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Tag: urbanism
The communitarian case for zoning that planners do not talk about
08/24/2016 08/31/2016 Lisa Schweitzer1 Comment
If you are not reading Better Institutions by Shane Phillips, you should be. Shane is one of my former students, now graduated, and he's very smart and passionate about cities. He's one of LA's leaders in planning, and Better Institutions is always worth a read.
Shane has been, like many of us in LA, concerned with the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, and he's been one of its leading critics, and he also writes land use is important in urbanism and urban reform. One of his pieces has gone viral, here, and I have some things in it I want to poke around with a bit, in which Shane castigates self-interested home-owners who oppose growth to leverage speculative gains in land value by contributing to a shortage. For those interested in reading about where this thinking comes in, you can learn more about it if you read about Homevoter Hypothesis by Bill Fischel.
This supply-side argument to favoring growth embodied in these assumptions is a favorite among market liberals and libertarians, and I'm generally ok with this part of the argument, mostly, save for a few quibbles. Back in the heyday of growth boundaries and anti-sprawl, I was one of those people who kept saying "Um, if we don't build on the fringe, which I know is bad, terrible, and wrong, but if we don't do that, we are going to be constraining supply and potentially putting upward pressures on housing prices."
The answer was: "Oh, that won't happen because we'll do infill. Lots and Lots of infill. There's plenty of excess capacity."
Yes, yes, right of course, but where is that excess capacity and who is going to be dealing with it?
I responded: "But infill is really, really hard, and the places most likely to be subjected to redevelopment first are going to be lower income neighborhoods, Black neighborhoods, Latino neighborhoods with renters. What do we do about that?"
The answer was: "Oh, that won't happen! That could never happen because people will understand the need to save the environment and include people who otherwise can't afford to live close in to urban opportunities! And gentrification is *just a myth.*"
So I went away, worried. I'm not a land economist, after all, though I was trained by some damn good ones, and I have great faith in policy to alter the way markets function and in social marketing's ability to alter tastes. And if there has been one thing that New Urbanists and their high-density growth peers have been good at, it's social marketing.
But now in some respects in LA (and the rest of the coastal California), here we are.
There are multiple reasons why I think planners and market liberals like Phillips need to back off a little bit on assuming anti-growth sentiment stems from mere homeowner self-interest. I don't buy that it's an "evil Baby Boomers versus Wonderful, Urbanity-Loving Millenials" conflict either, as gratifying as it is for this here Gen-Xer to watch those groups blame each other. American suburbanization started long before the Boomers showed up. Nor am I convinced that homeowners necessarily just have one interest, financial, in zoning. Given that I am likely to get raked over the coals for this post, I want to repeat: the Homevoter Hypothesis is important to understanding urban politics and development. But it's partial. That's my argument.
At some point we should stop being shocked that people have interests, and then, gasp, seek to optimize on them in politics. Why it's ok to both a) have market interests and b) act on those, but not okay to have political interests, let alone act on them, is a bit beyond me. I don't see anybody else turning down dividends or profits, and I'm not sure California homeowners fall into problematic luck egalitarianism the way that their critics assume they do, but that's a long, drawn-out land valuation argument that takes me too far afield to sort today. And I'm not sure of the reasoning. But still.
Anyway, while home voters might indeed be voting their financial interests, there is a lot wrapped up in zoning that isn't necessarily about speculative gains to real estate. Renters, too, tend to oppose new development, and while we can try to act like they don't know what's good for them, I think they share concerns about neighborhood changes, residential stability, and place identity with homeowners, and that coalition is much, much tougher to beat than simply assuming that zoning conflicts are strictly class-based conflicts about assets between owners and newcomers.
If you look at 'exclusion' as a big, social and political phenomenon instead of just in terms of local zoning and development spats, the arguments for exclusion combine both communitarian concerns about identity and stability and self-determination with economic concerns. Just as with zoning conflicts, conflicts over immigration can be reduced to spats over economic self-interest–the "you took my job" and "your kid requires I pay more for the local public school."
But those are not the only objection made to immigration. They may not even be the most commonly held objection. Other objections, important ones, are the desire that individuals have to maintain a specific culture and make-up of the political community. Now, in the US, there are strong racist underpinnings to resistance to immigration from Mexico and other parts of Latin America, but America's history of immigration has always been contested. The Irish and Italians were opposed because they were perceived, among other things, as labor agitators and Catholics, etc. etc. Immigrants change things, and change is, for the average progressive, a natural part of the world. For the average conservative, change is not necessarily desirable nor good.
Thus communitarians' arguments for exclusion occur at just about every level of political community, and those communitarian arguments probably deserve more attention than they get in discussions over zoning.
Spelled out more explicitly, the communitarian arguments, which in planning have paralleled the cheerleading for infill and leading to rather major conflicts internal to the development process, have assumed that neighborhoods should have some level of self-determination in democratic conflicts over development. As it turns out, unleashing democratic preferences means you may not like that preference, and one of the strong preferences people have seems to be that their neighborhoods stay much as they are right at the moment, or with changes that they, themselves, guide. If neighborhoods have self-determination, why can't they they use that self-determination to use zoning to enable the exercise of freedom of association? The ability to exclude is a pretty big deal in communitarian frameworks because it enables the formation of specific associations that are essential to individuals' ability to a) exercise liberty, conscience, and self-expression and b) form intimate attachments of their own choosing. (This is thinking of Stuart White, btw). Exclusion may be more than justified from public good perspective to the degree that it enables those things. Christopher Heath Wellman notes that group membership determines a major part of self-conception and identity, and thus changing the members of any given group changes an essential part of identity. Exclusion for communitarians is necessary to preserve distinct group character, group trust, and mutual identification. To the degree that place is part of group identity, the ability to exclude others from that place supports group stability in crucial ways.
Apologists for exclusion have the burden of trying to show that these things they see as essential to human life and community hinge on being able to keep people out. Opponents of exclusion have a similar evidence burden to show that the things that communitarians prize about exclusion do not, in fact, require the ability to pick and choose what group membership changes occur and which do not.
Urbanists and those who argue against exclusion usually do so based on justice or efficiency arguments. Other than the inherent difficulties of separate-but-equal arguments, why can't people who wish to control their own associations discharge their duties to distributive justice by doing everything required to help outsiders where they currently live? Justice might obtain in many ways. (I personally am not convinced by separate-but-equal arguments, but those are still out there being made, and there is a good core of commonsense value in stemming the movement into particular places by resourcing other places and making them great, too, along with the demands of global justice.)
Libertarians fall back onto the idea that zoning is an illiberal intervention into personal property rights and freedom of movement. But I've spent a lot of time thinking about libertarianism and freedom of association and I can't reconcile the conflict from within that paradigm. My ability to limit who has access to me may be a strong preference, and the dictates of liberty and self-ownership mean that I should be able to exercise exclusion if I so choose via voluntary associations and contracts. Liberty of movement simultaneously requires that I should be able to move wherever. (I mean, not in your house, but in your general area). There are, in other words, dueling liberties and I see no credible argument for siding with one over the other that doesn't fall into simple assertions of market power.
These debates can quickly become circular and irresolvable, but I'm worried that planning and urbanism are not really taking on communitarian claims and neighborhood self-determination arguments *at all* in contemporary zoning debates. Instead, it's urbanists with personal preferences for urbanism saying "But cities are great and we have to save the environment by not sprawling!" and the market liberal followers of Ed Glaesar making supply-side arguments for affordability.
Trust me, as somebody who reads Glenn Beck's Agenda 21 novels so that you don't have to, not everybody sees the environment or justice as sufficient public policy rationales for trying to force people into accepting changes they don't want or living in neighborhoods they don't like. Dismissiveness vis-a-vis the communitarian arguments risks making planners seem like clueless progressives who don't value families or communities at the same time they purport to value neighborhoods–but only certain neighborhoods, the ones that meet their approval. This is a chronic problem in planning, and it's one we should probably be thinking about.
Kit Rachlis on why Viet Thanh Nguyen's The Sympathizer is a wonderful LA novel
Ok, I have to admit, I have not read Bats of the Republic, which Rachlis eventually chooses over The Sympathizer in Powell's heart-wrenching, teeth-gnashing, fist-shaking, I-can't-turn-away-even-though-it-ruins-my-March-every-year Tournament of Books. BatsOfRepub sounds great from the descriptions, I admit. But I was rooting for The Sympathizer, which is a brilliant book, written by a fellow USC professor who, unlike me, can actually finish a book and have it be amazingly good. I can forgive Rachlis the decision, however, because it is clear that his/her judgment is sound and based on good reading. More importantly, here's a comment on southern California that I wish I could tattoo on foreheads for both a) insight and b) awesome writing:
Further, it takes place in Southern California, where I have spent most of the past 27 years and which remains, to my prejudiced mind, one of the most misunderstood places in the United States: an object of endless cliché, stereotype, envy, and superciliousness in the hands of too many writers who should know better but don't. But like the best writing in which Southern California plays a central role, The Sympathizer looks past the region's surfaces—its malls and freeways and palm trees—and burrows deeply into its mysteries and contradictions.
Gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh such good writing.
The car and the city in the Magnificent Ambersons
Over Festivius break, I read The Magnificent Ambersons by Booth Tarkington over the course of the break–a stunning, stunning book. That book was published in 1918! I can't rave enough about it. Everything from the language to the meditation on youth and folly are lovely. Tarkington had incredible prescience about the changes that the car would have on the city and urban life:
Eugene Morgan, an inventor and improver of the automobile says at one point:
"I'm not sure he's wrong about automobiles," he said. "With all their speed forward they may be a step backward in civilization–that is, in spiritual civilization. It may be that they will not add to the beauty of the world, nor to the life of men's souls. I am not sure. But automobiles have come, and they bring a greater change in our life than most of us suspect. They are here, and almost all of outward things are going to be different because of what they bring. They are going to alter war, and they are going to alter peace. I think men's minds are going to be changed in subtle ways because of automobiles; just how, though, I could hardly guess. But you can't have the immense outward changes they will cause with some inward ones, and it may be that George is right, and the spiritual alteration will be bad for us. Perhaps ten or twenty years from now, if we can see the inward change in men by that time, I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline engine, but would have to agree with him that automobiles 'had no business to be invented.'"
and then, on industrialization and the city:
A new spirit of the citizenship had already sharply defined itself. It was idealistic, and its ideals were expressed in the new kind of young men in business downtown. They were optimists–optimists to the point of belligerence–their motto being "Boost! Don't Knock!" And they were hustlers, believing in hustling and in honesty because both paid. They loved their city and worked for it with a plutonic energy which was always ardently vocal. They were viciously governed, but they sometimes went so far as to the struggle for better government on account of the helpful effect of good government on the price of real estate and "betterment" generally; the politicians could not go too far with them, and knew it. The idealists planned and strove and shouted that their city should become a better, better, and better city–and what they meant, when they used the word "better" was "more prosperous," and the core of their idealism was this: "The more prosperous my beloved city, the more prosperous and beloved I!" They had one supreme theory: that the perfect beautiful and happiness of human life was to be brought about by more factories: they had a mania for factories; they was nothing they would not do to cajole a factory from another city; and they were never more piteously embittered when another city cajoled one away from them.
What they meant by Prosperity was credit at the bank; but in exchange for this credit they got nothing that was not dirty, and , therefore, to a sane mind, valueless; since whatever was cleaned was dirty again before the cleaning was half done. For as the town grew, it grew dirty with an incredible completeness."
The passage goes on for a few more pages.
The Politics is the last piece of Aristotle I am planning to revisit before turning to other study, but I haven't been racing through it by any means. It's slow going, which is ok. Where else am I going? A nightclub?
Howlers in Vishaan Chakrabarti's NYT op-ed on cities
04/21/2014 04/21/2016 Lisa Schweitzer2 Comments
In general, I'm all for planners and architects and their "Cities are awesome with awesomesauce" messaging. Cities are wonderful. Cities are sexy! Cities are infinitely many more times better than suburbs! Suburbs are just full of fat jobless losers bringing all the cool people down and ruining the environment. Suburbs, in fact, are ruining America.
Ok? Now that I've joined the zeitgeist and proven that I'm not one of those Joel Kotkin types that all the cool urban kids revile, can we talk about numbers?
Vishaan Chakrabarti is an associate professor of architecture at Columbia, so I don't feel bad picking on him, but several of my students have circulated his NYT Op-Ed and it makes me rather sad. His recent Op-Ed notes that cities are growing (most are) and now full of those fab millenials, families, and retirees alike. There are many howlers in the article, but this one is a serious problem:
A staggering 90 percent of our gross domestic product and 86 percent of our jobs are generated in 3 percent of the continental United States, namely our cities.
Where did these numbers come from? The Bureau of Economic Analysis releases GDP numbers by metro region, not by incorporated areas (cities) as far as I know. Where did he get this number? I have no idea because he doesn't tell us.
I'm pretty sure that's not his research, and it's not ok to throw around those numbers without telling us who actually produced the information, even in an Op-Ed. I think it's a misquote of a Brookings report that came out of a few years ago or from Ed Glaeser's book, but I could be wrong. You say "According to a recent report from researchers at…." and move to your point. Even if that is Chakrabarti's own research, his book, or his team's research, he should tell us where the info comes from.
It IS true that MSAs are the engines. You can download the data from BEA and show that: Total US GDP is 15,566,077 (millions of chained $$$$2005); the amount of that which comes from MSAs is $12,206,566 (millions of chained $$$2005). So that's some nice trillions there. But that percentage is about 80 percent, rounding up. Cities are part of metro regions, so how cities can be producing 90 percent of GDP while regions are producing only 80 percent is confusing. I don't get it. Am I missing something? I am using real GDP adjusted for inflation. Anybody seen the 90 percent number?
I'm too lazy to look up the jobs numbers, but I suspect there is a similar problem there (e.g. conflating metro regional numbers with "cities".) But at least you could get employment numbers by zip code rather than by MSA.
But I have an intellectual problem of traducing suburbs and then incorporating their portion of GDP into the argument for why cities are so much better than suburbs.
Chakrabarti throws around a lot of assertions about what millennials want, how cities are centers of support for marriage equality, etc etc….and I'm pretty sure that information comes from Pew and other sources. Given how poorly Chakrabarti presents the economic growth numbers, I'm not buying these assertions either.
Howlers and failing to discuss his sources notwithstanding, Chakrabarti wants to know why are we subsidizing those terrible suburbs?
Because most voters live in suburbs. That's why:
Total population 2010 by incorporated area to MSA
And while cities are growing, suburbs are growing, too, and in many instances, at a much faster rate than central cities, even still:
Share of metropolitan growth 2000 to 2010
I'm not sure I handled the Chicago pop loss properly in these calculations (It's 3:10 am, by my excuse, and I'd welcome somebody to check the numbers), but you get the idea here. This is all metro area growth, and while most cities did grow–and Chakrabarti is right, that's good news–their suburbs did as well or better than they did.
Now, we can argue causation. Subsidies might prompt people to move to suburbs, which might explain these numbers. Or it might explain why it's so difficult to shift those subsidies. Or it might suggest a political economy of people who get the subsidies they want. But if we are just counting voters, there's your answer. It also doesn't help that downtown voters' participation rates are lower than those in suburbs, generally. (See Jeff Seller's new book).
I dunno. In general, urban op-eds make me happy. And in a world where people seem to believe whatever the hell they want to believe (climate change is university conspiracy designed to control us; Obama is a Muslim after our guns; General Motors ruined our jolly streetcars),the sloppy thinking in this Op-Ed maybe just advances the cause we all have in helping people understand that cities are important, because cities actually are important, and not unrelatedly, those of us who study cities want people to realize how important cities are and, by extension, how important we ourselves are, for being big-a-time experty-experts on them.
The other part me of just thinks this type of stuff makes urbanists look innumerate or like con artists. Check the numbers. Then double-check them. Then explain why, in polycentric post-city metro regions, we need cities to stand out. There's an argument to be made for strong, amenity-rich centers even in major metro regions, and it has been made. Just not here.
#ReadUrbanandPlanningWomen2014 entry #2: Daphne Spain
Daphne Spain is the James M. Page Professor in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia, so it's fair to say that, as this week's entry into #ReadUrbanandPlanningWomen2014, Dr. Spain has a big audience already. She is, in general, an urban historian of considerable renown. How Women Saved the City, from 2001, is a major work that highlights how women have contributed to urban development and politics from just after the onset of industrialization to the Progressive Era. It's been awhile since I read that book (egads, it's been close to 12 years), but I remember when I finished it, I said: I want to write a book this good someday.
I haven't but, well, I'm trying.
She has contributed research on segregation, gentrification, and many other urban topics, and she's a fine writer. But just about every major scholar has a piece of work that really didn't get the attention it deserves, and for Dr. Spain, she's got a sleeper of an article named:
Spain, D. "What Happened to Gender Relations on the Way from Chicago to Los Angeles?" City and Community 1 (June 2002):155-167.
It isn't cited nearly as much as it should be, and the reason is perhaps that all these attempts to name different urban theory into place-based schools has gone out of fashion a bit, which is unfortunate, because it was all jolly fun with the Chicago School social ecology folks and some of the best minds in Los Angeles squaring off. City & Community published Michael Dear's original essay , which contrasted the concentric, center-oriented model of the city, where, as Dear put it, the center arranges the hinterlands, with the postmodernists in LA who noted that in the polycentric modes of urban development in regions like Los Angeles, the periphery organized the center.
This is a delightful essay which generated a number of wonderful responses from the thinkers like Harvey Molotch (whose response is a like, boom!). The fact that Spain stepped straight into the "my-school-rules-ur-school-drools" academic boys town of urban theory here makes me smile, and her contribution to the discussion deserves to be read. The Chicago School helped us understand the walking city of early industrial American cities; the Los Angeles School epitomized the post-WWII metropolis of cars and urbanizing jobs. Spain notes that the idealized version of white womanhood within the domestic sphere isolated many women; while the constrained status of immigrant and African American women isolated them within the larger workforces. The stand-outs among higher status women in the settlement house movement, Spain notes, get pretty short shrift from Park and Burgess, an influence that they were wrong to overlook. Immigrant women working from Hull House demanded (successfully) better urban services for impoverished communities, organized ethnic festivals, and helped immigrants find housing and educational opportunities. That's the real work of city making, and it's not less real just because it falls beneath notice.
As urban models changed, Steven Flusty, Michael Dear, Ed Soja, Manuel Castells, and David Harvey developed their own models and metaphors for urbanism while still overlooking the influence on the city that women had during those decades. In particular, the Los Angeles school ignored the work undertaken by women in Los Angeles, such as Dolores Hayden's work with HOMES–Homemakers Organization for a More Egalitarian Society–reorganizing single-family spaces in to much more flexible, shared housing and mixed uses. And she also highlights the work of Jacqueline Leavitt at UCLA in examining how women in public housing in LA–some of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the US–altered their home places to protect their families.
Daphne's major contribution notes that Chicago and Los Angeles have more in common than just urban theorists who fail to notice that women affect the city and that women also produce urban scholarship. The cities, though at different time periods, were major destinations for immigrants and for African American migration. They were the locales of violent social protests from African Americans furious at poor treatment of urban institutions, and that those popular protests have become ingrained in the popular imaginary about race and violence. One key difference, however, concerns the status of women at the different times, and that difference is important.
Two key differences led to changing the domestic sphere and dispersing its responsibilities across wider parts of metro regions: widely available birth control and entering the workforce. Here is missed opportunity in the manuscript. Spain notes the effect that domestic labor changes had on households, but as higher status, white and middle-class women left home to find work–changing the geographic logic of where residential households should locate–they also changed the geography for household service work that supported white women's entry into the workforce, pulling and dispersing their jobs in ways that were likely farther from their own homes and families. Spain doesn't bring this up, and I wish she would because I think she'd have some insights. As it is, sociologists like Pierrette Hongagnue-Soleto have filled in where Spain didn't.
In any case, Spain reconstructs some possibilities for urban theory in the last part of her manuscript. First, safety and security–from Mike Davis's "fortress" metaphor onward–are not gender-neutral ideas in the city. And second, caregiving and family life, though changing, still calls on women's time and work more heavily than for their male counterparts. Understanding that gender factors in strongly in both the shaping and navigation of urban form leads to better theory.
Is Paris a global city?
I'm back to teaching, and yesterday in my undergraduate class on the city, I ask my young urbanists the question: What are the five most important cities in the world? We had five groups of nine students; all five groups listed New York; only one listed Bejing or New Delhi. We're a US school, so we are going to have some bias towards western cities, but given the importance of New York in global financial capital, that choice is likely fair. Other important cities, according to intuition, are Hong Kong, London, and Tokyo.
I was surprised by Paris on one list, and I didn't get time to follow up on their reasoning in class. What do you think? I'm not sure Paris is really important anymore. I certainly think it was culturally important, and it's still a lovely city even today, but it doesn't strike me as globally influential in the way that London is.
50 books to add to Brent Toderian & Planetizen's standard, white city-making books
The risk of critiquing book lists is that a) it's easy to kvetch about others' lists, and b) you risk insulting the many wonderful writers who do appear on the original list, including the person who took the time to put together the list in the first place. But at the risk of doing both a and b, I have to say I am disappointed in Brent Toderian's list of 100 best books on city-making for Planetizen. We can go around and around about this: I guess it depends on what he means by city-making. And a lot depends on what a person reads. But if you are going to go around labeling something "the best", you'd better be well-read, and this list just doesn't strike me as being that broad or that open to different perspectives on cities. Then, in his addendum, he adds some fiction, including the rapey The Fountainhead, which he does include as a 'negative' example, I guess. But does that tiresome book really need more press? At least he included Calvino and China Meiville in the addenda. But this list and his addenda are standard white urbanist fare, with a lot of echoing of the same ideas from one white urbanist to another. It make me sad that our "best of" lists are still doing this. That said, Jan Gehl's book is very fine, and you could spend a long time reading the wonderful books on this list.
And he does have some women on the list, but the ones chosen are not exactly writing from non-dominant perspectives, and there are some terrific books by Asian authors on the list, including work from my wonderful colleague, Tridib Banerjee. It's not that I want to erase the people from the list. It's that I really wish urban planners would read more widely and take seriously their job to understand and promote more than one perspective on cities, not just focussing on a perspective that simply creates an echo chamber of the wonderfulness of white urbanism and planning with its bike lanes and its downtown retail. The latter is like an endless diet of FoxNews or MSNBC.
You are not educated until you get off your butt and start learning to see the world from a perspective other than your own.
City-making is not the exclusive purview of planners or self-declared urbanists.
So here are some to add to the list, in no order because I'm bad at order. I don't claim these are 'the best'–just books I have read that reflect cities and how they are made, that were worth reading, and that represent an effort to read what people from different perspectives have to say:
1. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison. Much of what you need to know about how ineffectual city government is in governing black neighborhoods appears here in the first few pages as Morrison riffs on "Not Doctor Street."
2. There Goes the 'Hood by Lance Freeman. Contemporary gentrification debates.
3. The Truly Disadvantaged by William Julius Wilson. This book should be required reading.
4. The First Suburban Chinatown by Timothy Fong
5. Homeless: Poverty and Place in Urban America by Ella Howard. The first book from a very promising scholar.
6. Off the Books by Sudhir Venkatesh I don't like his other, much higher profile books as much: this one tells the stories about how people make a living despite city regulation.
7. Promises I Can Keep by Kathryn Edin. Read anything by Kathryn Edin. Just do it. This book focuses mostly on impoverished women in Philadelphia.
8. Not in My Neighborhood: How Bigotry Shaped a Great American City by Antero Pietila There are some great books on Baltimore, but this one is a good recent one.
9. Gay New York by George Chauncey I wish I could assign this book more often; it's long, and it's not easy to chop up. But it is worth your time.
10. Barrio Urbanism by David R. Diaz I like David Diaz's work a great deal anyway, but this is my favorite.
11. Hip Hop's Li'l Sistas Speak by Bettina L. Love Young black women talking about the role of art and expression in their coming of age in Atlanta.
12. Hollow City: The Siege of San Francisco and the Crisis of American Urbanism by Rebecca Solnit
Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found by Suketu Mehta
13. Jesuit Garden in Beijing and Early Modern Chinese Culture by Hui Zou So interesting.
14. Snow Drops by A.D. Miller A novel set in post-Socialist real estate in Moscow. Harrowing.
15. Kinesthetic City: Dance and Movement in Chinese Urban Spaces by SanSan Kwan
16. Harlem Nocturne by Farah Jasmine Griffin
17. Sento at Sixth and Main by Gail Dubrow and Donna Graves This book made me cry.
18. 18. The Hiawatha by David Treuer Urban Indians in Minneapolis. A haunting, haunting novel.
19. Cities of God and Nationalism: Rome, Mecca, and Jerusalem as Contested Sacred World Cities by Khaldoun Samman
20. Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora by Martin F. Manalansan IV
21. Tunnel People by Tuen Voeten
22. Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler, who did dystopian Los Angeles like nobody else.
23. Times Square Red, Times Square Blue, by Samuel Delany. Oh, and read some of his novels, too.
24. Punished: Policing the Lives of Black and Latino Boys by Victor M. Rios
25. Graceland by Chris Abani a wonderful novel about post-colonial Lagos
26. Under a Cruel Star: A Life in Prague 1941-1968 By Heda Kovaly
27. Factory Girls by Leslie Chang Follows the story of young women who move from village to metropolitan China.
28. Black, Brown, Yellow, & Left by Laura Pulido
29. Young and Defiant in Tehran by Shahram Khosravi (Author)
30. Tokyo 1955-1970: A New Avant-Garde by Doryun Chong, editor. (Yes, I'm including edited volumes)
31. Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans By Emily Landau
32. Daily Life in Victorian London (an anthology) London of Dickens and Sherlock Holmes was a terrible place if you weren't rich.
33. The Messiah of Stockholm by Cynthia Ozick Good fiction, with a strong sense of place.
34 In The Land of Isreal by Amos Oz A wonderful book about people, politics, and territory.
35. Aztec of the City–these Comic books are cool, about an urban superhero in San Jose
36. Season of Migration to the North By Tayleb Salih a terrific novel about the influences of east and west and city and village in a globalizing context.
37. The Havanna Quartet by Leonardo Padura. A police procedural set in Havanna.
38. Smeltertown by Monica Perales–the story of the Mexican residents who live in El Paso's company town.
39. The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York by Suleiman Osman
40. Anything written by Walter Mosley . Anything.
41. L.A. Son: My Life, My City, My Food by Roy Choi
42. Paul R. Williams, Classic Hollywood Style by Karen Hudson
43. City of Oranges: An Intimate History of Arabs and Jews in Jaffa by Adam LeBor (wonderful prose style and an intimate look at individuals and the contestation over urban space.
44. All Souls: A Family Story from A Southie
by Michael Patrick MacDonald
45. Allah Made Us: Sexual Outlaws in an Islamic City by Rudolf Gaudio
46. Black Manhattan by James Weldon Johnson
47. The Rise of Abraham Cahan by Seth Lipsky If you have an interest in migrants and the global reach of NYC media, here you go.
48. Chavez Ravine: 1949 by Don Nomark
49. Urban Planning and the African American Community: In the Shadows edited by June Manning Thomas and Marsha Ritzdorf
Another terrific edited volume.
50. The North Will Rise Again: Manchester Music City 1976-1996 by John Robb
1939 Color Footage of New York
From the Romano Archives:
Why libraries are so necessary to the city
I have no idea where and how it became a rule that the library is a quiet place, but a million thanks to whoever that first librarian was for shushing conversation. Museums and libraries are one of the few places you can go in the city where people will shut up. Go to a bar, there's music blaring. Go to a restaurant, there's music blaring and other peoples' conversation. Public gardens, to the extent there are any anymore, are full of people having cell phone conversations.
You step into a library from the street in a big city, and into the reading room, and you have found quiet. As much as I love the books, and their endless possibilities, I love the quiet and its possibilities more.
The first planning MOOC!
Jennifer Evans-Cowley and Tom Sanchez are teaching about the TechniCity. I know both of the instructors, and they are both really great.


Yesterday i ate myself sick on Coca Cola sweety's. Today i biked into Holland again with a little bit of rain. If someone needs a Bed an Breakfast around Borger in Germany you have to look at the pictures. I booked a real great place, maybe the best on my bike trip so far! I visited some family en seen everybody here so that was nice.
See the world on his best!


text:
Its Brohm vs Edwards
The opening of Buffalo Bills training camp is quickly approaching and with Bills head coach Chan Gailey yet to name the starter for training camp rumors are running rampant.
If this latest rumor is true it will come down to Edwards and Brohm in training camp for the starting quarterback position.
According to Pro Football Weekly, via Chris Brown of BuffaloBills.com, Edwards will most likely be named the starter at the opening of training camp with him and Brohm battling it for the starter position.
As for fellow quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick the team views him nothing more than a solid backup.
The Bills want to give Brohm a legitimate chance to win the starters position and could do just that if he continues to perform.
In the end, my money is on Brohm as he is the more talented of the two and looks like he is starting to put things together.
Some hope for Bills fans
The Buffalo Bills announced today that they reached a deal with their third round draft pick defensive end Alex Carrington.
That means there is some hope for Bills fans that they could have all their draft picks signed on time.
The Bills now have seven of their nine draft picks signed with only first round draft pick running back CJ Spiller and second round pick nose tackle Torell Troupe.
Fortunately, the Bills start later than a dozen teams, which means that at the very least Troupe's deal will be done since their is less money and years involved.
I am not optimistic about Spiller considering the amount of money that is involved, along with the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement.
However, Spiller would be a role player this year as in a third down back and obvious passing situations, along with kickoff return duties.
Troupe is the more important pick to get done as he could potentially be a starter right away.
In the end, considering their track record with draft picks if Spiller isn't in on time he will be in very shortly there after.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Undertaking a home improvement or painting project? For all your painting projects, you can use some basic DIY tips since little things make a huge difference in transforming the final result. Certain things are always overlooked and so the end result is never satisfactory.
When it comes to walls, woodwork, you should choose a quality paint only. There is a huge difference between using average paint and excellent quality paint. Do not waste your labor by using cheap quality paint. Good quality enamels tend to outshine cheap paints for woodworks and walls. Use good quality painting tools.
Individuals who hate prep between coats can never earn satisfactory painting results. Proper stages of the painting needs to be followed like applying the primer, adding the paint coat, primer coat and so on.
Make use of color paint brochures for coordinating interior and exterior color. If there is no color coordination, your home will appear like clown's home. Use only standardized exterior colors.
Imagine a bedroom, living room with the nice soft and white ceiling carrying beautiful shades onto the walls. When it comes to bedroom, living room and dining room, you need to have a dead flat finish upon the ceilings. The first coat must be done by using primer and the second coat with 'ceiling white' for the best results. Satin finish for bathrooms and kitchens will do.
Nothing can beat natural sunlight when it comes to interiors. But, when it is cloudy day, you require extra lights for illumination. You can shop for shop lights featuring plug and cord. Fluorescent light is the white light and will keep your colors true.
By doing simple things and following easy tips, you will see how very smooth painting result you will get. It is also important to filter your primer and paint before using them.
We offer the best painting services at the best price. Choose us If you are looking for a stress free painting experience, you will surely love our professionals.


text:
Q: Looking for a Creative Way to select random considering lat long distance I am selecting five percent of all villages in an area by this query:
select top 5 percent * from Latlong_Amar  a
where a.IsInSarshomari=1 and a.ostan_num=02
order by newid()

Everything is fine, but I want to select random and I want to place a condition. I want to select some villages to check cellphone signal in an area, and the said query return a result, but it's not a desirable result for me. Usually places near main town are denser comparing remote villages, and when I use random, naturally, remote villages have less chance to be in the list. I have latitude and longitude of all villages. Do you somehow happen to think a way to select randomly and fairly considering destination of selected villages?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


text:
namespace SuperHaxagon {
	class PlatformSFML;

	class FontSFML : public Font {
	public:
		FontSFML(PlatformSFML& platform, const std::string& path, float size);
		~FontSFML() override;

		void setScale(float scale) override;
		float getHeight() const override;
		float getWidth(const std::string& text) const override;
		void draw(const Color& color, const Point& position, Alignment alignment, const std::string& text) override;

	private:
		PlatformSFML& _platform;
		sf::Font _font;
		bool _loaded = false;
		float _scale;
		float _size;
	};
}

#endif //SUPER_HAXAGON_FONT_SFML_HPP

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Herb Sutter dives into the repercussions of parallel's reach from mobile devices, to the desktop, to clusters, and — at the highest level of granularity — to the cloud. This welter of different parallel implementations presents significant challenges for programming. The free lunch of sequential programming is well and truly over.
In the twilight of Moore's Law, the transitions to multicore processors, GPU computing, and hardware or infrastructure as a service (HaaS) cloud computing are not separate trends, but aspects of a single trend — mainstream computers from desktops to "smartphones" are being permanently transformed into heterogeneous supercomputer clusters. Henceforth, a single compute-intensive application will need to harness different kinds of cores, in immense numbers, to get its job done.
In 2005, however, mainstream computing hit a wall. In "The Free Lunch Is Over (A Fundamental Turn Toward Concurrency in Software)," I described the reasons for the then-upcoming industry transition from single-core to multicore CPUs in mainstream machines, why it would require changes throughout the software stack from operating systems to languages to tools, and why it would permanently affect the way we as software developers have to write our code if we want our applications to continue exploiting Moore's transistor dividend.
In 2005, our industry undertook a new mission: to put a personal parallel supercomputer on every desk, in every home, and in every pocket. 2011 was special: it's the year that we completed the transition to parallel computing in all mainstream form factors, with the arrival of multicore tablets (such as iPad 2, Playbook, Kindle Fire, Nook Tablet) and smartphones (for example, Galaxy S II, Droid X2, iPhone 4S). 2012 will see us continue to build out multicore with mainstream quad- and eight-core tablets (as Windows 8 brings a modern tablet experience to x86 as well as ARM), and the last single-core gaming console holdout will go multicore (as Nintendo's Wii U replaces Wii.
This time, it took us just six years to deliver mainstream parallel computing in all popular form factors. And we know the transition to multicore is permanent, because multicore delivers compute performance that single-core cannot and there will always be mainstream applications that run better on a multicore machine. There's no going back.
It turns out that multicore is just the first of three related permanent transitions that layer on and amplify each other; as the timeline in Figure 1 illustrates.
Multicore (2005-). As explained previously.
Heterogeneous cores (2009-). A single computer already typically includes more than one kind of processor core, as mainstream notebooks, consoles, and tablets all increasingly have both CPUs and compute-capable GPUs. The open question in the industry today is not whether a single application will be spread across different kinds of cores, but only "how different" the cores should be. That is, whether they should be basically the same with similar instruction sets but in a mix of a few big cores that are best at sequential code plus many smaller cores best at running parallel code (the Intel MIC model slated to arrive in 2012-2013, which is easier to program), or should they be cores with different capabilities that may only support subsets of general-purpose languages like C and C++ (the current Cell and GPGPU model, which requires more complexity including language extensions and subsets).
Heterogeneity amplifies the first trend (multicore), because if some of the cores are smaller, then we can fit more of them on the same chip. Indeed, 100x and 1,000x parallelism is already available today on many mainstream home machines for programs that can harness the GPU.
We know the transition to heterogeneous cores is permanent because different kinds of computations naturally run faster and/or use less power on different kinds of cores — and different parts of the same application will run faster and/or cooler on a machine with several different kinds of cores.
Elastic compute cloud cores (2010-). For our purposes, "cloud" means specifically HaaS — delivering access to more computational hardware as an extension of the mainstream machine. This trend started to hit the mainstream with commercial compute cloud offerings from Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, Google App Engine (GAE), and others.
Cloud HaaS again amplifies both of the first two trends, because it's fundamentally about deploying large numbers of nodes where each node is a mainstream machine containing multiple and heterogeneous cores. In the cloud, the number of cores available to a single application is scaling fast. In mid-2011, Cycle Computing delivered a 30,000-core cloud for under $1,300/hour using AWS) and the same heterogeneous cores are available in compute nodes (e.g., AWS already offers "Cluster GPU" nodes with dual nVIDIA Tegra M2050 GPU cards, enabling massively parallel and massively distributed CUDA applications).
In short, parallelism is not just in full bloom, but increasingly in full variety.
Moore's End. We can observe clear evidence that Moore's Law is ending because we can point to a pattern that precedes the end of exploiting any kind of resource. But there's no reason to panic, because Moore's Law limits only one kind of scaling, and we have already started another kind.
Mapping one trend, not three. Multicore, heterogeneous cores, and HaaS cloud computing are not three separate trends, but aspects of a single trend: putting a personal heterogeneous supercomputer cluster on every desk, in every home, and in every pocket.
The effect on software development. As software developers, we will be expected to enable a single application to exploit a jungle of enormous numbers of cores that are increasingly different in kind (specialized for different tasks) and different in location (from local to very remote; on-die, in-box, on-premises, in-cloud). The jungle of heterogeneity will continue to spur deep and fast evolution of mainstream software development, but we can predict what some of the changes will be.
Three distinct near-term stages of Moore's End. And why "smartphones" aren't, really.
Let's begin with the end of Moore's Law.
We've been hearing breathless "Moore's Law is ending" announcements for years. That Moore's Law would end was never news; every exponential progression must. Although it didn't end when some prognosticators expected, its end is possible to forecast — we just have to know what to look for, and that is diminishing returns.
A key observation is that exploiting Moore's Law is like exploiting a gold mine or any other kind of resource. Exploiting a gold ore deposit never just stops abruptly; rather, running a mine goes through phases of increasing costs and diminishing returns until finally the gold that's left in that patch of ground is no longer commercially exploitable and operating the mine is no longer profitable.
Mining Moore's Law has followed the same pattern. Let's consider its three major phases, where we are now in transition from Phase II to Phase III. And throughout this discussion, never forget that the only reason Moore's Law is interesting at all is because we can transform its raw resource (more transistors) into a useful form (either greater computational throughput or lower cost).
When you first find an ore deposit and open a mine, you focus your efforts on the motherlode, where everybody gets to enjoy a high yield and a low cost per pound of gold extracted.
In the 1970s and 1980s, each chip generation could use most of the extra transistors to add One Big Feature (for example, on-die floating point unit, pipelining, out of order execution) that would make single-threaded code run faster.
In the 1990s and 2000s, each chip generation started using the extra transistors to add or improve two or three smaller features that would make single-threaded code run faster, and then five or six smaller features, and so on.
Figure 2 shows how the pendulum swung toward increasingly complex single cores, with three sample chips: the 80286, 80486, and Pentium Extreme Edition 840. Note that the chips' boxes are to scale by number of transistors.
By 2005, the pendulum had swung about as far as it could go toward the complex single-core model. Although the motherlode has been mostly exhausted, we're still scraping ore off its walls in the form of some continued improvement in single-threaded code performance, but no longer at the historically delightful exponential rate.
As a motherlode gets used up, miners concentrate on secondary veins that are still profitable but have a more moderate yield and higher cost per pound of extracted gold. So when Moore's unicore motherlode started getting mined out, we turned to mining Moore's secondary veins — using the additional transistors to make more cores per chip. Multicore let us continue to deliver exponentially increasing compute throughput in mainstream computers, but in a form that was less easily exploitable because it placed a greater burden on software developers who had to write parallel programs that could use the hardware.
Moving into Phase II took a lot of work in the software world. We've had to learn to write "new free lunch" applications — ones that have lots of latent parallelism and so can once again ride the wave to run the same executable faster on next year's hardware, hardware that still delivers exponential performance gains but primarily in the form of additional cores. And we're mostly there — we have parallel runtimes and libraries like Intel Threading Building Blocks (TBB) and Microsoft Parallel Patterns Library (PPL), parallel debuggers and parallel profilers, and updated operating systems to run them all.
But this time the phase didn't last 30 years. We barely have time to catch our breath, because Phase III is already beginning.
As our miners are forced to move into smaller and smaller veins, yields diminish and costs rise. The miners are turning to Moore's tertiary veins: Using Moore's extra transistors to make not just more cores, but also different kinds of cores — and in very large numbers because the different cores are often smaller and swing the pendulum back toward the left.
There are two main categories of heterogeneity, see Figure 3.
Big/fast vs. small/slow cores. The smallest amount of heterogeneity is when all the cores are general-purpose cores with the same instruction set, but some cores are beefier than others because they contain more hardware to accelerate execution (notably by hiding memory latency using various forms of internal concurrency). In this model, some cores are big complex ones that are optimized to run the sequential parts of a program really fast, while others are smaller cores that are optimized to get better total throughput for the scalably parallel parts of the program. However, even though they use the same instruction set, the compiler will often want to generate different code; this difference can become visible to the programmer if the programming language must expose ways to control code generation. This is Intel's approach with Xeon (big/fast) and MIC (small/slow) which both run approximately the x86 instruction set.
General vs. specialized cores. Beyond that, we see systems with multiple cores having different capabilities, including that some cores may not be able to support all of a mainstream language like C or C++. In 2006-2007, with the arrival of the PlayStation 3, the IBM Cell processor led the way by incorporating different kinds of cores on the same chip, with a single general-purpose core assisted by eight or more special-purpose SPU cores. Since 2009, we have begun to see mainstream use of GPUs to perform computation instead of just graphics. Specialized cores like SPUs and GPUs are attractive when they can run certain kinds of code more efficiently, both faster and more cheaply, which is a great bargain if your workload fits it.
GPGPU is especially interesting because we already have an underutilized installed base: A significant percentage of existing mainstream machines already have compute-capable GPUs just waiting to be exploited. With the June 2011 introduction of AMD Fusion and the November 2011 launch of NVIDIA Tegra 3, systems with CPU and GPU cores on the same chip is becoming a new norm. That installed base is a big carrot, and creates an enormous incentive for compute-intensive mainstream applications to leverage that patiently waiting hardware. To date, a few early adopters have been using technologies like CUDA, OpenCL, and more recently C++ AMP to harness GPUs for computation. Mainstream application developers who care about performance need to learn to do the same; see Table 1.
But that's pretty much it — we currently know of no other major ways to exploit Moore's Law for compute performance, and once these veins are exhausted, it will be largely mined out.
We're still actively mining for now, but the writing on the wall is clear: "mene mene diminishing returns" demonstrate that we've entered the endgame.


text:
typedef CGAL::Exact_predicates_inexact_constructions_kernel K;
typedef CGAL::Advancing_front_surface_reconstruction<> Reconstruction;
typedef Reconstruction::Triangulation_3 Triangulation_3;
typedef Reconstruction::Triangulation_data_structure_2 TDS_2;
typedef K::Point_3 Point_3;
typedef K::Vector_3 Vector_3;

int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
  std::ifstream in((argc>1)?argv[1]:"data/half.xyz");
  std::istream_iterator<Point_3> begin(in);
  std::istream_iterator<Point_3> end;

  Triangulation_3 dt(begin,end);

  Reconstruction reconstruction(dt);

  reconstruction.run();

  const TDS_2& tds = reconstruction.triangulation_data_structure_2();

  std::cout << "solid produced with CGAL::Advancing_front_surface_reconstruction\n";
  for(TDS_2::Face_iterator fit = tds.faces_begin();
      fit != tds.faces_end();
      ++fit){
    if(reconstruction.has_on_surface(fit)){
      Triangulation_3::Facet f = fit->facet();
      Triangulation_3::Cell_handle ch = f.first;
      int ci = f.second;
      Point_3 points[3];
      for(int i = 0, j = 0; i < 4; i++){
        if(ci != i){
          points[j] = ch->vertex(i)->point();
          j++;
        }
      }
      std::cout << "  facet normal "
                << CGAL::unit_normal(points[0],points[1], points[2]) << "\n"
                << "  outer loop\n"
                << "    vertex " << points[0]  << "\n"
                << "    vertex " << points[1]  << "\n"
                << "    vertex " << points[2]  << "\n"
                << "  endloop\n"
                << "  endfacet\n";
    }
  }
    std::cout << "endsolid" << std::endl;

  return 0;
}


text:
Q: Реализация realloc В FreeRTOS есть только malloc и free, но нет calloc и realloc. Мне нужен realloc и я попытался сам его реализовать. Всё ли здесь верно? Сам модуль управления памятью можно найти здесь.
void *pvPortRealloc(void *ptr, size_t s)
{
uint8_t *puc = ( uint8_t * ) ptr;
BlockLink_t *pxLink;
void *newBlock;
    if (ptr != NULL)
    {
        puc -= heapSTRUCT_SIZE;
        pxLink = (void*) puc;
        vTaskSuspendAll();
        {
            newBlock = pvPortMalloc(s);
            memcpy(newBlock, ptr, pxLink->xBlockSize);
            vPortFree(ptr);
        }
        xTaskResumeAll();
        return newBlock;
    }
    return NULL;
}

Вот новая версия, созданная после замечаний AnT.
void *pvPortRealloc(void *ptr, size_t s)
{
uint8_t *puc = ( uint8_t * ) ptr;
BlockLink_t *pxLink;
void *newBlock;
extern void memcpy( void*, void*, size_t );
size_t blockSize;

    if (ptr == NULL)
    {
        newBlock = pvPortMalloc(s);
    }
    else
    {
        puc -= heapSTRUCT_SIZE;
        pxLink = (void*) puc;
        blockSize = pxLink->xBlockSize - heapSTRUCT_SIZE;
        if (s == 0)
        {
            newBlock = NULL;
        }
        else if (s > blockSize)
        {
            vTaskSuspendAll();
            {
                newBlock = pvPortMalloc(s);
                if (newBlock != NULL)
                {
                    memcpy(newBlock, ptr, blockSize);
                    vPortFree(ptr);
                }
            }
            xTaskResumeAll();

        }
        else //s < blockSize
        {
            vTaskSuspendAll();
            {
                size_t newBlockSize = s + heapSTRUCT_SIZE + ( portBYTE_ALIGNMENT - ( s & portBYTE_ALIGNMENT_MASK ) );
                //if right segment is to few, do nothing
                if (pxLink->xBlockSize - newBlockSize > heapSTRUCT_SIZE)
                {
                    //split current block
                    pxLink->xBlockSize = newBlockSize;
                    BlockLink_t *blockToFree = (void*)((uint8_t*)pxLink + pxLink->xBlockSize);
                    blockToFree->xBlockSize = blockSize + heapSTRUCT_SIZE - pxLink->xBlockSize;
                    //free second part
                    prvInsertBlockIntoFreeList( ( ( BlockLink_t * ) blockToFree ) );
                    xFreeBytesRemaining += blockToFree->xBlockSize;
                }
                newBlock = ptr;
            }
            xTaskResumeAll();
        }
    }
    return newBlock;
}

A: *

*Бросается в глаза, что ваш realloc сразу возвращает null-указатель если на вход пришел null-указатель. Это уже неправильно. Стандартный realloc(NULL, size) должен работать как malloc(size).

*А где проверка на то, что s может быть меньше, чем исходный размер? С чего вы взяли, что можно вот просто так взять и сделать
memcpy(newBlock, ptr, pxLink->xBlockSize);

?

*(Вариация 2) При запросе нулевого размера стандартный realloc имеет implementation-defined поведение с оговоренным набором вариантов. У вас, если 0 попадет в pvPortMalloc, то pvPortMalloc вернет null-указатель. Вы к этому не готовы.

*А где обработка неудавшегося выделения памяти?

После исправления:
При вызове realloc с размером 0 стандартный realloc не гарантирует освобождение старой памяти (это не говорится явно в стандарте, но cppreference.com утверждает, что стандарт следует интерпретировать именно так). Ваша реализация формально вписывается в это поведение. Но возможно элегантнее было бы вместе с возвращением null-указателя таки освободить старый блок памяти. Возможно...


text:
Q: SQL gaps in dates I am trying to find gaps in the a table based on a state code the tables look like this.
StateTable:
StateID (PK) | Code
--------------------
1            | AK
2            | AL
3            | AR

StateModel Table:
StateModelID | StateID | EfftiveDate            | ExpirationDate
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
1            |  1      | 2012-06-28 00:00:00.000| 2012-08-02 23:59:59.000
2            |  1      | 2012-08-03 00:00:00.000| 2050-12-31 23:59:59.000
3            |  1      | 2055-01-01 00:00:00.000| 2075-12-31 23:59:59.000

The query I am using is the following:
Declare @gapMessage varchar(250)
SET @gapMessage = ''

select
@gapMessage = @gapMessage +
  (Select StateTable.Code FROM StateTable where t1.StateID = StateTable.StateID)
  + ' Row ' +CAST(t1.StateModelID as varchar(6))+' has a gap with '+
  CAST(t2.StateModelID as varchar(6))+ CHAR(10)
   from StateModel t1
   inner join StateModel t2
    on
       t1.StateID = t2.StateID
       and DATEADD(ss, 1,t1.ExpirationDate) < t2.EffectiveDate
       and t1.EffectiveDate < t2.EffectiveDate

 if(@gapMessage != '')
 begin
Print 'States with a gap problem'
PRINT @gapMessage
 end
 else
 begin
PRINT 'No States with a gap problem'
 end

But with the above table example I get the following output:
States with a gap problem
AK Row 1 has a gap with 3
AK Row 2 has a gap with 3

Is there anyway to restructure my query so that the gap between 1 and 3 does not display because there is not a gap between 1 and 2?
I am using MS sql server 2008
Thanks

A: WITH
  sequenced AS
(
  SELECT
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY StateID ORDER BY EfftiveDate) AS SequenceID,
    *
  FROM
    StateModel
)
SELECT
  *
FROM
  sequenced    AS a
INNER JOIN
  sequenced    AS b
    ON  a.StateID    = b.StateID
    AND a.SequenceID = b.SequenceID - 1
WHERE
  a.ExpirationDate < DATEADD(second, -1, b.EfftiveDate)

To make this as effective as possible, also add an index on (StateID, EfftiveDate)

A: I wanted to just give credit to MatBailie, but don't have the points to do it yet, so I thought I would help out anyone else looking for a similar solution that may want to take it a step further like I needed to.  I have changed my application of his code (which involves member enrollment) to the same language as the example here.
In my case, I needed these things:

*

*I have two similar tables that I need to develop into one total table.  In this example, let's make the tables like this:  SomeStates + OtherStates = UpdatedTable.  These are UNIONED in the AS clause.

*I didn't want to remove any rows due to gaps, but I wanted to flag them on the StateID level.  This is added as an additional column 'StateID_GapFlag'.

*I also wanted to add a column to hold the oldest or MIN(EffectiveDate).  This would be used in later calculations of SUM(period) to get a total duration, excluding gaps.  This is the column 'MIN_EffectiveDate'.
;WITH sequenced
( SequenceID
,EffectiveDate
,ExpirationDate)
AS
    (select
    ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY StateID ORDER by EffectiveDate) as SequenceID,
    * from  (select EffectiveDate, ExpirationDate from SomeStates
                UNION ALL
            (select EffectiveDate, ExpirationDate from OtherStates)
            ) StateModel
    where
        EffectiveDate > 'filter'
    )
Select DISTINCT
        IJ1.[MIN_EffectiveDate]
        ,coalesce(IJ2.GapFlag,'') as [MemberEnrollmentGapFlag]
        ,EffectiveDate
        ,ExpirationDate
into UpdatedTable
from sequenced seq
        inner join
            (select StateID, min(EffectiveDate) as 'MIN_EffectiveDate'
                from sequenced
                group by StateID
            ) IJ1
        on seq.member# = IJ1.member
        left join
            (select a.member#, 'GAP' as 'StateID_GapFlag'
                from sequenced a
                inner join
                    sequenced b
                        on a.StateID = b.StateID
                        and a.SequenceID = (b.sequenceID - 1)
                    where a.ExpirationDate < DATEADD(day, -1, b.EffectiveDate)
            ) LJ2
        on seq.StateID = LJ2.StateID

A: You could use ROW_NUMBER to provide an ordering of stateModel's for each state, then check that the second difference for consecutive rows doesn't exceed 1.  Something like:
;WITH Models (StateModelID, StateID, Effective, Expiration, RowOrder) AS (
    SELECT StateModelID, StateID, EffectiveDate, ExpirationDate,
           ROW_NUMBER() OVER (PARTITION BY StateID, ORDER BY EffectiveDate)
    FROM StateModel
)
SELECT F.StateModelId, S.StateModelId
FROM Models F
CROSS APPLY (
    SELECT M.StateModelId
    FROM Models M
    WHERE M.RowOrder = F.RowOrder + 1
      AND M.StateId = F.StateId
      AND DATEDIFF(SECOND, F.Expiration, M.Effective) > 1
) S

This will get you the state model IDs of the rows with gaps, which you can format how you wish.


…every where a meeting. My cycling time has been consumed with cycling related meetings since last Friday. I think I've attended 3 such meetings in almost as many days. When I wasn't meeting, I was emailing and/or talking about meetings.
The meetings have ranged from the macro (Blue Ridge Bicycle Club) to the local (BicyclehaywoodNC) to the specific (Blue Ridge Breakaway). They are all, to one degree or another, inter-related so that almost helps keep things straight in my mind.
Our local advocacy council (BicycleHaywoodNC, a chapter of Blue Ridge Bicycle Club) has been developing and refining a concept we call a Bicycle Friendly Outpost. This idea incorporates concepts of a Bicycle Friendly Business but not necessarily from the employee benefits side of the equation. Outposts are strategically located small "mom and pop" establishments situated on the outskirts of our community. The Bicycle Friendly specifics are drawn heavily from the lessons learned from Russ Roca and Laura Crawford of The Path Less Pedaled when they attended the 2012 Blue Ridge Breakaway in August 2012. I have continued to follow their paths pedaled and continue to benefit from their community education and advocacy for cyclo-tourism.
On a recent visit to Bethel Grocery Store, located at the epicenter of Pigeon Valley and some great riding in Haywood County for riders of all ages, Marvin informed me that he had enjoyed the visit of 10 to 12 cyclists that morning as they stopped at his store. This was a Monday and not a weekend group ride. He related that a different solo rider had stopped in while on a 45 mile loop ride because he "had been told the store was bicycle friendly." I'm pleased that "word of mouth" is spreading about Bicycle Friendly Outposts in Haywood County. A second Outpost should come on-line within the next few weeks and in time for the 2013 Blue Ridge Breakaway. This location will be along US 276 in the Jonathan Valley area of Haywood County. Whereas Bethel Grocery covers the outlying southern end of the county, the newest location will catch riders more on the northwest side of the county. We are hopeful for a third outpost covering northern Haywood but it would be premature to go there at the moment.
Outlays of capital have been pretty minimal for the Outpost businesses. We don't ask them to stock supplies as if they are full fledged bike shop. We ask them to keep the necessities for someone, who might have broken down on the road and need to replace tubes, a patch kit, etc. Both locations stock energy bars and drinks. My favorite post ride drink is the chocolate milk sold at Bethel Grocery. It is always seriously cold and hits the spot after a ride.
The Blue Ridge Bicycle Club, our regional entity, voted this past Sunday evening to up the ante for the Outposts by agreeing to purchase and install bike racks at the locations to make them even more obviously Bicycle Friendly. In addition, we have banners ready for hanging that identifies the business as an officially recognized Bicycle Friendly Outpost. We also include their designation on all of our cue sheets and the recently released brochure for Haywood County Destination Rides.
In my last column on 07/01, I used an instance of assault on a cyclist in an attempt to educate the local citizenry around issues involved with poor judgment on the part of motorists. In today's published column, I take to task a cyclist's behavior I observed this past Saturday, that in my opinion, demonstrates the poor behavior of some cyclists resulting in more friction with the motoring public. Under the category of "for what it's worth", here is the text of that column.
To set the stage, NC 209 has a wide enough shoulder to allow cyclists to be out of the stream of traffic by riding single file. With the exception of a couple of spots, It is generally clean enough so that safety issues do not force cyclists into the main stream of traffic. Such seemed to be the conditions on this day.
Four vehicles were "stacked up" behind the cyclists as they pedaled their way up and over the crest of the hill. One cyclist rode on the shoulder while the other cyclist, apparently oblivious to the traffic behind, proceeded to ride side-by-side of the cyclist who was riding on the shoulder. The first trailing car was unwilling to pass the two cyclists and this kept the other vehicles from passing as well. Perhaps a clear line of site wasn't available or perhaps the driver simply wasn't willing to pass the cyclist in the road. Either way, traffic was slowed down quite considerably.
The behavior of the cyclist and manner of operation of his "vehicle" provides an opportunity to discuss Legal Vs. Courteous. Was the cyclist riding in the road and side-by-side behaving legally? Yes, under N.C. law he had the same right to that lane of traffic as any truck, car, motorcycle, or moped. Was his act of riding side-by-side legal? Again, the answer is yes. N.C. law does not prohibit side-by-side riding.
Now, let's consider the question of whether the two issues were courteous. I think most reasonable people (motorists and cyclists) would have to give this a resounding NO. Given no safety issues forcing the cyclist to the center of the lane, the courteous thing would have been to have dropped back into single file on the shoulder and allowed the motorists to pass. "SHARE THE ROAD!" is a two way street and both cyclists and motorists must behave courteously for safe transit for all of us along our roads and byways.
I'm interested in seeing how the number of "reads" for the two columns stack up since each takes a point of view from the other's perspective. As of today, the first column has 697 "reads" and has been published since 07/01. Today's column has 108 "reads" in less than 18 hours of publication time. These are hits on the Mountaineer's website and doesn't in any way reflect the numbers of folks who read the column in print. For comparison's sake, I would say an average number of "reads" for any of my columns is around 135 over the last 6 months. This is a small town tri-weekly paper.
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Lynne Warfel
Host, Classical Music
lwarfel@mpr.org
@LynneWarfel
Lynne has been at this radio thing since 1984 when she fell into an historic job at KFAC AM and FM, the commercial classical station in Los Angeles. She was the first woman staff announcer in the station's history, and it was such big news back then, it made the LA newspapers and national radio publications. She is thrilled women in radio is no longer newsworthy.
She started life as a singer and actor, having several TV and film credits that include, "The Rockford Files", "Bret Maverick", "Rich and Famous" (George Cukor's last film), "Mommie Dearest", "Cannery Row" and "The Waltons". While attending an acting class in LA, the music director of KFAC asked if she'd be interested in auditioning for a part time job, and radio is where she's been since then.
Lynne hosts APM's Flicks in Five and Saturday Cinema as well as doing a daily national classical program and appearances with Minnesota Orchestra, SPCO and still acts from time to time when she can talk someone into it. She has a passion for dog rescue and shares life with Rough Collies, Gordon Setters, a garrulous African Grey parrot and her Lipizzaner horse, Teddy.
Saturday Cinema: Williams and Steiner
Rarities from Max Steiner, one of the grand old men of Hollywood's Golden Age of film music, AND the soon-to-be 89 year old John Williams
Saturday Cinema: Remembrances
Steve Seel is the guest host on a show looking back to the famous films people we lost over 2020.
Saturday Cinema: Emma's Hour of Heroes
Five year old Emma, from Annapolis, MD, suggested (through Dad) a program of some of the movies' biggest heroes. The usual superheroes, but also Norma Rae, Atticus finch and more. Way to go, Emma!
Saturday Cinema: Ebenezer Edition
A look at a few of the best adaptations of the Dickens classic: Alastair Sim, Albert Finney, Michael Caine (and Kermit the Frog!), George C. Scott, Patrick Stewart.
Saturday Cinema: Family Faves
A potpourri of holiday film favorites: Home Alone, Polar Express, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Man Who Invented Christmas and more.
Saturday Cinema: George Bailey and Friends
The biggest portion of today's show is a huge suite from "It's a Wonderful Life". A reconstruction of what Dmitri Tiomkin originally intended, only to have most of his score on the cutting room floor.
Saturday Cinema: Holiday Flicks Kickoff
The Hollywood holiday season begins on Saturday Cinema with some of the best, and lesser-known seasonal films. "Miracle on 34th Street" makes an appearance along with "The Bishop's Wife", "Nightmare Before Christmas" and at least one Grinch.
Saturday Cinema: Animator John Pomeroy
Artist/animator John Pomeroy discusses his career with Disney under the tutelage of "The Nine Old Men" of Disney animation. Also his time with Sullivan-Bluth Studios and the films he worked both places like, "Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too", "The Rescuers", "The Fox and the Hound","Land Before Time", "An American Tail", "All Dogs Go to Heaven", ""Pocahontas" and "Fantasia 2000".
Saturday Cinema: Interview with animator John Pomeroy
John Pomeroy, animator for films such as "Pocahontas" and "Curious George" talks with Saturday Cinema host Lynne Warfel about his life as an animator and the films he created. Tune in on Nov. 21 at 10 a.m. central for the full interview on Saturday Cinema.
Saturday Cinema: Flying Films
A request from Saturday Cinema listener "North Shore Sue", an hour of films scores where flight is the subject. "Kitty Hawk", "The Right Stuff", "The High and the Mighty", "Airport" and more. Time for take off!
Saturday Cinema: Best Mystery Thrillers
Scores from some of the best thrillers like The Third Man, Laura, Vertigo and a lot more in our run up to Hollywood Halloween!
Saturday Cinema: Best Sci Fi Films
In a run up to Hollywood Halloween on the 31st, Lynne has explored some of the creepier sub-genres. Sci Fi comes in there with flicks like The Day the Earth Stood Still and more.
Saturday CInema: Best Fantasy Films
All October, Lynne is bringing you the sub-genres of Halloween movies topping the AFI lists. Today, Best Fantasy Films: King Kong, Back to the Future, Princess Bride and more. A run up to Hollywood Halloween on the 31st!
Saturday Cinema: Fantasy Land
A Halloween-ish month, today's episode looks at fantasy films. From anime to Princess Bride. King Kong and Somewhere in Time.
Saturday Cinema: Paramount Studios
The heyday of Paramount, one of the world's oldest film studios. The stars, the films, the scores.
Listen to 'Back to School at the Movies' with host Lynne Warfel
Join host Lynne Warfel for an hour of great movie music from films that celebrate school days. From 'Dead Poet's Society' to 'Mr. Holland's Opus,' there's music for students of all ages.
Saturday Cinema: Back to School?
Going back to school 2020 is far from the usual. Join Lynne for a look at films with schools in a starring role.
Saturday Cinema: Brit Lit
Movies based on Jane Austen, the Brontes and more. Guest host: Elena See
Saturday Cinema: Midsummer Magic
Movie music from films with a summer setting: Summer of '42, A Summer Place, Summer and Smoke and more.
Saturday Cinema: More July Birthdays
A look at more famous film folks born in the month of July, and selections of music from their movies. Julie Andrews, Robin Williams, Tom Hanks and a tribute to James Garner who died in July 19, 2014.


At orientation, before freshman year had started, advisors asked that students declare a major. My daughter left there practically in tears, feeling as though the pressure was on and her course needed to be set. There was a course catalog, per say, in front of her, but she felt limited to just the pages within her major. We encouraged her to explore. Take all different sorts of electives, because you just never know what may spark an interest and possibly change an intended path for something even more grand and exciting.
Circus – Yes, don't just attend (see our FSU Bucket List here) the circus; learn to be part of one. Did you know FSU is one of the only universities in the nation with an operating circus?
Yoga – For the record, this isn't just about poses and breathing. There are actually papers and readings. It is much more than just stretching a few times a week, but a popular and well-liked class.
Bowling (PEL 1111r) – Great practice for that league they may join someday. Our interns say is so cool, but we also hear that they really teach you to bowl.
Coffee, Tea, and International Culture – You will definitely know how to order at Starbucks after this, but you will also gain an understanding of coffee and tea in varying cultures.
Fantasy Girls: Women and Girls in Science Fiction and Fantasy – Great class for the feminist or anyone for that matter.
From Ballet to Beyonce: Gender and the Body In Dance and Pop Culture – So you say you can dance? Actually, you don't have to, but you will learn about choreography, staging and gender stereotypes.
Choral Union – Do you like to sing in the shower? Led by master's students, members will get to participate in an actual choir. It's just a lot of fun!
Sociology of Hip-Hop Culture – Apparently there are deeper messages behind hip=hop and rap and in this class, you will learn to analyze them and their effect on society.
First Responders Course – This is a yearlong course, then a year of volunteering and students must apply to be part of FSU's Emergency First Aid unit. Imagine being able to save a life.
Electives often fill quickly so make a list of the top few electives you would like to take including the course code. This allows for quick searching on the day and time registration opens. As with any class, it is a good idea to check out the professors beforehand. Some electives that include materials will cost money to participate.
There are always CLEP exams too. These aren't necessarily easy, but they can bring students that much closer to graduation without taking an actual class. Basically, CLEP exams allow students to receive college credit for what you already know by earning qualifying scores on any of the many examinations. It is brilliant, really.


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New Edition Singer Ronnie DeVoe Slams R. Kelly, Claims Singer Needs To Be 'Held Accountable' For Abusing Women
Paras GriffinGetty Images for BET
Meaghan Ellis
Like many other celebrities, New Edition singer Ronnie DeVoe and his wife, Real Housewives of Atlanta star Shamari DeVoe, are now sharing their opinion of R. Kelly. Earlier this week, Ronnie DeVoe and his wife, Shamari, appeared on Essence magazine's Yes, Girl! podcast. The couple discussed a number of topics, including the infamous Lifetime docuseries Surviving R. Kelly.
For the past week, the disgraced singer has been at the center of unfavorable headlines following a string of incriminating claims of sexual abuse from several women who were reportedly underage while having sexual encounters with him. As a result of the graphic accounts detailed in the docuseries, several celebrities have verbally denounced the singer and tons of fans have vowed to "mute R. Kelly."
Now, Ronnie and Shamari are speaking out. When asked about R. Kelly, Ronnie made it clear he believes the singer should be held accountable. For all that he's allegedly done, Ronnie believes, "God is gonna put something on him" so he'll be forced to face the consequences for his heinous actions. The women R. Kelly has allegedly hurt will likely never be the same and could suffer a lifetime of lasting emotional effects as a result of the abuse they've suffered at his hands.
"He has to be held accountable," Ronnie said. "Ultimately God is gonna put something on him so that he has to face what he's put people through…like he's not only tearing families down and apart, but just think about these young women that are gonna be broken and in a place that they're changed forever."
Great morning to you and yours! Wishing you nothing but the best! May GOD continue to shine on, in and through you! Up next, #MomDukesMsg! ???? by @dimeken10 from #MorongoCasino
A post shared by Ronnie DeVoe aka RBDJr (@bigrondevoe) on Jan 11, 2019 at 4:05am PST
Ronnie DeVoe went on to explain how Surviving R. Kelly personally affected him. While watching the disturbing six-hour documentary, Ronnie admitted that he thought of his own twin sons while watching the series of events unfold. He also explained how the docuseries made him more aware of how easy it is for predators to target children and manipulate those close to them.
Now, the singer is even more protective of his sons and whose care they are left in.
"I thought about my sons as well. I can't just put them in anybody's hands," he said. "Like you have to be aware of who you're allowing your kids to be around."
The latest news follows a string of reports about R. Kelly's actions and the pending criminal investigations into his alleged abusive behavior. More than 25 people were interviewed and featured during Surviving R. Kelly. Although the singer adamantly denies all of the claims presented during the docuseries, many people are convinced the claims are true.


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La  de la Flèche wallonne féminine a lieu le . C'est la septième épreuve de l'UCI World Tour féminin 2021. Elle est remportée pour la septième fois consécutive par la Néerlandaise Anna van der Breggen.

Équipes

Parcours

Le parcours revient à une version proche de celle d'avant 2013. Il se dirige tout d'abord vers Havelange en empruntant la montée de Pailhe. Il continue ensuite vers l'ouest avec la montée de la côte de Thon. Il se rend ensuite à Andenne. Les côtes de Groynne et de Haut-Bois sont certes montées mais dans une direction inédite. De manière similaire, la côte de Gives est escaladée pour la première fois alors qu'elle a été descendue à de nombreuses reprises dans les éditions précédentes. Le circuit final est par contre identique à 2020, avec la côte d'Ereffe, du chemin des Gueuses et le mur de Huy.

Favorites
La sextuple vainqueur sortante Anna van der Breggen fait logiquement partie des favorites. Sa prestation à l'Amstel Gold Race était toutefois décevante. La formation SD Worx peut compter également sur Demi Vollering troisième en 2020. À l'Amstel, Katarzyna Niewiadoma et Elisa Longo Borghini ont montré qu'elles étaient les plus fortes dans la dernière côte et sont donc favorites.  Annemiek van Vleuten, Cecilie Uttrup Ludwig  et Marianne Vos, quintuple vainqueur, sont d'autres outsiders.

Récit de la course
La première échappée est l'œuvre de Marta Lach (Ceratizit-WNT) et Femke Gerritse (Parkhotel Valkenburg). Elles sont reprises à la mi-course. Au premier passage du Mur de Huy situé à 32 kilomètres du terme de la course, un groupe de trois coureuses passe en tête avec une vingtaine de secondes d'avance sur le peloton. Ces trois coureuses sont la Néerlandaise Lucinda Brand (Trek Segafredo), la Suissesse Elise Chabbey (Canyon) et la Britannique Anna Henderson (Jumbo-Visma). Elles sont toutefois reprises par le peloton lors de l'ascension de la côte d'Ereffe (à 19 km de l'arrivée). Peu après le regroupement, l'Américaine Ruth Winder (Trek Segafredo) attaque seule dans les derniers hectomètres de cette côte et reste en tête de la course jusqu'au pied de l'ultime montée du Mur de Huy où elle est rattrapée par l'avant-garde du peloton. L'ascension finale est menée au train par la championne du monde néerlandaise Anna van der Breggen (SD Worx). Ses rivales perdent progressivement du terrain sauf la Polonaise Katarzyna Niewiadoma (Canyon) qui vient se porter à la hauteur de la Néerlandaise pendant une bonne partie de la montée finale. Mais aux 100 mètres, Anna van der Breggen parvient à distancer Niewiadoma et s'envole vers une septième victoire consécutive sur la Flèche.

Classements

Classement final

UCI World Tour

Points attribués

Classement individuel
Ci-dessous, le classement individuel de l'UCI World Tour à l'issue de la course.

Classement de la meilleure jeune
Ci-dessous, le classement de la meilleure jeune de l'UCI World Tour à l'issue de la course.

Classement par équipes
Ci-dessous, le classement par équipes de l'UCI World Tour à l'issue de la course.

Liste des participants

Règlement

Prix
Les prix suivants sont accordés :

En sus, les coureuses placées de la  à la  gagnent , celles placées de la  à la  .

En addition, chaque prix des monts rapporte  à la première coureuse au sommet.

Notes et références

Liens externes

2021
Cyclisme en Belgique en 2021
Cyclisme sur route en 2021
Cyclisme en avril 2021
UCI World Tour féminin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


David Pieper, Senior Technical Analyst at Tradesignal Ltd., will show how to develop and test systematic trading strategies and improve the risk-return ratio at the Chapter Event hosted by GARP (Global Association of Risk Professionals) and CAIA (Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst) in Geneva on May 28th, 2019.
Systematic trading refers to trading with clearly defined rules that have been tested in advance. The entry, choice of position size, risk management and calculation of price targets all follow a systematic approach. The basis of such a trading strategy is primarily with the use of technical analysis tools, such as patterns or other such indicators. Using proper back test methods, recurring patterns can be identified on the basis of historical data. Instead of relying on the trader's intuition, all decisions are based on quantitative factors that do not depend on emotions. Especially for institutional market participants, professional software for technical analysis and algorithmic trading is an indispensable tool. David Pieper, Senior Technical Analyst at Tradesignal Ltd, will show in his presentation how to develop and test systematic trading strategies and improve the risk-return ratio.
David Pieper has 20 years of financial market experience. After earning the designation of Certified International Investment Analyst (CIIA), he spent several years in investment research at Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW). He is currently a Consultant and Senior Technical Analyst with Tradesignal Ltd., London, where he serves institutional clients only.
Moreover Alessandro Sanos, Market Development Manager, Commodities at Refinitiv, will present the topic "Commodity Trading 2.x – How Alternative Data and Disruptive Technologies are Reshaping Commodities".
Further information about the event as well as the possibility to register for free can be found under the following link.


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Navrang India
HomeArchitectureKirti Mandir, Vadadora - heritage structure and legacy of the Gaikwad dynasty awaiting renovation
Kirti Mandir, Vadadora - heritage structure and legacy of the Gaikwad dynasty awaiting renovation
Navrang India June 30, 2022
Kirti Mandir, Vadadora upload.wikimedia.org
The erstwhile rulers of Baroda were great builders of palatial structures apart from being just rulers. they employed well-known British architect to design the buildings to give them better look and remind the future generation of their legacy.
Kirti Mandir, also known as the Temple of Fame, close to Vishwamitra Bridge (opp. to SSG hospital), was built Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III of the Gaekwad dynasty of the Marathas in memory of his great ancestors who ruled the princely state of Baroda with skill and sagacity. It was in 1875 the Maratha rule commenced here and Sayajirao Maharajah was the first ruler of the dynasty. Constructed as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of Maharajah Sayajirao Gaekwad III, Kirti mandir is dedicated to Lord Mahadev (Shiva) - actually a group of temples dedicated to Lord Shiva. it is said to have been designed by Sir Edward Lutyens along with the Baroda state architect V R Talwarkar.
Kirti Mandir, Vadadora, GJinditales.com
Kirti Mandir that was built at the cost of Rs.50,000 is a fine building designed in letter E shape made of Kota stones. Impressive balconies balconies, domes terraces give it a better look from outside. The interior is well embellished with quality marble stones laid on the walls and are adorned with intricately carved murals. There are five wall paintings with religious themes by artist Nandalal Bose showing various phases of battle of Mahabharata, and some episodes from Indian mythology. Quite impressive is the massive central shikhara that rises to about 35 metres adding majesty to this place. The massive shikhara of Kirti Mandir is adorned with the sun, the moon and the earth in bronze with the undivided map of India. On the ground floor there is a big hall with many large rooms. The hall has a bust of Maharajah Syajirao III. On the first floor the Asthi (ashes) of the departed rulers are kept in urns.
IN January 2018 the Gujarat government took a decision to renovate and carry out repair work after a pretty long break roughly eight decades. Being an old building, it developed cracks in many places and some parts showed signs of aging. As it is a heritage building steps were taken by the authorities to renovate the building. They did not fix the time frame but they were particular about seeking the advice of well trained conservation experts to repair the structure; it could be a costly affair. In Gujarat, several iconic buildings developed cracks, etc., due to an earthquake in 2001.
The building remains closed to public all through the year and is open on the day of Diwali when a Rangoli exhibition is organized.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirti_Mandir,_Vadodara
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/vadodara/kirti-mandir-to-undergo-major-refurbishment-after-8-decades/articleshow/62715851.cms
Architecture Interesting Facts Interesting Monuments travel & tour
Madurai city, TN and forgotten Gandhiji
Remembering the great freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna, Karnataka
Jagannath temple of Puri, Odisha - flag atop the tower is changed daily!!
Calcutta was the third city (1880s) to get electric power in the world!!
What is so special about Gopuram (tower) in Hindu temples? - a brief note
Distinctive Kerala style of temple architecture
Awe-inspiring Konark Sun Temple and Time Wheels
The Pandalam royal family, Kerala traced their origin in Pandya Dynasty of Madurai. Escaped to Kerala during Muslim invasion in 1311!!
The mystery of European head on the tower of Big temple, Thanjavur.
Uthirakosamangai temple, Ramanathapuram, TN - famous for emerald Nataraja idol
Brave Indian women (19)
British personalities (61)
Cave temples of India (2)
famous colonial buildings in India (116)
Famous Indian churches (201)
famous Indian mosques (41)
famous personalities (38)
Funny quotes (18)
Funny quotes and humor (60)
Jain temples (3)
strange beliefs (2)
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USA Today bestselling author Simon Wood is a transplant from England who now lives in California. He's a former competitive race-car driver, a licensed pilot, an endurance cyclist, an animal rescuer, and an occasional PI. He shares his world with his wife, Julie; a longhaired dachshund; and a multitude of cats and chickens. He's the Anthony Award–winning author of Deceptive Practices, Working Stiffs, Accidents Waiting to Happen, the Aidy Westlake series, and The One That Got Away, which has been optioned for film. Saving Grace is his second novel in the Fleetwood and Sheils series, following Paying the Piper. He also writes horror under the pen name Simon Janus. Curious people can learn more at www.simonwood.net.
How to Improve Writing Skills
9 Tricks to Writing Suspense Fiction
By Simon Wood


A top Democratic source with insight into Bill's and Hillary's states of mind says the Clintons are convinced that a Democratic presidency is all but certain no matter how messy the fight for the nomination.
In that scenario - which the Obama side and some Democratic elders worry is wishful thinking at best, delusional at worst - there's no downside for Hillary doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes.
My earlier understanding was that Hillary refused to quit because she believed Obama would lose to McCain. I didn't see things the same way, but there was a certain nobility to her stubbornness (even if the logic was self-serving). If DeFrank is right and I'm understanding him correctly, Hillary now thinks both she and Obama would win and just wants to claim the prize for herself. It's, uh, not exactly the most principled argument for denying the nomination to the guy who's basically won it.


The Douglas County Conservation District has partial scholarships available for Camp Rocky 2016. The amount of the scholarship depends on the number of youth to be sponsored by the district. The camp cost is $300 all inclusive for District teenagers to attend this camp. The youth will pay a $100.00 non-refundable deposit, which will be partially reimbursed once the teen has finished the program depending on how many students attend .
In order to be eligible, teenagers must have completed 8th grade by June 1st 2016 and no older than 19 years of age.
Call us at 303 688-3042 ext. 100 or e-mail us if you are interested in attending and for scholarship. The 2016 Camp Rocky brochure will give specific information. The Camp Rocky Application can be filled out if you are interested in attending and send in to CACD. Resource fields (see below) are filled on a first-come, first-filled basis. Only 60 students are accepted statewide and last year the camp was filled to capacity.
Camp Rocky is a week long, residential camp near Divide, Colorado for those who have finished 8th grade through 19 year old. The 2016 camp is scheduled for July 10- July 16th and is for anyone who enjoys the outdoors and is interested in natural resources. Camp Rocky staff, made up of resource professionals from around the state, help participants learn about their environment, while working in teams and making new friends. Camp Rocky registration.
Each year, new and returning teens choose one of the following resource fields for their area of focus for the first half of the week.
The wildlife biology team tracks a radio-collared animal, go electro-fishing (a "shocking" experience), and learn how different types of Colorado wildlife survive the elements.
The forestry team learns about different forest types, how to determine the overall health of the forest, how to find a tree's age without cutting it down, why trees can be "dangerous," and how fire can be "good" for forest health and safety.
The rangeland science team learns about the "fitness" of rangeland and forage. They study how rangelands provide food for animals, habitat for wildlife, chemicals for fuel, and clean water for drinking.
This team learns about two primary components of nature - soil and water. They "create" a river and learn how many different types of soil affect plants, wildlife, and humans.
This team learns about the importance of managing natural areas for human recreation. They will learn about trail construction and maintenance, assess campsite use, practice orienteering, create interpretive signs and discuss the importance of Leave No Trace.
Camp Rocky Students making a simulated river.
During the second half of the week, students from these different resource teams then work in new, integrated management teams to develop and present natural resource management plans.
Participants also explore, discuss, and use critical thinking and problem solving techniques to find solutions to various controversial environmental issues.
Additional activities include volleyball games, hiking, a campfire, the Camp Rocky Challenge, and a dance. At the close of the camp, students receive a Camp Rocky Certificate of Completion.