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The Americans' producers walk us through their first-season storylines
Emily Todd VanDerWerff
When FX's The Americans debuted, it was just another spy drama, living in the shadow of Homeland, and just another period piece, living in the shadow of Mad Men. After 13 episodes and increasingly strong critical reception, however, the show—about two undercover KGB spies working in Washington, D.C. in the early '80s, as well as the FBI agents working to capture them—turned into one of the highlights of the TV season, an unexpectedly emotional and moving story of a marriage forged in convenience but made real by circumstance. Though they didn't have time for a full, episode-by-episode walkthrough, creator and executive producer Joe Weisberg and executive producer Joel Fields sat down with The A.V. Club to discuss the season's most prominent storylines.
The spy storyline
As the season progresses, Philip and Elizabeth become aware of an American program designed to put a missile defense system in space—an initiative that came to be known as the "Star Wars" program.
The A.V. Club: How did you decide to start the story when you do—not just the Cold War, but specifically in 1981?
Joe Weisberg: My initial inclination when I decided I wanted to set the pilot in the Cold War was to go '70s, strictly because I loved the hair and the music. Probably the other way, probably the music best and then the hair. But I started thinking about Jimmy Carter—and I love Jimmy Carter too, actually—but it was hard to think of things getting too hot and everybody wanting to kill each other too much under Jimmy Carter. Then we started thinking about Ronald Reagan, and everything immediately clicked.
But of course the Cold War was, in retrospect, exciting and hot under Ronald Reagan. He was the most compelling and interesting president of my entire lifetime in so many ways, and to set a drama where the Soviets and the United States were at each others' throats under Ronald Reagan seemed perfect. So to start the show almost immediately after he got elected seemed like the right thing to do. That's how we ended up in 1981.
AVC: In your research, did you find that there were times in that period where it was really close to open aggression?
JW: I was born in 1965. I think Joel was too…
Joel Fields: I was born in September of 1964.
JW: So a lot of this is just stuff I remember, although we've been doing research, too. But all I have to do is think back and remember Reagan talking about the evil empire and things of that sort. Then when the [Berlin] Wall fell, a lot of things started coming out, and things started being written that were secret on the Soviet side because things were so withheld. One of my favorite things that came out was [that] the Soviet leadership, when Reagan spoke that way, thought that he was crazy. [Laughs.] They thought that for anybody to talk that way was so dangerous and insane that he must literally be mentally imbalanced. And so much escalated just through that type of misunderstanding that I don't know if it brought us to the brink of war, but it certainly escalated things in a way that we may not even have understood at the time.
I don't know that I would say that the research necessarily showed us at the brink of nuclear war, but there were things like that or the fact that when we were researching the episode about the Reagan assassination attempt, we discovered that [Secretary Of State] Al Haig, during that whole famous episode, actually got a copy of the nuclear football, which is something we hadn't known before. Maybe still some steps away from war, but more dangerous than we had realized.
AVC: In that episode, one of the central conflicts is the difference between how someone steeped in the Soviet mindset, like Elizabeth is, perceives the assassination attempt, as opposed to someone like Philip. How did you get into those different perceptions of world events?
JF: I guess the most honest answer is, in collaborating, debating, discussing, and finding the stories, those things emerged. They emerged naturally. Joe created these two characters with two very different perspectives, and another very powerful element of the show is, as much as these are real, nuanced, living, and breathing characters, they can also function as allegories and themes for these geopolitical events that were happening around them. We were able—in every episode—to try to explore each of those facets simultaneously. Whenever we broke one of these spy stories, we would always stop and ask, "Is the personal story working? Is the marriage story working? Is it compelling, in and of itself, without any of the plot elements? Is it interesting us? Is it provoking interesting character stuff?" And if the answer was no, it didn't matter how nail-biting a spy story we had cooked up. We would throw it out and start again.
AVC: How accurate is the spycraft? At an Emmy screening, you said, Joe, that sometimes you get some guff from your old CIA colleagues.
JW: I get both. The guff puts me in a bad mood; the compliments put me in a good mood. I just got one the other night from an old friend that I hadn't heard from in years, this was after the Emmy screening, and he said that he and all his colleagues love the show and it's the only spy show they watch. [Wryly.] Since that letter, I think it's all incredibly accurate.
AVC: What were some things you turned up? You've got the umbrella assassination in episode two and the other various sorts of spy missions. How did you arrive at those individual stories?
JF: I'll give you a little background on the process. There was a really fun day in our development when Joe sat down with the entire writing staff, with the actors, with our producing director, set in front of a whiteboard and gave a lesson in spycraft, and we learned about surveillance, we learned about counter-surveillance, we learned about disguises. We learned all sorts of… we learned about dead drops…
JW: How to kill with an umbrella.
JF: How to kill with an umbrella, he left out, actually. I think he was concerned that he didn't know us all that well. Then we all went outside and got to put our lessons into practice, and we all walked around the stages in Brooklyn and practiced seeing if we were being followed without looking behind us and getting in cars and looking behind without moving our heads. It was really fun and also very interesting. Part of what's been cool about the show has been that Joe has, as we say in the writers' room sometimes, a spy card that allows us to explore stories, but the level of experience gives us, we hope, a level of verisimilitude.
JW: Another thing that I think is accurate about the show that you see less often in shows is that a lot of the time, resources, and effort of intelligence agencies is spent recruiting and running agents. That's one of the main activities of a spy, and we do a lot of that on this show. When you think about Martha or Prince or Charles Duluth, these are all agents that Philip and Elizabeth, who are intelligence officers, have recruited. And they've recruited them in order to get secret intelligence, to get information, or sometimes, they are recruited for various more active measures as well. But that's really a centerpiece of this show and one of the things that make it realistic: [It] shows the actual activities of intelligence officers.
JF: And fortunately also creates relationships.
AVC: The central spy story of the season deals with the so-called Star Wars program. How did you arrive at that as a MacGuffin?
JW: Do you remember?
JF: Oh, I'd like to remember something really clever for you.
JW: [Laughs.]
JF: We kicked around a lot of things, and I think it just sort of sprung [up] in there in the Gregory episode as a little thing we wanted to drop into that briefcase…
JW: Well, it was in "The Clock," too…
JF: Oh no, it was in "The Clock," too. There was that little line in "The Clock" where they were talking about it at the end…
JW: That little thing on the bug.
JF: That little reference to what they heard on the bug. Just from what was historically accurate, what they might have been talking about, that just blossomed into the story, and then of course we sort of found ourselves struggling with how much do we want to expose of this story? We want it to stay accurate. For example, we all find ourselves referring to it as Star Wars, but it was not referred to as Star Wars in 1981, and we found ourselves often going through scripts and removing references to "Star Wars" and turning it into "Reagan's ballistic missile program," which is a much more clunky mouthful, but what they called it at the time. I guess generously we can say that it sprung out of our unconscious, and ungenerously we can say it just happened.
JW: We also talked a lot about, should we have Philip and Elizabeth as the spies who destroy Star Wars? Should we work on the secret history, and have it be that Star Wars really could have worked, but our guys prevent it from working? And we had some really compelling stories along those lines, but also we felt it was taking too much liberty with the history. Even though it would be a lot of fun and make our heroes very heroic, at least to Moscow, it would warp our sense of reality for the show a little too much.
AVC: What were some places where you pushed the limits of what might have actually happened, or where things are a little smoothed-over for fiction's purposes?
JW: Well, the Reagan episode is another interesting question. What's the prime thing illegals did throughout the world, particularly Western Europe? I don't think that history has recorded how much they did in the United States. I don't think we know the answer to this, but in Western Europe, illegals were there in large part to cache weapons and to prepare for world warfare in case another world war broke out. So in the Reagan episode when Philip and Elizabeth are digging up a cache of weapons and preparing to assassinate foreign leaders, that was one of the prime directives of KGB illegals. Going so far as to have them digging up a cache of weapons and getting ready to blow Caspar Weinberger's head off, there's no evidence that an illegal ever did that in history. That's invented, but hopefully we made it feel real and plausible in the circumstances of that story.
JF: Our test seems to be, "Is it possible that this might have happened?"
The Jennings marriage
Philip and Elizabeth renew their fake commitment to each other… then break up… then renew their commitment… then break up… and finally reunite (seemingly for good) in the season finale. Both also have other lovers throughout the season.
AVC: It seems as though everything on the show ultimately gets tied back into this marriage. How much of a directive was that for you in breaking story?
JF: It was an absolute directive. It was the beginning, middle, and end of what was to be explored in this season.
AVC: How did that idea arise, making this huge espionage story be boiled down to this one marriage?
JF: It seems as though from the beginning, if it was going to be a show with heart and a show that people cared about, then it was the relationship between this couple that was going to provide that. I don't think there was any interest on anybody's part in just doing a spy show. Spy shows are a dime a dozen, as are cop shows, doctor shows, and everything else, but the thing that was compelling about it was that it was about a married couple with kids. It was about a family.
Something happened very early on, we had an episode, and we sent it in to the network, and like all other episodes, Philip and Elizabeth are in a lot of danger of getting killed in complex operations. This could happen, that could happen, and one of the executives at the network said, "Wow, this is exactly what happened with me and my wife last week!" What he meant was that the struggle that Philip and Elizabeth had in their relationship as they went through this operation really resonated with him as something that he and his wife had gone through. And we thought, "That's it. That's exactly the point of the show." If you're married or you're in a relationship, you deal with certain types of problems that everybody else does. The fact that the job may take Philip and Elizabeth to crazy places while they deal with these troubles may be why they have a TV show about them, and there's no TV show about me and my wife, for example. But making it a relatable marriage, that was really the hook for the show.
AVC: One of the criticisms of the season is that there's been a lot of twists and turns in Philip and Elizabeth's marriage. How much did you struggle with balancing out their struggle to stay together without having too many reversals?
JF: You never want to dismiss or be defensive of criticisms because everybody feels what they feel, and I think those are valid criticisms. I think when we started reading those criticisms, we hadn't seen it that way. We thought Philip and Elizabeth struggle to figure out if they were going to make it as a couple or not, and it seemed natural to us that there would be a back and forth in that. Now I'm not saying that's right. That was our perception, and then we saw, "Oh, some people are seeing that as too much of a back and forth."
AVC: Is that a thing that you'll consider heading into season two, or do you think that marriage is this constant negotiation between two states?
JF: [Chuckles.] Nice of you to put it that way, particularly in light of the show. To build on what Joe was saying and to be candid about the process, there were elements of these storylines, both plot-wise and character-wise, that were devised at the beginning and played out over the course of the season, and I think ultimately the Philip and Elizabeth relationship for us, grew organically. Even though there were things that we had planned, ultimately they fell somewhat by the wayside as the relationship unfolded for us, creatively.
In terms of the specific question with regard to next season, I think what we know is that we don't want to tread over the same territory again because that would be boring, but marriage is a constant exploration, and these are two very complicated characters who are trying to engage in a relationship, and that's always dramatically interesting, to us at least, but we don't want it to feel repetitive. It's something we'll continue to be aware of, and maybe now after reading some of these thoughts from others, be even more aware of.
AVC: What were some of those ideas that ultimately fell by the wayside as you were writing out the season?
JF: I think we expected Philip and Elizabeth to get back together sooner, to be honest. I don't think we expected that separation to last that long. And frankly, I think when we conceived of the separation, we were a little nervous that somehow it might put them in a position where they were less actively involved with one another. Ironically what we found, as we've sometimes seen among other real-life separated couples, a lot of the tension melted away, and they were able to get to know each other again without the pressure of being married. It allowed them to see each other in a different light.
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AVC: Did you ever toy with them staying separated at the end of the season?
JW: We did. I don't think we ever thought that they would stay separated forever or for a super long time, but one possibility was going into next season with them not back together yet.
AVC: There's a lot of sex in this series. How realistic is that to how these people would have done their jobs?
JW: One of the fascinating things about KGB spycraft, and one of the ways in which it differs from, for example, CIA spycraft, is the KGB always explicitly encouraged its officers—both its illegals and mainstream officers that worked out of the embassies—to use sex as a tool to manipulate people and to gather intelligence. In a theoretical way, there's a sort of communist theology that [have] inhibitions and prudishness about sex as a bourgeoisie idea, and the KGB in fact used this and said to its officers, "We shouldn't be beholden to these bourgeoisie ideals that you can't use sex." Depending on how you want to look at it, that was an excuse for being exploitative of its officers, or you can think of it however you want. But the fact is that KGB officers were both allowed and encouraged to use sex in this way. The most shocking example you heard us refer to at the screening, where they had illegals who actually married women [illegals in Western Europe were encouraged to marry secretaries who worked in government offices], but there was also much more casual sex.
There's a very famous story of a British guy, I think it was a former policeman. He was turned into a sort of gigolo by the KGB and slept with many, many women in pursuit of their secrets. More often, the KGB used its own Russian officers in this way. In reality, as we try to show it on the TV show, I think the case with using Martha is very realistic, and the way it's shown dramatically has a feeling of realism. Where we began the season with Annalise, that may have been more of a TV version of it, for some fun, but who's to say?
AVC: How do you use sex as a storytelling tool in a series like this? Because sex is something that TV increasingly shies away from. It's often used as for its juvenile, lizard-brain appeal.
JW: Not to keep talking about Martha, but that's what I love about the Martha storyline: It's something other than just the sex being used for fun and thrills. Although it's being used horribly and cruelly, there's nothing gratuitous about it.
JF: We hope the same is the case for the Stan/Nina stuff. That there, the inverse story is played out. He is truly sincere in his own mind; he's attracted to her, she's attracted to him, he's a powerful guy, he saved her life. But you don't have to step back too many paces to see it the way Arkady sees it, which is this guy took advantage of her and was using her. It's like a prism. It just depends which way you hold it to the light and it looks differently.
JW: On the Martha stuff, obviously it's not just a story about sex, but a story about love. It's been interesting to see people's reaction to that. They're so much angrier at Philip/Clark and what he's doing than they seem to be at any of the killings that Philip or Elizabeth have done over the course of the season. There's a sense of outrage over that particular cruelty. I'm not disagreeing with that. I just think it's interesting to note that breaking a woman's heart in that way and screwing with her sense of reality is taken to be an act of immeasurable cruelty, almost worse than taking a person's life.
JF: In a strange way, we've talked about this in the past, Joe, that the murders, one could argue, were a necessity. When Elizabeth killed that security guard, it was essentially "kill or be killed," although that guy didn't know it. She gave that guy every opportunity to get back in his car and drive away, and it was only when he went for that radio that she made the decision that had to be made to protect her cover, her husband's cover, her family, and the KGB assets in D.C. But with Martha, they're making a calculated choice to manipulate her, to dig deeper into the FBI counterintelligence department.
AVC: There's really an element of calculation, of people seeing what they can talk someone else into or what they can get over on somebody else, in all of the relationships on this show, especially the romantic ones. Is that how you view the world, or is that a storytelling tool?
JW: It's certainly how I view espionage.
JF: Again, we talk about that a lot as we discuss what we want to accomplish in the show. We talk about identity, individual identity. Who are we? Is it how we're perceived? Is it how we perceive ourselves? Is it the sum total of our actions? Who are we in relationships, and what is a relationship? What is trust? What is the balance between defending ourselves from being hurt— which the more one does, the more one must live alone—or opening ourselves up to a relationship—which is gratifying, but exposes us to pain? That happens in a small way every day when you navigate your relationships. In a bigger way every day if you're navigating a family and a marriage, and wow, it happens in a huge way if you're a spy behind enemy lines and you can tell the truth to nobody about who you are. One misstep means you literally get killed.
AVC: You seem to use the Beeman marriage as sort of a mirror to what Philip and Elizabeth are going through. Was that intentional?
JW: Yeah, that was certainly part of the idea of having two married couples across the street from each other, that they'd be able mirror each other. I don't think that we knew starting out exactly how that mirror would function, and I still don't think we know going forward all the possibilities of how that mirror could function, but I think it's set up to be a pretty good mirror. I think that Stan/Nina also functions as a complicated mirror, too.
JF: And Clark/Martha, too!
AVC: You've also got the kids there. They're an important part of the show, but they're also more backgrounded this season. Do you see their role becoming more important moving forward?
JF: We hope so. We have such a terrific cast. There's Keri [Russell, playing Elizabeth] and Matthew [Rhys, playing Philip], and of course, Noah [Emmerich, playing Stan], but you go straight down the line, and we're blessed with two phenomenal young actors in these roles, so we certainly have the opportunity to do it. And exploring family is something we've talked a lot about. Having dug so deep into marriage this season, expanding the circle out towards the kids and the family seems like an interesting vein to tap.
AVC: What was the casting process like on this show?
JW: The pilot casting was there were a lot of good people involved. Gavin O'Connor, who directed the pilot, is a genius at casting. And a lot of great people at the networks and at DreamWorks, all sorts of actual casting directors themselves helped cast for the pilot, and then when we started series, just continued going.
AVC: Were there any particular parts that you thought were going to be hard to fill and then you found the perfect actor for that part?
JW: All of 'em!
JF: Yeah, all of 'em. But imagine writing a character and then turning to the casting department and saying, "Okay, we need a beautiful, early/mid-20s actress who can play at all levels probably a lot of scenes with Noah Emmerich, so she's got to have a really strong training in classical acting to be able to hit the ball back to an actor of that caliber. She should be attractive, but also we need her to seem intelligent. She should be strong. And by the way, she needs to be fluent in Russian." [Laughs.] We got lucky. Very lucky.
AVC: So many of these serialized dramas use teenage girls as a mirror for their own parents' flaws. As a show that has that element within it, do you have any idea why that might be the case?
JF: [Beat.] Because it's true in life? [Laughs.]
I'm not joking! Really, I think that may be the case because on the one hand, our children mirror our flaws, and on the other hand, there comes this point right in those years where they're heading out to become their own people. I'm amazed [by] my own children who I love dearly, but from the first moments you realize they have their own personalities, it's an incredible thing to experience, and yet you also live in some level of denial of it. Yet when they become teenagers, you know they're going to set out on their own. One of the things we talked about was there's a moment for every teenager where they cross a threshold and start to question that younger perception, that idealized perception of their parents that they've always had, and we're starting to explore that moment for Paige, dramatically compounded by the fact that while every ordinary teenager thinks that their parents have been lying about who they really are on some level, Philip and Elizabeth really have been in the biggest way imaginable.
AVC: You've talked so often, Joe, about the speech that CIA agents give their kids announcing their true occupation. Is there a possible imagined version of that speech that you think Philip and Elizabeth could give their children, or do you think the KGB thing would just be too much?
JW: The real illegals—there was an idea that their covers weren't good enough, their legends weren't good enough to survive a government security check, so if the real illegals wanted to join the defense department or an intelligence agency of a foreign government, it wouldn't be possible.
But the kids of real illegals might be able to get through a security check like that, so having a real illegal eventually tell their kids who they were and recruit them into the service was one of the goals for [them]. I don't know that that's a direction that we might want to go, that it might work for our story or it might not, but I think that there could be direction where I could see that talk happening. I could see other reasons why Philip and Elizabeth might want to do anything to avoid that talk. I'm not sure.
AVC: One of the other storylines you got criticism for was when the two kids are at the mall and they hitchhike back home. Where did that story arise from?
JF: I'm not remembering the genesis. I know we wanted to explore the question of how much of their parents did the kids have in them without knowing it, and what would happen if something went wrong with the parents in a world without cell phones, without communication. But I don't remember the specific genesis.
JW: We read the writing on the show very, very closely. We read a lot of it, and it's a very interesting thing. It's an interesting thing to follow and try to decide what we were after because yeah, we got a lot of criticism for that and also a lot of people that loved it. And you have other stories where there doesn't seem [to be] much criticism, and again, you're wondering what you're trying to do. Are you just trying to write stories everybody will love? I guess that would be ideal. How do you feel about a story like that, that had a lot of positive reactions but also a fair amount of negative? I'm torn on that story myself. I always had some reservations about it, but I've always loved that final piece where he pees his pants and Paige takes him down to the laundry room to wash his pants for him; I'm so moved by that. I also love when he cracks the guy with a beer bottle—you can see his father in him. I loved that.
JF: That whole episode had some fabulous elements and some things that we really struggled with. It just did.
AVC: Were there other episodes like that, where you felt like things came together really well, or you had some trouble getting the stories together?
JW: Joel's going to start talking about episode 110…
JF: [Laughs.] Or as Todd would know it, 11. The numbering system is a little off.
I don't know. It's very easy from the outside to imagine shows, scripts, spring to life in their perfect form from writers' heads, but the reality is, it's a struggle. It's a hard struggle; it starts with discussion, debate. One hopes for inspiration. We work consciously, we work subconsciously, we work individually, we work collectively—
JW: We work when asleep!
JF: We do! We work when asleep. Ideas come to us when we finally get a free moment and we stop thinking about it. We call each other, email each other at odd hours. It'd be great to live in the world of being able to deliver a platonic ideal of the series, but one of the great and terrible things about series television is that once that start gun is fired and you're moving toward production, even if a hurricane hits, you're still moving toward production, as we found out this year.
What that means is you do the best you can, you explore the best you can, and you're putting on a show. It forces you into decisions, and ultimately, we feel really good about how the season turned out. If we could do it all over again, there's a lot of stuff we might do differently, but then there's a lot of stuff that might not come out the same. Who's to say if we went back and corrected all our perceived mistakes of the season, that it would be less interesting or somehow it wouldn't end up more polished? Who knows? It doesn't matter. All we know is that we hope that we can make it more interesting next season and the season after that. We'll start with trying to make it more interesting for us. We're the first audience members. We hope people will also enjoy it.
AVC: How much did Hurricane Sandy affect your production and writing schedules?
JF: We wish it had affected our post-production schedule more. It impacted our production schedule, but we didn't change our air-date schedule. We pretty much lost our production office. It was flooded up to the desktops, and we were out of there. I think we didn't get back until February.
JW: And it still smells.
JF: It still smells kind of musty, even though they did a lot of work. And the sets were hit as well. It had just been almost completed. We had a fair amount of water damage, so for the first time in my career, we were trying to figure out how to move shooting scenes off of the standing sets. Absolutely the most expensive way to do it, but it was the only way to keep to schedule. The challenge became, it did set us behind script-wise because we were so focused on trying to pick ourselves up from the hurricane. Because the air date remained immutable, rightfully so, we got this plum spot of premièring the week after American Horror Story went off the air. It was a great slot to have, but it meant that we didn't have much flexibility in our post turnaround, which just translated into not much sleep. And no weekends.
AVC: So you're glad to be done.
JF: To be perfectly honest, we wish it felt more like we were done. We were just talking about that. The finale aired last night—
JW: When are we done?!
JF: [Laughs.] —and we were telling ourselves this story that we'd be done by two weeks ago, then it was one week ago, then it was this week. Now we're sitting here surrounded by résumés, figuring out practical budget and staff stuff for next season. But it's great to have a next season to think about, and we look forward to going home soon.
AVC: One thing that worked really well this season was the story of Gregory and Elizabeth. How did you develop that?
JW: I talked about some things coming into the season. When you develop the show, you do a lot of work developing ideas and thoughts and other characters and potential plots and storylines, and a lot of it just gets thrown out or you forget about it, but some things stick. I had a whole list of agents for Philip and Elizabeth that they either had recruited through the years or agents they might want to recruit at some point in the series, and one of the ones that I think was compelling was Gregory. I don't know when or where I thought of him, but I thought that would really be a great character for Elizabeth to have recruited right after she came to America. That was just something that came along through the development process. Joel, when you were writing that script, I think that expanded to include the idea of the romance.
JF: I think that it was a true relationship; that was the thing that evolved. It was the one person that she could be honest with, and he had that kind of '70s idealism where they had this honest communication. This woman, who had been unable to be honest with her husband, could be honest with this man that she had recruited. It became a way for her character to be humanized and softened, and that evolved.
AVC: Philip has the same situation with his lover, Irina, from Russia. Do you want to return to that relationship? You suggest that his potential son with Irina does not exist, but did you leave yourself just enough room to suggest that he does if you decide that you want him to?
JF: Or does he? [Laughs.] In fact, there was a line in the script that took it slightly over to the other side and made it seem like he did exist. We wrote it, we shot it, and we decided to be on the other side of vague. It was vague, but yes, there's enough room either way.
JW: When that picture of that woman was ripped up in the pilot, if you had asked then, I would have said, "That's not even a character. We'll never hear from that woman again," and she certainly showed up again in episode seven. And the picture got replaced in the pilot. Or did it?
JF: No, I don't think we replaced it in the pilot. And… no promises, but she's not dead.
AVC: That episode, "Duty And Honor," was written by Joshua Brand, who has had a storied TV career. What does he bring to your show?
JW: I think of it as having Michael Jordan on your writing staff. [Laughs.]
JF: We call him Lord Brand. [Laughs.] Josh is a long-time personal friend of mine and writing partner of mine over the years. We had written pilots together, written a movie together, been friends. My coming into The Americans happened very quickly, and I actually had had, I think, breakfast scheduled with Josh, and we were supposed to talk about a pilot we were considering taking out to pitch. I showed up at breakfast, and I said, "We're not going to talk about the pilot. I want to talk to you about something else."
JF: "I know it's crazy, I know you've never gone on someone else's show. But I also know that your wife loves New York and your kids are on the East Coast and we have fun together… wouldja, couldja, maybe?" And we just feel so lucky to have Josh. He's great.
The FBI Office
Throughout the season, Stan and his FBI colleagues get closer and closer to a mysterious couple who seem to be KGB illegals.
AVC: You built this workplace drama within your show. How did that develop as time went on?
JF: Thank you for noticing that. We talk a lot about it. In [Richard Thomas' Agent] Gaad, we struggled a lot with how do we create a character in the boss who isn't the stock FBI boss guy, and how do we do it in the writing? How do we do it in the casting? And you meet these people. They do come in all shapes, forms, and, most importantly, styles and personalities. We had particular fun with it where Martha got to make her comments about sexism, and we got to see in two quick strokes, two totally different sides of Frank Gaad, one as he did the absolute human-resources trained, 1981 critique of the behavior in the office, and then, as soon as she walked away, rolled his eyes at what they have to put up with now.
AVC: Was it complicated to build all those extra relationships?
JW: Yes, and I think we feel that we want to do a lot more of that. We're starting to look at next season, thinking, "How can we do more and even more effectively?" The more we can do, the more we can add to them, the more we can take these landscapes and fill them out, and have the greatest and richest world possible.
AVC: How do you see the character of Stan fitting into this world? At first it just seems like he's going to be the guy who could learn the secret, and then he becomes so much more.
JW: He's as central to the show as Philip and Elizabeth, without a doubt. He's the third leg of the three-legged chair, I think.
JF: It's no longer about will he or won't he find out. It's really about the relationship.
AVC: How did you decide to make the Nina/Stan relationship proceed like that? Was that always in the plans?
JW: It was. It was one of those pieces that we did plan out early. A lot of things like that fall apart, fall apart and rebuild themselves, or the storylines start to have a mind of their own, but that was one that was planned out early.
JF: Yeah, the whole Nina story sort of stuck. As did the whole Martha story. But a lot else changed along the way.
JW: I remember that first scene of Stan and Nina, when he blackmailed/recruited her at the fruit stand; it was all sort of written there.
JF: I remember talking about that storyline with you at my house in L.A. before we even came back to New York, in the very early days. On the other hand, the tough—and really, what ended up for us being a shocking—decision, for Amador [Stan's partner] to die, came up in the writers' room as a total surprise. When it bubbled forth, it got a collective gasp from some of the writers. It was just one of those unexpected things. And then once it was out of the bottle, it couldn't be stuffed back in, as much as, maybe because we loved Max Hernández as an actor so much, we loved what he brought to the role, it was such an unimaginable thing to do, once we thought of it, we sort of had to do it.
AVC: Are you going to get more into Stan's backstory in the future?
JF: We are. We actually wrote a whole story. We didn't actually write the script, we wrote the episode in pretty extensive outline that delved into that backstory this season, and then ultimately, for a variety of reasons, it wasn't the time to do it. But we're looking forward to when the moment is right.
AVC: Did you do a lot of research about the FBI during that period?
JW: I don't know about a lot. I knew a little bit about it, and I did a little bit of research. It was an interesting time, in terms of the racial dynamic and a lot of what came out of that, and some of that with Amador and what it was like to work there at the time. But not a lot of that.
AVC: You glanced at, but didn't really delve into, racial politics in the United States, how the KGB would exploit that and how it might play out in a setting like the FBI office. How did that enter the story?
JW: I was always fascinated by the Soviet use of American racism as a propaganda tool. The Soviet government and the Soviet propaganda machine was always trying to show the Soviet people evidence of how America treated black people to say, "Hey, America sucks, and we're great!" This fostered all kinds of different perceptions and misperceptions among the Soviet populace and also among the Soviet propagandists themselves who believed a lot of their own propaganda. For example, in the KGB there was often a sense that people in the civil rights movement, and blacks in particular, might be susceptible to recruitment because of the ways that they were victims of injustice in America. Some of that was where the idea for the Gregory character came from.
AVC: How did you arrive at the character of Grannie?
JF: It's funny, we've been referring to her as Grannie for so long, but somehow, in the last episodes I feel as though we've become obligated to refer to her as Claudia. It's an interesting transition. Maybe it's just personal, or maybe it's because we took her in this new direction in that final episode. Once you discovered that she was actually, in her own way, like Coach Wooden—[Laughs.] Tough as nails, with her own set of rules, but really out for her team to win, and just wanted her players to get out of their own damn way—she became Claudia.
JW: We get a lot of great notes from our network. We are not in a situation where we dread our network notes. We actually look forward to our network notes, because they make our scripts better and our work a lot better, and if I recall correctly, one of our network notes was, "What about a handler?"
JF: Yup. And I think that was [FX president] John Landgraf. "What about a handler? What about Margo Martindale?"
JF: So there you go. Character payment to John Landgraf. [Laughs.]
AVC: Do you hope to see more of her in the next season? Margo Martindale has some other commitments.
JF: Yeah, well, there's another character who ain't dead. We really love that character, and we really love that actress, and we sure hope so.
AVC: As you look over the season, do each of you have an episode that stands above the others? Do you have one that doesn't quite work as well?
JW: I'll start with the one that was less than, and then I'll end on a high note. I sometimes think the one with the assassin ["Mutually Assured Destruction"] had a tone that had a little goofiness to it, and it came from a place where we wanted to do something a little more fun, and although I think there are ways to have fun in this show, as we were still finding our way in the first season it felt a little tonally different from what really works for us. So that's one that I'd maybe do a little differently the second time around.
I think it's hard to pick a favorite, but I'm a little partial to the episode where Gregory dies ["Only You"]. There are a lot of things about it that I found particularly moving. It's not the only one, but it's an episode that made me cry. I'm not the easiest cry, but I cried at that one. There was something about the Philip and Elizabeth and Gregory in that safe house before Gregory goes off and right after that where Philip and Elizabeth look at each other and across the street at each other in their cars without saying anything. I just found it a very moving episode, and I'm partial to it.
JF: I could look at many of them and see things we would have done differently. I agree with Joe that episode eight, the assassin, that certainly could have been better grounded, though I think our marriage story was strong there. That powerful, gosh, that Philip and Elizabeth moment at the end where she confronts him about Irina, and he says, "I love you," and she says, "Love. Huh." Ah. What she gave us in that "Huh," was just wrenching to me, and when Philip finally said, "You know what? You don't want to be married to me? I don't even think the center would care anymore." That broke my heart yet in an episode where we could have done the spy story better.
For me, if I had to pick one as a do-over, I think it would be episode 11 ["Covert War"], as Joe knows. Where Zhukov gets assassinated. In retrospect, I wish we had doled out that relationship over more time. I wish we had used it as a way of playing out Elizabeth's story where it was a real father figure relationship. Again, a good episode with great moments, and I think there were some plot stuff we could have done better there. Not sure why you kidnap a guy to kill him. Ah, things we could have done better there.
As for favorites, yeah, Gregory dying. I felt very good about the finale ["The Colonel"], too, because I felt good that we resisted temptation. I feel like we did what we set out to do there, the right amount, emotionally. The wedding ["The Oath"], I felt very emotional about, and "Gregory," the episode where we met him. Tommy Schlamme directed that episode. Very powerful.
AVC: Where are you in the season-two process? Do you even have any idea what the story looks like?
JW: I wouldn't say the story. We're starting a little bit to think about the general ideas of what we want to explore. That's where we're at. And a little bit on the budget. [Laughs.]


A dead body discovered in a rural Massachusetts wetland turns out to belong to a woman with a past: Sandra Nichols, missing for seven months. Wrongful death? Murder one? We'll leave that to Jerry Kennedy.
Judge Henry Lawler has his own reasons for appointing classmate Jerry Kennedy to try the case of the Estate of Sandra Nichols v. Peter Wade, on behalf of Sandra's three orphaned children. An old hand at criminal cases, Jerry makes an exception for Judge Henry to try this civil case; after all, what are friends for if not to impose on a guy?
Inasmuch as Sandra was murdered several months before her body was found, alibis are fairly easy to come by-even for Peter Wade, her ex, who is the most likely suspect. Since the evidence is too elusive to establish Wade's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, wrongful death is the easier verdict; Jerry just needs to make Wade's guilt 51% certain.


text:
Q: Loop Reversal in C# Speeds Up app We are working on a video processing application using EmguCV and recently had to do some pixel level operation. I initially wrote the loops to go across all the pixels in the image as follows:
for (int j = 0; j < Img.Width; j++ )
{
    for (int i = 0; i < Img.Height; i++)
    {
        // Pixel operation code
    }
}

The time to execute the loops was pretty bad. Then I posted on the EmguCV forum and got a suggestion to switch the loops like this:
for (int j = Img.Width; j-- > 0; )
{
    for (int i = Img.Height; i-- > 0; )
    {
        // Pixel operation code
    }
}

I was very surprised to find that the code executed in half the time!
The only thing I can think of is the comparison that takes place in the loops each time accesses a property, which it no longer has to. Is this the reason for the speed up? Or is there something else? I was thrilled to see this improvement. And would love it if someone could clarify the reason for this.

A: It's not the loop reversal that speeds things up -- it's the fact that you're accessing the Width and Height properties far fewer times.

A: The difference isn't the cost of branching, it's the fact that you are fetching an object property Img.Width and Img.Height in the inner loop.  The optimizer has no way of knowing that these are constants for purposes of that loop.
You should get the same performance speedup by doing this.
const int Width = Img.Width;
const int Height = Img.Height;
for (int j = 0; j < Width; j++ )
{
    for (int i = 0; i < Height; i++)
    {
        // Pixel operation code
    }
}

Edit:
As Joshua Suggests, putting Width in the inner loop will have you walking through the memory sequentially, which will be better cache coherency, and might be faster. (depends on how big your bitmap is).
const int Width = Img.Width;
const int Height = Img.Height;
for (int i = 0; i < Height; i++)
{
    for (int j = 0; j < Width; j++ )
    {
        // Pixel operation code
    }
}

A: I assume you are using the System.Drawing.Image class? Looking at the implementation of .Width and .Height I see they do a function call into GDI+ (GdipGetImageHeight and  GdipGetImageWidth in gdiplus.dll), which seems to be rather expensive.
By going backwards you make that call once, rather than in every iteration.

A: It's because the CPUs are like hockey players, they go faster when going backward ;-)
More seriously:
This is not related in the direction of the loop in any way, but rather to the fact that the in the original construct, the loop control conditions implied dereferencing the Img object to index to its Width or Height property (for each and single iteration in the loops), whereby the second construct evaluates these properties only once.
Also, the fact that the new condition tests against the value 0, saves even the loading of an immediate value.
This probably explains the difference (assuming the work done inside the inner was relatively minimal, i.e. +/- the same as work to test an Object.Property, since you indicate a roughly 50% gain).
Edit:
see Michael Stum's answer, which indicates that the Img.Width/Height reference is even more costly than thought.  As it sometimes happens with properties, the implementation of the object may run a significant amount of code to produce the value (for example it may do a bunch of math to get to the width, each time, rather than somehow caching it etc..).  This seems to be the case with this Img object, hence the interest to do this only once (if you are sure that the value will remain constant for the duration of the loop logic).

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text:
Coal India board expected to give nod for 10% stake divestment in CMPDIL, listing proposal likely
If the proposal is approved by the Maharatna PSU, it will set a precedence to divest and list the miner's coal-producing subsidiaries.
Updated Oct 10, 2021, 9:55 PM IST
The next board meeting of Coal India Ltd is likely to be held this month but the date is yet to be finalised.
The board of Coal India Ltd is expected to give its nod to the Centre's proposal to divest 10 per cent of paid-up capital in the miner's subsidiary Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd (CMPDIL) and to list the consultancy arm on the bourses, official sources said on Sunday.
If the proposal is approved by the Maharatna PSU, it will set a precedence to divest and list the miner's coal-producing subsidiaries, they said.
The coal ministry, in a letter dated September 23, asked the miner to seek approval from its board for divestment of 10 per cent of paid-up capital in CMPDIL and subsequently listing on the bourses to tap the unlocked value of the subsidiary.
Also Read: Reliance Industries' arm to acquire 40% stake in Sterling & Wilson Solar
The coal sector unions, which are busy negotiating for the next round of wage agreements, have not put up any strong resistance against the proposal, and there is no plan for any strike, the sources said.
"Under the present proposal, CMPDIL will continue to be a subsidiary. Being a non-coal producing arm, the number of employees of CMPDIL is very less than other subsidiaries. Moreover, officers are Coal India staffers and posted in deputation," a senior official told PTI.
Trade unions in the coal sector have been opposing any kind of divestment and had opposed an idea to separate CMPDIL from Coal India, a union leader said.
"As of now, no concrete resistance plan on the Centre's proposal for CMPDIL has been finalised," the union leader said.
The miner's subsidiary was making profits for the last five years and its net worth as of March FY21 was at Rs 787.47 crore.
Also Read: Ample coal to meet power demand, fear of disruption in supply entirely misplaced: Power Ministry
Published on: Oct 10, 2021, 9:55 PM IST
Posted by: Vinay Rai, Oct 10, 2021, 9:47 PM IST
#Coal India
#Central Mine Planning and Design Institute Ltd
#CMPDIL
#divestment
#trade unions

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The HEAD Radical Tour Pickleball Paddle is a mid weight model at 7.9 oz. It features HEAD's Extreme Spin Texture face which helps the paddle grab the ball to produce more spin. The Radical Tour features a graphite hitting surface to provide a responsive feel, excellent pop on the ball while provide good touch. The "Tour" model features a graphite and carbon fibre hitting surface designed to optimize control and feel.
The Radical Tour features HEAD's Dynamic Power Shape that creates a large sweet spot and a thicker OTC honeycomb polymer core for incredible power and comfort. The graphite hitting surface combined with Extreme Spin Technology and a Comfort grip gives you amazing pop and more feel with every swing.
HEAD's Graphite Hitting Surface (HS) offers a superior feel and increased control for the competitive player. This lightweight surface provides the paddle a reactive nature creating excellent pop on the ball while maintaining incredible touch.
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It appears that Ben Affleck is not the director Gotham needs right now.
Affleck has reportedly chosen to step away from the director's chair for the upcoming standalone "Batman" movie, according to Variety.
Affleck will remain a producer and the star of the film featuring the caped crusader. He also co-wrote the script with Geoff Johns.
"There are certain characters who hold a special place in the hearts of millions," Affleck said in a statement. "Performing this role demands focus, passion and the very best performance I can give. It has become clear that I cannot do both jobs to the level they require. Together with the studio, I have decided to find a partner in a director who will collaborate with me on this massive film."
Affleck first appeared as Batman in "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" and reprised the role for the upcoming Warner Bros. "Justice League" movie, which is scheduled to hit theaters on Nov. 17.
He said in his statement that he was "still in this" and is devoted to playing Bruce Wayne and his alter ego.
"I remain extremely committed to this project, and look forward to bringing this to life for fans around the world," Affleck said.


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As a Brand, Just How Strong is Armstrong?
Known for beating cancer while popularizing inspirational little rubber band bracelets emblazoned with messages, his celebrity romances and, of course, winning the Tour de France like a jillion times, Lance Armstrong is a brand with staying power. But as 60 Minutes releases new allegations that he took performance-enhancing drugs from his own teammates, both Armstrong the man and the brand could be in hot water.
So beloved is Armstrong as an icon, the teammates who made the allegations are being chastised as liars. Lance Armstrong himself has gone to minimal lengths to dismiss these accusations while carefully guarding his own brand and name. There is more at stake here than just a cycling career for Armstrong. His LiveStrong brand includes a self-help website, a line of shoes and clothes from Nike and other multi-million-dollar endorsement deals. Seen as a cancer survivor, as well as a Hercules of the sports world, Armstrong's brand is trusted — as are his charitable efforts.
Consumers turned the other cheek to his divorce and infidelity rumors, but when it comes to performance-enhancing drugs, fans have a zero tolerance. Convicted stars have a hard time bouncing back if the allegations are proved true. Just ask Marion Jones. Armstrong's social media accounts like Twitter have been strangely devoid of any mention of the scandal. This could be strategic, however, given the possible legal repercussions. LiveStrong will have to play this carefully if they want to protect Lance's Greek God with a Heart of Gold image. Acting like it isn't happening might hurt the brand, but we'll wait to see if it turns out to be true as the Feds dig around the case.
On the other hand, if Armstrong is let off the hook, 60 Minutes may be the brand in trouble. The news shows has teetered on the brink of unreliable journalism for a couple of years. Many believe the show is more interested in generating ratings than actually gathering facts.
One thing is certain: This battle has just heated up and neither brand will escape without a few battle scars.


text:
Finnish kitesurfers break world record in the Baltic Sea
August 20, 2019 | Kiteboarding
Three Finnish kitesurfers broke the world record for the longest simultaneous kiteboarding journey.
Juuso Tilaéus, Otso Ahvonen and Pekka Rintala sailed 316 kilometers across the Baltic Sea, from Sweden to Finland.
The previous record was set at 279,46 kilometers. The trio began their journey on August 19, at 7.08 am, in Sandhamn, Sweden.
Despite the Baltic Sea's challenging waves and extremely long execution time, the three kiteboarders touched land in Hanko, Finland, on the same day, at 8.23 pm.
"This feels amazing! I am tired and my body aches but I am so happy at the moment. We wanted to show how far it is possible to come with the power of the wind. And well, it took us quite far," said Juuso Tilaéus.
The journey across the Baltic Sea did not go quite as planned.
In the beginning, there was only a light breeze, and it took a while for the kiteboarders to get into the best wind zone.
Despite the circumstances, the kitesurfers rode their kites professionally, working with them until the end.
"Initially, I was a bit nervous whether or not we could manage our way to Finland with this kind of wind. When the wind started to blow stronger, I felt excited," added Tilaéus.
"Passing some landmarks kept me going. After that, my body started to ache quite much, so I just had to focus on surviving with the waves."
All three Finnish have been kitesurfing for years. Pekka and Juuso are co-founders of Laguuni, a water sports center located in Espoo, Finland.
Nick Levi sets new Guinness World Record
Nick Jacobsen jumps off the Burj al-Arab in Dubai
Anke Brandt kites 298 kilometers between Bahrain and Qatar
415 kiteboarders ride for the record in South Africa
Kiteboarders complete 1237-kilometer adventure in the Great Barrier Reef


text:
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Chinese Ship Rescued Only Youngest Competitor And Woman The Participants Of GoldenGlobe Race
December 24, 2018 | Author Roger
Susie Goodall is one of the participants of Golden Globe Race was found unconscious at the time when mountainous seas tip over her yacht. However, she got saved by the Chinese ship. She is not the alone getting hurt in the race, but she was the only women rescued.
She is the sailor of the British and was the participant of Golden Globe Race. During the race, she met with an accident when her yacht was hit. But, luckily she got rescued. She was saved by a Chinese ship in the Southern Ocean. She was saved on Friday the very next day when her yacht was dismasted. This was declared by Rescue Services Chile Maritime and they only shared the information in this regard. She was saved at 1500 GMT and now she is ready to move on the ship, which is making its way to Punta Arenas," in southern Chile.
The flag belonged to the Hong-Kong Tian Fu was probable to dock on 12th of December.
This race's youngest competitor and the single woman, who is 29-year-old was knocked unconscious when the seas of mountainous tip over her DHL Starlight yacht on early Thursday. The hit caused tearing off of the mast and trashing much of her equipment present on the yacht. The Golden Globe Race (GRR) engaged in a grueling 30,000-mile single global circumnavigation in yachts used alike to those that were used in the first race nearly fifty years ago that has the latest and modern technology permissible apart from the equipment communications. Entrants of the race are set off on 1st July from France and are predicted to conclude in April in the coming year. Goodall is now safe and heading toward her final destination.


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It has nothing to do with cooking everything on Sunday.
I love the idea of meal planning on Sunday—diligently roasting several pans of vegetables, freezing salmon in a marinade to be thawed for a balanced mid-week meal—but when it comes down to it, I'm rarely able to carve out three hours on the weekend to cook for the week ahead. I have a knack for finding about a thousand other tasks and events that are more important (or, to be honest, more fun). But the truth is that you don't need to dedicate half of a Sunday to meal planning. With a little strategy and careful recipe choices, you can "plan" as the week goes on.
The idea is to choose every dinner recipe with at least two additional meals in mind (the following lunch and dinner), so that you can strategically use the leftovers to create new meals. Every Monday morning, I choose two to three recipes I want to make, then map out the rest of the meals from there. In the case of the week photographed below, I chose 1. Potato salad, 2. Roasted Lemon and Nectarine Chicken, and 3. Turkey Sausage Orecchiette. Then I write out a list of every ingredient and map out creative ways to use the leftovers from each meal for entirely new dishes. For example, the nectarine chicken turned into "fried farro," and the turkey sausage from the pasta dish went into turkey chili.
The added challenges here are making sure to use every ingredient so that you aren't wasting anything, and maximizing your time by multitasking. For example, if you boil potatoes, remove them with a slotted spoon, then add eggs in for the next day's lunch, or if you already have your chopping board out for dinner, look ahead and see if you can also prep for a future meal. Below is a week of real lunches and dinners I made using this strategy. They aren't particularly ground-breaking, but each one is a delicious, made-from-scratch meal with minimal active time. Enjoy!
Note: Each recipe yields enough food for two people since I recorded the portions and ingredients while cooking for myself and my boyfriend, but any of them can be tailored to yield more or less. In creating the meals, I tried to choose things that are easy and full-time work schedule-friendly, healthy, in-season, and affordable, though you can cut a few things out, like salmon, to make it even more so. Whenever an ingredient was over $10, I indicated in parentheses how much it cost.
Monday lunch is when I find myself most susceptible to throwing a very sad but get-the-job-done peanut butter sandwich or power bar into my purse (which isn't the most inspiring way to start the week). Whenever possible, I'll try to make extra of whatever I'm cooking on Sunday, but when that doesn't work, I opt for something with minimal active cooking time, like this baked sweet potato. It's hardly the most exciting lunch you'll ever eat, but what it lacks in originality it makes up for in only six ingredients and ease. Note: I usually wake up early enough that I have time to make this in the morning, but if you aren't a morning person, plan accordingly and prep the night before!
1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. While it comes to temperature, prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and place it on a square of aluminum foil, just large enough to cover it. Drizzle with olive oil, using your hands to rub it all over the potatoes, then wrap the foil around it and place it in the warmed oven.
2. Allow the sweet potatoes to bake until tender (roughly 30 to 40 minutes) while you make yourself a pot of coffee, hop in the shower, and get ready for work. If you're in a rush, you can also microwave your potatoes to bake them.
3. Remove the potatoes from the oven, cut each in half lengthwise so that it opens like a book, and spread the miso on each side (if you have time the night before, I highly recommend you make this miso-scallion paste, but no need to get fancy—this is a Monday, after all). Put them back in the oven for 10 minutes. While they bake, mix together the Greek yogurt and paprika and pack in a separate container. In a small pan, add olive oil over medium heat and, once warmed, add the kale and cook until wilted, roughly 4 minutes. Again, if you're feeling fancy, you can add a few drops of fish sauce and some garlic to your kale.
4. Once the potatoes are cooked, place each in an air-tight container, alongside your sautéed kale and paprika-Greek yogurt. At lunchtime, butterfly-open the potato and layer it with the wilted kale and yogurt.
Mondays are always a little more hectic than other days, so I like to make something that's easy but also feels like a fun reward for getting through the first day of the week. This potato salad is the perfect medium for showing off springtime vegetables like radishes and scallions.
1. Preheat oven to 475° F and bring a large pot of salted water (enough to just cover the potatoes) to boil on the stovetop.
2. While both come to temperature, chop the entire head of cilantro.
3. Add roughly 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro and the butter into a baking dish (put the rest of the cilantro away in the refrigerator), and place it into the oven until the butter melts and begins sizzling, roughly 3 minutes.
4. While the butter melts, chop the stem off of the butter lettuce and tear the leaves into slightly larger than bite-sized pieces, then rinse, drain, and pat dry. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
5. Remove the pan of melted butter from the oven and add the salmon, skin-side up. Place back in the oven, with the salmon, for 5 minutes. Use tongs to remove the skin, flip the salmon over, and put back into the oven for another 3 minutes. Remove from the oven and tent with foil to keep warm.
6. Once the water comes to a boil, use a slotted spoon to add the whole potatoes. Let cook until fork-tender, roughly 18 to 20 minutes.
7. For tomorrow's lunch: After removing the potatoes, bring the water back to a boil and add in 4 eggs. Cook for 8 to 9 minutes (overcooked hard-boiled eggs are chalky and altogether not a great experience, so err on the side of 8 minutes and slightly runny yolks, unless you prefer them cooked longer!) then use a slotted spoon to transfer them to an ice bath.
8. In a small bowl, use a fork to whisk together the olive oil, mayonnaise, and mustard. Set aside.
9. Once the potatoes have cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water, pat dry, then cut into bite-sized pieces and place into a large bowl. Top with the apple cider vinegar, then add the mayonnaise sauce and toss to coat (you may not need all of it). Add the sliced vegetables and toss. Reserve enough potato salad for tomorrow's lunch, then place the rest over the bed of lettuce. Serve salmon with thinly sliced lemon on top.
My favorite way to add protein to any lunch is with a hard-boiled egg. Their shell acts as a natural "tupperware" so I can easily throw them in a container with any salad.
This one's easy! Since you made the hard-boiled eggs last night (see recipe above), simply pack them (unshelled, so they don't get stinky or squished) in the same container as your potato salad. At lunchtime, peel your eggs, slice them in half, and serve on top of the salad.
Roast chicken is truly a weekday warrior since it easily transforms into leftovers like chicken salad, soup, and fried rice. I usually make an entire chicken (this recipe is my favorite) so that I have leftovers, but I'm sharing one of my favorite recipes for chicken breast so I can show you a wider range of recipes—and that chicken breast doesn't always have to be "boneless and skinless."
2. Slice one of the lemons into rounds and place several slices (about 6) in a single layer along the bottom of a cast-iron skillet just large enough to hold two chicken breasts. Peel all of the garlic and place 10 of the cloves interspersed with the lemon.
3. Rinse and pat dry the chicken breasts, then use your fingers and a paring knife to lift the skin up enough so that you're able to put two sliced lemon rounds and several thin pats of butter under the skin (this makes it crispy, and the meat slightly lemony). Rub any remaining butter on top of the chicken and add a dash of salt, then place the breasts in the pan over the lemon and garlic. Once the oven comes to temperature, place the chicken in and cook for 30 minutes.
4. In a large pot, boil the farro according to the package instructions. Once cooked, you can set aside most of it for future meals later in the week, and keep 1 cup (1/2 cup serving per person) for this dinner.
5. In a medium-sized bowl, use a fork to whisk together the fruit jam, vinegar, and honey. Once the chicken has baked for 30 minutes, use a large spoon to evenly spread half of the jam mixture over the chicken, then return to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature registers 165° F on a meat thermometer.
6. While the chicken bakes, slice the remaining 2 cloves of garlic thinly. Add a glug of olive oil to a medium-sized pan and once shimmering, add the garlic and cook until just barely golden over medium heat. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Serve with a lemon wedge and some nutmeg (optional, but delicious).
7. To serve the chicken, carve both breasts and divide one evenly between two plates, and put the meat from the remaining breast in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Spoon sauce, lemon, and garlic cloves on top of the chicken, and serve with the farro and spinach.
8. For tomorrow's lunch: Add the cilantro, lime, red pepper flakes, and olive oil to a mason jar and shake to combine. Add salt to taste. Add the zucchini and carrots to a medium-sized baking dish or rimmed baking sheet, drizzle and toss with olive oil and salt, and place in the 375° F oven (which should still be hot from the chicken). Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender, remove and allow to cool before storing in the fridge for lunch tomorrow.
When in doubt, you can never go wrong with roasted vegetables and rice for lunch. To make things a little more interesting, add the cilantro sauce on top before serving.
Pack up your rice and roasted vegetables in an air-tight container, and pack your sauce separately. At lunchtime, reheat the rice and vegetables, then pour the sauce over top.
Fried rice is the easiest way to revive roast chicken and vegetables. Just throw 'em in a wok with some farro or rice, chicken broth, eggs, and soy sauce, and you're done!
1. In a large pan or wok (if you have one), add the farro and vegetables and cook under low heat, stirring occasionally, until warm.
2. While the farro mixture warms, take the chicken (and roasted lemons, if there are any leftover) and cut them into bite-sized pieces, then add to the farro and cook until warmed through.
3. Add about 1/4 cup chicken broth and continue to cook.
4. Use a spatula to move most of the rice mixture to the side of the pan, and add a glug of olive oil to the empty space in the middle. Once the olive oil begins to shimmer, crack 2 eggs into it, then use a spatula to scramble the eggs. Once they're mostly cooked, mix in the rice mixture. At this point, you can add an extra egg, depending on how eggy you prefer your fried rice. Add soy sauce to taste (I usually use 2 to 3 tablespoons) and more chicken broth if desired. Serve piping hot with your favorite Asian sauces!
5. Save a quarter to half of it for tomorrow's lunch!
I usually have one lunch a week that's a hodgepodge of leftovers I haven't quite used up. In these cases, I do my best to keep things interesting, with some toast and fresh fruit. Promise to make up for it with tonight's dinner!
Thursday night is the perfect opportunity for one final big night of cooking before an easy pre-weekend meal. As a side note, making sausage may sound intimidating, but I promise it's as easy as it gets (at least in this case, since there's no casing involved!). It's a perfect make-ahead meal component that can last for days without feeling boring. The sausage you make for this meal will be eaten in the next three meals in completely different ways. Note: You can also use lamb sausage here, but I used turkey since it's slightly more affordable!
1. To make the sausage, combine all of the sausage ingredients except the ice water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low until just combined, about 30 seconds. Add the water a tablespoon at a time until the mixture comes together a bit, about 1 minute.
2. Divide the sausage into 1/2 pound and 1 1/2 pound. Set aside the smaller portion. Save the larger portion for Friday's meals by placing it in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
3. To prepare the asparagus, cut or snap into bite-sized pieces, discarding the woody ends. Bring a pot of salted water to boil, and pour the asparagus in to blanch until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Pour into a colander placed in the sink, then run cold water over them. Drain and set aside.
4. Heat a sauté pan on medium heat and add a tablespoon of olive oil and the 1 pound of sausage you set aside earlier. Cook, stirring occasionally and breaking up the larger pieces with a spoon, until mostly cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add the peas and half of the asparagus and stir to combine with the sausage. Refrigerate the remaining 1/4 pound of asparagus. Once all ingredients are combined and the bottom of the pan is starting to get brown, add white wine and cream and stir until combined. Once the mixture has thickened and the amount of liquid has visibly reduced, salt to taste, lower the heat and keep an eye on it while cooking the pasta.
6. Cook 1 pound of orecchiette pasta in a large pot according to the package instructions, until just al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water, drain, and return the pasta to the pot.
7. Add sausage mixture to cooked pasta and stir to combine. Add pasta water as you stir until the pasta is your desired consistency.
8. Serve with shredded Parmesan cheese, scallions, mint, and any leftover cilantro-lime sauce.
1. Remove leftover asparagus and 1 pound of sausage from the refrigerator. Form sausage into small 3-inch patties (about 1/2 - 1 inch thick) with your hands.
2. Heat a skillet on medium-heat with a tablespoon on olive oil. Sauté 2 patties per sandwich until cooked through and browned, about 3 minutes per side.
3. Remove the patties from the skillet but keep the heat on. Grill slices of sourdough bread until browned on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Turn off heat and spread a layer of goat cheese on each slice. Top with alfalfa sprouts and asparagus, and form into sandwiches with two sausage patties in each. Refrigerate remaining patties.
This is one of my favorite dinners because it's so easy to make, is delicious, and yields a ton of chili. I usually make it on Friday so that I can throw in any leftover vegetables from the week. It should last you a few meals, but if you're going to be eating out a lot over the weekend, you can also freeze it in individual-sized portions to pull out during a hectic week!
1. Heat a large pot on medium heat and add 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Add the onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, salt, and any other spices you desire (this recipe is really flexible and can be done with all sorts of flavors!). Cook, stirring frequently, until onion is soft and fragrant, about 15 minutes.
3. Add the turkey sausage, stir to combine, and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Add the sweet potatoes and chicken stock, and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
4. Add the beans, stir to combine, and cook uncovered for 20 more minutes. You can also add any leftover vegetables you have at this point.
5. Salt to taste and add more spices if necessary. Garnish with leftover cilantro, alfalfa sprouts, and scallions, and serve. If you have leftover Greek yogurt, a spoonful of that makes a great topping, and you can serve it over farro, if you have any left.


text:
This sample demonstrates how to back up and restore a Key from Azure Key Vault.
To get started, you'll need a URI to an Azure Key Vault. See the [README](https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-net/blob/main/sdk/keyvault/Azure.Security.KeyVault.Keys/README.md) for links and instructions.

## Creating a KeyClient

To create a new `KeyClient` to create, get, update, or delete keys, you need the endpoint to an Azure Key Vault and credentials.
You can use the [DefaultAzureCredential][DefaultAzureCredential] to try a number of common authentication methods optimized for both running as a service and development.

In the sample below, you can set `keyVaultUrl` based on an environment variable, configuration setting, or any way that works for your application.

```C# Snippet:KeysSample2KeyClient
var client = new KeyClient(new Uri(keyVaultUrl), new DefaultAzureCredential());
```

## Creating a key

Let's create a RSA key valid for 1 year.
If the key already exists in the Azure Key Vault, then a new version of the key is created.

```C# Snippet:KeysSample2CreateKey
string rsaKeyName = $"CloudRsaKey-{Guid.NewGuid()}";
var rsaKey = new CreateRsaKeyOptions(rsaKeyName, hardwareProtected: false)
{
    KeySize = 2048,
    ExpiresOn = DateTimeOffset.Now.AddYears(1)
};

KeyVaultKey storedKey = client.CreateRsaKey(rsaKey);
```

## Backing up a key

You might make backups in case keys get accidentally deleted.
For long term storage, it is ideal to write the backup to a file, disk, database, etc.
For the purposes of this sample, we are storing the back up in a temporary memory area.

```C# Snippet:KeysSample2BackupKey
byte[] backupKey = client.BackupKey(rsaKeyName);
```

## Restoring a key

If the key is deleted for any reason, we can use the backup value to restore it in the Azure Key Vault.

```C# Snippet:KeysSample2RestoreKey
KeyVaultKey restoredKey = client.RestoreKeyBackup(memoryStream.ToArray());
```

[DefaultAzureCredential]: https://github.com/Azure/azure-sdk-for-net/blob/main/sdk/identity/Azure.Identity/README.md


An investigation is underway after gas cylinders exploded at the Manchester Food and Drink Festival.
Fire crews were called to a stall on Albert Square in Manchester at 8.45pm on the 10th October. Two festival tents were alight following a gas cylinder explosion at the Chilli Coco Cuisine stall.
Three men, all stall workers were injured in the blaze, one man sustained serious burns to his hands, face and legs whilst the two other men sustained less serious burns to their arms and legs.
Two of the injured were transferred from the Manchester Royal Infirmary to the burns unit at Wythenshawe Hospital for treatment.


text:
HAPPY Act Proponents Seek Tax Deductions for Pet Owners
By VLADIMIR NEGRON
Pets owners struggling in these precarious economic times may finally see some relief. In July, Rep. Thaddeus McCotter of Michigan introduced an act that, if approved, would mitigate some of the costs of caring for a companion pet. The Humanity and Pets Partnered Through the Years (HAPPY) Act (H.R. 3501), introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives for consideration, would amend the Internal Revenue Code to allow an individual to deduct up to $3,500 for "qualified pet care expenses." Most routine pet care expenses, such as veterinary visits, would be covered for qualified pets; however, the cost of purchasing a pet would not be covered.
Pets that would qualify for the deduction are those that are "legally owned, domesticated live animals." This wording excludes animals that are utilized in conjunction with a trade or business, and animals that are used for research. The HAPPY Act was drafted in conjunction with data from the American Pet Products Association (APPA).
According to Pet Insurance Review, a Web site for comparative pet insurance shopping, veterinary costs in the U.S. have jumped by over 70 percent, reaching a high of about $19 billion last year.
"Providing pet owners the opportunity to deduct [up to $3,500 in] pet care expenses is an important step towards ensuring that pet owners provide adequate veterinary and other necessary pet care," said the Pet Industry Joint Advisory Council in a released statement. "It encourages responsible pet ownership and will hopefully reduce the abandonment of pets by people struggling as a result of the economic downturn."
Critics of the HAPPY Act argue there are more important issues facing the country today and better use of taxpayer dollars, but as the unemployment rate continues to rise and the state of the economy remains relatively unchanged, proponents of the act insist that pet owners should also see some relief from the government -- just as banks, investment firms, and the auto industry have received theirs. To many pet owners, their animals are more than just household additions -- they are members of the family. And for families who are barely making ends meets, this resolution could help to ensure that Americans aren't forced to decide whether to care for their pet or give it up due to the pressure of meeting other financial necessities.
H.R. 3501 is currently in the House Ways and Means Committee. If you would like to support this bill, write your congressman and urge him or her to co-sponsor or support the HAPPY Act.
Conn. Signs Pet Trust Fund Bill into Law
Pet Health Insurance Sees Gains In The Corporate Workplace
A Vet's Take on Pet Parents' Changing Attitudes Towards Pet Health


text:
IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy.
Caterina Mancarella, Katia Scotlandi
Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli
The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has gained substantial interest due to its involvement in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and survival during anoikis and after conventional and targeted therapies. However, results from clinical trials have been largely disappointing, with only a few but notable exceptions, such as trials targeting sarcomas, especially Ewing sarcoma. This review highlights key studies focusing on IGF signaling in sarcomas, specifically studies underscoring the properties that make this system an attractive therapeutic target, and identifies new relationships that may be exploited. This review discusses the potential roles of IGF2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs), discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) and metalloproteinase pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in regulating the IGF system. Deeper investigation of these novel regulators of the IGF system may help us to further elucidate the spatial and temporal control of the IGF axis, as understanding the control of this axis is essential for future clinical studies.
Journal of Molecular Endocrinology
https://doi.org/10.1530/JME-17-0250
Published - Dec 22 2017
10.1530/JME-17-0250
Dive into the research topics of 'IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy.'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Somatomedins Medicine & Life Sciences 100%
Sarcoma Medicine & Life Sciences 88%
Discoidin Domain Receptors Medicine & Life Sciences 34%
Anoikis Medicine & Life Sciences 27%
Pregnancy-Associated Plasma Protein-A Medicine & Life Sciences 27%
Ewing's Sarcoma Medicine & Life Sciences 22%
Metalloproteases Medicine & Life Sciences 20%
Protein Domains Medicine & Life Sciences 19%
Mancarella, C., & Scotlandi, K. (2017). IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1530/JME-17-0250
IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy. / Mancarella, Caterina; Scotlandi, Katia.
In: Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, 22.12.2017.
Mancarella, C & Scotlandi, K 2017, 'IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy.', Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. https://doi.org/10.1530/JME-17-0250
Mancarella C, Scotlandi K. IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy. Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. 2017 Dec 22. doi: 10.1530/JME-17-0250
Mancarella, Caterina ; Scotlandi, Katia. / IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy. In: Journal of Molecular Endocrinology. 2017.
@article{ce9a25034cac4994aa24faaa7a8dad34,
title = "IGF system in sarcomas: a crucial pathway with many unknowns to exploit for therapy.",
abstract = "The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has gained substantial interest due to its involvement in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and survival during anoikis and after conventional and targeted therapies. However, results from clinical trials have been largely disappointing, with only a few but notable exceptions, such as trials targeting sarcomas, especially Ewing sarcoma. This review highlights key studies focusing on IGF signaling in sarcomas, specifically studies underscoring the properties that make this system an attractive therapeutic target, and identifies new relationships that may be exploited. This review discusses the potential roles of IGF2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs), discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) and metalloproteinase pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in regulating the IGF system. Deeper investigation of these novel regulators of the IGF system may help us to further elucidate the spatial and temporal control of the IGF axis, as understanding the control of this axis is essential for future clinical studies.",
author = "Caterina Mancarella and Katia Scotlandi",
doi = "10.1530/JME-17-0250",
journal = "Journal of Molecular Endocrinology",
publisher = "Society for Endocrinology",
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AU - Mancarella, Caterina
AU - Scotlandi, Katia
N2 - The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has gained substantial interest due to its involvement in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and survival during anoikis and after conventional and targeted therapies. However, results from clinical trials have been largely disappointing, with only a few but notable exceptions, such as trials targeting sarcomas, especially Ewing sarcoma. This review highlights key studies focusing on IGF signaling in sarcomas, specifically studies underscoring the properties that make this system an attractive therapeutic target, and identifies new relationships that may be exploited. This review discusses the potential roles of IGF2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs), discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) and metalloproteinase pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in regulating the IGF system. Deeper investigation of these novel regulators of the IGF system may help us to further elucidate the spatial and temporal control of the IGF axis, as understanding the control of this axis is essential for future clinical studies.
AB - The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has gained substantial interest due to its involvement in regulating cell proliferation, differentiation and survival during anoikis and after conventional and targeted therapies. However, results from clinical trials have been largely disappointing, with only a few but notable exceptions, such as trials targeting sarcomas, especially Ewing sarcoma. This review highlights key studies focusing on IGF signaling in sarcomas, specifically studies underscoring the properties that make this system an attractive therapeutic target, and identifies new relationships that may be exploited. This review discusses the potential roles of IGF2 mRNA-binding proteins (IGF2BPs), discoidin domain receptors (DDRs) and metalloproteinase pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) in regulating the IGF system. Deeper investigation of these novel regulators of the IGF system may help us to further elucidate the spatial and temporal control of the IGF axis, as understanding the control of this axis is essential for future clinical studies.
U2 - 10.1530/JME-17-0250
DO - 10.1530/JME-17-0250
JO - Journal of Molecular Endocrinology
JF - Journal of Molecular Endocrinology


text:
Influence of Stigma on Help Seeking Behavior
Stigma can be considered as an amalgamation of three related problems: ignorance and misinformation, prejudice and discrimination.
ID Articolo: 33369 - Pubblicato il: 23 luglio 2013
di Francesca Martino, Michela Muggeo, Chiara Caruso, Elena Mannelli
Francesca Martino
The bridge between research and practice: updates from Open Minds.
– READ ENGLISH ARTICLES –
Stigma is a word which has evaded clear, operational definition: it can be considered as an amalgamation of three related problems: a lack of knowledge (ignorance and misinformation), negative attitudes (prejudice), and excluding or avoiding behaviors (discrimination) (Thornicroft, 2006b).
Recommended: Accessing mental health services: I want to solve the problem on my own
People with mental disorders often wait for a long time before looking for help, with average delays before seeking help of 8 years for mood disorders, and at least 9 years for anxiety disorders. Those who wait longer than average before receiving care are more likely to be young, old, male, poorly educated, or a member of a racial/ethnic minority (Morgan & Fearon, 2007).
READ ON ANXIETY DISORDERS
How do people judge where to go for help? A large national survey in Germany described vignettes of people with depression or schizophrenia and asked about how to find help. Revealingly the general public thought that mental health staff is useful for treating people with schizophrenia, but not for depression. The reason for this is that most people felt that schizophrenia was caused by biological or uncontrollable influences, while they understood depression to be a consequence of 'social disintegration' (including unemployment, drug or alcohol misuse, marital discord, family distress or social isolation) so that people with depression were more often recommended to seek help and social support from a friend or confidant (Angermeyer et al., 1999).
Messaggio pubblicitario Similar findings also emerged from a study in Iowa where people living in the most rural environments were more likely to hold stigmatizing attitudes toward mental health care than people in towns, and such views strongly predicted willingness to seek care (Hoyt et al., 1997). So it seems to be true that stigma about mental illness is no less in many rural areas, and it may be even stronger than in towns and cities. In part this may be based upon fears that a rural community will learn details about a period of mental illness, while it is easier in cities to remain anonymous. But relatively little research has been done in rural areas to understand these processes in more detail.
It seems to be clear, however, that stigma plays an important role in determining people's Help Seeking Behavior.
ARTICOLI SU: PSICOLOGIA E PSICHIATRIA PUBBLICHE
ARTICOLI SU: STIGMA
Angermeyer M.C., Matschinger H. & Riedel-Heller S.G. (1999). Whom to ask for help in case of a mental disorder? Preferences of the lay public. Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology 34(4), 202-210. (DOWNLOAD)
Hoyt D.R., Conger R.D., Valde J.G. & Weihs K. (1997). Psychological distress and help seeking in rural America. American Journal of Community Psychology 25(4), 449-470. (DOWNLOAD)
Morgan C. & Fearon P. (2007). Social experience and psychosis insights from studies of migrant and ethnic minority groups. Epidemiologia e Psichiatria Sociale 16(2), 118-123.
Thornicroft G. (2006b). Shunned: Discrimination against People with Mental Illness. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Argomento dell'articolo: English
Si parla di: BRP - Bridge between Research and Practice, Psicologia & Psichiatria Pubbliche, Stigma
Scritto da: Francesca Martino, Michela Muggeo, Chiara Caruso, Elena Mannelli
Sono citati nel testo: Thornicroft Graham
Categorie: In Evidenza
Le nuove tecnologie possono supportare la comunicazione di persone autistiche? Esempi applicativi – Parte 2
PROYOUTH: LA PREVENZIONE DEI DISTURBI ALIMENTARI VIA WEB
BRP - Bridge between Research and Practice
Psicologia & Psichiatria Pubbliche
Michela Muggeo
Chiara Caruso
Elena Mannelli
Thornicroft Graham


I'm not sure how feasible or how much work this would be, but would it be possible to add the ability to add notes to saved stories? Sometimes I save stories that have a specific thing(s) that I would like to remember about it when I come back to it later. Right now I kind of hack this feature using the tags, but it can get unwieldy if the note is long. If the notes could also be searchable that would be amazing.
Again, not sure how feasible or how much work this would be, but it would be really handy for some use cases I think.
Searchable saved stories already exists and it works even by tag. Only one tag at a time though.
So you want the share story feature but in a private mode. It would be possible to add a note field for saved stories. I can't imagine it would be all that difficult. The UI would get a little ugly though.
Yep! I pretty often will add technical articles to my saved stories list and it'd be really handy to have a note's field that I fill in with reminders about certain topics mentioned in the article to research more in depth, etc. I personally wouldn't mind if the UI for this was cumbersome, but I would definitely understand if it's something you wouldn't want to add if it would negatively impact the UI for the rest of the Newsblur users.
be for other Newsblur users -- though I would definitely use the heck out of it).
i wonder if it makes any sense whatsoever to have the ability to "nest" tags.
"random/this is a great explanation of how a car differential works"
"work-related/save this to show my manager"
this seems like it could be easier than adding another text field to the story saving UI, and spare users the confusion of differentiating between saved story tags and notes (as well as any accompanying changes to the search infrastructure). all the while, rattasak's tagging strategy wouldn't carry quite the clutter cost that it does now.
this may very well be a half-cocked idea, from either (or both) of your perspectives, i'm just thinking out loud.
Yeah, highlighting excerpts sounds great. I would love to build this but it won't be anytime soon unfortunately. I am planning on traveling at some point and this is one of those features I'd love to build while out in the world. Seems perfect time to integrate this use case.
I liked this thread so much I cleaned up NewsBlur's github issues profile to make a new style of public facing feature requests. See https://github.com/samuelclay/NewsBlur/issues/722 for the first one.