
"country" : "CA",
"display_name" : "Oliver Rukavina",
"email" : "o@ruk.ca",
"explicit_content" : {
"filter_enabled" : false,
"filter_locked" : false
"external_urls" : {
"spotify" : "https://open.spotify.com/user/12154891049"
"followers" : {
"href" : null,
"total" : 13
"href" : "https://api.spotify.com/v1/users/12154891049",
"id" : "12154891049",
"images" : [ {
"height" : null,
"url" : "https://profile-images.scdn.co/images/userprofile/default/6a5a73861526ed7cece0ea757ab1f043277d7ebb",
"width" : null
} ],
"product" : "premium",
"type" : "user",
"uri" : "spotify:user:12154891049"
If you edit this command, however, and tack shows onto the end of the URL, replacing https://api.spotify.com/v1/me with https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/shows, you'll get back a JSON representation of your first 20 podcast subscriptions, with each one represented by an object like this:
"added_at" : "2019-03-27T02:16:27Z",
"show" : {
"available_markets" : [ "AD", "AE", "AR", "AT", "AU", "BE", "BG", "BH", "BO", "BR", "CA", "CH", "CL", "CO", "CR", "CY", "CZ", "DE", "DK", "DO", "DZ", "EC", "EE", "ES", "FI", "FR", "GB", "GR", "GT", "HK", "HN", "HU", "ID", "IE", "IL", "IN", "IS", "IT", "JO", "JP", "KW", "LB", "LI", "LT", "LU", "LV", "MA", "MC", "MT", "MX", "MY", "NI", "NL", "NO", "NZ", "OM", "PA", "PE", "PH", "PL", "PS", "PT", "PY", "QA", "RO", "SE", "SG", "SK", "SV", "TH", "TN", "TR", "TW", "US", "UY", "VN", "ZA" ],
"copyrights" : [ ],
"description" : "It's the Peter and Oliver podcast all grown up. ",
"explicit" : false,
"spotify" : "https://open.spotify.com/show/6bDdMX7OmjDG1u5ebEhNRX"
"href" : "https://api.spotify.com/v1/shows/6bDdMX7OmjDG1u5ebEhNRX",
"id" : "6bDdMX7OmjDG1u5ebEhNRX",
"height" : 640,
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/8beec05386bfef3e095bcdf46aafaee112d55fdb",
"width" : 640
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/4f70272b77c24c619a79486d6c88445b976151f7",
"height" : 64,
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/807d9151f7fa4a0ccd96c80d0c9bc265152b6012",
"width" : 64
"languages" : [ "en-US" ],
"media_type" : "audio",
"name" : "Oliver And Peter Podcast",
"publisher" : "Oliver Rukavina",
"type" : "show",
"uri" : "spotify:show:6bDdMX7OmjDG1u5ebEhNRX"
You may be thinking "wow, this is amazing!" until you notice that nowhere in that JSON is any information that falls outside the Spotify universe: none of the standard trappings of open podcast data–the feed URL, the website, the non-Spotify-hosted artwork–are there.
And these details also aren't there if you follow the URL in the "href" to get all the show details:
"episodes" : {
"href" : "https://api.spotify.com/v1/shows/6bDdMX7OmjDG1u5ebEhNRX/episodes?offset=0&limit=50",
"items" : [ {
"audio_preview_url" : "https://p.scdn.co/mp3-preview/1c405e3e511e5e7199a45b1de32f83e5f88c7e24",
"description" : "This first episode is about Vancouver BC Canada ",
"duration_ms" : 92624,
"spotify" : "https://open.spotify.com/episode/79W2zHGuUttBOInh642kNR"
"href" : "https://api.spotify.com/v1/episodes/79W2zHGuUttBOInh642kNR",
"id" : "79W2zHGuUttBOInh642kNR",
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/53b71df32a85645777ba73afa2e9e738bd788534",
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/2cc3d2acae39674b3c3bfdc53ae2286a692b1376",
"url" : "https://i.scdn.co/image/2f6bd66373d51f8f6f62b55997539e1554a3df4a",
"is_externally_hosted" : false,
"is_playable" : true,
"language" : "en-US",
"name" : "Oliver and Peter Podcast episode 1",
"release_date" : "2019-03-20",
"release_date_precision" : "day",
"type" : "episode",
"uri" : "spotify:episode:79W2zHGuUttBOInh642kNR"
"audio_preview_url" : "https://p.scdn.co/mp3-preview/1b3548d7561908fd8b4c6625e5e4d1fdbc8198bd",
"description" : "Episode 1 is about Vancouver BC Canada  ",
"spotify" : "https://open.spotify.com/episode/5bH6wVgbHQ5aCJdthQLZrk"
"href" : "https://api.spotify.com/v1/episodes/5bH6wVgbHQ5aCJdthQLZrk",
"id" : "5bH6wVgbHQ5aCJdthQLZrk",
"uri" : "spotify:episode:5bH6wVgbHQ5aCJdthQLZrk"
"limit" : 50,
"next" : null,
"offset" : 0,
"previous" : null,
"total" : 2
Like I said: a prison.
And there's another problem: this is both an undocumented API call and a broken one.
In theory you should be able to specify a "limit" and an "offset" parameter to page through podcasts and retrieve them all, like:
curl -X "GET" "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/shows?offset=0&limit=20"
curl -X "GET" "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/shows?offset=20&limit=20"
But that doesn't work.
I'm able to retrieve at most 50 podcasts (out of Oliver's 1,986 total subscriptions). And using the Spotify web player confirms this breakage, showing a scrolling list of 50 podcasts that repeats and repeats and repeats.
Because this is an undocumented, and thus unsupported API call, it's not like I can dial 1-800-SPOTIFY to ask for help.
But I'm not willing to give up the fight, so I forge on with this crazy, destructive nuclear option, which involves working around this bug in the undocumented API by pulling the podcasts 50 at a time, saving their name and ID, and then deleting them using another undocumented API call, so that I can then get the next 50 podcasts. And so on. Until I have them all.
(Warning: if you use this code you will be unsubscribing from all your podcasts, one by one by one).
$bearer = "INSERT THE TOKEN YOU GOT FROM THE API CONSOLE HERE";
// Open a file to write the podcast names to
$fpout = fopen("allshows.tsv", 'w');
// We're getting 1,986 podcasts, 50 at a time, and
// 1986 / 50 = 40, so we loop 40 times.
for ($show = 1 ; $show <= 40 ; $show++) {
// Get the details of 50 podcasts from the Spotify API as JSON
$url = 'curl -s -X "GET" "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/shows?limit=50' .
'" -H "Accept: application/json" -H "Content-Type: application/json" -H "Authorization: Bearer ' .
$bearer .
'"';
$json = '';
$fpin = popen($url, 'r');
while(!feof($fpin)) {
$json .= fgets($fpin, 4096);
fclose($fpin);
// Convert the JSON into a PHP object
$shows = json_decode($json);
// Iterate through each of the 50 podcasts
foreach($shows->items as $oneshow) {
$id = $oneshow->show->id;
$name = $oneshow->show->name;
// Write the name and ID of the podcast into the text file opened earlier
fwrite($fpout, $name . "\t" . $id . "\n");
// Unsubscribe from the podcast via the Spotify API
$url = 'curl -s -X "DELETE" "https://api.spotify.com/v1/me/shows?ids=' . $id .
exec($url);
fclose($fpout);
And even this code won't work completely, or at least it wouldn't work in Oliver's case: with 905 podcasts still to extract, it simply stopped returning anything from the API call to get shows, and the web player, at this point, showed Oliver with no subscriptions at all. So perhaps the API only works for the first 1,081 podcasts?
In any case, Oliver now has a text file with 1,081 podcasts in it. Or, more accurately, the names of 1,081 podcasts in it. But how to get the feed URLs? There's no obvious way to do this right now, although the Listen Notes API might work. Barring that, Oliver has a lot of copying and pasting ahead of him.
In summary, let this be a warning to you: if you use Spotify as your podcast app, you are a prisoner to Spotify, and if you decide to switch to another podcast app there isn't any way to get your data out of Spotify.
"An Island moment"
A delightful Prince Edward Island story from Clark. Like he writes, "This could have happened no where else."
Clark MacLeod
One Last Electric Ride
I squeezed every last drop out of my electric bicycle rental this morning before returning it, heading over the bridge to Stratford, down to the shore, back to town, out for lunch, and then home. 21 km from door to door. A beautiful, sunny day for a bicycle ride.
Evox

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Project Planning: AFC Championship vs Super Bowl
Some of the biggest events in the world take place with the NFL Playoffs, the crowning jewel of which is the Super Bowl.
The impact of the Super Bowl can be immense. Over 70,000 people will attend the game in person, and the television audience reaches over 200 million. As a result, planning for the Super bowl begins years in advance, and starts with site selection.
This year's Super Bowl will be at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. In 2024, it […]
By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2023-01-22T08:42:57+00:00January 22, 2023|Tags: event planning, location planning, project, project management, risk management|
Elon Musk hopes coin-sized computer implants may soon bring sight to the visually impaired and movement to the paralyzed.
However, the first project for his Neuralink Corporation is to win approval for a brain-computer interface (BCI) to be tested in humans. This technology could help someone who, for instance, had a stroke to be able to communicate with their thoughts, making the neuronal spikes from the brain readable by a computer.
Testing has been going on for a while, but human trials […]
By Lisa M. Spencer|2023-01-11T17:21:16+00:00January 11, 2023|Tags: applied research, artificial intelligence, product design, product life cycle, research and development, technology|
The Line Project: City of the Future
Excavation work has begun for The Line, Saudi Arabia's vision for the future of urban living.
The plan is to construct two parallel skyscrapers, 500 meters high, 200 meters wide, and 170 kilometers long on the northwest coast of the country. The capacity is envisioned to be a future population of nine million residents. This remarkable project is part of the Kingdom's Vision 2030 plan, which launched in 2016.
Saudi Arabia's Neom city design shows […]
By Lisa M. Spencer|2022-11-28T08:41:46+00:00November 28, 2022|Tags: artificial intelligence, capacity planning, location planning, logistics, project management, robotics, sustainability|
Waffle House Index for Hurricanes
OM in the News has previously looked at the Waffle House Index, used to measure the damage from hurricanes. The index made the news again for Hurricane Ian. According to the Boston Globe, 40 Waffle Houses were closed at the height of the storm.
This index was developed in 2004, during Hurricane Charley, by former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate. FEMA noticed that some of the last places open are Waffle House, and thus was born […]
By Ross L. Fink, Ph.D.|2022-10-27T01:02:20+00:00October 27, 2022|Tags: emergency management, hurricane Ian, infrastructure, project management, risk management, scheduling|


text:
- Any -Press ReleasesWeekly Columns
- Any -Defense and National SecurityVeteransEducationEnergy and EnvironmentHealth CareSenior IssuesHomeland SecurityTransportationJobs and the Economy
Senator Collins Joins Bipartisan Group in Introducing Revised Secure Elections Act
Posted Mon, 03/26/2018 - 08:07
Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Susan Collins. a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joined a bipartisan group in introducing a revised version of the Secure Elections Act, legislation to strengthen election cybersecurity in America. Senators Collins, James Lankford (R-OK), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) originally introduced the legislation in December and have since worked with stakeholders to revise and strengthen the bill. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-NC) and Vice Chairman Mark Warner (D-VA) also co-sponsored the bill cosponsored the reintroduced bill.
"While our investigation is still ongoing, we know for certain that the Russians were relentless in their efforts to meddle in the 2016 elections, and that those efforts are ongoing," said Senator Collins. "This bipartisan legislation will strengthen the integrity of our election process by ensuring that local voting officials have the information and financial resources they need to secure their voting systems. Given that we are already in an election year, the need to act now is urgent."
The revised legislation maintains the original purpose of the bill to streamline cybersecurity information-sharing between federal intelligence entities and state election agencies; provide security clearances to state election officials; and provide support for state election cybersecurity infrastructure. The updated bill modifies reporting requirements for state election offices, transitions the election security advisory panel from the Department of Homeland Security to the U.S. Election Assistance Commission; and makes grants eligible to local jurisdictions, among several other minor modifications.
At a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing last week examining worldwide security threats to our nation's election infrastructure, Senator Collins questioned Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security, and Jeh Johnson, former Secretary of Homeland Security, on the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to improve election security.
Click HERE to read the full-text of the bill.
Related Issues:
Ending the Unfair "Widow's Tax" to Help Fulfill our Obligation to Military Families
Posted Fri, 01/10/2020 - 16:20
Senators Collins, Smith Urge Quick Implementation of Tick Act
Senator Collins Visits Fruit Street School in Bangor to Congratulate School Community on Prestigious Blue Ribbon Award
Senator Collins' Statement on Passing of Galen Cole
Collins, King Announce $500,000 for Rice Public Library in Kittery
Posted Thu, 01/09/2020 - 23:00


So my idea is to have a list of those thumbnails so people visualize where and when it happens without having to deal with rally points or struggle to find the original posts in the forum. Maybe it helps them to say "oh this is happening / oh people are driving long distances to visit such places, we are not that far away, we could meet them there". Just a test. So it's not super accurate, just like a visual title of a chapter and if you want more maybe you post a message or read the forum.
There is room during our Pyrenees trip. It is our holidays, so everything goes like our little group likes.
Doing all kinds of things, but mainly relaxing, driving tracks, enjoying the scenery. And just having fun.
All the info i crunched to create these thumbnails are public and posted on OB forum so i think (hope) most members did post informations so others know where and when they travel, and could meet other members so i think if something looks interesting you should not hesitate to contact the people you see in the lists. I'll edit my first post and credit organizers.
I think we could/should keep first post always updated, getting rid of past events and adding new ones, and it should list all event for the whole Europe. A simple where, when, who, very effective, and would break the mental boundaries some have.
That's a good idea. It would be a nice source of what's going on and where to join. Because that's also what I'm interested for. But I must confess, I did not fully understand how these entries can be made, where they would appear and where exactly they can be read. Are they collected under one topic or do they appear one by one?
Hey @Constantin thanks for your input.
Those can not be generated automatically : i went on the forum and looked at the posts talking of trips, i gathered the basic informations, making sure to have the most up to date details and located the trips on a map and added a quick brief. Then i would create this post and ask people if they can find interest in this. It takes 10 minutes to create any "view" so i can do the work but if nobody thinks it's useful, i won't :) I know there are the rally points, but the idea was to be able to see what was going on in the area in 10 seconds.
It is so to say an overview of what is going on in Europe/Mid Europe.
The more of those, then you can choose to meet up with people when they are within your reach.
That's what makes this idea great. I can not be thankful enough for someone doing this job.
Rally point should be the preferred section for listing trips.
These can be shared then to Facebook and thus resolves the issue of having to post trips in different forums etc.
A lot of thought and time was spent getting rally point and the forums set up and this is the automatic location members should be looking for events.
The thumbnail map photos can get used as the rally point photo.
The attached helps with how to set up a new meet.
Hopefully it will help you to get the best out of Overlandbound and assist with some ideas.
If this is a one-time meet-up, and the location and time is known, go directly to Creation of a Rally Point.
Figure out the geographical center of your target area. This is the area you want to send a message to in order to gauge interest in a meet-up and the area you'll base your Rally Point on.
Using the member map on the Forum, filter out everything with the exception of members. Then, using the zone feature, create a circle and expand it till you reach the desired amount of member invites. Members have different invite limits so this is where the ambassador can help.
At the top right hand side of the map there is an icon to create a message. Use this to bring up the message page.
The message will already have the invites attached so all you need to do is type in a title and the body of the message.
1. Rig walk-arounds - learn about different vehicles and various equipment carried.
2. Education component - either a presentation or actual hands on learning such as tire repair, recovery, winching, and so on.
3. Trail runs with a concentration on Comms/Nav training and practice. Trying to get everyone very proficient with both. Promote the use of Ham and/or GMRS in the Overland Bound West Region per the OLB Comms standard.
4. Have the meet-up on the same day and time of the month so people can plan on attending in advance.
The location is critical to the success of a new meet-up. Make sure it's a good place for a group meeting so you can have a good discussion and that there is plenty of room to park the number of rigs you expect to show up. Look at the meet-up page on the forum to see what other groups are doing. Don't make the mistake of holding your meet-up in a grocery store parking lot on Saturday morning when people are doing their weekly shopping. Choose a location that will be mostly unused for other traffic during your meet-up day/time.
Now you need to publish a Rally Point. First, watch Michael's video about creating a Rally Point (Welcome to Rally Point! - Overland Bound). If you still need help, contact your ambassador.
Once the Rally Point is published you will receive email and forum responses.
Go to the forum and click on the rally point, then create an event.
Picture - Add a picture that is 800 x 390 Something that represents what the event will be. A generic OLB picture can be provided. Pictures taken with a smartphone work well as far as sizing.
Additional rally point notes - You can input more specific details about the location. Include whether this will be an indoor meet-up (restaurant) or an outdoor meet-up (parking lot). Indicate whether there is food or drink available for purchase.
Rally Point Location; This is a Google map feature. Type in the address; the meet-up location will be the center of the invite zone. Use the red bubble to narrow down the location. For example, if your meet-up will be in a mall parking lot, but the address you used is for a specific store, you'll need to drag the red bubble away from the store and into the section of parking lot where you want to meet. If you have the exact GPS coordinates, you can input those instead of using a street address. This is useful if your meet-up is on a trail or out in a field.
● Comms channels need to be added, identify types of comms and frequency or channel.
● Additional comms can be added such as Ham, GMRS, CB.
● Add Admins.; optional, this makes it possible for additional people to edit the rally point.
● Distance box: Requires a number, so for meet-ups put 1 mile.
● Vehicle requirements: check all that pertain to the type of Rally Point you are publishing.
● Tags:optional; can be added and will help advertising the event.
Map files - Files can be added in KML, GPX, PDF. Very helpful for the actual event.
Attendees - Enter RSVP limit here. Your regional ambassador can help you estimate this number.
Now it's time to generate invites. Drag the indicator to the right to populate the invite list. Remember invites are from the central rally point location. The member invite might be restricted to a certain amount, if this is a problem contact your regional ambassador for help. You can add individual members by typing @forum name.
Once you are done, agree to terms and publish.
I use Rally point all the time. And do you know how much responce I get from it? Like next to none.
If I had to depend on the info from the Rally points I wouldnt have done one single event since the introduction of the Rally points.
Why? I have no clue?
Could it be that we dont have our own Region to choose for?
Or that the UK has its own region and is shown in the Europe section? Double ads?
You tell me why? As I have done like at least 10 Rally points. And Lucky me, I did it on my FB page as well, otherwise I wouldnt have had no events.
And people dont know what RSVP means. Did you know that I found out by coincidence that you can click on it?
And how do you make a team?
And, If I like to make a Mid Europe event, I cant invite all the mid europe members. If I do an event near Calais, it will invite people from the UK, but not the people from for example Germany.
But they are the main people I like to invite.
So, maybe you should be able to invite people according to a region.
Anyway, from experience, it doesnt work as well as it does in the states.
And, this here wasnt a replacement for the Rally points, just an effort to get things rolling here in Mid Europe.
If we can get things rolling here, then we can help people with using the forum properly.
If nobody visits the forum, well, it wont be used properly.
So, sometimes you need to work with a workaround.
@76_overlander and some others including myself are very very busy to get things rolling. But it just doesnt work well on the forum.
One big reason!!!!! Language. We dont speak, write and read english as well as native speakers.
I understand what you are saying a Robert. However using the rally point share function shares to Facebook. Then anyone clicking on the link in Facebook is taken directly back to the rally point event where all information is available in one location.
The biggest issue is multiple posts for the same event in different media becomes difficult to follow and manage.
RSVP is actually French not English and is used to respond.
The UK region is being removed so there are no sub regions within regions to try and make searching your region threads easier.
The Rally Point point invite function is based on radius miles from the rally point location so a radius of 250 miles will automatically invite all members within that radius so yes a rally point in Calais will include invites to members in the UK and vice versa if the rally point was in the south of England.
We do have some members that do not use social media such as Facebook and only look on the forums. In the same way we have some members who use the likes of Facebook but very rarely visit the forums.
By utilising the rally point share function everyone can see the same information and respond in the same platform.
I simply add a request for all those attending to update the rally point accordingly.
Is there a FB page for Mid Europe made already?
Like I said, I use Rally point and I hope that others will do as well.


text:
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<!--
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specific language governing permissions and limitations
under the License.
-->

<!--
 | This is the configuration file for Maven. It can be specified at two levels:
 |
 |  1. User Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for a single user,
 |                 and is normally provided in ${user.home}/.m2/settings.xml.
 |
 |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the CLI option:
 |
 |                 -s /path/to/user/settings.xml
 |
 |  2. Global Level. This settings.xml file provides configuration for all Maven
 |                 users on a machine (assuming they're all using the same Maven
 |                 installation). It's normally provided in
 |                 ${maven.conf}/settings.xml.
 |
 |                 NOTE: This location can be overridden with the CLI option:
 |
 |                 -gs /path/to/global/settings.xml
 |
 | The sections in this sample file are intended to give you a running start at
 | getting the most out of your Maven installation. Where appropriate, the default
 | values (values used when the setting is not specified) are provided.
 |
 |-->
<settings xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.2.0"
          xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
          xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/SETTINGS/1.2.0 https://maven.apache.org/xsd/settings-1.2.0.xsd">
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  <!-- interactiveMode
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   |
   | Default: true
  <interactiveMode>true</interactiveMode>
  -->

  <!-- offline
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   | This will have an effect on artifact downloads, artifact deployment, and others.
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   | Default: false
  <offline>false</offline>
  -->

  <!-- pluginGroups
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  <pluginGroups>
    <!-- pluginGroup
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    <pluginGroup>com.your.plugins</pluginGroup>
    -->
  </pluginGroups>

  <!-- proxies
   | This is a list of proxies which can be used on this machine to connect to the network.
   | Unless otherwise specified (by system property or command-line switch), the first proxy
   | specification in this list marked as active will be used.
   |-->
  <proxies>
    <!-- proxy
     | Specification for one proxy, to be used in connecting to the network.
     |
    <proxy>
      <id>optional</id>
      <active>true</active>
      <protocol>http</protocol>
      <username>proxyuser</username>
      <password>proxypass</password>
      <host>proxy.host.net</host>
      <port>80</port>
      <nonProxyHosts>local.net|some.host.com</nonProxyHosts>
    </proxy>
    -->
  </proxies>

  <!-- servers
   | This is a list of authentication profiles, keyed by the server-id used within the system.
   | Authentication profiles can be used whenever maven must make a connection to a remote server.
   |-->
  <servers>
    <!-- server
     | Specifies the authentication information to use when connecting to a particular server, identified by
     | a unique name within the system (referred to by the 'id' attribute below).
     |
     | NOTE: You should either specify username/password OR privateKey/passphrase, since these pairings are
     |       used together.
     |
    <server>
      <id>deploymentRepo</id>
      <username>repouser</username>
      <password>repopwd</password>
    </server>
    -->

    <!-- Another sample, using keys to authenticate.
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      <id>siteServer</id>
      <privateKey>/path/to/private/key</privateKey>
      <passphrase>optional; leave empty if not used.</passphrase>
    </server>
    -->
  </servers>

  <!-- mirrors
   | This is a list of mirrors to be used in downloading artifacts from remote repositories.
   |
   | It works like this: a POM may declare a repository to use in resolving certain artifacts.
   | However, this repository may have problems with heavy traffic at times, so people have mirrored
   | it to several places.
   |
   | That repository definition will have a unique id, so we can create a mirror reference for that
   | repository, to be used as an alternate download site. The mirror site will be the preferred
   | server for that repository.
   |-->
  <mirrors>
    <!-- mirror
     | Specifies a repository mirror site to use instead of a given repository. The repository that
     | this mirror serves has an ID that matches the mirrorOf element of this mirror. IDs are used
     | for inheritance and direct lookup purposes, and must be unique across the set of mirrors.
     |
    <mirror>
      <id>mirrorId</id>
      <mirrorOf>repositoryId</mirrorOf>
      <name>Human Readable Name for this Mirror.</name>
      <url>http://my.repository.com/repo/path</url>
    </mirror>
    -->
    <mirror>
      <id>maven-default-http-blocker</id>
      <mirrorOf>external:http:*</mirrorOf>
      <name>Pseudo repository to mirror external repositories initially using HTTP.</name>
      <url>http://0.0.0.0/</url>
      <blocked>true</blocked>
    </mirror>
  </mirrors>

  <!-- profiles
   | This is a list of profiles which can be activated in a variety of ways, and which can modify
   | the build process. Profiles provided in the settings.xml are intended to provide local machine-
   | specific paths and repository locations which allow the build to work in the local environment.
   |
   | For example, if you have an integration testing plugin - like cactus - that needs to know where
   | your Tomcat instance is installed, you can provide a variable here such that the variable is
   | dereferenced during the build process to configure the cactus plugin.
   |
   | As noted above, profiles can be activated in a variety of ways. One way - the activeProfiles
   | section of this document (settings.xml) - will be discussed later. Another way essentially
   | relies on the detection of a system property, either matching a particular value for the property,
   | or merely testing its existence. Profiles can also be activated by JDK version prefix, where a
   | value of '1.4' might activate a profile when the build is executed on a JDK version of '1.4.2_07'.
   | Finally, the list of active profiles can be specified directly from the command line.
   |
   | NOTE: For profiles defined in the settings.xml, you are restricted to specifying only artifact
   |       repositories, plugin repositories, and free-form properties to be used as configuration
   |       variables for plugins in the POM.
   |
   |-->
  <profiles>
    <!-- profile
     | Specifies a set of introductions to the build process, to be activated using one or more of the
     | mechanisms described above. For inheritance purposes, and to activate profiles via <activatedProfiles/>
     | or the command line, profiles have to have an ID that is unique.
     |
     | An encouraged best practice for profile identification is to use a consistent naming convention
     | for profiles, such as 'env-dev', 'env-test', 'env-production', 'user-jdcasey', 'user-brett', etc.
     | This will make it more intuitive to understand what the set of introduced profiles is attempting
     | to accomplish, particularly when you only have a list of profile id's for debug.
     |
     | This profile example uses the JDK version to trigger activation, and provides a JDK-specific repo.
    <profile>
      <id>jdk-1.4</id>

      <activation>
        <jdk>1.4</jdk>
      </activation>

      <repositories>
        <repository>
          <id>jdk14</id>
          <name>Repository for JDK 1.4 builds</name>
          <url>http://www.myhost.com/maven/jdk14</url>
          <layout>default</layout>
          <snapshotPolicy>always</snapshotPolicy>
        </repository>
      </repositories>
    </profile>
    -->

    <!--
     | Here is another profile, activated by the system property 'target-env' with a value of 'dev',
     | which provides a specific path to the Tomcat instance. To use this, your plugin configuration
     | might hypothetically look like:
     |
     | ...
     | <plugin>
     |   <groupId>org.myco.myplugins</groupId>
     |   <artifactId>myplugin</artifactId>
     |
     |   <configuration>
     |     <tomcatLocation>${tomcatPath}</tomcatLocation>
     |   </configuration>
     | </plugin>
     | ...
     |
     | NOTE: If you just wanted to inject this configuration whenever someone set 'target-env' to
     |       anything, you could just leave off the <value/> inside the activation-property.
     |
    <profile>
      <id>env-dev</id>

      <activation>
        <property>
          <name>target-env</name>
          <value>dev</value>
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      </activation>

      <properties>
        <tomcatPath>/path/to/tomcat/instance</tomcatPath>
      </properties>
    </profile>
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  </profiles>

  <!-- activeProfiles
   | List of profiles that are active for all builds.
   |
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    <activeProfile>alwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
    <activeProfile>anotherAlwaysActiveProfile</activeProfile>
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</settings>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Mar 09 Dan Rather becomes primary anchorman of CBS-TV News on this day in history.
Mar 10 In the North West Territories Panarctic Oils Ltd. finds oil in offshore exploratory well in the eastern Arctic in the year 1981.
Mar 11 In the year 1981 chile constitution takes effect, Augusto Pinochet 2nd term begins
Mar 12 In the year 1981 soyuz T-4 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 6 space station
Mar 12 On this day in history walter R T Witschey installs world's largest sundial, Richmond VA
Mar 13 On this day in history attempt on Pope John Paul II by Mehemet Ali Agca
Mar 14 Ken Barrington, cricketer (82 Tests for England, 6806 runs), dies on this day in history.
Mar 15 Suriname failed coup under Sergeant-Major Wilfred Hawker on this day in history.
Mar 17 On this day in history fC Lisse, Dutch soccer team forms
Mar 19 2 workers killed in space shuttle Columbia accident in the year 1981.
Mar 19 Buffalo Sabres beat Toronto Maple Leafs 14-4 in the year 1981.
Mar 19 In the year 1981 emmy 8th Daytime Awards Susan Lucci loses for 2nd time
Mar 19 Emmy 8th Daytime Awards: Susan Lucci loses for 2nd time in the year 1981.
Mar 20 On this day in history argentine ex-President Isabel Perón sentenced to 8 years
Mar 20 In the year 1981 jean Harris sentenced 15-to-life for slaying of Scarsdale Diet Doctor
Mar 22 In the year 1981 postal rates up gain to 18¢ from 15¢
Mar 22 On this day in history soyuz 39 carries 2 cosmonauts (1 Mongolian) to Salyut 6
Mar 23 Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortions on this day in history.
Mar 24 In the year 1981 "Nightline with Ted Koppel" premieres on ABC
Mar 24 On this day in history bombay beat Delhi by innings &46 to win Ranji Cricket Trophy
Mar 24 On this day in history colombia drops diplomatic relations with Cuba
Mar 26 In the year 1981 cyril Dean Darlington, biologist (hereditary mechanisms), dies at 77
Mar 26 On this day in history police &Albanian demonstrators battle in Kosovo Yugoslavia
Mar 26 In the year 1981 soyuz T-4 lands
Mar 26 In the year 1981 the British Social Democratic Party is founded by the 'Gang of Four'
Mar 27 On this day in history john Lennon releases "Watching the Wheels" in UK
Mar 28 In the year 1981 france performs nuclear test
Mar 28 Viv Richards scores century in the first Test at his home Antigua in the year 1981.
Mar 29 Eric Williams, Prime Minister (Trinidad & Tobago), dies at 79 on this day in history.
Mar 29 In the year 1981 uSSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalitinsk USSR
Mar 30 Dewitt Wallace, US founder (Reader's Digest), dies at 91 on this day in history.
Mar 30 President Reagan shot and wounded by John W Hinckley Jr in the year 1981.
Mar 30 US President Ronald Reagan wounded in an assassination attempt on this day in history.
Mar 31 53rd Academy Awards "Ordinary People", Robert De Niro, Sissy Spacek win on this day in history.
« Previous Page | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | Next Page »
Famous Birthdays In 1981
Famous People Born In This Year In History
Apr 02 On this day in history birth of michael Clarke, Australian cricketer
Apr 02 Bethany Joy Lenz-Galeotti, American actress was born on this day in history.
Apr 28 In the year 1981 birth of jessica Alba, American actress
Apr 30 John O'Shea, Irish footballer was born on this day in history.
Apr 30 Emma Pierson, British actress was born in the year 1981.
May 19 In the year 1981 birth of georges St. Pierre, Mixed Martial Arts Fighter
May 19 On this day in history birth of luciano Figueroa, Argentine footballer
May 22 In the year 1981 birth of bryan Danielson, American professional wrestler
Jan 01 On this day in history death of hephzibah Menuhin, American-Jewish concert pianist (b. 1920)
Jan 02 David Lynch, singer (Platters-My Prayer), dies at 51 in the year 1981.
Jan 03 Princess Alice of Albany (b. 1883) died on this day in history.
Jan 05 In the year 1981 harold C Urey, US chemist (Deuterium, Nobel 1934), dies at 87
Jan 06 A[rchibald] J[oseph] Cronin, physician/author (Citadel), dies at 84 in the year 1981.
Jan 07 On this day in history jose Ardevol, composer, dies at 69
Jan 08 Matthew Beard, entertainer, dies in the year 1981.
Jan 09 Kazimierz Serocki, composer, dies at 58 on this day in history.


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text:
A full-time Research Assistant (RA) is being sought for a minimum three month period, commencing no later than June 1, 2015. The application deadline is May 11, 2015.
IMFG Director Enid Slack participated at a conference called "Fiscal Leadership and the Modern City," the third city leadership summit hosted by the Initiative on Cities at Boston University.
IMFG Visiting Scholar Murtaza Haider wrote three new articles in the Huffington Post, including a piece on the new Union-Pearson express train.
Two Lectures by the IMFG Graduate Fellows of 2014-15: Rob Scherf & Dave Marshall.
Discussing Division 02: The De-Amalgamation Debate The Institute without Boundaries, in collaboration with Arup, presented the second panel of a three-part presentation entitled "Discussion Division."
IMFG Director Enid Slack appeared on The Agenda with Steve Paikin on Wednesday, April 15th, 2015. You can watch "Evaluating Public-Private Partnerships" on TVOntario's YouTube channel.
IMFG Director Enid Slack was quoted in an article in the spring 2015 issue of UofT Magazine on John Tory called "Man on the Move."
IMFG Director Enid Slack was recently appointed to the Ontario Premier's Community Hub Framework Advisory Group.
IMFG Director Enid Slack was interviewed by CityTV News about Toronto's infrastructure deficit.
IMFG Fellow Dr. Aaron Moore's research was referenced in a Toronto Star article entitled "Drawing the line on cultural development in Toronto."


text:
State Roundup, March 27, 2013
by Cynthia Prairie | March 27, 2013 | State Roundup | 1 |
GUN LEGISLATION: Aaron Davis of the Post writes that, past a deadline to move hundreds of bills, Maryland's House of Delegates turned its attention back to Gov. Martin O'Malley's sweeping gun-control legislation on Tuesday. Lawmakers from both parties said they were struggling with whether to go along with the Democratic governor's proposal to limit the capacity of firearm magazines and clips to 10 bullets.
GAS TAX FEARS: Members of Maryland Gov. O'Malley's administration sought Tuesday to allay fears of Republican senators that a transportation bill being debated in the closing weeks of the 90-day session would offer little to their largely rural constituents, John Wagner reports in the Post.
Kelsi Loos of the Frederick News-Post speaks with business owners who are worried about the impact the tax hike will have on their bottom line.
Buried toward the end of Tuesday's three-hour hearing on a multimillion dollar plan to raise money for transportation projects in Maryland was one opponent who may have had a leg up on the others, writes Alexander Pyles for the Daily Record.
C FOR TRANSPARENCY: According to a report by the Public Interest Research Group, Maryland received a C grade for transparency in government spending this year. The grade, which is based on the state's transparency website, is a half step down from last year's C+, writes Becca Heller for MarylandReporter.com.
O'MALLEY BLASTED: WBAL-TV reports that Gov. O'Malley is getting hammered by both sides: Republicans have an ongoing beef with his travels and budget policies, and the liberal wing of the Democratic Party said he's not doing enough when it comes to tax reform.
PONDERING POLITICS: Dan Rodricks of WYPR-FM sits down with Sun opinion page editor Andy Green to take a look at the 2013 General Assembly session and Gov. O'Malley's trip to South Carolina and other early forays into presidential politics.
MARIJUANA RX: Maryland cancer patients are within a Senate vote of gaining access to medical marijuana in 2016, the Capital-Gazette's Alex Jackson is reporting. The House of Delegates on Monday approved having a small number of academic medical centers distribute marijuana to patients beginning in 2016.
GOVERNMENT HEALTH CARE: The Maryland Senate could vote as early as Wednesday on a bill that would qualify more Marylanders for government health care and pay for a new health insurance marketplace, both part of advancing the rollout of federal health reform, Erin Cox and Scott Dance report in the Sun.
REFERENDUM PROCESS BILL: Glynis Kazanjian of MarylandReporter.com writes that the chairman of the election law subcommittee handling controversial changes to the referendum and petition process said Tuesday that the bill isn't dead, despite the fact that it awaits action by the subcommittee and would need numerous amendments to make it palatable to stakeholders.
ILLEGALS DRIVING LEGALLY: Illegal immigrants will continue to be allowed to obtain Maryland driver's licenses under a measure passed by the Senate on Monday, writes Alex Jackson for the Capital-Gazette. Senators voted 29-18 for Senate Bill 715, which would require Maryland to establish a second-class driver's license that applicants could obtain without a Social Security number or proof of lawful status.
Bethany Rodgers reports that Sen. David Brinkley said that continuing to grant licenses to people who don't have Social Security numbers advertises Maryland as a sanctuary for people who are in the U.S. illegally.
WBFF-TV also reports on the opponents' views on the issue.
SECTION 8 TENANTS: A bill that would require landlords to accept tenants through the federal Section 8 program sparked a debate about civil rights on the Senate floor Tuesday, writes Ilana Kowarski for MarylandReporter.com. SB487 is intended to prevent landlords from rejecting tenants that receive public assistance simply because they are poor.
SHARK FIN BAN: Maryland could outlaw the shark fin trade under a bill that passed the House of Delegates this week, the Sun's Erin Cox is reporting. The fins, the key ingredient in shark fin soup and considered a delicacy in some Chinese cuisines, have undergone global scrutiny because of unsustainable harvesting practices.
REPRIEVE FOR FARMERS: A bill moving through the General Assembly would give Maryland farmers a 10-year reprieve from new state or local environmental regulations if the state Department of Agriculture deems they're doing their part to clean up the Chesapeake Bay, reports Tim Wheeler in the Sun.
BUSINESS TAX HOLIDAY? Businesses that bring their money to Maryland should not always have to worry about taxes awaiting them on the doorstep, says Sen. David Brinkley. Brinkley believes that the federal government could declare a tax holiday, so that repatriated cash isn't counted toward a company's taxable income, and that the state should be prepared to follow suit, writes Bethany Rodgers for the Frederick News-Post.
HELPING HBCUs: In an opinion piece for the Sun, Baltimore City Council President Jack Young writes that while the state budget proposal goes a long way to benefit many Marylanders, it fails to help some of the state's brightest minds – those at the state's historically black colleges and universities.
ACCUMULATED SICK LEAVE: State employees who were formerly part of the Correctional Officers' Retirement System but were transferred to a different retirement plan because of a change of position within the same organization currently cannot get a credit for their accumulated sick leave at the time of retirement. A bill to remedy that situation is headed for a House committee hearing Wednesday, writes Kaustuv Basu for the Hagerstown Herald-Mail.
DEFIBRILLATOR LAW: The General Assembly is on the verge of passing Connor's Law, a bill named in honor of the 5-year-old boy who drowned at the Crofton Country Club's pool in 2006, writes Alex Jackson in the Capital-Gazette. Connor's Law took effect in Anne Arundel County last year to require all of the county's public and semipublic pools to have an automatic external defibrillator.
INS & OUTS OF MDGOP: Republican blogger Richard Cross, in an opinion piece in the Sun, details the dysfunction that the state's GOP has been experiencing and sees it as a battle not just with the Democrats but one within its own party between the Ins – those old establishment hands – and the Outs – the engaged activists.
Mark Newgent at the conservative website Red Maryland also addresses the problems within the state Republican Party.
COUNTY BIAS COMPLAINTS: An Anne Arundel County Democrat is backing a bill that would allow county residents to file discrimination complaints on the county level, reports Alex Jackson for the Capital-Gazette. Del. Pam Beidle has introduced legislation to alter the county code to allow a group like the county's Human Relations Commission to take complaints of discrimination.
PreviousBill requiring landlords to accept Section 8 housing vouchers sparks debate
NextRestrictions on referendum process won't pass this session, Senate president says
Cynthia Prairie
cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
https://www.chestertelegraph.org/
Contributing Editor Cynthia Prairie has been a newspaper editor since 1979, when she began working at The Raleigh Times. Since then, she has worked for The Baltimore News American, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Prince George's Journal and Baltimore County newspapers in the Patuxent Publishing chain, including overseeing The Jeffersonian when it was a two-day a week business publication. Cynthia has won numerous state awards, including the Maryland State Bar Association's Gavel Award. Besides compiling and editing the daily State Roundup, she runs her own online newspaper, The Chester Telegraph. If you have additional questions or comments contact Cynthia at: cynthiaprairie@gmail.com
State Roundup, November 30, 2018
State Roundup June 25, 2010
State Roundup, October 7, 2019
State Roundup, April 4, 2012
JGwen on March 27, 2013 at 10:02 am
"Referendum changes still awaiting action in House committee"/Maryland Reporter by Kazanjian
The three "Referendum change" bills offered this session, as presented, are clearly an attempt to stamp out opposition to legislation the voters would challenge. Majority Rule must be unchallengeable!
"The bill also calls for campaign finance entities to be set up for each petitioned bill" – Solely by the Petitioners. Such a provision is unnecessary, but should it exist it should also apply to all those organizations opposing the petition. Millions poured in to oppose two of the petitions in our last year's three petition drives.
The information offered with the legislation, including that in the fiscal and policy note, fail to describe any provocations that occasion need for "tightening" petition requirements.
While the "Election Law Subcommittee" attempts to tighten the Petition provisions, they are busy Loosening the Voting requirements with Registering and Voting on the same day, Registering via e-mail, Voting by mail, et al.
It seems abundantly clear their goal is an attempt at "voter suppression."


My British husband and I and 3 children are past the deciding phase of moving back to the UK and in active planning mode. But one wrinkle in our plans if figuring out schooling for our 15, soon to be 16 year old, who is currently a sophomore in HS. I have searched this forum and British Expats, and most of what I'm reading isn't good news. That it would be very difficult, if not impossible, to move him at this stage. Problem is, if we waited to move until our oldest graduates, that might be rough on our 12 year old, because he would then be starting a UK school late. Oy vey, it seems a mess!
Can your eldest attend an American school or a school with an IB program?
Home schooling would be another option.
Very similar situation to yours. My daughter completed her sophomore year in HS June 2018. I secured her a place in a Sixth Form College and she started in September. I worked directly with admissions directors and sent samples of her course work and references from her teachers. The college did require that she take GCSE math and English since the only true equivalent to GCSE is a HS diploma. However we were happy with that as they allowed her to concurrently enroll in level 3 BTEC in performing arts. This is just my experience but you should reach out to the colleges and see what they say.
International Baccalaureates definitely are good if you can afford the fees somewhere.
Otherwise, chatting to a local college is good and see what is what. An access course might be ideal?
We will start contacting local colleges, fingers crossed there will be one out there that can accommodate him.
Watersfam, that's really great! Reassuring to here that the college was so helpful, I'm hoping for a similar outcome. How did she like her school? What is a smooth transition?
There are quite a few schools across the UK that offer the IB now (about 200 schools, apparently), and they're not just in London.
Doing a search in the Ribble Valley area, it looks like Stoneyhurst College in Clitheroe offers the IB, as does the Rossel School in Fleetwood. They are both independent, fee-paying schools though.
You're welcome! It can be a very daunting task getting kids enrolled in the UK school system! However, my experience has been very positive and I have found the schools and councils very helpful. My daughter is loving sixth form college and is already having a more positive experience in the two months she's been there than an entire lifetime in the US schools. One thing to note if you decide to wait for relocation, you'll want to make sure your younger child is in the UK in time to start school prior to or at Year 9 as that is the first year of GCSE and key to success in year 10 and 11. I was advised that many schools will not admit a new student in year 10 so we sent our son to live with my MIL last year so he could start school in Year 9. Timing is everything!
Glad to hear you had a positive experience!
A course that gives the "equivalents" needed to continue education. Think of it like getting a GED.
When I moved to the UK with my daughter, she had just graduated from grade 8 in the USA. The school where we made the choice to send her was very willing to work with us and make sure she was caught up. She was placed in Year 10, and given extra help to catch up with the current course work.
Our experience was very, very positive, and the schools here ( from year 10 onward to now college) have all been very open to helping us, working with us on bursury information, course help, and just making up the difference in education standards from the US to the UK systems.
My daughter was 12 when we moved here. She actually adjusted very well to year 8 in a state school. The issue was in getting her into that school to begin with, as we are in London, many schools are oversubscribed, and moving here the summer before year 8 is not the best timing. Of course, it may be easier to get kids into school where you're going.
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text:
Theatre sets sail down 'Big River'
July 9, 2010 Updated: June 24, 2019 10:28 a.m.
The eight Tony Award-winning musical based on Mark Twain's classic 1884 novel, "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn," is coming to Waveny Park in a production of "Big River" by the Summer Theatre of New Canaan.
Performances begin Saturday, July 10, rain or shine, in Waveny Park. Shows are Wednesdays through Sundays, 7:45 p.m., through August 1.
Featuring country, blues and gospel music from composer Roger Miller, this musical is an adventure down the Mississippi River where the audience meets not only Huck Finn, but also Mark Twain's well known characters Tom Sawyer, Jim the runaway slave, the notorious bumbling Duke and King and more.
Actors from New Canaan include Lisa Buccuzi, Lindsay Meyerson, Megan Meyerson, Anna Oxman, Kate Bodenheimer, Christian Libonati, Andrew Serkes, Ryan Stiffelman, Allie Potenza, Ashton Woerz, Whitney Woerz, Rachel Guth and Sean Peterson.
In the story, Huck is forced to fake his own death to escape trouble and joins up with another on the run, Jim, a slave in the search of freedom. As they head down the river, they get sucked into scams involving two "aristocrats," one of which lands Jim in chains once again and Huck and Tom Sawyer join together to free him.
In STONC's production, the musicians join more than 30 actors on stage, in 10 different scene changes. The harmonica, guitar and fiddle keep the story true to the times and the locations of each scene, according to a press release.
"The music connects so closely to the story that 'Big River' often feels more like a play than the big musical that it is," said Melody Libonati, artistic director.
"What interests me so much about this play," she said, "is the sense of adventure. We get to follow the travels of a young boy and learn what he learns, especially from his experiences with Jim, the runaway slave. It's so much about the lessons all of us learn while growing up, and keep for our entire lives — just like any kid, really."


text:
St. Joe's Commuter Team Camp Notebook (Pt. 1)
By Josh Verlin & Zach Drapkin
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Zach Drapkin (@ZachDrapkin)
The St. Joe's commuter team camp took place this past weekend, with 28 teams -- 27 from the tri-state area and one from Puerto Rico -- coming to Hagan Arena and attached practice facility for six games over the course of three days.
Here's Part 1 of a notebook from the weekend; Part 2 can be found here:
Chris Arizin (above) and St. Joe's Prep are adjusting to the loss of three scholarship seniors from last year. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
New-look Prep enjoys strong weekend at SJU
Change is brewing for Saint Joseph's Prep, and that's nothing new over on West Girard.
The Hawks graduated Ed Croswell, Darius Kinnel, and Kyle Thompson this June, sending the trio off on basketball scholarships to La Salle, Hartford, and West Chester, respectively.
Yet head coach Speedy Morris and assistant coach Randy Monroe, with many decades of coaching experience between the two of them, are used to losing top talent.
"Teams lose great players every year," Monroe said. "It's time for somebody else to step up and have an opportunity, that's how you have to look at it."
There's certainly plenty of opportunity for new players to step up with three vacant starting spots, and while going 4-2 at the team camp this past weekend, the Hawks gave some indication of which players might scoop up the available minutes in the rotation.
The Hawks return a pair of starters in Trevor Wall, a 6-foot-2 junior who played more of a complementary role last season, and Gabe Arizin, a 6-4 senior wing. While Arizin was away on Friday and Saturday, Wall shined as the team's primary ballhandler, showing a cool demeanor while both facilitating offense for his teammates and consistently getting to the rim on drives.
Recent Princeton commit and 6-11 senior Jacob O'Connell excelled in the post at Hagan Arena on Friday, further evidence that he's primed for a big year with Croswell gone. He'll have to be on his game this season, as he's the only true 4 or 5-man the Hawks have.
Sliding into that power forward or stretch-four role will be a combination of Arizin and his younger cousin, 6-3 junior Chris Arizin, whose versatile skill set was on display all over the court in the first set of team camp.
"More than likely [the Arizin's will] probably play wing roles and they'll help out with rebounding," Monroe said. "Those guys have a good feel for the game, and they're pretty good players."
The younger Arizin will be one of a number of Prep players taking on sizable varsity roles for the first time, and he'll be joined by sophomore Jimmy King, a 6-1 sharpshooter, and 6-2 senior Danny DiSandro, who both Monroe and Chris Arizin agree has the chance for a breakout year.
St. Joe's seems to have put together a very cohesive unit heading into the summer, and though the team may lack in star power and experience, the Hawks are optimistic about a return to the Catholic League playoffs.
"We don't have as many loaded offensive guys, but I think we make up for it with our ball movement and everything else," Chris Arizin said. "I think we're going to do some damage this year." -- Zach Drapkin
C.J. Savage (above) takes over Great Valley's varsity squad after a decade as an assistant. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
Savage takes over at Great Valley
The Great Valley coaching staff won't be too different this fall. It's the positions on the bench that'll be more of a significant change.
Paul Girone stepped aside this offseason after four seasons as the Patriots' boss, but he's sticking around the program after handing the reins off to C.J. Savage, who takes over his first head-coaching gig after 10 seasons as an assistant coach under Girone and Jim Nolan.
So it was still Savage and Girone on the bench at St. Joe's all weekend, and though both took their turns in the huddle, there's no doubt who was in charge.
"It's fun having him on the bench, because this is our fifth year together and it's been a blast just coaching with him as an assistant and I'm thankful to have him there," Savage said. "It's great, he can not yell as much and get involved with the refs as much, he can just sit back and relax and watch the plays a little bit."
A native of Temperanceville, Virginia -- located on the state's Eastern Shore just below the Maryland border -- Savage went to Fayetteville State, where he was the top 3-point shooter in the CIAA before he said his brother Andre's unexpected death caused him to withdraw from basketball.
Savage found his way to Pennsylvania, where he began coaching the Great Valley 9th grade team in 2007-08.
By the time Mikal Bridges arrived at the school as a tenth grader in the summer of 2011, Savage was a varsity assistant under Nolan, helping develop the future Villanova wing and soon-to-be NBA Draft lottery pick. He stayed on staff when Nolan stepped down following Bridges' graduation in 2014 and Girone took over, and now gets to be in charge.
"It's a mixture of Jim Nolan and Paul Girone over the years...a combination of both offenses into one," Savage said. "We're running a lot of the things that we've been running, but we're adding a lot of things, also. Just to get the guys to play quicker, play faster at times and at times to slow it down and run offense, gauging on the momentum of the game and how we're playing."
Point guard Matt Porreca, wing Liam Ward and forward Nate Graeff are all gone from last year's 16-10 team, which captured the Ches-Mont American championship with a 10-1 league record. Though the Patriots are still in a search for a point guard, much of the offense this weekend ran through 6-4 rising senior forward Jake Prevost, the school's starting quarterback on the football field and a versatile player on the hardwood.
Fellow senior Gavin Frankenheimer will also handle a large portion of the scoring load, though Prevost was doing everything from running point to posting up and crashing the glass.
"He's doing a lot for us," Savage said of Prevost. "His game has improved a lot this year." -- Josh Verlin
Swedish import William Humer (above) made his Bishop Eustace debut this weekend. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)
-- Across the bridge in South Jersey, keep an eye out this fall for a Bishop Eustace squad that's added a good bit of youthful size this offseason. Bob Falconiero's Crusaders, coming off an 18-10 season that ended with a two-point loss to St. Joe's-Metuchen in the South Jersey Non-Public 'A' quarterfinals, looked plenty impressive on Friday night, knocking off Morris Catholic by 30-plus behind a trio of returners in senior wing forward Mattia Morini, senior guard Matt Kempter and junior point guard David Cross. But two newcomers make them really intriguing, and give Eustace one of the taller lineups around. Chris Tomasco, a 6-8 sophomore who spent last season at St. Joe's Prep, is now back in his home state; much further from home is William Humer, a 6-7 wing from Sweden who only arrived in the states this year. The two connected several times, with Humer finding Tomasco on several late outlet passes which ended in emphatic dunks. Those two, plus the 6-6 Morini and 6-5 Kempter -- who was more comfortable with the ball in his hands than we've seen previously from the sharpshooter -- mean these Crusaders will not be small. Nor easy to beat.
-- At one point in The Haverford School's easy win over Shawnee on Friday night, head coach Bernie Rogers had on the court rising senior Christian Ray along with a quartet of underclassmen: sophomores Christian Clover, Tyler Seward and Jaylen Stinson and freshman Jameel Brown. And though that might be one of the younger lineups used in the Inter-Ac -- senior guards Jameer Nelson Jr. and Gavin Burke will make sure the Fords' starting lineup packs plenty of experience and punch -- it won't be one of the weakest. Brown, a 6-3 guard, already shoots the 3-ball better than many of his older teammates and should jump immediately into the rotation, while the three sophomores should see their production increase after getting their feet wet on the varsity level a year ago. Add in the bruising 6-5 Ray and 6-5 senior Asim Richards, a future Division I football player who gives Haverford more bulk inside, and the Fords look like the favorites to repeat as Inter-Ac champs this fall.
-- Speaking of Inter-Ac champions, Germantown Academy saw its string of five straight titles snapped last year, with a senior-less lineup going 2-8 in the six-team league, and just 9-17 overall. But there's plenty of hope for a step back in the right direction this year, led by rising sophomore Jordan Longino, who averaged 18.7 ppg as a freshman and has already picked up Rhode Island and Tulane offers this offseason. With Longino out for the weekend due to a death in the family, the Patriots got to show what else they have; rising senior Brian Basile and rising junior Luke Traina both showed their scoring touch as the Fords lost a game to Eastern (N.J.) on Saturday morning. Basile, a 6-5 forward, knocked down four 3-pointers with a smooth pull-up stroke, while the 6-2 Traina slashed his way to the bucket to finish in double-digit scoring of his own.
Tag(s): Home Old HS Josh Verlin Rich's Page High School St. Joe's Prep Ches-Mont American Great Valley Inter-Ac Germantown Ac. Haverford School Zach Drapkin


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